Debate : Will Zohran Mamdani city-run grocery stores actually work?

[museumoftrees]

I want to hear non-partisan opinions on this. I know this forum is mostly left leaning but the sources I found online are mostly right wing bashing the concept of government run grocery stores altogether.

I personally have no clue if they'll work. I feel like this is something we have to do and observe scientifically as a society. But for me, public stores are the next step in terms of bringing competition and driving prices down in the food industry.

[Wilhelm44]

I hope it does, people need some relief.

[Raze]

It will be popular simply due to inflation 

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Does goverment know what food people really want, including quality, quantity, brands, timing of the deliveries? What do you think, what mechanism is goverment going to use to compete with normal, private owned grocery stores? Questionaires? LOL

As luck would have it tho, ultimately it doesn't matter anymore

Edited 7 hours ago by NewKidOnTheBlock

[Basman]

It would likely undercut the business of private vendors first of all, and I'm not sure how sustainable it is if it's not profitable. And private business tend to be better at serving demand. And when they fail it doesn't come directly out of the collective's pockets. It's a big reason why communism tend to lead to starvation. Many hands lift more. What does work is regulating unfair practices like collusion and price gouging or subsidies.

we'll see, I guess. But I'm not confident it would really work. I'm worried it would turn into a money sink for little gain.

Edited 6 hours ago by Basman

[Basman]

If it's done at a lose, then its basically just glorified humanitarian aid. The issue with that is that it undercuts local business and survival while the quality of product and service suffers. Communities need to be able to functionally survive on their own.