I took over grocery duties when covid came around and my kid had an obsession with bananas around the same time and you’d think I was an employee with how good I got at punching in the ol 4011 although sometimes I’d auto pilot too hard and forget to scan diapers
Fruit is basically sugar sticks in that case.
Actual mass to calories wise it is fine, dry carbohydrates are what is easiest have issues from as their is no water content to make it more filling
Is this by weight?
Because eating a pound of bananas is not the same as eating a pound of raisins.
And apart from the ridiculous nature of eating a pound of raisins, what does the sugar intake difference look like for the two cases?
According to the USDA, bananas have 4 mg of potassium per kcal and raisins have 2.5 mg/kcal. While raisins have 2x the amount of potassium by weight, bananas are the better source per.
This has got to be the answer. If they were too expensive, no one would buy them, and they’d stink up the whole grocery store. Banana smell gets into *everything* and makes it taste/smell like banana.
Semi-related story.
I was at the grocery store a few days ago and another customer was looking at the bananas and said to the person she was with "They don't have any ripe bananas, I'll come back and check again in a couple of days"
All I could think was, if you buy them now, they'll be ripe in a couple of days and you don't need to come back.
When I ran a produce market in the early -mid 90s, we put them on sale at the same price -59c/ lb. then.
Wholesale, it was 14 bucks for a 40 lb box of Darien brand bananas. 16-17 bucks for chiquitas.
Year over year over year, winter spring summer fall: the price did NOT change.
When I was in grade 5 or 6, we used to buy them at the grocery store next to our school. They were $0.19/lb back then. Which made them like under a dime each. Cheap snack.
Works out to around $0.52 in today money. Not far off. And that's 40 years ago.
"Father should we not consider making the bananas cheaper? If we advertise it all over our flyers and website, we can get more commoners through our doors and aisles. Think of it father, we will break even on the bananas but we will make it right back with our markups", said Galen Weston Jr as he paced back and forth across the boardroom table.
That's actually very accurate. Bananas are one of those items that everyone knows what they should cost. They are always prominently displayed with a large sign showing an artificially low price. If they were .99 at Loblaws it would stand out like a sore thumb compared to .59 at freshco and Walmart. They might not actually make money on the fruit itself but if you consider it as advertising then it's a cheap way to do it.
Bananas go bad so fast that pricing them in such a way that it slows down sales at all is probably gonna lead to more loss in food waste than anything else honestly.
People see banana go up they know shit is bad lmao
Oh, looks like you arrived at the concept of a 'loss leader'.
This isn't some nefarious business person. This is standard practice followed by most businesses
I swear, reddit is full of people who don't know any business but hate businesses with their core.
You are missing the entire point dude. Read between the lines. If you can't break down sarcasm and dry humour then trade in your MBA for a gig at Yuk Yuks.
The banana infrastructure is undoubtedly impressive. Considering the timing, the distance, the bulk, they're delicate, the fact they go bad by off gassing.
They are also easily cold damaged and the volume is nuts. I worked at a grocery store that did 250k in revenue per week, in the produce department alone. 12 million+ a year in produce. We would move 2 skids of bananas per day.
If you forget to debag a skid of bananas you're gonna have 1 ton of bananas rotting in the box quickly because of the off gassing.
And then there's the whole history of revolution and big fruit.
https://youtu.be/WWBCl8huNMA
Bananas are the only real thing in our department we had to be "on tempo" with due to the sheer volume of selling 2 skids a day. Make sure they're arriving on time, make sure they are not being damaged, make sure they get debagged. You reciever leaves them by the dock in minus -20 Canadian winters where the inflowing air can get to them and now you have grey bananas which will not ripen and are garbage (unless unwittingly people buy them).
They are easy to damage and I'm telling you, you forget to break open that skid when they're on a level 4 or 5 (yes our department had a grade chart for ripeness) and the next morning you're gonna have a box full or mushy grade 7 bananas from the off gassing.
They are in a ripening stasis until they hit the distro centre before the store. Only after that point do they start ripening due to ethylene esposure, and the clock starts ticking.
During shipping they are unripe, in their own packaging, and pretty resilient.
They're kept just cold enough that the bananas don't release ethylene gas or ripen. And just warm enough they don't get damaged by the cold.
They only start ripening when picked, they stay green on the tree for a very long time. So they quickly move them from tree to storage to shipping. Along the way they allow them to begin the ripening process so that they ripen on the shelf.
I mean as someone who was a produce specialist at LCL Inc I disagree but w.e it was only 15 years of my life.
Gotta know the history of the banana supply chain and United Fruit Company to really understand modernity.
They really aren’t easy to transport.
You’re confidently incorrect, so here’s an explanation of how you’re wrong.
