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Comment by p1necone | Hacker News Reader

Not really the same thing, but I used to work for a small food business that sold bottled/canned drinks from a fridge via a contract with Frucor (New Zealand), and the prices they charged wholesale to this small business were often higher than what you could buy the drinks for retail at nearby supermarkets.

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This is what happens when the franchisee's are in what I will refer to as a "predatory" relationship. I've been involved with several Quick Service(Fast Food) Franchisee's in the USA and there's predatory relationships and then there's those where the franchisee's have some type of union or owners organization.

In McDonald's the Franchisee's have several different organizations they can join to represent themselves and bring grievances to to corporation. Cost of product is almost always a focus and you'd never be in a situation where you could buy product for cheaper anywhere else due to their scale. It's all about who has the leverage in the situation. I will say that reading that 7-11 offered to buy back all product is a very gracious move on their part. They had no incentive to help him out of the situation he no longer wanted to be in.

Not that uncommon, that is why during some sales you see people buying up as much as they can, to stock their own stores.

Would it have been illegal to buy and resell stock from the supermarkets?

No, but it's usually against the agreement you have with the supplier, which will, like this story, probably end with a terminated agreement.

Depending on your local laws, the nearby supermarket might have been selling below cost, so it might not be as huge a pricing discrepancy as you imagine.

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