A Boring Dystopia

I have managed a produce department for six years and watched it happen myself. The price increases aren't being decided at the store level, though you'd be hard pressed to convince most crotchety old ladies that the managers don't gather every week in crimson robes by candlelight and chant the latest price hikes. They are absolutely happening via the warehouses and the middlemen, though.

Everyone seeks to maintain or increase their margins, beginning with the farmers (who are likely adjusting for costs), and hiked greatly by the middlemen to make a larger profit. By the time the oranges are in the store's hands, that 30% margin the store needs to maintain a profit is now calculated off a much higher number to begin with. All I can really do (and I'm lucky, as not every owner/operator allows this kind of autonomy) is shop around various third-parties and local businesses to try to secure the best price I possibly can, and in turn offer the best sale I possibly can at the store level. This gets a lot harder during the winter months, though.

As a shopper myself, however, I don't really see this at many other stores. Especially those operating under corporate rules, like Sobeys, Safeway and Superstore. I sell apples at 1.69 to 1.99 /lb., while my competitors sell them at 2.49 to 2.99 /lb. year round. Why people continue to buy their produce there I couldn't say.