Grocery gouging

I don't know if one of our local grocery chains is trying to build more capital to be able to buy the other local chain, or if the second chain is trying to show that they are profitable enough to be worth buying, but I do know when I'm getting gouged.

Gouged and shocked at how far these chains think they can go in brazenly raising their prices, weekly in many cases, in spite of all the economic indicators that inflation is and has been, under control for several quarters.

When I see prices on some items as much as 50-100% more than they were just a year ago, well, it doesn't take a math whiz to know that those numbers are way more than inflationary. And, to add insult to injury, to get that whimsical "sale" price, you have to buy multiples of the item.

I asked another shopper in the aisle I was in yesterday, "just how dumb do they think we are?" She replied, "pretty dumb, because we keep buying them."

She's right, I guess, but I'm going to start shopping around and hope I can find a grocer that's actually basing their prices on supply and demand, instead looking for the next set of suckers.

Tom Dillivan

Schaumburg