Isn't wholesale what they would pay for it?

[JT Smith]

I asked a small, local, family run market to order a bunch of bottles of a food item that they don't stock. They are nice people and were happy to do it. When I went to pick them up I discovered that they charged me the wholesale price. Isn't wholesale what they would pay for it? Did they do this for free or do they pay below wholesale?

 

[DaveC426913]

How do you know what wholesale was and what they paid?

The reason I ask is because - it seems to me - the only way you'd know is if they told you, and that one number would have been expressed in terms of the other.

 

[Klystron]

I asked a small, local, family run market to order a bunch of bottles of a food item that they don't stock. They are nice people and were happy to do it. When I went to pick them up I discovered that they charged me the wholesale price. Isn't wholesale what they would pay for it? Did they do this for free or do they pay below wholesale?

My relevant experience derives from restaurants that also sell bulk foods. My late wife might order and sell special or bulk items at cost usually to regular customers. She more than reconciled this expense by the extra guests (good will) referred by the satisfied customer.

One of her sayings applies to bottled drinkable items. Most food items are actual 'loss leaders'. Steady income derives from beverage sales whether by the glass, pitcher or bottle.

 

[JT Smith]

The receipt had "WHOLESALE" printed next to the items I ordered. I don't know if it was really wholesale. I don't know wholesale really means. I do know that it was well below the typical retail price.

I searched online last night and found the same thing at Walmart for essentially the same price I paid. Actually it was a minuscule amount less. I doubt Walmart is giving it away, particularly since they also offered free shipping. So it seems reasonable and not too surprising that there must be profit built into what my local place is calling wholesale.

 

[russ_watters]

It's probably impossible to know. There isn't a single wholesale price that everyone pays.

If you're concerned and want to offer them a reasonable profit, ask them.

 

[JT Smith]

I'm not concerned. Just curious. I probably will ask them. Given the quality and proximity of their little store they will continue to have my business regardless.

They are very nice people. I recently got jacked by a garage door repairman who lied to my face and WAY overcharged me. I shouldn't have let him do that but I was kind of in a bind. Unscrupulous, sleazy little man. The grocery folks restored my faith in people. Some people are good.

 

[Klystron]

The grocery folks restored my faith in people. Some people are good.

Concur. Before supermarkets, grocer's formed the backbone of local community, supplying vital foodstuffs at reasonable prices that kept people alive. Local supermarkets and farmers' markets sometimes keep this tradition alive with a mission to feed people on budgets.

My late wife became known among the local homeless for donating hot meals to poor people who came to her back door even after she sold her restaurants and retired.

 

[256bits]

So it seems reasonable and not too surprising that there must be profit built into what my local place is calling wholesale

They trusted you to come back and pay for the stuff they ordered for you, and they showed you the receipt on what they had to dish out of their pocket ahead of time.

The grocery folks restored my faith in people. Some people are good.

Maybe you gave them faith in return.Walmart buys in large bulk quantities, not 2 or 3 items at a time.
Your family store encounters a higher distribution cost