Yesterday in Kroger (a supermarket for you non-Americans) I saw a bunch of cans of potato salad. Why would someone buy canned potato salad?

You may laugh now, but wait till the apocalypse and see how much you miss potato salad.
- You make a convincing case.
  
  I had a massive power outage that lasted a week. Canned anything is better than nothing
- After the apocalypse I’m making potato salad from scratch no problem.
  
  Welll I’m gonna make it from potatoes instead.

I just went sailing for a few days. On the small sailboat, we don’t have a fridge onboard. Stuff like this can be stored in room temperature, so I can definitely see the appeal for it.

I've actually tried this brand before and it's not bad! It's a much different type of potato salad than the fresh kind they sell in the deli aisle. I don't think they're meant to be direct competition for each other
- You mean it doesn't taste like German potato salad? Because then it's not as advertised.
  Also, if the potatoes are still firm in that can and not near-blended potato soup mush, they are using some weird-ass chemicals you probably don't want in your body.
  
  Where I live the stuff in the deli aisle is all mayo based potato salad regardless of what type it's supposed to be. The stuff I had from the can has no mayo and is vinegar based and the potatoes are more firm. I have no idea which one would be considered more "authentic" as far as what "German potato salad" is supposed to be.
  As far as chemicals that may be in the canned stuff, I honestly didn't check and I don't eat potato salad often enough for it to be a real concern to me personally.
  If it seems that reprehensible to you then maybe just don't buy it? The fact that the store here keeps restocking it means someone must think it's good enough to keep buying it lol
  
  Fun fact: a small amount of vinegar in the cooking water helps to keep potatoes from getting mushy.
  
  You assume there's lots of chemicals, but did you check? The process of canning food doesn't necessarily require a lot of chemicals: a lot of canned food is cooked in the can, after it's sealed, which kills most of the microbes that might spoil the food and make you sick. And because it's sealed, no microbes can get in, either.

I have a very elderly relative. If you can only eat food that is not too firm, and you want easy-to-prepare stuff that you can keep on the shelf, and your tastes are kind of old fashioned, this sounds great.
- I could definitely see something like that, although I think you'd probably get something that tasted better with a blended potato soup and there's a bunch of canned varieties. I suppose if someone like that is jonesing for some potato salad (I wouldn't blame them, potato salad is great), this is the best way to give it to them.

Portability and stability. Same as any canned good.
Hell, some things are better canned because once the process is done, it's essentially exactly where you want it and stays there. Cranberry jelly, tomatoes, pineapple for deserts (seriously, it can be much better than fresh for some applications), peaches for some uses, even corn can be better at some things because it's canned. There's others, but it would get silly.
Now, I tend to agree that this isn't something I would stock up on, what with fresh being relatively easy to get if I was unable to make my own. But, if I lived by myself? If it was decent, it might be a better choice just because it's a smaller batch size. Less chance of wasting resource.

Canned goods are great, they last, keep the nutritional values, packaging can be recycled, etc
The 'they last' means also less trips to the store, and less logistics is good for everyone and everything.
Unless canned food is acidic, then the cans are layered in plastics & are basically plastic bottles with extra steps.
Perhaps there is even an argument to be made how a large scale industrial processing can be (which doesn't man is, but in proper countries it should be) much better, not only precise, but clean, with in some cases inherently far better ingredient quality (at least because of timing the ingredients), and more efficient too. It just takes less to implement an extra precaution or control in such an environment vs a big kitchen (or just someone mixing the ingredients at the store).
Often canned goods use no or at least much less preservatives compared to 'fresh' counterparts, simply bcs they just aren't needed (and either way it's cheaper to perfect the mechanical preservation processes than adding extra stuff in).
Also I really wanna open that can now :).
- It's about what's being canned, not the concept of canning.
  
  Yes, I was saying that it seems (imho) a good food to can and have stock at home.
  \ People live different lives, or perhaps even have cooking or mobility limitations.
  \ Or for situations like sailing of the grid where you can't reasonably store potatoes.
  I presume potato poisoning from badly made cans isn't a thing for at least a century ... If that's not the case, then I'll store my potatoes as vodka (I know, I know, most vodka isn't potato vodka).

