Groceries (San Antonio, Austin, Anton: buy, organic, property taxes)

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by catriona

I do most of my grocery shopping at either Walmart or Sams and get the produce and burger HEB. It's easier to buy in bulk and then freeze what you don't use. Makes me wish I had a deep freeze instead of just the freezers that come with the fridges.

One thing I don't get is why HEB charges $1 more for milk than Sam's or Walmart. I didn't think their wholesale prices would be that much more that the big box marts. Bananas went up to .40+ / lb the last time I was there. I'm sure there's other items that went up just because of the gas price issue. Now they say the price of corn will go up, so look out for all things corn related, to include meat, poultry and dairy products to go up up up...

Oh, also buy my gas at Sams - usually much cheaper than anywhere else.

you actually found bananas for 40 cents a lb?!! bananas had been 39 cents a lb ever since i could remember (dating back at least to the mid 1980s), it shocked me when i saw that HEB ratcheted them up to 44 cents, then 48 cents, where they are now. that's a 25 % price increase.

[Chaka]

This is a great time for local farmers' markets to come out in force.

Buying local would help reduce the dependence on oil (ie no need for trucking in produce from far flung places).

[Spock's Beard]

Originally Posted by Chaka

This is a great time for local farmers' markets to come out in force.

Buying local would help reduce the dependence on oil (ie no need for trucking in produce from far flung places).

If demand for local produce increases, prices would go up. It's a losing situation.

One thing that would help is more competition. HEB has a near-monopoly, with the only real competitors being Wal-Mart and Target. It's sad, and very few cities have the kind of tight market with low competition that San Antonio does.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Spock's Beard

If demand for local produce increases, prices would go up. It's a losing situation.

Supporting local farmers is a losing situation? I'd say it helps all of us.

Originally Posted by Spock's Beard

One thing that would help is more competition. HEB has a near-monopoly, with the only real competitors being Wal-Mart and Target. It's sad, and very few cities have the kind of tight market with low competition that San Antonio does.

Not necessarily, grocery prices are increasing across the country, even in markets with lots of competition, simply because gas prices are going up. Since the vast majority of the items sold in grocery stores is brought in from far away, the prices will reflect the cost of transportation, as that increases, so do the prices.

While no doubt local farmers will also get hit with increased fuel costs, the overall effect should not drive up prices as substantially as it does for major grocery chains for whom transportation is a major element.

Overall, I'd prefer to buy local. Not that I always do, as I haven't yet found
local farmers' markets that are worthwhile, but maybe I just haven't spent enough time looking (I loved the farmers market in Indiana). I am willing to spend a bit more for local produce if it means less dependence upon oil. It may mean giving up my French cheeses, but that's ok.

[Spock's Beard]

There is a demand-driven aspect to prices, and prices aren't entirely about oil. Businesses are out to make money, and so their prices go up when demand does.

Funny thing about price changes is they go up quickly when oil rises, but lower slowly when oil falls. That's because they hold on to the prices for extra $$$. It's business. Businesses operate on profits and losses. There's nothing hidden about it.

[montevista1]

Eggs at costco is a good deal. Also trader joes, but u dont have them in san antonio. 99 cent store also is not bad. 2 dollars a dozen.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by montevista1

Eggs at costco is a good deal. Also trader joes, but u dont have them in san antonio. 99 cent store also is not bad. 2 dollars a dozen.

Do they sell eggs from free range chickens?

[montevista1]

Fuel costs have to do with the weak dollar. Demand is not up in the USA. The dollar though is super weak, so it takes more dollars to buy a barrell of oil.

[Spock's Beard]

Originally Posted by montevista1

Fuel costs have to do with the weak dollar. Demand is not up in the USA. The dollar though is super weak, so it takes more dollars to buy a barrell of oil.

Worldwide demand is increasing thanks to China buying more and more oil. Since we get our oil from the same places everyone does, up goes the oil prices. With the population always increasing and more cars always being sold, I don't find it unreasonable to believe that US demand is up too.

Prices are definitely demand-driven. If they were supply-driven, the costs wouldn't allow the oil companies to be making the kinds of record profits they're making and they'd be doing more to lower prices by gaining more quantity. They'd also build more refinery capacity, which we lack enough of. But they're not going to do any of that. World demand has made it to be a pretty sweet time to work for an oil company.

[smuboy86]

Actually China gets most of their Oil from Russia a non-OPEC nation, so even though China's demand has gone up, it isn't taking any real supply away. US demand is actually down 1.7 percent from last year. The build up in oil prices is, yes due to a weaker US dollar and energy traders putting money into commodities, rather than stock. This is evident in the run up of Gold as well.