On a related note, I noticed that all of the major grocery stores have major markups on their products here in CA (that's Von's, Albertson's and Ralph's). How do I know this? Because I have a few local grocery stores nearby and when I shop there almost all of the standard prices are the big guy's sales prices. And when the local place has sales, they're quite a bargain, like 10lb oranges for $1 versus the big guys' sales of 2lb oranges for $1. I've also noticed that Costco produce prices are way up there too compared to my local place, like peaches at $3/lb versus the local guy at 99-cents/lb; the main difference is that Costco has reliably high quality produce and the local guy doesn't...but since I can buy at the little guy and throw away 2/3 and get the same price as Costco, I go little and find that most of what I buy is great stuff.