CallMeKate
Well-known Member
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic US
Groceries today totaled almost $100!
- Thread starter debodun
- Start date
MACKTEXAS
Well-known Member
Supermarkets here can sell cigarettes, as can convenience stores, gas stations, and such, but they have to be behind the counter where only an employee can get them upon request. Our major grocer, Brookshire's, has a pharmacy for prescriptions and other OTC medications on shelves, just like any other products. Reading glasses can be purchased in any store that wants to sell them, without a prescription.
Walmart has prescription eyewear section, but that's kind of an over-reach for a regular grocery store, although they could have such a department if they wanted to.
Who knows how all these laws came to be . . . a clerk has to get cigarettes for a customer, but any customer can walk in and pick up alcohol off the shelf (even though they may need to show I.D. in either case).
MarciKS
SF VIP
- Location
- Great Plains
I buy as much generic and Walmart brand stuff as I can because it's always two to four bucks cheaper. But, nearly everything is at least $5 and up. That adds up. I can easily spend $75 on 12 items. I try to shop as carefully as I can but, sometimes I like treats so I will get them.
Some folks refuse to use generic or change their shopping habits. I wish I could afford brand name but, I can't. I get the great value toilet paper 36 rolls equals 144 regular for $22.96. Charmin gives you 30 rolls that equal 120 regular for $32.98. Big difference and less tp. Lasts me quite a while as well. I use a lot of tp. I try to look at what gives me the most for my money at less cost.
I prefer brand name as much as anyone else but if I did that I'd go broke.
Some folks refuse to use generic or change their shopping habits. I wish I could afford brand name but, I can't. I get the great value toilet paper 36 rolls equals 144 regular for $22.96. Charmin gives you 30 rolls that equal 120 regular for $32.98. Big difference and less tp. Lasts me quite a while as well. I use a lot of tp. I try to look at what gives me the most for my money at less cost.
I prefer brand name as much as anyone else but if I did that I'd go broke.
debodun
SF VIP
- Location
- way upstate in New York, USA
I shop in-store.
Nathan
SF VIP
- Location
- High Desert- Calif.
Wow! That's cheap! Although in Cdn$$ that's about $27.00 still .... here's the price I'd pay for a 750 mil bottle if I bought it here; and that's on sale: Tax & deposit included but still, that's a sizable difference.
View attachment 474124
I have to issue a correction, that $19.99 for the 750ML bottle of Jameson is when you buy 4, otherwise it's $24.99 each. The double price labeling- $19.99(when you buy 4, otherwise $24.99) is a gimmick the supermarket adopted several years ago. People are drawn in by the big red price tag, and get hit with the higher single unit price if they don't notice the ploy. It's patently dishonest and annoying.
Here's an example- notice the Ballantine's pricing:
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JustDave
Well-known Member
You need to come to NYC and have a real hot dog!
@ CallMeKate understand that Chicago is known for what my BIL calls a Chicago hot dog. We stopped at a place that specialized, and I it was pretty good, but still definitely a hot dog. You will never make a sirloin steak out of a hot dog, but some may be better than others. Every time I eat a hot dog, which has become seldom in my golden years, I always wonder what exactly is it that I'm putting in my body, which somewhat taints the experience.
@ CallMeKate understand that Chicago is known for what my BIL calls a Chicago hot dog. We stopped at a place that specialized, and I it was pretty good, but still definitely a hot dog. You will never make a sirloin steak out of a hot dog, but some may be better than others. Every time I eat a hot dog, which has become seldom in my golden years, I always wonder what exactly is it that I'm putting in my body, which somewhat taints the experience.
CallMeKate
Well-known Member
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic US
Well Dave, I'm having a hot dog and garlic-herb fries
for supper tonight and sometimes I don't care a whole lot what I'm "putting in" because I always make up for it later. 
MrPants
Senior Member
With currency conversion that'd be $32.40 before tax here so still 8 1/2 bucks more. We pay a $2.50 bottle deposit as well, which we get back when we return the bottles for recycle.
Fed. + Provincial taxes are 13% on top of the $32.40. Do you pay a tax on booze purchases there?
Nathan
SF VIP
- Location
- High Desert- Calif.
Oh yes, the Federal gov't, plus state and local(varies by location). I don't know what the exact breakdown is, I just hand the cashier my CC and don't usually look at the receipt.
debodun
SF VIP
- Location
- way upstate in New York, USA
Today I had to stop again for some things I forgot yesterday.
