Fact check or price check?

There are some times where you have to wonder why stores are allowed to over charge an item, by such leaps and bounds, you have to ask yourself "who in the effing hell is buying this?".

I know stores like to pack a punch in the cost of products, but when the same item is at least 23 dollars less and you get 0.5 ounces more in a warehouse setting, there's no way I'd buy from this store.

For context:

My mother and I were at a Whole Foods meets Trader Joe's meets enter-all-natural-store-here place called Sprouts. 

According to the website, the store is "an effort to make natural foods accessible to everyone. Up until then, grocers offering fresh, organic choices were either too expensive to shop or too hard to find. We wanted to be different! No more weaving through a maze of narrow aisles without anyone offering to help. No more ingredient lists featuring 40 unpronounceable chemicals. And most of all, no more spending an entire paycheck for food from the honest effort of a farmer – not a factory". 

They also wanted to focus "on farm-fresh produce and other healthy, affordable items, we could create a grocery experience where you didn’t have to be wealthy to eat healthy!"

It goes on to say "[T]hink of Sprouts as all of the very best parts of a real farmers market under one roof, open every day of the week. With our commitment to value in every department, and knowledgeable and friendly team members, we’re confident that once you shop Sprouts you’ll think different is good too."

Problem is, as much as they have good deals on certain items  (like getting a BOGO deal on spices one week... I ended up with two things of turmeric, a shaker of Vietnamese Cinnamon and my mom was looking for something specific - of which I don't remember at this time), other items are priced way too high.

Which brings me to what I saw today.

I do not have a Costco membership. I would go with family and friends and then pay that person for the stuff I'd buy (normally they just ask if I want to go with, to get out for a bit, but then I end up spending enough dosh I should get my own card at some point). 

The warehouse sells a 2.7lb container of the Orgain Organic Protein and Superfoods Plant Based Protein Powder, in vanilla bean flavor. It's currently selling for $36.99, and that's been the price in person for a while, as it was around $32 previously. Sometimes it goes down to 30. 

Since I don't go every month to buy everything at the bulk box, I've found a 2.02lb canister on Amazon. The price fluctuates, but it's also 5 ounces less in the over all weight. Which translates to 6 day loss in servings (the bigger bottle yields 24 servings [or days as I look at it] and the smaller one is 18 servings [or days]. I only make it once, in the morning). 

Amazon right now is selling it for $26.49, but if you do a subscribe and save order (so it's a monthly subscription), it goes down to $25.17. 

I've got the subscribe and save for myself, so it's usually between $22 and $30, as I don't know why it goes up and down like that. Maybe it depends on how many pallets the warehouse gets, since I make sure this is one of the things that is shipped and sold by Amazon. I haven't tried any third party seller, even though I  do have that option enabled for some of the other powders I order. 

My "what in the crazy is this" moment, after explaining two different places I've purchased this product from, is this: Sprouts has the same can I get from Amazon, for over $25 MORE but I can pick it off the shelf right then and there. 

Honestly, that's absurd. 

But then again, talking it over with my mother, "if people are buying at Sprouts, they figure the store is organic, so they are buying something good. They aren't shopping at Walmart". 

So then let's price point a "healthy" competitor - Whole Foods.

If you don't do Amazon, but you do WF, you're paying $45.99 before tax for the 2.02lb can.

Who in their right mind is going to pay $60 after tax (Sprouts) or $50 after tax (Whole Foods) to get a tub of protein powder, where "settling does occur" and you're buying half the bottle? 

Seriously.. I see comments (reviews) online about this all the time. Things like "The company needs to fix its packaging program because you're paying for mainly air once the dust settles in the plastic". Or "The container looks huge, but since it's 2.02lbs of powder, once it sits, that weight doesn't change, so fix the outside and adjust for the inside". 

Imagine making a sand castle and only filling the pail halfway. You paid the builder (your kid) to make a really cool and high house on the beach, but the tools used aren't getting all the way full. What do you do?

I understand there are so many variances with this, and it can go any way. But when people are starting to get smart about recycling and conserving energy (fossil fuels), why are brands still pushing out giant vessels for little product? 

One word: Money.

?

They know people will pay for it, but at who's cost? I've said this before - do your research when you buy stuff. 

I am always careful when I go to the "help yourself" bulk food stores. When the price per pound is anywhere from $7.99 to $25, I am always careful to get the item in under a pound. Most times I walk out of the store with 5 ounces or less of every item, and my shopping bag is full of powders, candy, nuts, granola. You name it, I probably bought it, and paid between $20 and $25, yet I've got 10 items where the total price should have been one pound for one high ticket item. 

