Record Stock Market

[Amianthus]

I don't know anybody (other than my mother) who compares prices regularly.

You must know a lot of people that don't need to watch their spending, then. Lots of monied friends, I presume?

Because just about everyone I know watches for the sales in the flyers and shops based on what's on sale.

[Brassmask]

I certainly wouldn't say that most of the people I know are moneyed but I know most of them are not going to bother going three different places to do their grocery shopping.

I know several folk who go to Costco to buy their bulk stuff like TP and Cokes and the like.

That's something that I've been meaning to ask the conservatives about.  You guys are all about choice and the like allegedly.  What about the restriction on choice as far as how little you can buy at places like Costco?  The last time the wife and I were there, she wanted a bag of chips but the sign was like 2 for so and so.  And she was like, "well, they can't make me buy 2." 

When we got to the check out, the lady was like, "These are TWO for so and so."  The wife stated she only wanted the one bag.  The lady was like, "we can't sell you only one."  The wife declined the one and we paid for the rest and left.

Now, that doesn't sound like choice to me.

[_JS]

Brass is correct. I daresay most consumers have their favorite stores and shop at them, especially for the most mundane items such as bread, milk, eggs, etc. In many cases the convenience of location often outweighs the price differential unless it is substantial enough to be noticable. Your charecterisation is likely way off base Ami. Notice that Brass isn't talking about large ticket items like vehicles, real estate, or bulk merchandise. He's simply saying that he doesn't find price information when going to pick up a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, or a carton of eggs. I'd say he enjoys the company of the vast majority of American consumers (and likely European and Canadian consumers as well).

There are some people who actually shop at mutliple stores, like my Mother-in-law, but I'd wager that they are amongst the majority. Moreover, I'd wager that they haven't accounted for the non-monetary costs of gas consumption, vehicle maintenance, and time spent researching price information when determining whether or not the benefits of multiple store shopping actually outweighed the costs.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Why is it that every time there is a post on the stock market, you fellows start yammering about every other damned thing BUT the stock market?

Plane needs to understand that the ideal price for labor or anything else you might wish to sell anyone else is INFINITE or at least AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, and the best price to buy anything for is FREE.

No matter how useless to society your labors might be, they have to be worth more than those of some schmuck that plays with a ball or yells stupid-ass rhymes into a mike. The actual value of labor has nothing to do with fairness; it has everything to do with scarcity.

Ballplayers and rappers get big bucks because they sell their extremely modest and limited talents simultaneously to millions of simpleminded chuckleheads. Most of us do far more useful stuff, but it is less entertaining to said chuckleheads.

The stock market is not really like selling beans. The price of beans basically depend on hunger, or the opinion that there will be a certain amount of hunger for said beans. Prices in the stock market are much less rational, and, since no one can actually eat GM common stock, on the theory that the next idiot will pay more (or less) for the stock than the last guy.

It has very little to do with what a good job Juniorbush is doing in Iraq. A bad president can indeed screw up the market, but a great one will not guarantee a good run in the stock market.

[Plane]

Why is it that every time there is a post on the stock market, you fellows start yammering about every other damned thing BUT the stock market?

Plane needs to understand that the ideal price for labor or anything else you might wish to sell anyone else is INFINITE or at least AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, and the best price to buy anything for is FREE.

No matter how useless to society your labors might be, they have to be worth more than those of some schmuck that plays with a ball or yells stupid-ass rhymes into a mike. The actual value of labor has nothing to do with fairness; it has everything to do with scarcity.

Ballplayers and rappers get big bucks because they sell their extremely modest and limited talents simultaneously to millions of simpleminded chuckleheads. Most of us do far more useful stuff, but it is less entertaining to said chuckleheads.

The stock market is not really like selling beans. The price of beans basically depend on hunger, or the opinion that there will be a certain amount of hunger for said beans. Prices in the stock market are much less rational, and, since no one can actually eat GM common stock, on the theory that the next idiot will pay more (or less) for the stock than the last guy.

It has very little to do with what a good job Juniorbush is doing in Iraq. A bad president can indeed screw up the market, but a great one will not guarantee a good run in the stock market.

You are absolutely incorrect or backwards on every point you made except this one->

"A bad president can indeed screw up the market, but a great one will not guarantee a good run in the stock market."