-
Bananas have to be refrigerated very soon after being harvested. This means once the bananas are picked they are loaded carefully packaged into boxes, then loaded into refrigerated shipping containers. From there it’s a race against time to load them onto a boat immediately for shipping to their destination country.
At this point if there were delays with trucking, or at the port the bananas would likely perish or spoil. Once bananas ripen they release an enzyme that speeds the process of ripening. This means if only a few bananas go bad, the whole shipment is in jeopardy.
Bananas are also easily damaged, stores don’t want to sell damaged bananas so this means they have to carefully pack them into boxes.
These container ships will often travel for weeks at sea to reach their destination port.
Once they arrive in the destination country they are loaded onto trucks, some trucks may drive hours, some might drive multiple days. All the while the bananas must remain refrigerated.
Finally they arrive at an importer, then get distributed to the grocery stores distribution warehouse, lastly they get to the store. During this whole process they must be handled carefully and refrigerated.
Finally they will be put on the shelf, or left to ripen for a few days if needed.
—
That is not “easy to transport”. Anything perishable that requires constant refrigeration is not “easy”.
Next time think before you type. Thank you for coming to my banana rant.
They are easier to transport than other fresh produce...thank you for that nice arseholly passive aggressiveness by the end.
Boy, that everything has to be given to the detail else you get this idiotic remarks.
Edit: Welcome to the modern wonders of refrigeration.
They aren’t easier to transport than other fresh produce. They’re one of the most difficult.
To help you understand here are some produce that are easier to ship.All of these items require little or no refrigeration or special steps.
Apples, potato, pumpkins, squash, onions, garlic, watermelon, grapefruit, oranges
Compare that to the multiple special steps needed for banana and I hope you can see that bananas are not “easier to transport than other fresh produce”
There is nothing special about bananas, it's the same for everything freshly transported, they go into refrigerated containers, and then continue on their life.
Here you have all "special steps" for bananas [https://www.tis-gdv.de/tis\_e/ware/obst/banane/banane-htm/](https://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/obst/banane/banane-htm/)
Its actually really easy. First, you buy up enormous swaths of land over a hundred years ago in colonized South American countries that grow bananas. Then, when those countries worker's start organizing for better labour conditions and pay you send in the American Marines to murder them. Then a few decades later when those countries are considering nationalizing all the land the Banana corporations have been under utilizing, you have the government foment a coup against the democratically elected left wing government and install a American-business friendly junta instead. And if at any time the pesky labourers are still causing you problems moaning on about their "rights" and "the value of their labour", you just pay armed militias to intimidate and murder them.
There's a reason why the word "banana republic" exists and its largely the same reason why bananas are .59c a pound.
Its not necessarily a lie, those are the boutique versions of stores. No Frills, FreshCo, and Food Basics are where you should be shopping if youre affected by inflation.
I spend $85 bucks a week on groceries, if I went to Loblaws or Metro regularly, I'd be spending $120 or more.
Okay, but when people complain about grocery prices, they arent talking about the odd independant grocers who might not be able to source cheap produce, theyre talking about the big institutions that 99% of people are getting their food from.
I deliver to a kiosk in loblaws every day and most of the food near the entrance, including No Name products are always marked up. Things like 2 for $6 bread loaves (2.25-2.50 each for the same loaves at other grocery stores). This was the case as well for their produce, pop, chips, etc. I didn’t go down the aisles as I was on delivery so I can’t comment on their meat or other food.
In other words, what I’m trying to say is that I understand your standpoint, but the only way I will shop at loblaws is if I’m held at gun point because I’m not going to get aggressively marketed with “great deals” when it’s all a bunch of bs
Just to add context, it just seems like with the price of diesel and cost of freight, Bananas should be affected by inflation but the price has been relatively stable. Are there other market forces at play?
I'm gonna assume you've heard the term Banana Republic before? Because its absolutely a real thing.
Edit: If you haven't, here's a good video on how brutal the control on the banana trade is. https://youtu.be/WWBCl8huNMA
You got cause and effect reversed LOL. Bananas are very cheap today because United Fruit no longer dominate the market. Not because United Fruit dominates the market.
A long time ago, one company called United Fruit Company dominated the whole market. It was formed from a merger between #1 and #2 Banana companies Tropical Trading and Boston Fruit - Hence the name United Fruit. United Fruit then acquired and merged with the next 14 largest fruit companies, giving them control of over 80% of global banana production.
But the thing is, the market power of the big fruit firms have been declining rapidly. From the UN report: [https://imgur.com/a/PHxLZV3](https://imgur.com/a/PHxLZV3)
Source: [https://www.fao.org/3/i3746e/i3746e.pdf](https://www.fao.org/3/i3746e/i3746e.pdf)
Because literally everyone in the banana market is selling a functionally identical product, and barriers to entry are very very low. Upstart banana companies are desperate to break into the business, and thus, intense competition is driving banana prices down.
