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August 17, 2015

A Scandinavian Food Company Whose Cost Increases Hurt Cat Lovers and Their Cats!

By Eugene Elander

Cat owners and cat lovers in Scandinavia should be aware when a major food store raises prices on its basic cat food by over thirty percent, and then refuses to make any adjustment to keep costs affordable to retirees such as us.

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Being residents of Gotland, Sweden, we share an elderly tiger cat named Loki with our son here. Loki came originally from the Katthem, after being rescued when he was abandoned, so his early life was not an easy one. For ten years now, we have found that his preferred cat food comes from Willys Supermarket in Visby, the capital of Gotland, which is a division of the Axfood company. Axfood has outlets and other operations all over Scandinavia. We used to like Willys!


About six weeks ago, upon getting our 100 monthly cans of their basic Kattmat cat food (Loki goes through at least three cans daily) we discovered that its price had increased by OVER THIRTY PERCENT IN ONE JUMP! We first complained about this massive price increase to Willys Plus online customer service -- which incredibly told us to talk to the store manager, as if that worthy made corporate decisions! There was total unresponsiveness to our complaint.

We received neither regrets nor aný price rollback, just being told that their supplier had raised prices, so we wrote to the corporate level of Willys -- and then to their Axfood parent-- asking that they find a lower-cost supplier in Thailand.
All Axfood did was to keep asking us to send more information, after we had already sent the full email trail. There has still been neither an apology nor any price rollback. If you are a cat owner or cat lover, you should be aware of all of this, and should keep it in mind when you make decisions about where to shop in Scandinavia. Shame!


Authors Bio:

Author's Biography

Eugene Elander has been a progressive social and political activist for decades. As an author, he won the Young Poets Award at 16 from the Dayton Poets Guild for his poem, The Vision. He was chosen Poet Laureate of Pownal, Vermont for his poem Pownal People. His three new verses for America the Beautiful:September 11, 2001 were widely acclaimed and read into the Congressional Record by U.S. Senator Chris Dodd.
Dr. Elander has authored four volumes of poetry: The Right Click, The World Click, Journeyings, and Philosophy over Fika, all written from 2004 to now, in the U.S. and Sweden -- as well as two published novels: The Goat of God, and Turning the Tides, both available via Signalman Publishing on Amazon.com in Kindle and electronic pdf editions. A self-help book titled Empowerment:Taking Charge of your Life was recently completed and is available via Amazon.com KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing.
Dr. Elander is a freelance columnist who published a newspaper for ten years in New London, CT. He is an economist and college lecturer, and has been an agency executive director, emergency management consultant, investigator; and former animal control officer, deputy code enforcement and health officer for Farmington, New Hampshire. He and his wife Birgit, who co-authored The World Click, divide their time between Georgia and her homeland, Gotland, Sweden.
Several other books are underway, including a sequel to The Goat of God, and a public version of his doctoral dissertation on Cooperatism, a new economic system he developed which includes all stakeholders (workers, consumers, and the public as well as stockholders) in crucial decision making. Dr. Elander has been a member of the Stonepile Writers group in Georgia and the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. He is president of his own Elander Press.


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