Food Prices Soar to “Nutty Levels”
A price-and-sanity check by SF Staff Grocery Expert Julia Chinier
I love cashews. Absolutely love ’em, love ’em, LOVE ’em. I always get my nuts from my local Walgreens. They carry the ‘Nice’ brand and these are good-quality, tasty little things–all of them. I especially enjoy their cashews. I only buy these when they go on sale and Walgreens does do some fairly aggressive markdowns. See the drop from $7.99 to $2.99? It could be a ‘loss-leader’ or more likely, clearing inventory before it approaches the expiration date. It’s a common practice in the grocery biz.
But look at that label in the middle. $8 for a small-ish bag of nuts? We all know it, we all see it, and everyone is tired of seeing grocery prices rise, everyone is tired of talking about it and why? Because, seemingly, there is NO ceiling or a whisper of relief anywhere in sight. Honestly, when is it going to stop? I’m a consumer, just like you. I’m also a reporter, so I did some digging on the cashews. Why? Take a look at the picture above. That’s an 8-ounce resealable, gusseted bag of Walgreen’s own “Nice” brand of whole cashews. Now look at the price. Walgreens sells LOTS of nuts.
Six months ago, I remember these were $4.99 per bag…for the same bag. Now, Walgreens is claiming that fuel prices/minimum wage prices/operating expenses, etc., have risen so much as to justify a 38% increase?
Read that again: THIRTY-EIGHT PERCENT.
I’m calling Bulls*&#…pardon my French. I’m from Louisiana, so I learned the language of BS early in life, but when it comes to common sense, no one spots it better. A bag of cashews spikes from $4.99 to $7.99 in six months withOUT a reasonable, financial explanation? That’s what they’re telling us? I walked over and asked one of the assistant managers at my store, a nice lady I’ve known for years. You know what she said?
“Gas prices keep going up.”
I nodded and smiled and changed the subject away from work and we talked about dinner plans, but I jotted down a little mental note to call on Walgreens’ primary food distribution supplier: themselves. The “Nice” brand is Walgreens’ own private label. They contract a 3rd party co-packer to produce and distribute the finished product (and they won’t say who). I called the main Walgreens corporate line and guess what? Walgreens ain’t talkin’.
Click the link. Walgreens’ corporate number in Deerfield, IL. Call ’em up and ask something like, “Are you nuts?” and then tell them your story and why. They might very well explain why they’re raising nuts by 38% (which is another way of saying they’re taking 38% out of your bank account.
By the way, I’ve got the media contact address, but I can’t give that out…yet. Let’s see how Walgreens behaves or reacts after enough people raise holy hell about this. That means you! –JC
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