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Emergency increase in Starburst® pricing

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 5:37 am
by Tdarcos
Somehing strange has happened to Starburst®, or at least the price. The 54 ounce bag normally sells for about $7.99 on Amazon® or maybe 2 bucks more on eBay®, which takes Paypal®, which (for not a lot more) allowed me to not increase my credit card bill when getting my GMO food fix.

Now, the price on the 54 oz. bag has almost doubled, to $13.99 on Amazon, and literlly doubled to $26.99 on eBay. (You would think people would check competitive prices. Who in their right mind would pay twice Amaon's price for the exact same thing? I suspect that they've wasted the eBay listing fee for that item, and will receive zero orders at that price. )

You know, typically you don't see this kind of price rise on retail goods, typically the manufacturer "cheats" by decreasing the size while leaving the price the same, but not saying anything. That strategy is unavailable in this case as the packge is clearly marked "54 Ounces" in large print.

But a near 100% increase (or more) in price is unheard of except in emergency conditions, or the manufacturer gets really greedy, like when the price of the Epipen® increased 400% from $100 to $400 after Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, maker of Epipens, realized he could get away with it, and his only regret was he couldn't raise the price even more. (He may have other issues. What kind of sick parents give a male child the name "Heather?")

Now, Amazon Pantry still has the 41 ounce size at $5.99, only problem is shipping is also $5.99 unless order at least $25 worth of Pantry items. Now, I don't know if I want to buy 5 bags in order to get free shipping, but if this huge incrasw is the new price, I probably should stock up before someone realizes the price difference and raises that one too.

On the other hand, there may be other tasty treats on Amazon Pantry that I would like (and of course, also shouldn't be eating) I'll go take a look, but probably not now, I'm actually hungry (they haven't served breakfast yet) and food shopping when hungry is the worst time to do so.


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I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
While you're in the world
- Sir Elton John, Your Song

Re: Emergency increase in Starburst® pricing

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:16 pm
by Casual Observer
Tdarcos wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 5:37 amNow, Amazon Pantry still has the 41 ounce size at $5.99, only problem is shipping is also $5.99 unless order at least $25 worth of Pantry items. Now, I don't know if I want to buy 5 bags in order to get free shipping, but if this huge incrasw is the new price, I probably should stock up before someone realizes the price difference and raises that one too.
PM me your address and I'll send it over using my Prime free shipping.

Re: Emergency increase in Starburst® pricing

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 2:08 pm
by Tdarcos
Casual Observer wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:16 pm
Tdarcos wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 5:37 amNow, Amazon Pantry still has the 41 ounce size at $5.99, only problem is shipping is also $5.99 unless order at least $25 worth of Pantry items.
PM me your address and I'll send it over using my Prime free shipping.
I too have Amazon Prime, one of the few things left from the days when I could move and had money to play with. I still have to spend over $25 on Prime Pantry items to get free shipping on those items.

But I figured out what was going on. Shipping a 54 ounce item - 3½ pounds - probably costs close to $6 so they raised the price since they probably don't make enough profit to cover shipping on a $7 item of that weight.

So Amazon just reduced the price of the Starburst 54oz. Bag back to oh wait, they changed it. They had it back to $7.85 but in Prime Pantry. Now, they moved it back to Amazon Prime but jacked the price to, get this, $18.45!

Amazing what can happen over a two-day period. I was going to order some prime pantry items to get the approx. $8 price (Amazon sells a lot of tasty snacks!) and had I done it yesterday I'd have gotten the 54 oz. at ½ price, no, make that ⅓ price. (Presuming Amazon doesn't cancel the order or remove that item, ostensibly claiming it's "out of stock.")

I guess I'll stick with the 41 ounce whose price is $5.99 or about 15¢/oz. (on Amazon Pantry) is not in the nosebleed section (54oz. @$18,40 or 34¢/oz.) of Amazon Stadium. That is (actually slighly less than) ½ price.
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Whoa, we're half way there
- Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer

So fill me up to the top...
Don't take me half the way.
- Crystal Gayle - Half The Way

Re: Emergency increase in Starburst® pricing

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 2:55 pm
by George Lucas
I'm going to have to step in and reign in your Starburst spending.

Re: Emergency increase in Starburst® pricing

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:38 pm
by Tdarcos
George Lucas wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 2:55 pm I'm going to have to step in and reign in your Starburst spending.
You talking about reining in spending is like Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones recommending to someone they get into drug rehab.

George, you'll rprobably be delighted to hear they have (or did have) Original Starburst in the 54oz. jar for $11.38. I know that's your favorite. (The number, not the product.)