LUCKY we live Hawaii -- if we could only afford it! We were happy to see the state make a move on gasoline prices. Of course, most of us don't burn up enough of that precious commodity that a 30-cents-a-gallon price drop would put us on easy street. Still, every little bit helps. Pity we can’t eat gasoline
Searching the Internet for the latest baseball scores the other day, I spotted an ad announcing "Convenient grocery delivery to home or office." Clicking on that took me to "netgrocer," a high-tech version of the supermarket. They don't offer fresh meat, dairy, deli or produce, but they'll send just about anything else you'd find at your local grocer to you via FedEx for $2.99 ($4.99 for orders over $50).
Curious, I put together a little shopping list: corn flakes, coffee, Spam, tuna, mayo, bread, macaroni and cheese, pineapple slices, peanut butter, rice, spaghetti and sauce, oil, mushroom soup and Oreos -- nothing fancy. The order came to $29.56. Adding $2.99 for shipping to my door, the total was $32.55.
At my local supermarket, the exact same list came to $42.27. Throwing in Hawaii excise tax, the total was $44.03. That's $12.71 or 43 percent more. Taking advantage of shopping club prices offered on some items dropped the local price to $38.61, or only 25 percent more.
Hold the phone and read the fine print, shoppers! It says: "Netgrocer only delivers to the contiguous U.S. states and to APO/FPO addresses." Lucky we live Hawaii.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.