[Xavier_Onassis]

It is indeed well worth my while to check the newspaper and sales flyers for lower prices. If I can save 25% on tomatoes, it is money in my pocket. Especially on items that do not spoil, like sugar, paper towels, dish soap, motor oil, olive oil and such, you can save a whole lot by buying it on sale and stocking up. You can save even more by shopping at the cheapest stores that are on your way home from work or from some other place you were traveling to.

Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club (I have belonged to them all at one time or another) are only really useful if you have a fairly large family. If I buy two gallons of milk or soymilk, one will spoil before I can use it. Costco would be fine if they would sell imperishables of regular quality for a low, low price, but they don't normally do this: they sell huge sizes of premium quality stuff, and you don't actually save at all.

I gave up on Costco when they had no men's white t-shirts at all. None, only tshirts which cost $6.99 and advertised the Pacific Ocean. I realize that the same t shirts would have cost $10.99 in the Mall, but it was my feeling that I do not really want to use my bod to advertise any ocean.

[Plane]

If a Store were to raise the price of bread while the store across the street did not, which store will really benefit? If a store were to raise the price of bread enough to give its customers to the other store I would guess that the store that sold all of its bread would benefit more than the one that wound up throwing all that stale bread away.

Raising the price of a loaf of bread at one store is not going to make people go to another store.  Nobody changes their routine shopping for stuff like bread.  If everything in the store went up suddenly, then people would go somewhere else.  I would, in fact, say that people may not even change then.

My mother is all the time telling me that so and so product, like ham or chicken is on sale at Kroger this week or at so and so this week.  And every time, I say, "So?  Am I supposed to go do my regular grocery shopping at the place I like and then stop at Kroger on the way home to buy a ham?  I can buy ham at Super-lo even if it is a few pennies more a pound and not have to make an extra stop."

I don't know anybody (other than my mother) who compares prices regularly.  Everyone I know finds a place they like and sticks with it till they get screwed somehow or hears of some kind of awesome experience that someone else had somewhere else.

A loaf of bread is a loaf of bread, wheat or white or whatever.

You should listen to your Mother!

How long will your favoite store remain your favoriate after you learn that they are giveing you bad serveice , gougeing prices or disrespecting you?

If there is only one store in town they can get away with more , but this is the situation to be avoided and your Mother is working the diffrence to the benefit of the whole community around her. Without the efforts of people like your Mother what leverage does the community have on the store?

[Brassmask]

There are some people who actually shop at mutliple stores, like my Mother-in-law, but I'd wager that they are amongst the majority. Moreover, I'd wager that they haven't accounted for the non-monetary costs of gas consumption, vehicle maintenance, and time spent researching price information when determining whether or not the benefits of multiple store shopping actually outweighed the costs.

I was reading an article the other day (may have been here, I can't remember) that said that some group was pushing for a law that made the food industry put the "actual cost" or "true cost" on a product.  I think that's what it was called.

[Plane]

It is indeed well worth my while to check the newspaper and sales flyers for lower prices. If I can save 25% on tomatoes, it is money in my pocket. Especially on items that do not spoil, like sugar, paper towels, dish soap, motor oil, olive oil and such, you can save a whole lot by buying it on sale and stocking up. You can save even more by shopping at the cheapest stores that are on your way home from work or from some other place you were traveling to.

Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club (I have belonged to them all at one time or another) are only really useful if you have a fairly large family. If I buy two gallons of milk or soymilk, one will spoil before I can use it. Costco would be fine if they would sell imperishables of regular quality for a low, low price, but they don't normally do this: they sell huge sizes of premium quality stuff, and you don't actually save at all.

I gave up on Costco when they had no men's white t-shirts at all. None, only tshirts which cost $6.99 and advertised the Pacific Ocean. I realize that the same t shirts would have cost $10.99 in the Mall, but it was my feeling that I do not really want to use my bod to advertise any ocean.

I commend you , the extra troubble you go to exerts a small pressure on your local stores to do right by your community , this small pressure is multiplyed by the number of persons who posesses this wisdom and can really influence the actions of the stores.

[Plane]

There are some people who actually shop at mutliple stores, like my Mother-in-law, but I'd wager that they are amongst the majority. Moreover, I'd wager that they haven't accounted for the non-monetary costs of gas consumption, vehicle maintenance, and time spent researching price information when determining whether or not the benefits of multiple store shopping actually outweighed the costs.

I was reading an article the other day (may have been here, I can't remember) that said that some group was pushing for a law that made the food industry put the "actual cost" or "true cost" on a product.  I think that's what it was called.

