This is an outrageous price jump, and at the same time not crazy at all. (???)
Trader Joe’s just upped the price of a single banana for the first time in two decades . . . and by more than 20%.! But we’re talking about single bananas here, so don’t raid your kid’s college fund quite yet.
They’ve been selling bananas for 19 cents apiece since 2001, and it’s something they brag about. The displays say stuff like, “Same price for 20 years running!” But they just upped it to 23 cents.
That’s a 21% increase, but it’s also just 4 cents more. They say it’s due to rising costs, and they’re guessing most people won’t care. But if you’re someone who flies through bananas and needs them in bulk, you may want to shop elsewhere.
The national average is 63 cents a pound. That’s three or four bananas, depending. Three will now run you 69 cents at Trader Joe’s, and four is 92 cents.
They used to sell them by the pound like other stores, but switched to 19 cents after their CEO saw an old lady grab a bunch and then put them back.
He asked why she didn’t pull the trigger on her banana purchase, and she told him, “Sonny, I may not live to that fourth banana.”
In other words, they’ve priced them individually for over two decades because of one old lady’s casual fear of impending death.
(Here’s a photo of a Trader Joe’s banana display in 2014.)