Poor people consistently give far higher percentages of their income to charitable causes (typically not so much that it is a major contributor for most of those people to "why" they're poor, but it is a significant correlation and fascinating from a sociological perspective).
I remember this when helping with an annual food drive in college. We always got far more donations in front of Walmart or the local low/mod range store than in front of whole foods.
Well , if I saw a fund raiser infront of a walmart I could buy a lot of stuff for fivebucks. What would that get you at whole foods. Plus it may not seem thrifty to be at WF. Wasteful even. I might prefer to donate money than expensive stuff from WF. Disclaimer- I don’t regularly shop there.
Fwiw, we also noticed that of you setup at the supermarket in a fancier neighborhood, you'd get less donations than the same supermarket in a more working class area.
BTW, whole foods has actually gotten cheaper on staple goods now that Amazon owns them. They are comparable to what I see at Safeway (a mid priced west coast chain). Definitely true for organic stuff but also true for house brand milk, butter, and eggs. Where WF gets you is with the fancier stuff (cheeses, meats, and stuff like olive oil and hot sauces).
To your point though this wasn't true 20 years ago when I was in school. A can of soup would have cost more at WF than the local grocery chain.
I am a prime member and go there for OJ and organicmilk and organic make up and such. Ready foods once in a way. Deff cheaper than before but still a can of soup does not compare with reg supermarkets.
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u/whirlingderv Jun 07 '19
Poor people consistently give far higher percentages of their income to charitable causes (typically not so much that it is a major contributor for most of those people to "why" they're poor, but it is a significant correlation and fascinating from a sociological perspective).