The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

by Benjamin Lorr

The moral fantasy is to raise prices. Perhaps a sign posted at the seafood counter saying, “Due to labor abuse in Thailand, the price of our shrimp is increasing as we work to ensure every person in our supply chain receives a fair wage.” And then the store raises prices, sells the same amount of fish in defiance of the laws of supply and demand, and dutifully passes the increased revenue back up the chain in reverse, to its importer, who passes it on to a manufacturer, who passes it on to a compromised supplier—one who has decided to turn a new leaf. Then the money is actually used by that supplier: reforming their recruitment process, expanding their human resources department, educating their workers on their rights, providing pathways to grieve abuse, and finally—if there is any money left over—increasing wages. But even if all goes right, the money arrives intact, nobody in between gives themselves a raise, that last bit of work done by the supplier is incredibly hard. It will generate exactly zero press since it is also searingly boring. And it is completely and utterly beyond the expertise of a grocery chain. There are NGOs devoted to this kind of work who openly admit they barely understand the complexities of how to reform a supply chain.