A consumer thread

[Lord Chevy]

View: https://x.com/i/status/2004575431421497589

 

[Deus Irae]

The Difference Between Customers and Consumers Is Why Customer Service Sucks in America

 

[HSanders]

Every nutritional "advancement" of the last century was actually an adaptation to scarcity dressed up as science.Margarine wasn't invented because it was healthier than butter. It was invented because butter was expensive during the Napoleonic Wars and the French military needed cheap fat.Napoleon III offered a prize for a butter substitute that could feed troops and the poor. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès won by creating beef tallow mixed with milk. It was awful, but it was cheap.By WWI, beef tallow was too expensive. They switched to hydrogenated vegetable oils. Much worse, but even cheaper.The American Heart Association endorsed margarine over butter not because margarine was healthier but because Procter & Gamble funded them to say so. The product they endorsed caused heart disease. But it was profitable, so it was "progress."Breakfast cereal wasn't invented to improve nutrition. John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes to reduce masturbation in his sanitarium patients. He thought bland food would suppress sexual urges. That's the medical foundation of your morning cereal - Victorian sexual repression therapy.When cereal companies realized you could manufacture grain products for pennies and sell them as "healthy breakfast," they marketed them as superior to eggs and bacon. Not because they were. Because profit margins were better.Soy formula wasn't developed because it was equivalent to breast milk. It was developed because dairy-allergic babies needed something and pharmaceutical companies saw a market.Then they expanded that market by convincing mothers that formula was more scientific than breastfeeding. Modern, progressive, liberated women used formula. Traditional women breastfed.The "advancement" was marketing, not nutrition. Breast milk was still undeniably superior. But formula was profitable, so it became progress.Low-fat dietary guidelines weren't created because fat was discovered to be harmful. They were created because the grain industry needed markets for their products and the pharmaceutical industry needed customers for statins. Remove fat, add grains, create metabolic disease, sell statins. Perfect vertical integration.Every "nutritional advance" of the modern era follows the same pattern:Traditional food becomes expensive or inconvenient. Industry creates cheaper alternative. Alternative is nutritionally inferior. Marketing disguises this as progress. Guidelines institutionalize it. Pharmaceuticals treat the resulting disease.We didn't discover that butter was bad. We discovered that margarine was profitable.We didn't discover that breast milk was inferior. We discovered that formula was scalable.We didn't discover that fat was dangerous. We discovered that statins were patentable.Every time we call something progress, check who profits from the "advancement."Your ancestors ate butter, breastfed their babies, and cooked in animal fats. They were told this was primitive and unhealthy.You eat margarine, feed babies formula, and cook in seed oils. You're told this is advanced and healthy.One population had low rates of chronic disease. One has epidemics.Progress.

View: https://x.com/SamaHoole/status/2005513656092479972?s=20

 

[Deus Irae]

More profits for big processing, not for the cattlemen. And don't buy into the idea that meat prices won't go up, because they are definitely going to rise:

Late in 2025, Tyson Foods announced a major restructuring of its beef processing operations that will significantly affect local communities, cattle markets, and the broader meatpacking industry.

Central to the announcement is the permanent closure of Tyson’s large beef processing facility in Lexington, Nebraska, scheduled for January 20, 2026, along with a reduction to a single shift at another Tyson plant in Amarillo, Texas. Together, these moves are expected to remove roughly 7–9 percent of U.S. beef processing capacity, a notable contraction in an industry already grappling with supply challenges.

According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Tyson described the decision as an effort to “right size” its beef business amid persistent financial pressures and limited cattle supplies...

Tyson plant closure and shifts being cut will eliminate 7 to 9 percent of total beef processing capacity nationwide

 

[Deus Irae]

Starbucks is quietly shrinking its physical footprint in some of the nation’s largest cities, signaling a major shift for a brand that spent decades in near-constant expansion, according to WSMV. The company intends to eliminate about 400 US locations, with the heaviest impact in major metro areas. Closures are already underway — New York City alone has lost 42 stores.

Company leaders say the move reflects changing consumer patterns and a tougher business environment. Urban markets are saturated with competitors, foot traffic has not fully recovered as remote work remains common, and operating costs continue to climb. Going forward, Starbucks plans to concentrate on a smaller number of higher-performing locations and introduce new store formats beginning in 2026...

Starbucks Shuttering About 400 Locations, 40+ In New York City Alone