Everything BUT Tuna

Welcome to my “daily comment.” The ground rules Ceres and I have agreed to are simple. I can write whatever I want, ranging from a sentence to an epic, and nothing is off limits. I can even say things like, “Don’t trade stocks yourself — for most people, it’s smarter to invest through no-load mutual funds.” Which it is.

Yesterday, I recounted what Kramer and I know about saving money at warehouse stores. The land-of-the-giants tuna fish episode of Seinfeld.

Today, I take you comparison shopping, just to give you a sense of what’s out there. The idea is to shop smart and save money, because the IRS doesn’t tax you for that. A penny saved at the supermarket is a penny that falls straight to your bottom line.

My motto: NOTHING IS EVER ON SALE AT THE 7-ELEVEN.

The following shows prices for January 24, 1996 in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. The comparison is in no way meant to be scientific, just to give you a sense of how prices — especially prices per unit — can vary. If you always tend to get the best price, or nearly the best price, you will save a lot of money compared with those who get the normal mix of good and bad prices.

Not shown here are the really bad prices — the travel size toothpaste you can buy in the hotel shop for $2.39.

Instead, I just compared a Sam’s Club warehouse store with two large Southeast supermarket chains, Publix and Winn-Dixie.

Not shown either are the “store brands” that are often another excellent way to save money. Not on ketchup, of course — there is only one Heinz ketchup. But on garbage bags? Paper towels? In many cases, these come off the same production line as the “brand name” products.

And a final disclaimer: I’m not saying you should actually eat stuff like this. Fresh vegetables, baked potatoes, lots of fruit — that’s what you should eat. (Costco sells a mean jumbo frozen fruit salad, incidentally.) The point of this is just to show how prices can vary.

My other motto: SHOP AROUND.

Tomorrow: Wine by the Case: Amazing Math