Quote:Quote:
It's definitely bullshit. Hawaii is situated in a shipping lane that goes to and from asia from the west coast of the U.S.
You can find U.S. import goods in countries like the Philippines for cheaper than you can find in Hawaii.
Of course the shipping cost reason doesn't make any sense. There's no fuel surcharge which justifies the markup of consumer goods in Hawaii.
It's all based on local supply and demand as the retailers see it.
They have figured out how to collude and price fix in Hawaii. There's essentially a cartel of retailers and consumer goods supermarkets there which ensure prices are artificially very high.
Their profit margins must be absurd compared with the mainland USA like 1000%+ which is probably why they are so loose with loss prevention. They have already figured out they can have 1,000+ Konas carrying stuff out the front door with five finger discount but they will still make insane amounts of money.
It's so much more than that. First off, the most expensive cost associated with shipping is human resources...aka collectively bargained, unionized labor. The Longshoreman/Stevedores have some of the highest guaranteed wages and benefits package of any union in the State.
They, in turn have the most powerful union that works hand in glove with the local Government to maintain their power. And oh yeah, if anyone dares point out the corruption and graft involved in local politicians, the political party machine, the unions and the Government departments and agencies, well, the Longshoreman can just threaten a strike. If no one unloads the ships, the store shelves go empty in a matter of days.
That is the biggest reason why "shipping costs" are so high for Hawaii.
Another reason is supply chain economics. Every shipping container that gets unloaded at Honolulu Harbor, is usually trucked to warehousing facilities (most at Campbell Industrial Park on the West side) where all the goods are stored and distributed island wide to the stores as they are needed to keep the store shelves stocked. That's all facilities, employees, trucking company fees, refrigerated/freezer storage and trucking, warehousing fees, forklift operators.... the list goes on and on.
And never forget...in every job associated with all of these phases of shipping, trucking, delivery, storage etc., also involves jobs with employees who have State of Hawaii (and now FedGov Obamacare) mandatory health coverage paid for by employers, as well as salary and benefits.
All of this results in far higher costs in delivering goods in a Just In Time inventory system our corporate market place, which translates into $8 for a gallon of milk (never mind the fact that places like wal mart first shipped in milk and sold it for half the price of locally produced dairy farm milk...and lo and behold, more than a decade later, all of the local dairys are closed, but that's just one example of an entire economy changed by Wal Mart's initial cutthroat pricing entrance into any marketplace.)
Setting up this exact same system in the Phillipines, with no unions, no Gov mandated employer provided health care, no excessive GE taxation etc., and a work force willing to work for low wages in all aspects of the supply chain is why you get the price differentials on shipped goods from the US in places like Hawaii versus places like the Phillipines.
It's the entire economic and governmental systems that are part of the "collusion" to keep prices artificially high.
TL;DR
While I share Kona's senitments towards Wal Mart -- fuck them -- rather than steal from them, I just don't shop there. Ever.
I'd rather pay higher prices for my goods than support Wal Mart.