On my way home from the Musso & Frank Grill, I stopped in at a Ralphs Market for a number of items, most of which were cat food. Yes, I am still feeding strays in my backyard…and since several of them have bad teeth, they can't chew the dry food. Softhearted me buys them wet food — usually canned Friskies, which come in many flavors. Like most folks who buy pet food, I take my own tastes into consideration. I buy them a lot of varieties containing turkey or tuna because I like turkey and tuna. It only stands to reason that the cats in my yard will like those things, too.
When I started buying these at Ralphs, they were three for a dollar. Then they went up to 40 cents a can. Then back to three for a dollar. Then back to 40. Then they were 50 cents a can for a long time. Then they went back to 40 for several months. I'm curious (though not that curious) if the actual cost of production ever fluctuates or if what I'm paying is just a matter of what the Ralphs folks think they can get at a given moment. The price of oil allegedly varies because at times, oil is harder to obtain. But all cans of Friskies cost the same and one assumes that the prices the Friskies people pay for beef, chicken, salmon, tuna, turkey, whitefish, etc., do not all rise and fall in unison.
The last few weeks, I've been paying 50 cents a can…but take a look at the above photo I snapped with my iPhone camera last night.
I don't know why this kind of thing annoys me so. Maybe it's because I figure so many Americans can't do math and so are ripping themselves off. You can buy any twelve cans of the Friskies for $6.00. You could buy four each of the salmon, the mixed grill and the turkey…
…or you can buy the Friskies Variety Pack, which consists of four cans of the salmon, four cans of the mixed grill and four cans of the turkey. The Variety Pack is $6.95 and as you'll notice in the picture, they were almost out of them. Which means that a lot of people who can't add are taking advantage of the Quantity Increase.