<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> Leigh Meyers wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid000701c581a2$da228e70$17336a45@leighmnet"> <pre wrap="">What I want to know: What happened to the "economy of scale"? (This also prominently figures into the organic vs non-organic cost of food) I went into a Safeway Supermarket to buy some 1/2 & 1/2 for my coffee the other day and it was $2.29(Safeway brand)... The local 7-11 gets $2.39(Borden) and the local "health food" store(quotes intentional), a 3 store chain, gets $1.85 for a non-organic bay area product(Clover-Stornetta).</pre> </blockquote> Oh, it makes perfect sense. It's called monopoly pricing. If you live in an area where's there's anything to compare it to, you'll soon notice that Safeway is as expensive or more expensive than everything else. A loaf of break from the local bakery, baked fresh this morning is 2.75; plastic bread from Safeway is 2.99. The meat is more expensive at Safeway than at the local butcher's, and the produce is pure tasteless plastic and expensive. Because I live in an area with framers' markets and alternative markets, I use Safeway only for detergent, cat food, light bulbs, and toilet paper -- all of which I only get on sale. Also, some folks go to Safeway despite crappy quality and high prices because 1) it's one stop shopping and 2) it has packaged foods if you're into that. Economies of scale are good for undercutting competitor's prices. Once that's done, they've got you by the balls. Joanna </body> </html>