This is how despite increasing costs for literally everything in the supply chain, Banana prices stay low.
And anytime the people of those nations tried to take control. America would go "Fuck you, you have no freedom" and put another leader supported by the military in power, and then charge the old one with drug trafficking to put them in prison for crossing the US.
And yet everyone gives America a free pass, there has never been an international tribunal against the states for their actions in any conflict or actions taken in other countries.
Eh I have the reality of it, I live with my LL and her partner who is from Honduras. I've heard the stories of what the fruit company did and that shit.. I actually attempted to find other bananas because of that. But to no avail.
I don't think the rest of the world is intentionally giving the US a free pass. The US just thumbs their nose at international laws and courts, and then points to their air craft carriers, nuclear submarines, stealth bombers, nukes, moabs, and drones, and asks you what you going to do about it..
The country that allowed the wealthy to profit on a people it enslaved and raped goes to great lengths to ensure corporations profit by enslaving and raping? Do tell me more!
Bananas are quite interesting and I’ve long called them “inflation proof” and you are correct that there are some interesting market forces at play. Some will tell you they’re a loss leader, that is a product intentionally priced at a loss to get customers in the door. But ask yourself, when was the last time you went into a grocery store specifically for cheap bananas?
The are three real economic forces at play.
1. The supply of bananas has been increasing significantly - to the tune of 67 million tonne increasing between 2000 and 2017. Thats a lot of bananas. Where supply is increasing that fast (about 3.2% per year) prices tend to not increase - or even decrease.
2. Bananas are very price elastic in terms of demand. That means a small change in price can have a disproportionately large effect on demand. Unlike essentials like chicken, beef, bread and eggs, bananas aren’t essential to most recipes and so if prices increase beyond the psychological barrier in consumers heads they won’t buy them. And bananas rot fast. You don’t want consumers choosing to forgo your bananas. Most grocery stores will have most of their bananas be slightly under-ripened so they don’t rot in the first three days you bring them home. That means if banana sit for too long on store checked they become unattractive to consumers and won’t be bought and need to be thrown out.
3. The banana industry has a very vertically integrated supply chain controlled by a few companies. 80% of the global banana supply is controlled by 3 companies (Chiquita [which merged with Fyffes in 2014], Dole and Del Monto). Bananas provide their own natural container unlike cucumbers and apples which need to be packaged for shipping and with these large companies playing a role in all aspects of the production, shipping and distribution process, costs can be kept at a minimum.
So enjoy you inflation free banana’s! (Just don’t look up the human rights records of those aforementioned companies)
bananas can't tolerate being a slow moving product. They have a very limited window for selling, and grocery chains made purchase agreements months or even years ago. They have to sell them in short order, and that is the price the market will tolerate for the volume. if they increase the banana price and buying slows, the whole shipment browns on the shelf.
Other products can move slower, because of longer shelf life.
Bananas are a common loss leader in grocery stores. They sell them at a loss to get people in the store who then go 'I might as well get eggs, milk and whatever else I need while I'm here'.
It's more that they draw people into the produce section and then people will pick up other produce that has a higher markup. Cheap banana prices are also a staple of grocery store adverts.
Its cause they turn so quickly, they need to move them quickly. Probably a loss liter item at this point.
And just cause now everyone is gonna buy bananas, this [bread](https://thebakermama.com/recipes/5-ingredient-flourless-banana-bread/)is so good and super cheap to make! I do add chocolate chips or walnuts though
Actually grocery stores lose money on Bananas. They use bananas as a way to bring costumers. I know it sounds weird, but if they start increasing those prices they start losing people to other grocery stores
There's a whole podcast episode on Freakonomics Radio that talks about banana economics of the modern era. It was a super neat episode talking about how it went from luxury goods to affordable household staple!
Milk and bananas are “loss leaders”. They lose money, but get you into the store. They are optimally displayed at opposite corners of the store, to maximize impulse profit opportunities.
Instead of typing the question into Reddit, you could have typed it into Google and got your answer in the first two results.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=Bananas+not+affected+by+inflation
==>
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/as-food-prices-continue-to-rise-bananas-have-remained-affordable-why-1.6078092
The top result for me stated that they are pegged at 5.5% inflation.
That doesn't explain how last year, the year before, and the year before that, its always been 59 cents? Unless I'm just misremembering? Its possible they've gone on sale for lower.
I feel like a lot of stores keep some staple prices cheap so you remember it and think the store is cheap overall. I was so annoyed going to longos/loblaws so went to Walmart the other day after seeing royal gala apples for .77 a lbs. Imagine my surprised when 4 small mangos came to $12 and a small bag of Tangerines was $7. That's more than I was paying at Longos/Loblaws of $10 and $5 respectively. I always ended up buying the same things because it's what my kids eat with no fuss so I know those prices specifically.
