The general shareholders meeting at Carrefour (2^nd largest retailer in the world) recently took place. Many newspapers wrote about the complaint from a small shareholder, speaking in public to the CEO (see this article from Le Monde, 10th paragraph).

My translation:

Last week I bought a pack of strawberries for 1 euro: I got diarrhea! I bought coffee from Costa Rica: I got diarrhea! I bought some socks in 46/48 size, but after washing they shrank down to size 38, which is my wife’s size! You don’t control anything!!

Seriously, it seems to echo the feelings of most consumers in Europe. They fight for lower prices and go shopping in supermarkets, but they are not willing to accept unsafe or shoddy products. What are they thinking?

A word of caution, though. Carrefour has third-party inspection companies check most of their shipments from China. They might not be the best example. Generally speaking, very large retailers perform more quality control than small importers.

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UPDATE: the video (in French) is available on Youtube:

Carrefour shareholders meeting for 2008