Grocery III

Do they think we are stupid? Last week 12 packs of soda were 5/10$. SO 2$ each. Today they were "on sale" for 3/12$. So double. Do they think we are dumb, or is the math too much for the average american???

Finally Something Good (and some normal rants)

Saw something on the news that made me happy. Local farms will allow people to pay once per season to "own" some of the farm, giving them the right to 10lb of produce each week during the season. If everyone did it, it would discourage shipping in of mass-produced stuff from (you guessed it) other countries. What do you think happens when you grow a watermelon in a country with tainted water supplies? Plus it probably takes tons of fuel to ship food around, when it is easy to make it locally. And yes, when gas runs out, I will go a few months without tomatoes. This winter, I pulled a carrot from the ground in 10 degree weather, and it was fine staying underground. SO I think we can alter our winter diets and be FINE.

Anyways, wouldn't it save a ton of energy if every store in the US turned the A/C up 2 degrees all day, or at least for part of the day? Aren't you freezing when you leave a grocery store?

Oh yeh, and closing 600 starbucks stores is a good start.

Made in...

Asia????? Is this the new "Made in China" trying to sound less cheap... hmmmm

Food Part II

Take a look at the packaging. Its cleverly trying to hide the fact that the sizes are getting smaller even when price stays the same. Remember 8oz yogurt cups? All 6 now, and the price is still what it was, if not higher. How about ice cream. Good ole half-gallon container is now 1.75 quarts, and some brands are over 5$ consistently. I use to nice as a kid that chips and pretzels were fied with air. Still happening, but now it is done to put less food in as opposed to protecting the contents.

My new favorite though is 100-calorie packs. These clever packaging crooks are taking advantage of people watching their weight and putting a ridiculous amount in the carton. Most types wind up with 4-5oz TOTAL in the box, and they cost over 3 bucks, even when on sale. DO THE MATH!!, thats around 12$/pound, more than the price of filet mignon or prime rib. All you are getting is more landfill material. Do yourself a favor and buy a regular box of cookies or crackers.

Kids Food

Yummy. Take a look at these labels from kids meals. The left is "Kid Cuisine Fried Chicken", and the right is "Lunchables Hot Dogs". Both market to kids and parents on the go, so you know sales are great. Even better for the manufacturers, they are expensive to buy, and cheap to produce. Not bad....

Both are based on 2000-calorie diets too, so increase those numbers for the people they market to, who are all supposed to eat less than that. Does anyone wonder why diabetes and childhood obesity are running rampant?

Grocery Store Techniques

Times are tight, right? Diesel is 4$ a gallon, and oil companies make record profits. Corporate tax breaks, government bailing out banks who make billions every quarter, inflation running crazy. You read the news, and all of this is old. Now hear how the stores are combatting it.

First off, prices are going nuts for food. Its always a slow increase, so you might not notice, but almost every type of item (except stuff from China) is going up. Remember 2.99 for a gallon of milk? Try 4 if you are lucky. Remember 2.49 for a loaf of decent bread? Try 3.69 and counting. Pretty much most items are like this.

Second, they are making it harder to see what is a deal and what isn't. Shaws, our local store, makes the price tags for sales pretty mathematically challenging. Today, I found yogurt priced at 20/$10 and juice at 4/$8.88. Gimme a break. You don't need to buy that many to get the deal, so why not say $.50 or $2.22. Another way that stores are making it harder to get deals.

How about obstacle courses? Buy, this, that, and something you don't need, get this free. Buy 10 boxes of this brand of cereal this month and get 5$ off next month. This list of gimmicks goes on.

Lastly, I've noticed that they cleverly put stuff that isn't necessarily on sale in big piles, to make you think it is. Then the things that are good deals are quietly on the shelf with very little marking about the sale.

Clearly, the mind games will get more creative. Those of us who are pissed off about it will continue to get our deals by playing their games, but most people want. Its just like the casinos, who are willing to play close to 50/50 with some to get the less fortunate to play stupidly. The grocery stores are paying for the higher prices by taking it to the community that can't divide large numbers to see the price.

Sharper Image

is going bankrupt so won't be honoring gift cards.. seems unfair!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_re_us/bankruptcy_gift_cards