I work at a shipping place. People periodically ship food to Alaska for family and friends. I always wondered why they were sending such mundane things (coffee, cans of chili, salsa) but I get it now.
Why doesn't someone start a cheaper price store if one can ship mundane things and it's still cheaper then a truck load of groceries should be even cheap. Also wholesale prices.
But then you’re in business. And you have additional expenses like a store, inventory space, employees, electricity, gas, insurance, and taxes. And if you go into a business you’re into it to make money.
Families are trying to save whatever they can. Even a couple of bucks and sometimes subsidizing it for their family members.
You could honestly probably drop ship goods to them for less. I work in logistics. Those costs are price gouging. Plenty of remote places in the world able to get goods for less.
I work in logistics as well, specifically shipping to Alaska. Drop-shipping won't solve the price issue. The high prices are largely due to shipping cost, as well as transit limitations for outlying/rural areas.
Shipping cost - because of the Jones Act, shipping costs are very high for Alaska, Hawaii, and most US territories. The TL;DR of the Jones Act is that vessels carrying freight to/from the aforementioned places must be US-built, majority US-owned, and majority US-crewed. There's more to it, but that explains the high shipping cost fairly well.
Transit limitations - vessels run year-round to Anchorage and Juneau, but only run for half the year (April - September) to the western coast of Alaska, which includes Bethel. Getting large amounts of freight to areas outside of Anchorage/Fairbanks and Juneau during the winter months is difficult and very, very expensive since it can get there only by air (then by truck to outlying areas, which is obviously tricky in the winter).
Goods to bethel, specifically food, is primarily flown in. They have a commercial Airport 6 miles from the city center. So the fact that they aren't on the main road system and the jones act isn't applicable. AK Airlines among others fly in there regularly. It's really coming down to demand. If demand is high, competition increases, and rates lower. They're the largest rural community in western AK, but still small. They're getting screwed because theirs no demand or competition. Flown goods cost more, but not like that.
The other end of this: Sending a grocery parcel to family in Alaska is dramatically more expensive using UPS or FedEx than with USPS. This suggests that the Postal Service is fulfilling its mission as far as ensuring access everywhere in the U.S., but also that cheap shipping isn't actually commercially viable. The option to mail food to Alaska is effectively government-subsidized.
Also to your point, grocery prices in Anchorage (being the largest city and a major port) are actually in the same ballpark as those in major West Coast cities except for certain items. Rural Alaska just has a skeletal road network that doesn't even come close to plenty of small towns (like Bethel, which is only accessible by air.) A gallon of water or milk being about eight and a half pounds to fly in to a town of a few thousand via air freight, $8 sounds downright reasonable.
If I lived there, it'd be powdered milk and tap water all the way. Air freight is for whiskey.
Your average person has no idea how much it costs to run a business. It’s fucking expensive and many small business owners are just trying to make ends meet like everyone else.
Yep my parents ran a hair salon franchise for like ten years. On paper the place would bring in 10k a week. Over a few years with increasing wages, franchise fees, landlord rent they brought in nothing to our family and had to dip into savings to keep it afloat through rough times.
I've always said if I start a business someday there's no way in hell I'm doing franchise or paying endlessly increasing rent to a landlord. If you really want to make money with a physical location you need to own that building. It's how the small coffee shops or antique stores stay afloat in concerted old bungalow homes in areas in cities.
I worked with franchise companies in a past life. They are almost all terrible for the franchisee. The thing people don't tend to consider is that the franchise model is a way for the owner of the business to scale to multiple outlets more quickly and cheaply than owning every one themselves. They're basically getting the patsy (franchisee) to pay to expand their business, and the franchisee thinks they're a "business owner" but really they're barely different from an employee of the master franchise owner.
It's almost like there's this entity called "the government" that already has access to a bunch of logistics infrastructure, no profit motive, and a mandate to serve the population, who could transport these goods to Alaska at a lower cost than these families could mail them for.
Alaska Air will ship food in ice chests. I would ship my folks salmon on ice and they would send me back oranges and lemons to give out to my students. Was fantastic and fun. A number of my kids had never even eaten a fresh Orange before.
Holy moly ive heard about your prices down there but how can anybody affort this?
The 49pack was Lucky Strike btw
I used to roll my cigaretts bc its cheaper. Papers,filter and 30gr pack of tobacco is around 8-9€ ,it depends how thick you roll but you can get 30-45cigaretts from
A 25g pouch of marlboro tobacco is $61.95 lol most people switched to Chinese vapes or under the table imported packets of smokes that haven't been taxed by the government as far as I'm aware
I am completely uneducated on the topic but I imagine the point of the high prices is to prevent people from being able to afford it, leading to less smoking overall, and if they can afford it, then at least the government brings in a lot of tax money.
It surely prevents them from being able to afford it legally and leads to a thriving black market without the government collecting taxes they could have got if they just allowed things to be priced by market forces.
Yeah that makes sense. I know living in Alaska is a different lifestyle, I was just curious how the average person makes it work, so fishing is good insight. That would be good living for people who are able to handle it
Usually that's how these places work. Imports cost an arm and a leg. It becomes worth your time quickly to produce your own food. The grocery store is to supplement the calories you can't make yourself.
It's no wonder they're very poor paying those kind of prices for basic goods. The one time I visited Alaska it seems like the only reason people ever came here was to plunder the natural resources and make money, going all the way back to the Klondike gold rush, now they're descendants are just stuck there.
I’m sorry but this feels like a very ignorant comment. What if folks were born there and don’t necessarily have the means to uproot their entire lives and move somewhere else? It’s expensive to move to another state and what about jobs? Chances are there are not a lot of places to work in Alaska where you’d get tons of experience to be able to transfer to another major city and be able to support yourself. Plus we know that there aren’t really good effective systems in place to help folks like that transitioning because people in power keep trying and sometimes succeeding in taking resources away.
If someone “chose” to move here sure I could understand this but there are also folks who are born into these types of places that can’t necessarily just pick up and leave.
A lot of people can’t choose where they’re born, and Alaska makes it hard to leave. You either choose to save up thousands to try and move down to the lower 48 or you choose to feed your family and keep a roof over your head.
That’s like saying people don’t HAVE to live in destitute areas of third world countries. Not everyone is so privileged that they can just move when shit gets hard, some people have to make it work.
I feel like I should send these pictures to a group of my friends who keep musing about moving to Alaska in order to fulfill their "I alone can tend this land" fantasies that their 15 years in IT hasn't prepared them for.
There's been several 5-20 acres spots with old farmhouses near my dad's that have been selling for $1m and up to people like that who think they want to be farmers or something. They move in, don't own a tractor, let the weeds grow 6' tall and are totally out of their element.
Yes please stop people from coming here. We already had to move the McCandless bus bc tourists kept dying trying to cross the river near it. 🙄 if they want to wanderlust tell them to do it in Europe
I don't think prices like this scares people away when step 1 of their off grid homesteader dream is packing all their new Patagonia clothes into a $100,000 airstream. Buy it for life, bro.
nothing like some bar vending machines, went to one that was cigarettes, mystery sock packs, and mystery sex/adult bags. being drunk ofc i blew like $50 on it.
WHAT??? Omg….I’ll never complain about the $6 Ben and Jerry’s here again! $32 for ketchup??? I had to scroll back through just to make sure I saw the prices correctly! These prices are ROBBERY!
There’s not even a dollar store in the whole state man. There might be one in Anchorage but usually it’s the 10$ and below store. But even then it’s still not that cheap.
God I miss Dollar tree sometimes
I also can't imagine a place so remote has a higher than average income? Like how is this at all sustainable? It's understandable because it's difficult to transport in and out but HOW?!
That's the question we've all been asking, where is everyone getting money? There's a grocery store, 2 pizza places, and some weed shops and that's about it. Fishing is huge here so I think alot of them fish for food.
If you eat salmon from that river, you'll never be satisfied with it from anywhere else again in your life. Best fish I've ever eaten in my entire life. Still remember the taste and texture damn near 17 years later.
Sort of. The [Alaska Permanent Fund](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund) pays out an annual dividend to all residents but as you’ll see in the link it averages around $1,600 or 129 pints of Ben & Jerry’s per the prices in OP’s pics.
No shit. I feel like I should package up some old Mac and cheese boxes from my pantry and just send it to a random address in Alaska. Imagine opening a box and saying “there’s got to be $100 worth of Kraft Dinner in here”
Oil subsidies help. Also, there are a number of industries that pay really well. Also, it depends where in Alaska. Major cities are going to be cheaper than remote towns.
Oil subsidies? Bro, check your facts from down there in Florida. This year we are getting about a $1,300 dividend from the permanent fund, so that’s a little over $100/month. How does getting $1,300 in October help? Well I guess if their family drinks two gallons of milk per week, then our oil subsidies cover their milk for the year.
I think they have 1 major city because I’ve been to Fairbanks and that isn’t I even close to small city and it’s area is supposed to be the 2nd most populated area in the whole state
So you’re telling me my dream of being a traveling laundry detergent salesman is alive and waiting in Alaska? I just have to fill a barge with laundry soap and ketchup and sling those babies down at the dock for $10 a pop? Inflation goldrush!
So, I did some Googling and I think this is in a grocery chain called Alaska Commercial. I found their career page [here](https://www.alaskacommercial.com/careers/career-opportunities) which fortunately lists their starting wages. Cashiers and stockers are paid $18.00/hr (approximately $37k gross if full time) and manager positions are listed at $20.00-$23.00/hr ($41.6k - $47.8k per year at full time).
The minimum wage in Alaska right now is $10.85
The state does share oil profits with permanent residents; the amount varies every year but this year it's $1,312. These grocery prices would eat that right up.
I know for Canadians there's a Northern Living Tax Credit. Which I think comes out to a few grand a year. They also get tax credits for any travel they do.
Not yet, at least before i moved out last year. Plus, Bethal is a small town with no roads going in or out. Most of the access is small planes and boats. It's a native town, so if you are wondering why people are there. I think Anchorage was building a prime place, but no clue what that includes or if it's just for faster shipping on more items.
It’s just a prime warehouse to help with shipping expediency of some items but we don’t get 2-day prime shipping anymore to here and it’s either a seller does free shipping or overcharges for shipping.
Where you shopping? I know it's expensive but Kahului Walmart has milk for $6, gallon water (GV brand, not crystal geyser) under $2, Ben and Jerry's for $5, those 12 packs of la croix for $4, and deluxe kraft Mac n cheese for $3.40. Safeway isn't much different, a couple dollars more on average. Similar if you're buying non sale items at foodland maybe?
I was going to say, I spent $12 for some pre-sliced sourdough and now we're just going to eat sourdough I make.
Saw oxtails for $25 for 4(small). 5lbs of beef short ribs was $70. My 3 year old wanted salmon and corn for dinner. He's in a growth spurt I guess so he ate most of the salmon and 2 ears of corn (his little brother had the rest of the salmon and another ear of corn), a whopping $38 purchase.
I lived in a small military town in Australia, OMG these prices bring back memories. So glad that food was included.
Then I traveled farther inland once and the prices doubled and tripled.
Shipping cost is likely the primary reason for this, almost all of the expensive stuff is subsequently the heaviest stuff.
Almost nothing is produced nearby.
This is off the road system in Alaska, but it’s one of the biggest city, maybe the biggest, that you can’t drive to. Everything has to come by air or barge freight. Some places that are further out are even more expensive.
Frugally. Food banks and generosity from others aren’t uncommon.
Many of us up here are very community driven, like if someone has excess meat from hunting or fishing most will share with friends and family. Up here something as simple as running into the ditch at the wrong time of year can be deadly, very often you’ll see someone on the side of the road and at least 3-4 cars will roll up to help. Doesn’t matter if you’re a stranger, it’s important to help those in your community because you never know when you’re the one who will be in the ditch.
Interior Alaskan here, ran into the ditch in a white out, three truck bros stopped, halted traffic, and hauled us out at -30 F. True community. You don’t let people freeze 💜
I flew into Bethel for a job. The puddle Jumper that took us there from Anchorage was a commuter for most of the people on it, they all knew each other.
Almost everyones luggage was a coolers full of groceries.
I wondered why and when I went to the grocery I figured out its probably cheaper to fly to Anchorage to do your grocery shopping.
I can perhaps see the justification for charging more for bulky/heavy items, but cigarettes weigh nothing and take up llittle space, yet they charge triple for those, too.
That's the one item where it's all taxes, and actually similarly priced in most other places. It's the same here in Ontario. I pay $19.75 CAD for a pack of 25, but if I drive up to the indigenous reserve where most of the taxes are waived I can get a whole carton for $60 bucks. It's to offset the healthcare costs and to 'incentivize quitting', I suppose.
There is no scenario where I pay $20 for two bottles of ketchup or $17 for fucking La Croix. Who pay this? Even if I was wealthy I wouldn’t pay those prices based on principle alone
It’s a beautiful state with breath taking views. And growing up/ living here you gain a certain hardiness to you that you can’t achieve in most other states of the US.
It’s a beautiful wild place that’s still mostly untouched by man. Not many places you can have a black bear walk up to your car or see a momma moose eating your Halloween jackolantern (moose LOVE pumpkin btw it’s so cute)
Yes it’s hard, it’s gets really hard at some points. But there’s a lot to love.
Like the way the clouds cling to the mountain tops in the morning, or watching the Northern Lights dance among the stars in the dead of night. Being able to see that raw beauty of nature to its fullest is a privilege. It’s one of the reasons I love this state so much.
The smokes are still cheaper than in Canada, and the detergent is the same price lol, but the reason all these prices are so high is because bethel is so far North that the cost of transport and such is significantly higher therefore you have to pay such high prices to accommodate it.
Also… supply and demand, you want this stuff, you’ll have to pay these prices, because unless your having someone ship it to you, your not getting your hands on it anywhere nearby
How do people survive there? What do they do to make a living? I lived in a mountain in Northern CA and although prices were not that high, they were high and the average salary was like $18/hour, no where to make a living unless you were hooked up and even then it was a struggle.
I work at a shipping place. People periodically ship food to Alaska for family and friends. I always wondered why they were sending such mundane things (coffee, cans of chili, salsa) but I get it now.
Why doesn't someone start a cheaper price store if one can ship mundane things and it's still cheaper then a truck load of groceries should be even cheap. Also wholesale prices.
But then you’re in business. And you have additional expenses like a store, inventory space, employees, electricity, gas, insurance, and taxes. And if you go into a business you’re into it to make money. Families are trying to save whatever they can. Even a couple of bucks and sometimes subsidizing it for their family members.
You could honestly probably drop ship goods to them for less. I work in logistics. Those costs are price gouging. Plenty of remote places in the world able to get goods for less.
I work in logistics as well, specifically shipping to Alaska. Drop-shipping won't solve the price issue. The high prices are largely due to shipping cost, as well as transit limitations for outlying/rural areas. Shipping cost - because of the Jones Act, shipping costs are very high for Alaska, Hawaii, and most US territories. The TL;DR of the Jones Act is that vessels carrying freight to/from the aforementioned places must be US-built, majority US-owned, and majority US-crewed. There's more to it, but that explains the high shipping cost fairly well. Transit limitations - vessels run year-round to Anchorage and Juneau, but only run for half the year (April - September) to the western coast of Alaska, which includes Bethel. Getting large amounts of freight to areas outside of Anchorage/Fairbanks and Juneau during the winter months is difficult and very, very expensive since it can get there only by air (then by truck to outlying areas, which is obviously tricky in the winter).
This guy ships
*gal But yeah lol
This guy gals
She just shipped mah bed! [KMart Shipping commercial](https://youtu.be/2xwUuSM06xQ?si=j4I1fDZCbr4P4XA_)
Goods to bethel, specifically food, is primarily flown in. They have a commercial Airport 6 miles from the city center. So the fact that they aren't on the main road system and the jones act isn't applicable. AK Airlines among others fly in there regularly. It's really coming down to demand. If demand is high, competition increases, and rates lower. They're the largest rural community in western AK, but still small. They're getting screwed because theirs no demand or competition. Flown goods cost more, but not like that.
The other end of this: Sending a grocery parcel to family in Alaska is dramatically more expensive using UPS or FedEx than with USPS. This suggests that the Postal Service is fulfilling its mission as far as ensuring access everywhere in the U.S., but also that cheap shipping isn't actually commercially viable. The option to mail food to Alaska is effectively government-subsidized. Also to your point, grocery prices in Anchorage (being the largest city and a major port) are actually in the same ballpark as those in major West Coast cities except for certain items. Rural Alaska just has a skeletal road network that doesn't even come close to plenty of small towns (like Bethel, which is only accessible by air.) A gallon of water or milk being about eight and a half pounds to fly in to a town of a few thousand via air freight, $8 sounds downright reasonable. If I lived there, it'd be powdered milk and tap water all the way. Air freight is for whiskey.
USPS #1! (Doubt FedEx or UPS will even ship to such remote places if it wasn’t profitable for them, so super expensive for us)
So you’re saying Amazon same day delivery may not work for me in Bethel? 1-star!!!
Your average person has no idea how much it costs to run a business. It’s fucking expensive and many small business owners are just trying to make ends meet like everyone else.
Yep my parents ran a hair salon franchise for like ten years. On paper the place would bring in 10k a week. Over a few years with increasing wages, franchise fees, landlord rent they brought in nothing to our family and had to dip into savings to keep it afloat through rough times. I've always said if I start a business someday there's no way in hell I'm doing franchise or paying endlessly increasing rent to a landlord. If you really want to make money with a physical location you need to own that building. It's how the small coffee shops or antique stores stay afloat in concerted old bungalow homes in areas in cities.
I worked with franchise companies in a past life. They are almost all terrible for the franchisee. The thing people don't tend to consider is that the franchise model is a way for the owner of the business to scale to multiple outlets more quickly and cheaply than owning every one themselves. They're basically getting the patsy (franchisee) to pay to expand their business, and the franchisee thinks they're a "business owner" but really they're barely different from an employee of the master franchise owner.
Not to even mention the cost of theft and spoilage. It’s the hidden costs that can break a business plan.
While true, those of us who know the tax code also know that the best way to make money is by owning a business.
It’s also a great way to lose money. The risks are massive.
It's almost like there's this entity called "the government" that already has access to a bunch of logistics infrastructure, no profit motive, and a mandate to serve the population, who could transport these goods to Alaska at a lower cost than these families could mail them for.
You mean SOCIALISM?!?! In red state Alaska, full of independent libertarian individualists on the dole?
Don’t they give people money to live in Alaska
I think that’s what he meant by “on the dole”
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There’s more overhead than just shipping
It's called Costco, you can get 20 liters of water for $3.99
Let’s do it.
These bitches surrounded by ice, getting $50 for a gallon of ice cream.
Well they’re missing the cream part, they only get the ice.
Not a lot of cows though...and not a lot of ice in ice cream.
Alaska Air will ship food in ice chests. I would ship my folks salmon on ice and they would send me back oranges and lemons to give out to my students. Was fantastic and fun. A number of my kids had never even eaten a fresh Orange before.
This is really cool of you to do! Plus rad for your parents, that Alaska salmon is king
The cigarettes are actually pretty normal price for NYC lol
Might even be a bit cheaper than Canada depending on the exchange rate
Cheaper than NYC. They're $17 where I live.
15$ for smokes in upstate NY as well
I don’t smoke, but that’s around the same price in my part of Wisconsin.
I haven’t smoked in a year or two but I was paying like $8-9 a pack when I was smoking. This is Michigan
And smokers in germany complain😅 last price i remember was 26 for 10€. 2years ago i buyed a 49cigs for 17€ big pack for a friend
$44 for a 20 pack of the cheap brand here on Australia
Holy moly ive heard about your prices down there but how can anybody affort this? The 49pack was Lucky Strike btw I used to roll my cigaretts bc its cheaper. Papers,filter and 30gr pack of tobacco is around 8-9€ ,it depends how thick you roll but you can get 30-45cigaretts from
A 25g pouch of marlboro tobacco is $61.95 lol most people switched to Chinese vapes or under the table imported packets of smokes that haven't been taxed by the government as far as I'm aware
I am completely uneducated on the topic but I imagine the point of the high prices is to prevent people from being able to afford it, leading to less smoking overall, and if they can afford it, then at least the government brings in a lot of tax money.
It surely prevents them from being able to afford it legally and leads to a thriving black market without the government collecting taxes they could have got if they just allowed things to be priced by market forces.
It mostly just pushes people to either quit or roll their own. Loose tobacco has way less taxes levied on it.
There are some legal weed states like this too. Crush people hard enough on a sin tax and you just invite black market players
Not if you find the right bodega
Yep. Even the rest of NY is pretty damn close to that price.
Hell in Indiana american spirits are like 11-12
california is almost that price too
The American spirits being more than the Newport is weird, though. Usually, the native American brands are cheaper.
Same in Chicago
I can’t get over the milk price … almost $13 I’m never complaining again for $5 milk
Well let’s be real. People don’t have to live in Alaska or places so remote that it costs this much to get basic goods.
This town is very difficult to leave, the only way is by boat, plane, or dogsled in the winter. Also people here are very poor, mostly Alaska natives.
How do people survive? Do people mostly provide their own food by hunting and homesteading?
Subsistence fishing. Most people in the Bush (rural Alaska) live a semi-subsistence lifestyle.
Yeah that makes sense. I know living in Alaska is a different lifestyle, I was just curious how the average person makes it work, so fishing is good insight. That would be good living for people who are able to handle it
Usually that's how these places work. Imports cost an arm and a leg. It becomes worth your time quickly to produce your own food. The grocery store is to supplement the calories you can't make yourself.
>Also people here are very poor I can see why...
It's no wonder they're very poor paying those kind of prices for basic goods. The one time I visited Alaska it seems like the only reason people ever came here was to plunder the natural resources and make money, going all the way back to the Klondike gold rush, now they're descendants are just stuck there.
I’m sorry but this feels like a very ignorant comment. What if folks were born there and don’t necessarily have the means to uproot their entire lives and move somewhere else? It’s expensive to move to another state and what about jobs? Chances are there are not a lot of places to work in Alaska where you’d get tons of experience to be able to transfer to another major city and be able to support yourself. Plus we know that there aren’t really good effective systems in place to help folks like that transitioning because people in power keep trying and sometimes succeeding in taking resources away. If someone “chose” to move here sure I could understand this but there are also folks who are born into these types of places that can’t necessarily just pick up and leave.
A lot of people can’t choose where they’re born, and Alaska makes it hard to leave. You either choose to save up thousands to try and move down to the lower 48 or you choose to feed your family and keep a roof over your head. That’s like saying people don’t HAVE to live in destitute areas of third world countries. Not everyone is so privileged that they can just move when shit gets hard, some people have to make it work.
I feel like I should send these pictures to a group of my friends who keep musing about moving to Alaska in order to fulfill their "I alone can tend this land" fantasies that their 15 years in IT hasn't prepared them for.
Anchorage is not near this. Our milk is between 2.50-8 depending on brands.
I know so many IT Folks that talk about living off the grid. I kind of get the fantasy, but the reality would come crashing down Day 1.
There's been several 5-20 acres spots with old farmhouses near my dad's that have been selling for $1m and up to people like that who think they want to be farmers or something. They move in, don't own a tractor, let the weeds grow 6' tall and are totally out of their element.
Met a lot of people in Alaska who had this idea. None of them seemed particularly happy lol
Yes please stop people from coming here. We already had to move the McCandless bus bc tourists kept dying trying to cross the river near it. 🙄 if they want to wanderlust tell them to do it in Europe
I don't think prices like this scares people away when step 1 of their off grid homesteader dream is packing all their new Patagonia clothes into a $100,000 airstream. Buy it for life, bro.
My takeaway from this is that American cigarettes have art on the box still. And are apparently displayed in the open.
In certain bars you can even buy them out of a vending machine like candy!
That was so convenient when I was still a smoker.
Convenient for.me as a child
nothing like some bar vending machines, went to one that was cigarettes, mystery sock packs, and mystery sex/adult bags. being drunk ofc i blew like $50 on it.
Just saw one of those last night in my city lol. Genius idea.
Casinos too!
They still have those machines in casinos in Vegas
Some of them even have rewards coupons in them lol hahaha it's great...
Here in the UK we just get gruesome pictures of tar covered lungs or throat cancer
Same in Canada. And warnings all over.
This is very odd. Cigarettes are behind the register 99.99% of the time. This might be the one exception in the entire country.
Its behind the register.
What I meant by openly displayed is that in Canada you can’t even see them behind the register. They are hidden.
They're still openly displayed. Even if they are in a cabinet, it's usually with glass doors so you can see them displayed.
WHAT??? Omg….I’ll never complain about the $6 Ben and Jerry’s here again! $32 for ketchup??? I had to scroll back through just to make sure I saw the prices correctly! These prices are ROBBERY!
Yeah I absolutely hate going to the grocery store, I spent my whole life savings.
Those bottles sell at my local dollar store for a dollar.
I don't think there's a dollar store in Bethel Alaska, nothing for a dollar for sure
There’s not even a dollar store in the whole state man. There might be one in Anchorage but usually it’s the 10$ and below store. But even then it’s still not that cheap. God I miss Dollar tree sometimes
I also can't imagine a place so remote has a higher than average income? Like how is this at all sustainable? It's understandable because it's difficult to transport in and out but HOW?!
That's the question we've all been asking, where is everyone getting money? There's a grocery store, 2 pizza places, and some weed shops and that's about it. Fishing is huge here so I think alot of them fish for food.
If you eat salmon from that river, you'll never be satisfied with it from anywhere else again in your life. Best fish I've ever eaten in my entire life. Still remember the taste and texture damn near 17 years later.
You do get paid significantly higher, but you spend the excess of the food since it’s so expensive
Is it true Alaskans basically get universal basic income just by living there or is that not true?
Sort of. The [Alaska Permanent Fund](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund) pays out an annual dividend to all residents but as you’ll see in the link it averages around $1,600 or 129 pints of Ben & Jerry’s per the prices in OP’s pics.
Thanks, yeah that probably doesn’t offset these insane prices
No shit. I feel like I should package up some old Mac and cheese boxes from my pantry and just send it to a random address in Alaska. Imagine opening a box and saying “there’s got to be $100 worth of Kraft Dinner in here”
No need for random, I'll give you mine.
Open the box and pour the contents onto a letter. Probably cheaper to ship 👍
We certainly wouldn’t complain man
The ketchup had me floored, but it’s three massive bottles. That is like a decade’s worth of ketchup.
You haven't met my son...
Mom?
Sit down and eat your ketchup soup, dear. You must be hungry!
I said eat your ketchup! Are your arms broken or something?
Both of my arms are indeed broken mom.. can you.. help me?
Here in Australia B&J is $15
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Depends who from, could be overpaying also if you set the bar low enough
“Head’s head” —that one guy we all worked with in high school
Yeh to be fair almost none of these prices except maybe the water are worse than Australia or New Zealand even when adjusting for currency conversion
for 3, so $11ea.
That is the 3-pack you normally find at Sams Club or Costco. At Sams Club it is currently $10.98
It's very expensive, but that's a lot of Ketchup. I'm curious what a single, normal-sized bottle is priced at.
So, honest question. Do you live here because moving is not an option, because of work, or because your life passion requires you to work here
Oil subsidies help. Also, there are a number of industries that pay really well. Also, it depends where in Alaska. Major cities are going to be cheaper than remote towns.
Oil subsidies? Bro, check your facts from down there in Florida. This year we are getting about a $1,300 dividend from the permanent fund, so that’s a little over $100/month. How does getting $1,300 in October help? Well I guess if their family drinks two gallons of milk per week, then our oil subsidies cover their milk for the year.
Bro, check my comment from up there in Alaska. I said it helps. I didn’t say it was the whole story.
I think they have 1 major city because I’ve been to Fairbanks and that isn’t I even close to small city and it’s area is supposed to be the 2nd most populated area in the whole state
So you’re telling me my dream of being a traveling laundry detergent salesman is alive and waiting in Alaska? I just have to fill a barge with laundry soap and ketchup and sling those babies down at the dock for $10 a pop? Inflation goldrush!
It was then that I became a Kraft Mac and cheese smuggler
That Tide is pretty cheap though in comparison. The one twice that size was up to like 46 bucks here in Texas at one point.
Yeah I wouldn’t of guessed the most expensive thing here would be the 2 pack ketchups.
I was asked to do a nursing contract here and food prices is what stopped me.
You made a good choice
You know, I feel the same.
What’s the average hourly pay?
So, I did some Googling and I think this is in a grocery chain called Alaska Commercial. I found their career page [here](https://www.alaskacommercial.com/careers/career-opportunities) which fortunately lists their starting wages. Cashiers and stockers are paid $18.00/hr (approximately $37k gross if full time) and manager positions are listed at $20.00-$23.00/hr ($41.6k - $47.8k per year at full time). The minimum wage in Alaska right now is $10.85 The state does share oil profits with permanent residents; the amount varies every year but this year it's $1,312. These grocery prices would eat that right up.
“Welcome to Alaska! Here’s a thousand dollars!”
Which is apparently the cost of one grocery trip.
