A trip to the grocery store can be a serotonin boost for some and a stress inducer for others, depending on one factor: prices. While stores like Aldi tend to keep prices at the lower end, allowing customers to shop on a budget, this isn't the case for many other groceries. With inflation making almost everything expensive, it's pertinent to know what you're paying for, what percentage the brand is getting in profits, and, most importantly, how much markups are raising the prices of common groceries.
Markups are a percentage added to practically all retail items, including groceries, and which pay for the store's costs like rent, utility bills, employee wages, distributor fees, and profit margins. The amount of markup is determined as a percentage that is calculated from a product's profit margin. That number can range significantly, with bottled water having markups in the thousands of percent, while packaged bread may have a markup as low as 29%.
Shopping from some stores means paying less in markups and more in the product's actual cost, such as at warehouse-style stores like Costco. is that its goods are marked up less than other retailers. But since not everyone can shop at Costco, it's important to know which grocery items are often marked up the most.
Read more: When grocery shopping, the produce section is a definite stop for its colorful display of fruits and vegetables -- which are typically on the pricier end. That's because produce is a perishable item that is oft.