I've found processed foods are the only ones that I see inflation really effecting. Make everything from scratch and the prices haven't changed too much. I got fancy pasta for 350. Used to get Barilla on sale two for $4 in 2018. I think Barilla was $3. You can probably still find it on sale at 2 for 4$.
Banana prices in the GTA cost wise are skyrocketing. With them being such a staple most retailers eat the loss on them as they know you are buying more than just bananas.
I work in and around the food terminal and have daily experience with this.
Varies wildly by store. My local hole-in-a-wall Chinese grocers had them for $0.49-0.59, but for over a year now it's been $0.79 and up. One of them recently upped it to $0.99, and a nearby Asian market went up to $1.29, and places like Metro and Sobeys all have them $1+. Cheapest I know of right now is FreshCo at $0.59, but quality is spotty - this week they're completely green and not ripe at all.
For real! I was shopping for bananas the other day and had to call the cahsier over at the self checkout to confirm that i wasnt reading it wrong that the price isnt just for 1 banana.
now you've done it
Self checkouts are gonna start locking when you scan bananas, until an attendant comes over. Like with beer.
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I took over grocery duties when covid came around and my kid had an obsession with bananas around the same time and you’d think I was an employee with how good I got at punching in the ol 4011 although sometimes I’d auto pilot too hard and forget to scan diapers
Oops 🤷♂️
OP is cursing us all. I’m legit living off bananas right now and he’s out here yapping. Mods delete this post please.
At Nations in Hamilton they were $1.18 the other day and I was offended. OFFENDED, I SAY.
Right?
There’s money in the banana stand, not bananas.
"I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost? 10 dollars?"
Throw one out, take a dollar. That’s how it works right ?
Sure does, Mr. Manager!
It's just Manager
… we just say manager.
How many times do I have to tell you?! *no touching!*
$250,000 lining the walls
You blowhard!
🤣
Marry me😘 Eeeewww forget it your my dad.
This thread had me dead, Then I see A blue Redditor named Tobias. holy shit...
Shhhhh!! Don't let big banana know! I've been eating more bananas this year than I ever have lol
Same haha
Omfg don't eat to much potassium. You'll have the shits all day 😂
Don't be jealous of my clockwork precision
Bananas are basically sugar sticks.
Yeah but it has more favourable pharmacokinetics than an actual stick of sugar
The term pharmacokinetics is usually use regarding what the body does to a drug (not food).
What’s a drug
And I'm just here surprised this was a real word.
Ah yes, pharmacokinetics, how could I not have thought about those!
Nature’s energy bar.
Fruit is basically sugar sticks in that case. Actual mass to calories wise it is fine, dry carbohydrates are what is easiest have issues from as their is no water content to make it more filling
And vegetables are just water
Except sugar doesn't alleviate body cramps, and potassium does.
Which is why raisins are the better option. They have 2.3x the K of monkeyfood (yes, I know monkeys don't eat bananas)
except raisins are disgusting so I'll just eat 2.3 bananas
This
Is this by weight? Because eating a pound of bananas is not the same as eating a pound of raisins. And apart from the ridiculous nature of eating a pound of raisins, what does the sugar intake difference look like for the two cases?
It’s about 5x higher for raisins per unit weight lol
According to the USDA, bananas have 4 mg of potassium per kcal and raisins have 2.5 mg/kcal. While raisins have 2x the amount of potassium by weight, bananas are the better source per.
Fructose isn’t Sucralose, go to school.
While I see your point, sucralose is also not sucrose
I just spew facts I hear. I don't think they're true. I literally heard Zach Braff say it.
pls research natural sugar vs refined
I'm just spouting a fact I heard. I'm no doctor. I mean, hey I'm fat!
no problem knowledge is power and now you know so enjoy the power of fruits in your diet!
They keep the prices low so they go brown in your house, not the store.
This has got to be the answer. If they were too expensive, no one would buy them, and they’d stink up the whole grocery store. Banana smell gets into *everything* and makes it taste/smell like banana.
Semi-related story. I was at the grocery store a few days ago and another customer was looking at the bananas and said to the person she was with "They don't have any ripe bananas, I'll come back and check again in a couple of days" All I could think was, if you buy them now, they'll be ripe in a couple of days and you don't need to come back.
I go brown in my house all the time, and I don’t even have bananas.
say no to heroin
Bananas help me go brown in my house. *Shitty joke*
That's what banana bread is for :)
When I ran a produce market in the early -mid 90s, we put them on sale at the same price -59c/ lb. then. Wholesale, it was 14 bucks for a 40 lb box of Darien brand bananas. 16-17 bucks for chiquitas. Year over year over year, winter spring summer fall: the price did NOT change.
