Chapman's Promises No Price Increase, Becoming Canada's Most Trusted Financial Institution
Chapman's Ice Cream, of Markdale, Ontario, population roughly 1,400, announced this week that it will hold its prices steady while shifting away from American suppliers. The announcement landed with the weight of a Bank of Canada rate decision, which is to say more weight, because people actually understood it.
On the same day, RBC, TD and CIBC released their outlooks for the Canadian economy, using the phrase "measured confidence." Measured confidence is what you say when you have looked at the numbers, found them ambiguous, and would like to be quoted correctly in either direction eighteen months from now. Chapman's said the tub costs what the tub cost. No hedging, no footnote about downside risk to the second half.
The comparison is unkind but instructive. Three banks with combined assets north of four trillion dollars produced a collective shrug. A family ice cream company in Grey County produced a number. Canadians, who have spent two years watching grocery prices behave like a rigged carnival game, noticed which one they could plan around.
There is a case that this is not economics at all, just good public relations, and the case is probably correct. Chapman's has been banking goodwill since the 2009 fire, when the family kept paying its staff through the rebuild. That is a long-term investment with better returns than anything on the TSX.
Still, something is off in a country where the most credible forward guidance in the economy comes with sprinkles. The Governor of the Bank of Canada holds press conferences. Chapman's holds prices.
One of those is a mandate. The other is a favour.