Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise
Posted by hanashi on Apr 23, 2008 · Member since Nov 2007 · 2533 posts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080424/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_rice
The move comes as U.S. rice futures hit a record high amid global food inflation, although one rice expert said the warehouse chains may be reacting less to any shortages than to stockpiling by restaurants and small stores.
It seems like this "shortage" is causing everyone to try to raise prices: manufacturer, distributor, the store, whoever. It wouldn't make sense for a grocery store to pretend that the prices are higher and therefore discontinue cinnamon buns, but it's probably the people selling them the flour that also raise prices.
This kind of price gauging is ridiculous. I also heard about soy prices going up, and subsequently prices went up at both my grocery store (Raleys) and Whole Foods. Even items with barely any soy went up: tofutti cuties, which are fully of corn syrup and hydrogenated junk (tofu is down on the list) went from 4.19 to 4.69 for a box. The price was ALREADY high!
Plus, if the prices are really going up that much, shouldn't meat/dairy/egg prices go up way more, since these animals have to consume the same foods (corn, soy) over a lifetime (well, "lifetime")? We should be hearing more complaints about meat and milk than anything...
I figure if the prices stay the same at one store, the cost hasn't really increased. Most products at Trader Joe's haven't gone up, though over the year some products have gone up (but before the talk of inflation )
I bought three little packages of brown rice at $1.66 each. I probably shouldn't be "hoarding" rice but I like to have a stock in case the Apocalypse happens and I don't get "raptured" away. :-D
In point of fact, I just bought a big bag of rice a week or so ago and it was 50 cents cheaper than the last bag. So apparently Spain isn't affected, and Thailand isn't either...at least not so far.
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