Combined, my family has easily more than 60 years at Smith's over 3 generations dating back to the 70s - my dad had more than 40 alone before they canned him. I

Combined, my family has easily more than 60 years at Smith's over 3 generations dating back to the 70s - my dad had more than 40 alone before they canned him. It is not an understatement to say I grew up in a grocery store. Kroger has been a bit more ruthless in the last 5 years, and basically pulled an IBM in late 2019: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/02/kroger-to-lay-off-hundreds-amid-questions-about-its-turnaound-plan.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/02/kroger-to-lay-off-hundreds-a... They called it "middle management" in press release but they fired tons of senior people in the stores that had been around a long time (anyone over 50 who'd been at the company more than 25 years was a good candidate). In any case - management at a grocery store might as well be a blue collar job in comparison to most any other white collar job. The severance package was decent - most got 9 months pay. Still, getting canned in your 50s from one of the only jobs you've ever known isn't pleasant, but it didn't surprise me. Management at the established grocery businesses. There was a lot of talk about The Bear in the restaurant industry - the grocery industry at the departmental management level and above is similar, albeit usually less ruthless and a lot more petty. Everyone gets written up a lot and their jobs hung over their head often. I think it's probably gotten a bit better in the last decade though, partially as some of the old people have started to be replaced with college grads I suppose. As for Safeway, I've been in the bay area since 2010 and I can't really say I'd shed a tear to see Safeway under different management. I remember my introduction to Safeway when I went to buy eggs and bacon and was shocked to see it at $7/package in 2010. I settled for the Jimmy Dean sausage at the time, because it was on sale. This simple introduction holds true -most Safeway prices are out of line with a reasonable price _unless_ things are on sale. That was not something that was true at Smith's, or Winco, or even Raley's (Nob Hill Foods) in general. Safeway even took over Andronico's in the bay area and _raised_ prices even more - while reducing the product quality and selection. Compared to Whole Foods, prices are actually competitive on a day-to-day basis. The best thing Safeway has going for itself at this point is that is that it's ubiquitous and it usually has self-checkout lanes (which is the only way to get in and out of a store in a reasonable amount of time anymore). To sum it up - I think Kroger is on a path to trying to turn more profit at the expense of workers and consumers alike, but I don't think Safeway can get much worse either. It's going to be shit all the way down, you just hope it's not the super smelly kind.