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Food in Hawaii is relatively expensive, mainly because of its location which makes shipping harder. Hawaii's overall cost of living is above average, too.
Sigh. What would make me think they were not, after reading something like the article below?
The Sullivans are way too business savvy to be holding on to enterprises that were not profitable. Simple case of deductive reasoning, no hard "proof" necessary. No idea if they are "very" profitable but I think it's a safe bet that they are not losers.
I doubt Foodland makes much money. I'm kind of surprised people think grocery stores are some kind of cash cow - between all the costs to run the business think of all the stuff they have to throw away everyday.
McDonalds whom they are associated with is a different story, that is the moneymaker - Foodland is probably just diversification.
Congrates for not having your head in the sand. No use argueing with viper. We in this country kinda have a form of denial. We seem to make excuses for bad behavior. What Patty was saying I agree 100% and the Sullivans are an example. We keep making excuses like well the reason things are so expensive is the cost of running an enterprise in Hawaii is so high etc etc. When common since says if you have 140 locations in 11 states and paid more than $30 million for a struggling 10 store Star Mart Market in 2009 the cost of doing business in Hawaii isnt all that bad nor is grocery unprofitable. Samething for the tourism, in 2012 it was a record breaking year with 14.3 billion was spent by tourists. But some how a gallon of milk is almost $9 plus tax. Employees are grossly underpaid for the cost of living etc etc. So yes I would say that someone is taking advantage of people. Whats even worse is this was at a time of a economic slump, where nationally some people where forced to live with less or told to tighten their belts.
Well, we could get a wholesale license, find out what cases of assorted foods cost, figure out how many cases will fit into a container, figure out how much per case to charge to cover the cost of shipping, then presell the cases and use the money we gathered to buy the stuff and ship it over. Add in a small percentage to cover the bother of doing it and see if it is a lot cheaper to bypass the stores. They buy their stock from some sort of whole saler, how many cases do you need to buy before you get wholesale prices?
Shipping by ocean freight, it's volume that costs, not weight so we can order in all the heavy stuff. Ten case of Spam, anyone?
If Foodland was grossly overcharging people just because we are on an island - then either some sort of government oversight would happen, or there would be a media event, or some competitor would come in. Food costs what it costs. No conspiracy theory - if it didn't cost that much and a profit could be made then somebody would open up a store.
Or, is every single grocery store in on the conspiracy theory????
If Foodland was grossly overcharging people just because we are on an island - then either some sort of government oversight would happen, or there would be a media event, or some competitor would come in. Food costs what it costs. No conspiracy theory - if it didn't cost that much and a profit could be made then somebody would open up a store.
Or, is every single grocery store in on the conspiracy theory????
I doubt business owners in Hawai'i are in a backroom somewhere really wringing their hands and saying "I purposely want to stick it to the Hawai'i residents". No, but I do think in an attempt to make as much profits as possible has caused the costs to skyrocket. Further coupled with the ideal of "The paradise tax" which is how much are you willing to pay to live in Hawai'i, which is the ideal of instead of what is reasonable, its how far can we go? Another contributing factor is the ability for citizens to effect Politics and policy( continue next post)
which has become very weak due to a one party system, this has stifled meaningful public discussion and allowed special interests to control the marketplace and costs. In part because of the high cost of living, people are so busy paying bills and eking out a living that they just accept it.
Cost of property is a leading argument to explain the high cost of housing. The supply has remained the same since forever. The islands are the same size now as 40years ago. But housing or property costs have risen 760 percent from 1972 to 1990? Same amount of land another example of "The paradise tax".
Cost of doing business in Hawai'i is also a common arguement. But what is more expensive? Cost of electricity? Truth is cost of electricity is cheaper for business then its citizens. Residents pay 35 cents per kWh vs Large Power use business which is 28 cents per kwh (prices avrg for 2012).
Wages? Truth is Hawai'i has the lowest wages per cost of living in the country. (continue next post)
Cost of property is a leading argument to explain the high cost of housing. The supply has remained the same since forever. The islands are the same size now as 40years ago. But housing or property costs have risen 760 percent from 1972 to 1990? Same amount of land another example of "The paradise tax".
It is rather simplistic to talk about supply in regards to housing - when demand is left out of the equation.
Here is a good article on rising housing costs since the 50's.
in 1976 the min wage was 2.40hr
in 1988 the min wage was 3.85hr
Today 7.25hr almost twice it was 30 years ago.
But sale have been setting record highs the last year and compaired to 30years ago the price of goods has skyrocketted for example. In 1970s the bus cost .10, 1980 .25, today 2.50. Gal of milk 1980s $2.50 today $9.00. Pack of cigarettes 1970s $1.25, today $10.00. The shipping distance is the same.
Taxes etc: Well even back in 1970s Hawai'i has always had the highest taxes for business.
Their are many factors to why things are more expensive. Its really hard to compare Hawai'i cost for food etc from past to current because Hawai'i unlike other states didn't keep records of prices that far back. Mahalo.
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