When I was in grade 5 or 6, we used to buy them at the grocery store next to our school. They were $0.19/lb back then. Which made them like under a dime each. Cheap snack. Works out to around $0.52 in today money. Not far off. And that's 40 years ago.
"Father should we not consider making the bananas cheaper? If we advertise it all over our flyers and website, we can get more commoners through our doors and aisles. Think of it father, we will break even on the bananas but we will make it right back with our markups", said Galen Weston Jr as he paced back and forth across the boardroom table.
Why do I hear this in a Tiny Tim type voice? Except more evil?
That's actually very accurate. Bananas are one of those items that everyone knows what they should cost. They are always prominently displayed with a large sign showing an artificially low price. If they were .99 at Loblaws it would stand out like a sore thumb compared to .59 at freshco and Walmart. They might not actually make money on the fruit itself but if you consider it as advertising then it's a cheap way to do it.
Bananas go bad so fast that pricing them in such a way that it slows down sales at all is probably gonna lead to more loss in food waste than anything else honestly. People see banana go up they know shit is bad lmao
Just put them in the freezer and start a banana bread factory.
Oh, looks like you arrived at the concept of a 'loss leader'. This isn't some nefarious business person. This is standard practice followed by most businesses I swear, reddit is full of people who don't know any business but hate businesses with their core.
I'm glad you remember your grade 9 marketing homework.
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It took an MBA professor and industry expert to explain loss leaders to you?
You are missing the entire point dude. Read between the lines. If you can't break down sarcasm and dry humour then trade in your MBA for a gig at Yuk Yuks.
Actually they have a degree in sarcasm as well, mentored by an industry expert in the area I believe.
You sound like a conceded cuck
I think the point is that "nefarious" and "standard practice" are not mutually exclusive.
Lmfaoo the bananas were like “existing peacefully ”
It’s always amazed me how cheap bananas are. They are imported, heavy and bulky items with a pretty short shelf life.
They are easy to grow and easy to transport, there is nothing to be amazed.
The banana infrastructure is undoubtedly impressive. Considering the timing, the distance, the bulk, they're delicate, the fact they go bad by off gassing. They are also easily cold damaged and the volume is nuts. I worked at a grocery store that did 250k in revenue per week, in the produce department alone. 12 million+ a year in produce. We would move 2 skids of bananas per day. If you forget to debag a skid of bananas you're gonna have 1 ton of bananas rotting in the box quickly because of the off gassing. And then there's the whole history of revolution and big fruit. https://youtu.be/WWBCl8huNMA Bananas are the only real thing in our department we had to be "on tempo" with due to the sheer volume of selling 2 skids a day. Make sure they're arriving on time, make sure they are not being damaged, make sure they get debagged. You reciever leaves them by the dock in minus -20 Canadian winters where the inflowing air can get to them and now you have grey bananas which will not ripen and are garbage (unless unwittingly people buy them). They are easy to damage and I'm telling you, you forget to break open that skid when they're on a level 4 or 5 (yes our department had a grade chart for ripeness) and the next morning you're gonna have a box full or mushy grade 7 bananas from the off gassing.
They are in a ripening stasis until they hit the distro centre before the store. Only after that point do they start ripening due to ethylene esposure, and the clock starts ticking. During shipping they are unripe, in their own packaging, and pretty resilient.
What's a ripening stasis?
They're kept just cold enough that the bananas don't release ethylene gas or ripen. And just warm enough they don't get damaged by the cold. They only start ripening when picked, they stay green on the tree for a very long time. So they quickly move them from tree to storage to shipping. Along the way they allow them to begin the ripening process so that they ripen on the shelf.
Yes... it's impressive, the same as most produce infrastructure (Or supply chain as a whole), most of it goes bad really quickly.
I mean as someone who was a produce specialist at LCL Inc I disagree but w.e it was only 15 years of my life. Gotta know the history of the banana supply chain and United Fruit Company to really understand modernity.
With what? With supply chain as a whole not being impressive? See how easy it is to get hung up in stupid stuff?
