Inflation is crazy! Of course, if you’re a customer of Trader Joe’s, which has increased the price of bananas from 19 cents to 23 cents.
It may only be an extra 4 cents, but it amounts to a 21 percent increase and is the first time the price has changed in more than two decades.
In terms of numbers sold, bananas are typically the top-selling item in supermarkets, so it’s a change that Trader Joe’s value-focused customers will notice.
The 19-cent banana is such a well-known offering at Trader Joe’s that its customers have voted it their favorite product in their annual awards a total of five times, including this year.
Trader Joe’s said: “We only change our prices when our costs change, and after keeping the price of bananas at 19 cents each for more than two decades, we have reached a point where this change is necessary.”
Trader Joe’s has increased the price of bananas from 19 to 23 cents
Trader Joe’s said: “We only change our prices when our costs change, and after keeping the price of bananas at 19 cents each for more than two decades, we have reached a point where this change is necessary.”
Americans have faced two years of harsh food price increases.
Even the value store Dollar Tree said it will raise the maximum price at its stores, where everything previously cost $1 or less, to $7.
Trader Joe’s, like most supermarkets, used to sell bananas by weight.
But Dan Bane, former CEO, said this changed after chatting with a “nice little lady” at a store in Sun City, Arizona.
After the woman spent some time looking at bananas but left without buying them.
In a 2018 podcast, Bane recalled, “I asked her and I said, ‘Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking, I saw you looking at the bananas but you didn’t… put anything in your cart.’
The increase in banana prices makes them 4 cents – or 21 percent – more expensive than before
“And she tells me, ‘Son, I may not live to see that fourth banana.’ So the next day we decided we were going to sell individual bananas.’
The banana has been one of the foods least affected by inflation over the years.
In the United States, a pound of bananas cost about 63 cents last month.
That’s just 3 cents more than a decade ago, government data shows.
In terms of numbers sold, bananas are typically the top-selling item in supermarkets, so it’s a change that value-focused Trader Joe’s customers will notice.
“Bananas are a very popular fruit with consumers, so retailers are trying to keep prices low,” said Neil Saunders, CEO of research firm GlobalData.
“However, prices can’t defy gravity forever and now we’re starting to see retailers like Trader Joe’s make adjustments.”
He said one of the main reasons behind these increases is the increasing cost of banana cultivation. Fertilizer, pesticide and transportation prices have risen due to general inflation.
At the same time, demand for bananas has been growing, he said. This creates an imbalance with supply as exporters face pressures from higher costs, higher prevalence of diseases that affect plants and unfavorable weather conditions.
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The average American household now spends $1,080 a month at the supermarket, as two years of rampant inflation take a toll on family budgets.
Analysis of U.S. Census data from January showed that purchasing costs vary by as much as $304 per month from state to state.
The findings of Help Advisorshow that grocery spending is highest in California, where the average household spends $297.72 per week, or about $1,190 per month.
Meanwhile, a recent viral video showed British high school students trying 10 cult classic Trader Joe’s items for the first time, with VERY mixed results.