Box of SB (store brand) Cheerios - $3.99
Bottle of SB grape juice - $3.89
Jar of peanuts - $5.99
Canister of SB crescent rolls - $2.50
Package of Ben's Ready Rice - $2.79
Package of sliced deli chicken - $5.19
Package of SB frozen Brussels sprouts - $2.49
Package of frozen broccoli florets - $2.99
total - $33.33
added to yesterdays purchases totals $124.15
Box of SB (store brand) Cheerios - $3.99
Bottle of SB grape juice - $3.89
Jar of peanuts - $5.99
Canister of SB crescent rolls - $2.50
Package of Ben's Ready Rice - $2.79
Package of sliced deli chicken - $5.19
Package of SB frozen Brussels sprouts - $2.49
Package of frozen broccoli florets - $2.99
total - $33.33
added to yesterdays purchases totals $124.15
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
Same here. Cigarettes are kept at a seperate counter, behind shutters, so only an assistant can serve them to a customer.. they are also in plain packing, no fancy packaging like they used to be.. this is supposedly to prevent minors from taking up smoking. However the irony is.. that at an everage cost of £15 per pack of twenty cigarettes, theer's no youngster who could afford to smoke tobacco.... and the funnier part is that Vaping costs pennies.. and Vapes and liquid are sold in all types of discount stores, and kids buy it there
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MACKTEXAS
Well-known Member
I have changed your figures to show what those same items are priced for at my Walmart, providing they are the same size packages as yours. I just now looked them all up.
debodun
SF VIP
- Location
- way upstate in New York, USA
Maybe there was tax on some items. I just looked at the bottom line.
MACKTEXAS
Well-known Member
That's very expensive. The rate you gave (£15 per pack) converts to at or about $20.18 per pack in U.S. dollars. New York or California may see those prices, but the local store I frequent charges $4.93 per pack, after applying the member's discount code. Some brands cost significantly more: in the $8 - $10 range per pack without a discount.
Texas uses a heavy hand in enforcing laws against ads engineered to induce minors (to smoke or vape) and is phasing out manufacture of menthol cigarettes (favored by minors) and has long had strict laws against smoking or vaping porducts to those who are underage. Vaping is currently legal for adults with exceptions, but future prospects for that industry look dim, since Texas just this month enacted legislation that will considerably restrict vaping, cannabis and most CBD products, even though some of those regulations will not become fully enforceable until the end of 2026.
A seemingly contradictory announcement has been made at the federal level today, which I cannot say more about for reasons we all know. Until more is known about the impact of it, there's an indication there may be challenges in the courts to the laws in my state (and possibly other states as well).
debodun
SF VIP
- Location
- way upstate in New York, USA
In New York State, wine and hard liquor aren't allowed to be sold in grocery stores, but beer is.
Cigarettes can be, but they aren't available at the store that I shop in. I had to look it up since I don't indulge in tobacco or alcohol.
Cigarettes can be, but they aren't available at the store that I shop in. I had to look it up since I don't indulge in tobacco or alcohol.
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
Yes they are very expensive, and that's the price countrywide..in supermarkets, convenience stores, fuel forecourt stores.. everywhere.. they're all the same price, massively expensive..., and it's done a lot to stop people smoking...however many of them have just changed to Vaping.. as my X husband did... because it's significantly cheaper.
I neither smoke or drink alcohol... so it's not a problem for me personally...
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
even our tiny little convenience stores sell hard liquor ( spirits as we call them ) as well as the much larger stores...
MACKTEXAS
Well-known Member
* Yes, I know - I was just addressing your earlier post because you asked me specific questions.
Taxes are the biggest driver of higher prices on cigarettes - at least in the States. I can't speak for your Country, but I expect it's the same there.
Taxes on cigarettes and alcohol were supposedly intended for public health initiatives, and in all fairness, there are publicly funded health programs, but in most states, the additional revenue goes into the general fund with no accountability for how it is used.
And post #62 refers to a sugar tax in Holland. Some states here have that as well, since sugar is considered unhealthy.
And then there are processed meats. I don't think any state has special taxes on those yet, but sooner or later, some legislator will probably get the idea to do so. Authoring these bills is popular with legislators, so far as getting votes, and if they pass, the bills are great boosters for government coffers.
Jules
SF VIP
Wow. I wonder if I paid anything like that while in Ontario. I only buy beer or wine to take to someone’s place. Maybe they can make a profit from me. JK.
We pay 10 cents on every type of drink container in BC. That includes water bottles. I noticed in Ontario many people just throw them away and that drives me crazy.
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
I wasn't telling YOU specifically, I was saying it generally.. that I don't drink or smoke
MrPants
Senior Member
Refundable deposit on beer bottles is less; much less - 10 cents/bottle. But if you buy a 24 then it's $2.40 total, right? I always bring my bottles/cans back for the refunded amount but others don't for sure.
There's homeless peeps that know the recycle schedule in different parts of the area and they literally go around checking recycle blue boxes for refundable bottles & cans every week. Then they show up at the Brewers Retail (Beer) stores with bags & bags of beer cans & bottles. Drives me crazy if I'm behind one of them because they take forever counting them out. Mind you, I realize it's their only income in most cases
The go-getters can net well over $100.00/week (tax free of course)!
hollydolly
SF VIP
- Location
- London England
In the uk there's no such thing as a refundable bottle..or can
When I was a child, we could get refunds on bottles, but it hasn't been the case for well over 50 years
When I was a child, we could get refunds on bottles, but it hasn't been the case for well over 50 years
Wombat
Member
- Location
- The Illawarra
I tend to go shopping every day because the supermarket is about 200metres away, before Covid my bill was rarely more than $30, these days it is rarely less.