„Etwas stimmt furchtbar nicht“: Forscher sagen, dass Babynahrung zu den am häufigsten gestohlenen Lebensmitteln gehört, während die Kosten in die Höhe schießen | CBC-Nachrichten
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/baby-formula-cost-national-9.6978290?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar
5 Kommentare
‘According to Statistics Canada, formula prices have climbed nearly 84 per cent since 2017 and about 30 per cent in just the last two years.’
Some retailers are keeping baby formula under lock and key. Things are getting out of hand.
I haven’t stolen anything since I was a kid and I slipped a candy bar in my pocket, but if I couldn’t afford formula and my baby was hungry? Yeah, I’d walk right out of the store with it under my arm.
Formula prices are crazy.
My wife gave birth in 2022. We had every intention of breastfeeding, but she just didn’t produce. We tried everything. In the end we had no choice but to feed with formula. I couldn’t believe how expensive it was. Like the article states, we could easily spend $100 per week on formula.
Thankfully I make enough money that we could afford it, but I really feel for parents who struggle to get it. At several points in 2022 there were widespread formula shortages, and I have never felt a worse anxiety than scrambling to find formula that my daughter needed to survive.
As with all products with artificially high prices, a black market in the trade arises. Organized crime is involved. I don’t have any hard numbers but some non-trivial % of the stolen baby formula is being trafficked because it’s so high value and readily unloadable that it can be used as a cash substitute.
A lot of needy mothers won’t risk shoplifting for various reasons. But they will buy stuff that fell off the back of a truck. And it’s not just mothers feeling a need to source discount formula. In terms of social clout, a young man living in a poor community who can haul in a crate of baby formula is the equivalent of a hunter in a tribal society who hauls home a big fat gazelle.
> The four-month-long investigation in the Meadowvale area found a group was allegedly stealing high-demand baby products, such as formula, from local retailers and trading them directly for drugs.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/baby-products-for-drugs-peel-police-investigation-1.7595505
Need more options. Enfamil, Kendamil and Good Start didn’t sit right with my kid, so we ended up having to buy some other powder form from the UK. It seems the stuff we do have is tough on some kids stomachs but more options would help lower prices.