I received this email today from Thrupps Illovo with regard to this post:
Dear Mr Pillay
Thrupps appreciates your comments on Pork Lard and Beef Tallow pricing at our Illovo store and
would like to make good with you and all customers affected by the sudden increase.
Our Butchery prepares these particular products from scratch and we do not source from manufacturers.
This resulted in a price which has been the same since 2018.
Our oversight is that we have not addressed the pricing since starting to make it in our meat prep
areas on site. A recent change in management of Thrupps Butchery brought to light this oversight.
When we realised our mistake, we took pricing from the market which resulted in the crazy increase
you so correctly have highlighted. We feel our prices are competitive when compared to other retailers,
But the jump is not good optics on this occasion and poorly deal with on the shop floor.
The manager involved could have been a lot more sympathetic for which we apologise.
We hope you will visit us to accept our gesture of making good with a better personal explanation
and some free samples of both products.
We thank you and apologise for the poor response in store and would like to see you in the shop
again soon
Warm Regards
From all your friends at Thrupps.
My comments:
1. I appreciate the fact that Thrupps took the trouble to look at my bio to find my website and send me an email through there. I also appreciate that they copied
@wendyknowler as I had tagged her in the post.
2. I accept their explanation that they had not adjusted prices on these products for a long time and that an increase was in order.
3. I especially note the fact that their apology did not make excuses for the way their managers handled the matter. This is the way businesses need to own their mistakes, but rarely do.
As I said at the start, I have been shopping at Thrupps since 1996. As recently as December, I sang their praises. I'm glad this was not misplaced. I will continue to shop there, and continue to buy these products at the higher prices.
I’ve been shopping at Thrupps in Illovo, Johannesburg since 1996. I’m a fan generally.
Here’s what they pulled this month. Note the cost per kg on both compared to last month.
I asked the managers WTF? They shrugged and said “all prices have gone up.”
By almost 100%?
Fcking outrageous. Fcking duplicitous.