Gerber’s jarred baby food has not been on Canadian shelves for 8 years. Tonight while shopping at Walmart I noticed that 1/2 of the baby food on their shelves belonged to Gerber.
Years ago Heinz and Gerber had a price war. Gerber had it’s jarred food priced lower in Canada than in the U.S. Heinz complained to the federal government that they were “dumping” baby food. Gerber sold for as little as 33 cents a jar in Canada, about 10 cents less than Heinz.
A federal tribunal sided with Heinz and ordered Gerber to raise its prices 60 percent. Gerber said it couldn’t compete at the new prices and–after 49 years of selling baby food north of the border– abandoned the Canadian market. As a consequence, prices skyrocketed.
The funny part is that Heinz was priced at 65 cents and Gerber was 64 cents. I guess old rivalries never die!
SOURCE:Reason Magazine