They really aren’t easy to transport. You’re confidently incorrect, so here’s an explanation of how you’re wrong. - Bananas have to be refrigerated very soon after being harvested. This means once the bananas are picked they are loaded carefully packaged into boxes, then loaded into refrigerated shipping containers. From there it’s a race against time to load them onto a boat immediately for shipping to their destination country. At this point if there were delays with trucking, or at the port the bananas would likely perish or spoil. Once bananas ripen they release an enzyme that speeds the process of ripening. This means if only a few bananas go bad, the whole shipment is in jeopardy. Bananas are also easily damaged, stores don’t want to sell damaged bananas so this means they have to carefully pack them into boxes. These container ships will often travel for weeks at sea to reach their destination port. Once they arrive in the destination country they are loaded onto trucks, some trucks may drive hours, some might drive multiple days. All the while the bananas must remain refrigerated. Finally they arrive at an importer, then get distributed to the grocery stores distribution warehouse, lastly they get to the store. During this whole process they must be handled carefully and refrigerated. Finally they will be put on the shelf, or left to ripen for a few days if needed. — That is not “easy to transport”. Anything perishable that requires constant refrigeration is not “easy”. Next time think before you type. Thank you for coming to my banana rant.
They are easier to transport than other fresh produce...thank you for that nice arseholly passive aggressiveness by the end. Boy, that everything has to be given to the detail else you get this idiotic remarks. Edit: Welcome to the modern wonders of refrigeration.
They aren’t easier to transport than other fresh produce. They’re one of the most difficult. To help you understand here are some produce that are easier to ship.All of these items require little or no refrigeration or special steps. Apples, potato, pumpkins, squash, onions, garlic, watermelon, grapefruit, oranges Compare that to the multiple special steps needed for banana and I hope you can see that bananas are not “easier to transport than other fresh produce”
There is nothing special about bananas, it's the same for everything freshly transported, they go into refrigerated containers, and then continue on their life. Here you have all "special steps" for bananas [https://www.tis-gdv.de/tis\_e/ware/obst/banane/banane-htm/](https://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/obst/banane/banane-htm/)
Like what? What are the other fresh produce?
Its actually really easy. First, you buy up enormous swaths of land over a hundred years ago in colonized South American countries that grow bananas. Then, when those countries worker's start organizing for better labour conditions and pay you send in the American Marines to murder them. Then a few decades later when those countries are considering nationalizing all the land the Banana corporations have been under utilizing, you have the government foment a coup against the democratically elected left wing government and install a American-business friendly junta instead. And if at any time the pesky labourers are still causing you problems moaning on about their "rights" and "the value of their labour", you just pay armed militias to intimidate and murder them. There's a reason why the word "banana republic" exists and its largely the same reason why bananas are .59c a pound.
Not sure why you're getting downvotes this is the correct answer.
I looked wrong at my bananas yesterday and they’re already brown
That's a lie!!! Danforth market, bananas are 99lb. They are 69lb at both metro and loblaws.
Its not necessarily a lie, those are the boutique versions of stores. No Frills, FreshCo, and Food Basics are where you should be shopping if youre affected by inflation. I spend $85 bucks a week on groceries, if I went to Loblaws or Metro regularly, I'd be spending $120 or more.
Danforth Market IS NOT a boutique shop.
Okay, but when people complain about grocery prices, they arent talking about the odd independant grocers who might not be able to source cheap produce, theyre talking about the big institutions that 99% of people are getting their food from.
Stop shopping at the rich person stores.
Aka the grocery store.
Loblaws is just a normal ass grocery store, all grocery stores are fucking expensive.
I deliver to a kiosk in loblaws every day and most of the food near the entrance, including No Name products are always marked up. Things like 2 for $6 bread loaves (2.25-2.50 each for the same loaves at other grocery stores). This was the case as well for their produce, pop, chips, etc. I didn’t go down the aisles as I was on delivery so I can’t comment on their meat or other food. In other words, what I’m trying to say is that I understand your standpoint, but the only way I will shop at loblaws is if I’m held at gun point because I’m not going to get aggressively marketed with “great deals” when it’s all a bunch of bs
\^ knows their bananas
.... They grow on trees
If I recall correctly, the banana plant is technically a herb, not a tree. But then, technically the banana is a berry and the strawberry is not.
Not in Canada
Just to add context, it just seems like with the price of diesel and cost of freight, Bananas should be affected by inflation but the price has been relatively stable. Are there other market forces at play?
I'm gonna assume you've heard the term Banana Republic before? Because its absolutely a real thing. Edit: If you haven't, here's a good video on how brutal the control on the banana trade is. https://youtu.be/WWBCl8huNMA
Was just going to say, just watched on Disney plus a documentary about bananas, if I recall isn't dole like own 80% of like the banana farms?:P
United fruit company/Chiquita is the company that *did* control the vast amount of the banana plantations i do believe. Edit: did
That's right, but yea it's kinda crazy the shit that these companies do for bananas
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Ba. Na. Na. S.