Long term storage for emergencies, camping.
- If society collapses and all we have left to eat is canned potato salad, I'm leaving the fallout shelter.
  
  It may not be that bad, and it's probably just as healthy as all the other junk we eat. The only way to tell is if you... try it.
  But I probably have no right to comment on this. I just ate dry ramen a few minutes ago.
  
  I’d only leave the Vault if I can become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel.
  
  so, good news, we have enough canned potato salad for the next year. Um, I'm going to check to radiation levels outside. Don't you want a Geiger counter? Naw, I'm good

I would assume for increased shelf life. This is German style potato salad and I have seen the cans in stores for at least 30 years.
- That's one hell of a shelf life...
  
  There cans over 100 years old with still safe-to-eat food in them.

As a German I would suggest to burn these stores down.
- Why, are they owned by Jews?
  
  Kroger was founded by the son of German immigrants.

This would go great with canned dumplings. Just kidding. Or am I?
- What about a canned burger?
  
  That's not Danish!
  
  They sell canned hot dogs in the UK. I want a can to put on a shelf in the kitchen.

It's German potato salad which is even less salad like than American styled potato salad.

I'm just waiting for canned bread.
- https://bmbeans.com/product/brown-bread-plain/
  
  Holy shit
- Aw, you just reminded me of something. My grandma used to wash out soup cans, then use them to bake small raisin breads. She would make several at once and you could freeze them. I don't know where she got this idea but it was awesome always having these tiny raisin breads available :) especially if you don't want to commit to a whole full-sized loaf!
  
  Stories like these are why I love the internet. Just a wholesome little memory, made me smile thanks for sharing :)

First of all .. ew. I don't know who this is for honestly. Maybe it's one of those things that was used during war times that's now sold in stores because why not? Second, we have lots of Krogers in the US and they are currently trying to merge with Albertsons which would essentially create a monopoly on grocery stores. Let's all hope that doesn't go through.

A couple friends and I would get together for drinks, we all love to cook, one topic that frequently came up was 'stuff you hated as a kid'. Then we would meet the next week and present a good version of that dish. German potato salad was the only thing no one could make edible, it just sucks as a dish.
So Kroger decided to make it worse I guess?
- German potato salad is good, though. I’ve never had it inedible. Nothing mind blowing, but it’s fine as a side.
  Skill issue?
  
  Potato salad (European) is perfect along whatever you've put on the grill.

I can easily see how something like canned potato salad could be convenient to someone who doesn't want to spend time cooking and/or doesn't plan their meals much. Some people buy fresh produce or foods that will last just a couple of weeks in the fridge, they don't eat it, they throw it away. If you are like this, and only eat potato a couple times a year then you can just stock up on a few cans and not deal with the fresh option which needs planning. You can freeze fresh salad you say? Yes, but sometimes you don't want to deal with the thawing.
In short this serves the same purpose as canned beans or any other canned meal.

That does seem gross and weird.
I will note that this is German potato salad, which does not have mayo and instead has vinegar, so it's not quite as disgusting as I first thought.
Still, the only use cases I can think of would be camping and end of world prepping.

They might be using it as a base for something else, like breakfast hash browns.
Canned potatoes take on a flavor I don't like, but there's no denying the convenience of having shelf-stable cooked potatoes ready to eat or cook with. I keep canned tomatoes in the pantry for a similar reason. I prefer fresh, but if it's going into sauce or stew, canned is a time saver.

a supermarket for you non-Americans
Okay, no need to be condescending about some brand lol you guys really have nothing else to fight over huh
- I wasn't being condescending. I assumed there were people here from countries that had no Kroger and might not have heard of it because, as far as I know, there aren't Krogers all over the planet.
  But I could be wrong.
  Anyway, I was trying to be helpful, not condescending.
  Edit: Wikipedia suggests Kroger is just in the U.S., which certainly agrees with my lack of seeing it anywhere in my foreign travels.
  
  You were totally right to point it out, maybe the phrasing was a bit prone to this kind of reactions but anyone with a modicum of reading comprehension can tell it was meant as informative, not derisive.