Grasshopper New Media Presents...

I found myself enraged, for a few moments, at a comment made by my friend Tan yesterday. Not at her, rather at the folks behind the fact she tossed my way. Silly actually, after I thought about it a bit, it was to be expected.

Tan said, “The prices at the farmer’s market on Sunday at the marina are higher than those at the farmer’s market on Thursday at the local shopping center. It’s the same vendors at both markets; they just raise the prices at the Sunday location.”

Whoa. All healthy-minded and feeling good about buying locally, I now need to consider whether it makes more sense to drive a bit further, spending more gas and adding to pollution to get a lower price on my fresh fruits and veggies or to buy the EXACT same produce a few days later at a location a bit closer to my house. Economically, it’s not that much gas, so it will probably have a net positive impact on our household bottom line but, I didn’t know I had to consider that.

Living in an area with an abundance of farmers markets, I have the luxury of fitting produce shopping into my weekly schedule. While I watch prices for dry goods and other household goods, patronizing one grocery store or another based on the promotional specials, I hadn’t applied the same thinking to the farmer’s market. My friend did.

“Did you know”, she continued, “If you go toward the end of the day, all of the produce is half price as they pack to leave? – you can sometimes get two for one!” Ah ha- clearance sales! This woman is a smart shopper!

OK- so we have prices impacted by location, clearance sales and BOGOs (buy one, get one free). What’s next? Coupons, mailers, gulp, recalls? Sigh, Sometimes I forget we don’t live in Utopia.

[tags]fruit, vegetables, farmer’s market, money, economics, environment, gas, emissions, prices, location, economy[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by jon madison, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved