News Every Day | 03 January 2025, 21:00

‘Bought it at Costco’: Expert finds French’s mustard on sale at Ralphs for $3.49. Then he realizes something about 7-Eleven

With the United States Department of Agriculture predicting food prices to rise by roughly 2% in 2025, finding new savings on groceries is becoming a key part of people's lives. Luckily, there's tons of tips on the internet that will help get the most bang out of your buck.

Using French's mustard as an example, TikToker Luke David Johnson (@lukedavidjohnson) compared grocery prices to 7-Eleven prices and urged his viewers to buy their dry goods at bulk stores and online instead. The video garnered over 825,000 views and over 48,000 likes as of publication.

Grocery stores versus convenience stores

Johnson had realization when he went to Ralphs supermarket to grab a couple of things.

"I saw them advertising for their new low price for mustard, and I thought it was hilarious that it was $3.49 for 14 ounces of mustard," Johnson said. "There was no way I was going to pay for that because I know that I can get mustard at Walmart or Amazon for like half of the price, so why on the earth would I buy it here at Ralph's?"

The thought sparked a realization—grocery stores the same jumped up prices as convenience stores. According to Johnson, the reason is these "products are so far out of line" and that they went from "a dollar" to "four times as much" is because they believe people will pay it out of sheer convenience.

"I didn't realize that because I still had the idea that you buy things at the grocery store and that's the price, but when I looked at Amazon these were $1.96, [and] the same brand it will be delivered to me the next day," Johnson said. "If you're not buying them from Amazon, or buying them in bulk at Costco or Walmart, you're getting ripped off."

Rising prices or lack of product?

So what's causing price increases? Is it sheer greed or something else?

Well, some companies haven't struggled to recover from the pandemic as much as many people would think. NPR reports, "Many makers and sellers of home and pantry staples have reported record profits." One shopper noted that her grocery prices went up by "a cumulative 25.6%." However, the article also pointed out that production costs rose, which were passed onto the customer, so it can hard to tell if this is corporate greed or the demands of a recovering market.

Another reason for the expensive mustard may be a shortage of mustard seeds. Allen Sass, president of Wisconsin Spice, told USA Today in an email that weather conditions have cause a shortage.

"The simple answer is that the mustard shortage results from drought conditions across the majority of western Canada and northern U.S., which is the primary growing region for mustard seed," Sass said.

USA Today reports that drought conditions have caused farmers to set aside fewer acres for growing mustard, and, according to Sass the trend has only grown worse.

Still, Johnson's theory of grocery stories charging convenience store prices makes more sense when it comes to why the price is so high. After all, French's mustard is currently $1.78 on Amazon.

What do the viewers think?

Many viewers felt torn between mega-companies and felt they weren't getting a good deal anywhere.

"I'm not giving Bezos any $ either though," one said, referring to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

"Ralphs was expensive before inflation," another added.

"I don’t want to give my money to Amazon or Walmart though," a third agreed.

"Buy on Amazon and you can’t guarantee it’s legit," a user warned.

"Also almost all grocery stores are owned by a single company now," a user said.

Others gave tips, while some wished getting the best price wasn't such a hustle.

"Aldi is $0.99," a user said.

"I grew up and my mother would go to four or five different stores shopping to get the best prices. I would never pay it's just ingrained in me. If I know something's cheaper I go without," a second said.

"I wish there was an app where we all can agree on what a reasonable price per ounce or weight, would be. So we could compare all these prices," a user added.

"Prices have gone up so much that shopping at Whole Foods seems like regular pricing now," another said.

@lukedavidjohnson
7-11/Gas station prices on dry goods at grocery stores as chains adopt convenience store pricing models in response to changes in consumer shopping behavior.
♬ original sound - lukedavidjohnson

Daily Dot reached out to Johnson via TikTok Comments and Walmart via contact form, and Ralphs and Amazon via email.

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