Bananas are ridiculously cheap even up here in Canada, and they aren’t grown anywhere near here. Yet a banana can grow, be harvested, be shipped, be stocked, and then be purchased by me for less than it’d cost to mail a letter across town. (Well, if I could buy a single banana maybe…or maybe that’s not the best comparison, but I think you get my point)

Along the banana’s journey, the farmer, the harvester, the shipper, the grocer, the clerk, and the cashier all (presumably) get paid. Yet a single banana is mere cents. If you didn’t know any better, you might think a single banana should cost $10!

I’m presuming that this is because of some sort of exploitation somewhere down the line, or possibly loss-leading on the grocery store’s side of things.

I’m wondering what other products like bananas are a lot cheaper than they “should” be (e.g., based on how far they have to travel, or how difficult they are to produce, or how much money we’re saving “unethically”).

I’ve heard that this applies to coffee and chocolate to varying extents, but I’m not certain.

Anyone know any others?

  • Cagi@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Enslaving and killing ethnic groups en masse, creating a surveillance police state, imprisoning people for criticizing the government, making their people work in sweat shops to rule and manipulate global manufacturing, collecting personal information on every person on earth, militarily and financially supporting the worst despots on the planet?

    • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      People don’t ever seem to want to talk about demographics in China, I can’t figure out why 🤔 maybe the fact that it’s an ethnostate…

    • novibe
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      10 months ago

      Why are you talking about the US? And literally what the Europeans did to Africa for centuries.