Okay, so let me explain this logic / example. 

There's a one off store in Ellenton, Florida (by Sarasota / Bradenton). It's a bulk food store, where you help yourself to bagging items that are put in big oak barrels. Everything is clean and labeled accordingly. 

According to my last receipt (I still have it in my inbox), I bought: 

• Australian Style Red Licorice ($6.99/lb) × 0.234 lb = $1.64
• Hemp Seed  ($11.99/lb) × 0.036 lb = $0.43
• Dark Chocolate Espresso Bean ($12.69/lb) × 0.090 lb = $1.14
• Ju Ju Cinnamon Bears ($4.49/lb) × 0.156 lb = $0.70
• Whey Protein ($12.99/lb) × 0.068 lb = $0.88
• Dried Sweet Cherries ($17.49/lb) × 0.146 lb = $2.55
• Coconut Bon Bons ($7.69/lb) × 0.278 lb = $2.14
• Organic Goji Berries ($17.99/lb) × 0.074 lb = $1.33
• Organic Pea Protein  ($12.99/lb) × 0.140 lb = $1.82
• Australian Style Black Licorice ($6.99/lb) × 0.170 lb = $1.19
• Dried mixed berries ($12.59/lb) × 0.196 lb = $2.47
• Tri-Colored Coffee Beans ($9.59/lb) × 0.152 lb = $1.46
• Indian Summer Oriental Rice Snack Mix ($6.99/lb) × 0.146 lb = $1.02

Totaling $18.98 after tax. 

For a fat kid, I'm very frugal when it comes to this stuff because I know it won't last long if I get a pound or more of any of it, as sometimes they go stale quickly. 

Plus, I've got name brand stuff at home in the cabinet from when they were BOGO at the grocery store. This stuff I get at the bulk store are items to go with what I've got. Something different to pack with lunch, type of thing.

Therefore, when you buy a lot of items that need proper storage, you have to learn to spread it out over the weeks in good containers and make sure it's not going bad. I mean, don't sleep on them, but also don't eat them like the world is going to end in two days.

The zombie apocalypse is not yet nigh. 

Since these are treats that I can't get locally (or haven't seen locally), it's hard to stop myself from going overboard. I know going in to the store, I have a price limit on things, and if I want extra of one item, I have to adjust accordingly. I do get amazed, though, when I watch other people load up bags to the brim of oats or rice, and they surely have 4+ pounds worth of the item. It feels like I'm taking advantage of getting it for significantly less. It's a self esteem thing in a way. I know, don't think like that, just do you, but it's hard to walk out with a full bag of stuff and not wonder what you just got since most of it so cheap. I do get a lot for my dollar though, I have to admit that. 

Some of the things I did see today at Sprouts, and bought were two bags of various protein powder. I don't have the receipt as my mother had shredded it, so I don't remember the prices. One was hemp protein powder and it was listed for $18 per pound (if I recall correctly). I bought under a dollar's worth. The other was some collagen peptide mix that I keep seeing in other brands and haven't picked up yet (I've seen positive reviews). That was listed as $20 a pound (I think). Again, I bought under a dollar's worth. 

It's like Ronnie Spector, George Harrison and David Bowie once suggested, "Try some, buy some". But I bought some to try some instead. 

So again, it all goes back to seeing what you like and want to try, doing some research and buying what you can afford. In this day and age when there are so many people out of work and homes, not everyone can afford protein powder or organic dried fruit. I get it. But there comes a time when you do have the ability to buy and you should if you want it. If it is within your dieting range, go for it.

I know the Orgain list is daunting and there are things in it that are questionable, but at the end of the day, it's my breakfast. I don't eat anything in the morning. I make a smoothie and a cup of coffee and I'm checking my emails before I start my day. I have to wake up feeling like I've not eaten in a week, in order to eat in one morning. It's super rare for me to do that. I have to force myself to eat in the morning if I have to eat. It's not a good feeling. That's why I make a smoothie and a cup of coffee and I'm good. 

Take care of yourself.

Cheers;

See Also (aka Try Some, Buy Some):

• I guess Ronnie's version is a little hard to come by on Amazon, but it's on some compilation called Come And Get It - The Best Of Apple Records. 
• George Harrison's version is track 9 on Living in the Material World
• Bowie's version is track 9 (coincidence?) on Reality