Before I begin, allow me to state that this is obviously not a scientific study. I am technically on the border of NC and SC, so I went to 2 Bi-Lo stores and they had the exact same prices in both NC and SC, therefore I am correctly or incorrectly assuming the prices should be relatively comparable. Please feel free to check my math on any of this.
(lowest price in green, highest in red)
Bread (white) - 1.07 - W, 1.09 - B, 0.96- T, 2.29 (1.59) - H
Milk (2%) - 4.22 - W, 3.99 - B, 4.64 - T, 3.69 - H
Lunchmeat, Ham - 0.50 - W, 0.79 (0.60) - B, 0.52 - T, 0.79 - H
Lettuce (Iceberg) - 1.28 - W, 1.59 - B, 1.29 - T, 1.59 - H
Bean (Black Beans in a can) - 0.50 - W, 0.82 (0.70) - B, 0.54 - T, 0.64 - H
Soft Drink (2 liter Coke) - 1.33 - W, 1.59 (1.25) - B, 1.49 - T, 1.69 (1.59) - H
Laundry Detergent (125 oz liquid) - 2.27 - W, 2.50 - B, 3.34 - T, 3.49 (2.50) - H
Ketchup (24 oz Heinz) - 1.62 - W, 1.79 - B, 1.47 - T, 1.79 - H
Soap (3 bars of Irish Spring) - 1.78 - W, 2.19 - B, 1.79 - T, 2.39 (1.50) - H
Cereal (Corn Flakes) - 1.33 - W, 1.99 - B, 1.67 - T, 2.69 - H
Totals
Super Wal-Mart - $15.40
Bi-Lo - $18.34 ($17.81 - with Bonus Card)
Super Target - $17.71
Harris Teeter - $21.10 ($18.42 with VIC card)
More than Wal-Mart
Bi-Lo = 19% (16%)
Super Target = 15%
Harris Teeter = 37% (20%)
At $100 a week for a year, you pay _____ more at ______ than at Super Wal-Mart.
$988 ($832) Bi-Lo
$780 Super Target
$1924 ($1040)Harris Teeter
What I could have done to improve this "experiment"? I think next time, the thing to do would be to compare unit prices on the best bargains. Reason being, I passed up some really good deals at both Target and Bi-Lo because I had already chosen which products I was pricing. That being said, do I think that it would make one of them cheaper? No, of course not, but it could probably cut the price down to about 10% or so above the Super Wal-Mart price.
Even taking the above as gospel, I would still rather pay 15-20% more for groceries than do what I consider selling my soul. My ethics (or soul) are not worth even 2 grand a year. That is just the way I see it.
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4 comments:
Again, please DO NOT take any I say as morally judgmental. It isn't meant to be, though I think there should be a forum for such a discussion somewhere and here is as good a place as any. So should you want to debate moral and ethical motivations and actions we can... but anyway...
I discovered there is a hidden Food Lion about two miles from my place too, it is still within the 5 mile radius of all the others stores and I will have its results posted tomorrow.
Finally, I did want to reiterate the fact that unit pricing would have been a better idea on my part. I think that some of the prices are skewed because of lack of availability of certain quantities of items (especially laundry detergent - Target had only one detergent in that size, 125 oz, yet they had one that was 165 oz for like 2.50, that definitely would change it's standing - almost a dollar off would put it at under 10% more than Wal-Mart).
Anyway, check back later for the Food Lion rundown.
I understand your principles on this and do not disagree with them in any way shape or form. However - I have one Food Lion here that's prices are WAY over what I can pay, I have one BiLo that doesn't carry 1/2 the stuff I need because I can't just eat anything because of my health issues, I have a Target on the complete other side of town that also doesn't carry 1/2 the stuff I need and because it is on the other side of town adds a huge gas price on top of the grocery bill that I would then have to go elsewhere to complete my shopping and add more cost for gas and groceries. I have a Wal-Mart that is a 5 minute drive from my house that carries everything I need at a price I can currently afford because I can afford very little. Every week when I get paid I pay the bills that have got to be paid and then I take the tiny bit I have left and buy the things I need to survive. I usually have around 50 bucks to make it from that paycheck to the next and with that 50 bucks I need gas, food, prescriptions, food and litter for the cat and various other things. I get paid every two weeks and B. gets paid every week. Bear in mind B. was also unemployed for quite some time so we're still playing catch up on many things which eats even more to the money we have to spend to survive. Do I want to shop at Wal-Mart all the time, no - I understand the issues and I see the problems - but I am not in a position to say "well I just won't eat or get my medicine or feed my cat or wash my hair or put gas in the car or pay my bills this week so I can either drive to 4 different stores to get everything I need". I wish that I was - but I'm just not.
I know it's meant to be a forum for discussion - but it's getting to sound oddly like all the sermons that made me completely disassociate myself from Organized Religion. Is stealing a loaf of bread to feed yourself when you are poor and starving morally wrong? Yes - techincally it is. Would I do it in a second if I needed to? Absolutely - with no second thoughts, no guilt, and no apologies for it. This is very close to the position I find myself in now. Coming to Charlotte a few weeks ago was something B. and I literally spent 4 evenings/afternoons on top of our regular 8 hour jobs to be able to afford to do. We've both been working extra jobs for almost 3 months now just to save up enough money to go to DragonCon and we're still going to have to hold fast to every single penny. I have no credit cards - and I never will again (you want to talk about moral issues there's a topic for you). The money I have is all I have and it's eaten up by the bills I have now (our one splurge is a cable modem - we have no land line phone, we have no cable TV) and the ones that I'm trying to work off from when the lovely medical system we are all so lucky to have botched up my health so royally that I'll be medicated and eating very specific foods for the rest of my life - If I'm lucky I'll get to have one maybe two surgeries for the stomach conditions that are just waiting in the wings - and yet I'm still paying for the moronic doctors that caused most of the problem.
Frankly I have enough things in my life to feel guilty and confused and down right BAD about. I've done plenty of bad things in my life. I don't see my family and friends like I should. I've heaped a tremendous amount of debt on myself, my family and my husband that they didn't ask for. I never finished college and I probably never will. I'm exhausted with being on the low end of the poverty line. My first year of marriage was a complete disaster in which I felt as though I had never so completely and utterly failed another human being that I cared so much for so entirely. These are just a few of the many things that I go to bed at night tearing myself apart over because there is absolutely nothing I can do about any of them. Making sure that myself, my husband and my cat have something to eat (however meager that may be) by taking my small amount of spending money to Wal-Mart is not one of them - and frankly if whatever ultimate being is out there pulling the marianette strings of the world wants to condemn me to hell for THAT - the he/she/it can go fuck itself - and I'd rather be in hell.
Okay - I've calmed down and breathed deeply.
I still feel the way that I feel about this particular issue and I'm trying not to take it personally (as I know it was not intended to be) but considering you're one of my oldest and dearest friends - the fact that you whole heartedly despise what I have to do to survive is quite bothersome to me and puts me in a existential crisis and I don't like to be in those.
I have been a disappointment to many people for quite awhile. I just don't want to add another to the list.
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