Prices are meaningless

I live in a LCOL town in the Midwest.

Yesterday I went to a Gordon Foods (GFS) to pick up a few things for a cookout. They had a 6 pack of tri-color peppers on the shelf for $13.99.

Also yesterday, our local Kroger had the same 6 pack of tri-color peppers for $6.

The closest Costco, Sam’s or BJ’s is about a 20 minute drive, so we use GFS on occasion when we want something in bulk and usually find it worth the price per unit to buy larger quantities from them.

When I saw the $6 peppers at Kroger I thought “wow that’s a ridiculous price” only to find the price twice as high at a wholesale store.

It seems as though there are no market forces or competition or buying pressure controlling prices anymore and the price on the shelf is just a wild money grab.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but at what point will we have to pay a set subscription price for a set number of calories and bargain shopping and choice will be a thing of the past?