Higher grocery prices ARE a result of greedflation, investigation shows:

[DFW]

24. On June 29th, I'll really be able to make an informed comment

Last year, when my wife and I arrived in Boston for our annual vacation, we noticed people carrying large reinforced plastic bags full of fresh vegetables and fruit away from someplace. They were all loaded down, and we asked ourselves if someone was giving it away or something?

We followed the trail on foot until we came to a vast open air farmers market, right in the heart of Boston's north end. I figured, well, this is the North End, so the vendors must all be Italian. Maybe 50 years ago they were, but now they were all Moroccan. OK, whatever. So we checked out what they were offering, and couldn't believe it. Huge eggplants? $1 each. Cherries? $1 for a pound. Lemons? 6 for $1. A big container of fresh raspberries? $1. And so on. We left there as laden down as everybody else. Got a few stares as we walked back into our hotel! What's the kitchen staff doing taking the guest elevators? For about $20, we loaded up on fresh produce that we guessed would cost us roughly $175 at the Stop and Shop in Provincetown on Cape Cod. How these merchants--and there must have been 50 of them--could offer all this stuff at this price, we didn't (and still don't) understand. If the price has gone up 50% since last year, it's still an incredible bargain. How these people can make a living selling all this fresh food at these prices remains a complete mystery to me. I don't know how they even make their gas money to and from town. But there were dozens of them doing a brisk business--at those prices no wonder!!

This can't be unique. There have to be other markets in other cities like this. But holy cheapo, Batman, this exists right under our noses. OK, they have no overhead, no employees to pay (clearly all family operations), no rent except their market stalls, but considering the price of housing in Boston, they were not walking to work. It DOES make one wonder: do the costs of trucks, supermarkets, insurance, marketing, personnel, building inspection, utilities etc. really make up 85% of the food prices we are paying?

On June 29th, we'll be back at that market in Boston, and I'll let y'all know if everything is still as cheap as it was last year.