[lotsofpulp]

That alternative is so that they can compete with Walmart and Costco and Aldi and Winco and survive.

How anyone can complain about a 2% profit margin, especially on a forum where workers earn high salaries because they work for businesses with 20%+ profit margins, is beyond me. Expecting every organization to be a charity seems a bit immature.

[ceejayoz]

> How anyone can complain about a 2% profit margin, especially on a forum where workers earn high salaries because they work for businesses with 20%+ profit margins, is beyond me.

I'd very much rather be in the business of selling $100B at 2% profit margin than selling $100k at 50% profit margin. Same for health insurers - they have enormous volume. Low-margin isn't a great defense, especially as it's a gameable metric; you can reduce margins in all sorts of ways.

Like, say, spending some on private jets. https://nbaa.org/membership/member-profiles/the-kroger-co/

[lotsofpulp]

> I'd very much rather be in the business of selling $100B at 2% profit margin than selling $100k at 50% profit margin.

How is this relevant? A business’s goal is to earn a return for shareholders. A business also needs sufficient profit margin to weather volatility.

It is quite evident that with current technology, the business of retailing groceries, and retail in general needs about a 2% profit margin to survive long term, and earn a sufficient return to be worth investing in. Same for insurance.

Obviously, this is an objectively low amount of profit margin, given that 0% is a charity. So again, how can one complain about a business earning too much money when there exists no competitor that can deliver these goods at a lower profit margin?

The argument is in the same vein of there is no labor shortage, just a shortage of buyers able and willing to pay enough.