[Muckingfess]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mack12345', '
') Its easier to buy 3 cans of spam and toss them in the cubbord and forget about them .. esp if your a once a month fixed income shopper .Then 3 weeks later remove them at your lesiure 1 can at a time for a meal .
As opposed to buying/freezeing a whole roster chicken .. when then 3 weeks later needs to be thawed .. cooked "all at once" and then consumed in its entirety relitively quickly before it begins to spoil .
In short I would contend that it is the poorest amoungst us that are currently being driven to the beginings of desperation "mosly fixed income disabled/elderly" . For them I think that a canned meat "IE spam" is a more viable alternitive to some of the cheeper fresh meats .
Most of these people are mainly only feeding 1 or maybe 2 mouths .. so sometimes cooking a full chicken/turkey can seem counter productive .

[bruce2288]

This also true for most lunch meat.. You can buy a chicken, ham or pork shoulder for less than the price ofmost convenience meats. In my opinion have a much better sandwich. In the grocery meat case looking at the amount of prepared offering, ie stuffed pork chops, bacon wrappe fillets, stuffed chicken breasts , priced at a premium. Also the amount of deli food being checked out , the majority of people are not price constrained in their food shopping. my opinion only.

[Jenab6]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')hanks for this interesting post, Mack, and for the time and effort you put into it.

Those "stealth" price increases are awfully disturbing. One wonders where they will eventually lead---to cans of tuna the size of bottle caps?

[Jenab6]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('VMarcHart', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', 'I')'m a firm believer in PO and the great die-off, but I never understood some of the people on this site who have a fixation for hoarding 1,000 lbs worth of food and keeping it in long term storage.

[FoolYap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mack12345', 'D')id a little math on this ... in my area the price of a 12 oz can of spam runs as cheep as 2.12 and as high as 2.36 .
Indeed whole roster chickens are cheeper .. in the 1.40 per lb range .. as is Ground beef and turkey.
I think though as best as I can tell those are just about the only fresh meat products than can under-cut spam at this time .
Pork chops , Pork or beef roasts , Ribs , Steaks , ect are all much higher in price .

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FoolYap', 'A')gain, I know you're not advocating anything, just the messenger. I just can't help but wonder whether people buying Spam are thinking these things through. If they actually like the greasy stuff, well that's different.

[FoolYap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jlw61', '4')) Spam is useful:
* Prop up a broken chair leg.
* Poison a neighbor's dog.
* It's better than scrapple.
* Use it to convince the zombies you have no food.

[Gothor]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', 'W')hy the hell can't you get lemon juice anymore?

It seems always to be OS.

[Barbara]

A question from a dumb European:

are they shrinking boxes but leaving the price as it is????


This is illegal here. You must write the price per kilo by law. So people can do the math instantly. Shrinking boxes of 10 or 20% is illegal.

[Byron100]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'A') question from a dumb European:

are they shrinking boxes but leaving the price as it is????


This is illegal here. You must write the price per kilo by law. So people can do the math instantly. Shrinking boxes of 10 or 20% is illegal.

[skeptik]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'A') question from a dumb European:

are they shrinking boxes but leaving the price as it is????


This is illegal here. You must write the price per kilo by law. So people can do the math instantly. Shrinking boxes of 10 or 20% is illegal.

[skeptik]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mack12345', '
')
I am thinking of going cold turkey again starting at 6am est july,17th . I need to quit these things , it scares me how strong there grip over me is .

[VMarcHart]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'W')hy are they shrinking boxes but leaving the price as it is? This is illegal here. You must write the price per kilo by law. So people can do the math instantly. Shrinking boxes of 10 or 20% is illegal.

[FoolYap]

Boneless pork loin on sale here for $1.29/lb this week...

I assume prices like this are loss-leaders for a store? Can't be much, if any profit in it.

--Steve

[JJ]

work in produce department.
angry customers daily; get cussed out weekly.
yesterday customer wants to know why our produce is always wilted; why our grocery store doesn't use refrigerated trucks.
rants for a while, then i tell her to go somewhere where she'll be happy to shop.
customer gets manager; I have to apologize for being rude.
manager says don't mention gas prices, oil prices, grocery prices; stress how cheap our store is and how much money we are saving them. (?)
(potatoes 2.99 to 7.99 for eight pound bag) coconut milk (which we use a lot of) 2.19 a can, same .70 a can in Austin.

let the lying/deception begin. (although guess we've been doing it for awhile)

[VMarcHart]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JJ', '.')..customer gets manager; I have to apologize for being rude. manager says don't mention gas prices, oil prices, grocery prices; stress how cheap our store is and how much money we are saving them. (?)

[MarkJ]

Here's a typical meat department sale in my region of Upstate New York.



Sales of SPAM must be regional since SPAM doesn't move well in my region due to the relatively high price.

We generally stock up on chicken and/or pork when it goes on sale every couple weeks.

[TWilliam]

You know when it comes down to it, these sorts of manipulations aren't a new thing. Reducing packaged weight has been a standard method of passing on price increases for years. Someone posted a pic upthread of the Breyer's ice cream containers going from 1.75 down to 1.5 quarts. Maybe they've forgotten that it used to be a half gallon?

Another similar tactic relates to the nutritional content labeling. When concerns arise over, for example, the sodium content of an item, the manufacturer might reduce the 'Serving Size' listed on the label, thus giving the illusion that the product has less sodium. I mean, who considers one of those little bags of chips you frequently find next to the register to be two servings, for example?

There's a whole lot of psychology that goes into packaging, presentation, arrangement and placement of products in a grocery store. Ever notice for example how when there's a large selection of a particular type of product, that the lower cost items are usually on the bottom or top shelves, while the premium brands are at eye level? Or that the most essential items --typically milk, butter and eggs-- are nearly always the furthest possible distance fr0m the entrance?

Also, more 'basic', or staple non-fresh items (canned and jarred goods) tend to be placed in narrow aisles to discourage both time spent comparing prices and bending for the cheaper stuff on the bottom shelves because of the claustrophobic feeling, while the less essential items (chips, soda, etc.) are in wide aisles, encouraging you to relax and spend more time there.

Lots of other 'tricks' too, but you get the idea...

[Lanthanide]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', 'N')othing makes me more angry than the feeling of being ripped off by paying more for less. At the very least, can't they be upfront and just raise prices and keep the same size?

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('VMarcHart', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'W')hy are they shrinking boxes but leaving the price as it is? This is illegal here. You must write the price per kilo by law. So people can do the math instantly. Shrinking boxes of 10 or 20% is illegal.