What profit margin do you think Grocery stores operate on?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I find it rather sad that you feel that your labors are less valuable than those of ballplayers or rapsters. I know what I do took me longer to learn and is more useful than anything one does with spherical objects or plebeian vocabulary rhythmical hissing and popping sounds.

If you feel that my opinion of the stock market is wrong, it is perhaps a good thing that you are not a major investor, because prices in the NYSE (or any other stock market) have really no comparison to the price of beans.

One buys beans because one anticipates being hungry for them. One does not buy GM stock for any reason other than selling it later for more. No one eats stock, nor does not buy it with the purpose of eating it.

Over the years I have found that I can actually make more money buying and selling mutual funds according to anticipated changes in the market than I have made for actually working at a productive job.  I have been trading mutual funds in my IRA and Roth IRA's ever since 1988. I have made more by working only for two years, 1990 and 2002, and have lost money only in 1990.

Sirs and UP might even tell you that my shuffling of funds is MORE productive to society than my job as a professor, but I don't think I'm going to actually believe that.

[_JS]

What profit margin do you think Grocery stores operate on?

It varies between companies. Larger chains can obviously operate on a smaller margin.

Kroger and Ingles operate on roughly a 1.5% margin whereas Publix operates on about a 4.6% margin. In Tennessee were Brass and I live we also have the addition of a rather hefty sales tax. It is our regressive price to pay for not having an income tax.

[Brassmask]

You should listen to your Mother!

How long will your favoite store remain your favoriate after you learn that they are giveing you bad serveice , gougeing prices or disrespecting you?

If there is only one store in town they can get away with more , but this is the situation to be avoided and your Mother is working the diffrence to the benefit of the whole community around her. Without the efforts of people like your Mother what leverage does the community have on the store?

Generally, I do sometimes listen to my mother.  Sometimes I think that she is mad but sometimes she is right.  Saving 30 cents on chicken parts is not what I want my life or even my shopping experience to be about.  Money isn't everything.  I go to Super-Lo because the prices are fair enough (I'd buy Best Choice brand on nearly everything if my wife would let me), the people are rarely rude and it's unassuming.

I really don't understand how my mother's driving to three and four stores to get her groceries helps the whole community.  Please expand on that.  Personally, I think it is detrimental in the end.  While she may be helping a Mom and Pop grocery a LITTLE, she's also helping Kroger a LITTLE and so the Kroger help is more negative than the Mom and Pop help who I feel should get more of my help even if it means that I pay a higher price.

I prefer my SuperLo over Kroger.  I drive by Kroger on the way to my SuperLo.  http://www.superlofoods.com/Home.htm

The only thing wrong with SuperLo is they don't carry soy yogurt for my kid.  Kroger does.  And sometimes I stop there and get him some on the way home from SuperLo.

[Amianthus]

Brass is correct. I daresay most consumers have their favorite stores and shop at them, especially for the most mundane items such as bread, milk, eggs, etc. In many cases the convenience of location often outweighs the price differential unless it is substantial enough to be noticable. Your charecterisation is likely way off base Ami. Notice that Brass isn't talking about large ticket items like vehicles, real estate, or bulk merchandise. He's simply saying that he doesn't find price information when going to pick up a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, or a carton of eggs. I'd say he enjoys the company of the vast majority of American consumers (and likely European and Canadian consumers as well).

I'm not talking about large ticket items, either. I have many friends that spend some time at home with the sales flyers every week, then plan their menus and shopping around the sales. It only takes a short while to do once you're used to it, and you can save a huge amount on your grocery bill. If you vary your trips to and from work, or to and from other errands, only slightly, you can usually hit all the stores you need without using much, if any, extra fuel.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I used to get a lot of phone calls from survey companies. I noticed that if I told them I was over 60, they would thank me and not ask any more questions, but if I said I was between 25 and 45, they would ask dozens of questions. Most of this had to do with advertising. A friend who teaches marketing told me that one of the tenants of marketing theory is that by the time one has reached 45, he or she will either always buy the same product (Colgate toothpaste, for example) at any reasonable price (which can be up to twice that of a competing product), or they will always buy the cheapest product. In either case, advertising is wasted on them.

No amount of advertising will cause me to pay $2.95 for 7 oz. of Colgate when I can buy Ultra-brite for $1.59 or less. No amount of advertising will cause me to buy cow's milk instead of soy milk.

Just for fun, when anyone calls me for a survey, if I have the time, I tell them exactly the opposite of what I really think.  It gives me a buzz.