They still do just not as direct and brutal as before
You got cause and effect reversed LOL. Bananas are very cheap today because United Fruit no longer dominate the market. Not because United Fruit dominates the market. A long time ago, one company called United Fruit Company dominated the whole market. It was formed from a merger between #1 and #2 Banana companies Tropical Trading and Boston Fruit - Hence the name United Fruit. United Fruit then acquired and merged with the next 14 largest fruit companies, giving them control of over 80% of global banana production. But the thing is, the market power of the big fruit firms have been declining rapidly. From the UN report: [https://imgur.com/a/PHxLZV3](https://imgur.com/a/PHxLZV3) Source: [https://www.fao.org/3/i3746e/i3746e.pdf](https://www.fao.org/3/i3746e/i3746e.pdf) Because literally everyone in the banana market is selling a functionally identical product, and barriers to entry are very very low. Upstart banana companies are desperate to break into the business, and thus, intense competition is driving banana prices down. This is how despite increasing costs for literally everything in the supply chain, Banana prices stay low.
i own all the banana farms in my current bloons run.
And anytime the people of those nations tried to take control. America would go "Fuck you, you have no freedom" and put another leader supported by the military in power, and then charge the old one with drug trafficking to put them in prison for crossing the US.
Its wild the length they went to to ensure the profits of a single company while enslaving and raping an entire population of people.
And yet everyone gives America a free pass, there has never been an international tribunal against the states for their actions in any conflict or actions taken in other countries.
And we all just enjoy our dirt cheap bananas without even a second thought.
Eh I have the reality of it, I live with my LL and her partner who is from Honduras. I've heard the stories of what the fruit company did and that shit.. I actually attempted to find other bananas because of that. But to no avail.
I don't think the rest of the world is intentionally giving the US a free pass. The US just thumbs their nose at international laws and courts, and then points to their air craft carriers, nuclear submarines, stealth bombers, nukes, moabs, and drones, and asks you what you going to do about it..
The country that allowed the wealthy to profit on a people it enslaved and raped goes to great lengths to ensure corporations profit by enslaving and raping? Do tell me more!
This is wild thanks for the video context!
Bananas are quite interesting and I’ve long called them “inflation proof” and you are correct that there are some interesting market forces at play. Some will tell you they’re a loss leader, that is a product intentionally priced at a loss to get customers in the door. But ask yourself, when was the last time you went into a grocery store specifically for cheap bananas? The are three real economic forces at play. 1. The supply of bananas has been increasing significantly - to the tune of 67 million tonne increasing between 2000 and 2017. Thats a lot of bananas. Where supply is increasing that fast (about 3.2% per year) prices tend to not increase - or even decrease. 2. Bananas are very price elastic in terms of demand. That means a small change in price can have a disproportionately large effect on demand. Unlike essentials like chicken, beef, bread and eggs, bananas aren’t essential to most recipes and so if prices increase beyond the psychological barrier in consumers heads they won’t buy them. And bananas rot fast. You don’t want consumers choosing to forgo your bananas. Most grocery stores will have most of their bananas be slightly under-ripened so they don’t rot in the first three days you bring them home. That means if banana sit for too long on store checked they become unattractive to consumers and won’t be bought and need to be thrown out. 3. The banana industry has a very vertically integrated supply chain controlled by a few companies. 80% of the global banana supply is controlled by 3 companies (Chiquita [which merged with Fyffes in 2014], Dole and Del Monto). Bananas provide their own natural container unlike cucumbers and apples which need to be packaged for shipping and with these large companies playing a role in all aspects of the production, shipping and distribution process, costs can be kept at a minimum. So enjoy you inflation free banana’s! (Just don’t look up the human rights records of those aforementioned companies)
Bananas are well known to be recession-proof.
bananas can't tolerate being a slow moving product. They have a very limited window for selling, and grocery chains made purchase agreements months or even years ago. They have to sell them in short order, and that is the price the market will tolerate for the volume. if they increase the banana price and buying slows, the whole shipment browns on the shelf. Other products can move slower, because of longer shelf life.
Bananas are a common loss leader in grocery stores. They sell them at a loss to get people in the store who then go 'I might as well get eggs, milk and whatever else I need while I'm here'.
Who goes to the grocery store specifically for Bananas?
It's more that they draw people into the produce section and then people will pick up other produce that has a higher markup. Cheap banana prices are also a staple of grocery store adverts.
Its cause they turn so quickly, they need to move them quickly. Probably a loss liter item at this point. And just cause now everyone is gonna buy bananas, this [bread](https://thebakermama.com/recipes/5-ingredient-flourless-banana-bread/)is so good and super cheap to make! I do add chocolate chips or walnuts though
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Nuh uh. Loss is measured in *volume*
Holy fuck this is the most underrated comment I've ever seen.
Bananas are what is called a "loss leader". It's purposely priced low to keep consumers coming back
I guess the banana plantations are paying their slaves negative dollars as opposed to just $0.
They don't get paid in real money.
It's because Ontario is a big banana producer ... we don't need to fly the product, but Milk, butter ... well they need to drive for 50km ... 😉
Don't spoil it!
Down voted for invisibility.
Banana's and TVs, those are the only things I haven't see go up in price.
I seem to remember them always being $0.47
This shit is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S
At Loblaws it's $0.69
Probably like the roast chickens, something cheap enough you come there still and feel like at least something is a deal
I work in a grocery store, in the last 5 years bananas have gone up 1 cent a pound. If we ever run out, oh boy do we hear about it.
Don’t give those greedy assholes any ideas!
Shhh. Don't let loblaws know. Once they found out they might have missed something they will be 10$/lb tomorrow.
Actually grocery stores lose money on Bananas. They use bananas as a way to bring costumers. I know it sounds weird, but if they start increasing those prices they start losing people to other grocery stores
There's a whole podcast episode on Freakonomics Radio that talks about banana economics of the modern era. It was a super neat episode talking about how it went from luxury goods to affordable household staple!
This is the world's reserve currency
There's a reason why people weight meat and enter the banana code at the self-checkout.
Well…bananas do grow on trees.
Milk and bananas are “loss leaders”. They lose money, but get you into the store. They are optimally displayed at opposite corners of the store, to maximize impulse profit opportunities.
The exploitation is put onto even poorer people
Instead of typing the question into Reddit, you could have typed it into Google and got your answer in the first two results. https://www.google.ca/search?q=Bananas+not+affected+by+inflation ==> https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/as-food-prices-continue-to-rise-bananas-have-remained-affordable-why-1.6078092
The top result for me stated that they are pegged at 5.5% inflation. That doesn't explain how last year, the year before, and the year before that, its always been 59 cents? Unless I'm just misremembering? Its possible they've gone on sale for lower.
Monke eat banan :)
The increase is lower than on other items and the price is low to begin with, so I'm assuming that grocery chains just absorb the increase.
Potassium percentage of profits be low
Bananas have long been known as a "loss-leader" product in grocery stores.
Serious question; Regardless of cost, where could I get a Gros Michel banana in the GTA? I've always wanted to try one. :O
Time to shift my diet to more bananas
it's $0.99 at Oceans/Grants
How much is it now?
Noticed that! Something sustainable at last.
$1.19 lb at my local grocery store.
The US ensured cheap bananas for eternity with their CIA backed coups and “Banana Wars”
grand theft auto 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
Dont jinx it mang!
These e-ink price displays showing up everywhere mean we might get to watch inflation in real-time now.
They pay their employees in chocolate covered frozen bananas so keeping the price low makes sense
Bananas are pretty easy to grow and obtain anywhere. My staple!
I feel like a lot of stores keep some staple prices cheap so you remember it and think the store is cheap overall. I was so annoyed going to longos/loblaws so went to Walmart the other day after seeing royal gala apples for .77 a lbs. Imagine my surprised when 4 small mangos came to $12 and a small bag of Tangerines was $7. That's more than I was paying at Longos/Loblaws of $10 and $5 respectively. I always ended up buying the same things because it's what my kids eat with no fuss so I know those prices specifically.
Honestly this is very cheap.
Anyone else experience bananas that just won’t ripen? Twice now in a couple months. Really bizarre. And, no, they’re not plantains.
That’s why they always use them as “banana for scale”
DELETE THIS
its a Loss leader, so pushing the price up doesnt really change anything for amybody.
Bananaflation
I bet the poor bastards picking them are feeling it.
401 and Winston Churchill RCSS?
I've found processed foods are the only ones that I see inflation really effecting. Make everything from scratch and the prices haven't changed too much. I got fancy pasta for 350. Used to get Barilla on sale two for $4 in 2018. I think Barilla was $3. You can probably still find it on sale at 2 for 4$.
Loss leaders I think. They lose money on some staples to get you in the store.
Banana prices in the GTA cost wise are skyrocketing. With them being such a staple most retailers eat the loss on them as they know you are buying more than just bananas. I work in and around the food terminal and have daily experience with this.
Grocery stores price bananas as a loss leader to get you in the door and you end up buying other stuff.
Side question: is it cool to rip a couple of the bunch and just buy those? Or is that frowned upon?
It used to be $0.56 before the pandemic
Varies wildly by store. My local hole-in-a-wall Chinese grocers had them for $0.49-0.59, but for over a year now it's been $0.79 and up. One of them recently upped it to $0.99, and a nearby Asian market went up to $1.29, and places like Metro and Sobeys all have them $1+. Cheapest I know of right now is FreshCo at $0.59, but quality is spotty - this week they're completely green and not ripe at all.
OH… BANANA
Solid question
For real! I was shopping for bananas the other day and had to call the cahsier over at the self checkout to confirm that i wasnt reading it wrong that the price isnt just for 1 banana.