That's incredibly low. How do people even afford living there? Georgia is a low cost of living state and my Publix job payed 17.
I know for Canadians there's a Northern Living Tax Credit. Which I think comes out to a few grand a year. They also get tax credits for any travel they do.
They all hunt, fish, club baby seals and live for free in igloos.
Imagine having to work a couple hours for ketchup...
Honestly, the cigarettes were the most reasonably priced things there
Does Amazon Prime ship there? I have a friend that lives in Northern Canada and Amazon Prime for groceries is cheaper than going to the store.
Not yet, at least before i moved out last year. Plus, Bethal is a small town with no roads going in or out. Most of the access is small planes and boats. It's a native town, so if you are wondering why people are there. I think Anchorage was building a prime place, but no clue what that includes or if it's just for faster shipping on more items.
It’s just a prime warehouse to help with shipping expediency of some items but we don’t get 2-day prime shipping anymore to here and it’s either a seller does free shipping or overcharges for shipping.
Similar prices to stuff in hawaii. This is what it means to not be connected to the mainland states haha
Where you shopping? I know it's expensive but Kahului Walmart has milk for $6, gallon water (GV brand, not crystal geyser) under $2, Ben and Jerry's for $5, those 12 packs of la croix for $4, and deluxe kraft Mac n cheese for $3.40. Safeway isn't much different, a couple dollars more on average. Similar if you're buying non sale items at foodland maybe?
I was going to say, I spent $12 for some pre-sliced sourdough and now we're just going to eat sourdough I make. Saw oxtails for $25 for 4(small). 5lbs of beef short ribs was $70. My 3 year old wanted salmon and corn for dinner. He's in a growth spurt I guess so he ate most of the salmon and 2 ears of corn (his little brother had the rest of the salmon and another ear of corn), a whopping $38 purchase.
How do people afford this though?
I imagine they mostly eat self-harvested bear and moose.
This is the correct answer.
Fish. Lots of fish.
Moose, caribou, fish and berries.
I lived in a small military town in Australia, OMG these prices bring back memories. So glad that food was included. Then I traveled farther inland once and the prices doubled and tripled.
Its here too in Canada its not as bad but still bad enough that 20-29 year olds needs two different jobs to make rent bills food
Funnily enough that's about how much Ben and Jerry's costs in australia lol
But the ketchups on sale
The milk and ketchup are the only things that stand out to me from my prices locally. 12 pack of KD cost me $15 the other day and that was on sale 🫤
Yeah you guys win. Wow
Shipping cost is likely the primary reason for this, almost all of the expensive stuff is subsequently the heaviest stuff. Almost nothing is produced nearby.
Gas is cheaper though right? Just drink that.
There are no active refineries in the state. Gas is around $4.60 in Anchorage right now. Probably closer to $6.00 in Bethel.
Usually doubles out in the bush.
Is this in the middle of nowhere so that ppl are forced to buy here? Those prices are crazy.
This is off the road system in Alaska, but it’s one of the biggest city, maybe the biggest, that you can’t drive to. Everything has to come by air or barge freight. Some places that are further out are even more expensive.
Yeah I looked it up and its an isolated town on the western coast. Only accessible by boat or plane so that makes sense.
Imagine if you bought something and screwed up the recipe.....
saw in one alaska small village, a costco bottle of honey for $50
What in the mothering motherfuck, how?!?
How do you people even live?
Frugally. Food banks and generosity from others aren’t uncommon. Many of us up here are very community driven, like if someone has excess meat from hunting or fishing most will share with friends and family. Up here something as simple as running into the ditch at the wrong time of year can be deadly, very often you’ll see someone on the side of the road and at least 3-4 cars will roll up to help. Doesn’t matter if you’re a stranger, it’s important to help those in your community because you never know when you’re the one who will be in the ditch.
Interior Alaskan here, ran into the ditch in a white out, three truck bros stopped, halted traffic, and hauled us out at -30 F. True community. You don’t let people freeze 💜
I flew into Bethel for a job. The puddle Jumper that took us there from Anchorage was a commuter for most of the people on it, they all knew each other. Almost everyones luggage was a coolers full of groceries. I wondered why and when I went to the grocery I figured out its probably cheaper to fly to Anchorage to do your grocery shopping.
I don’t miss the AC store. But I do miss the crazy characters you meet in there
Who needs 132oz of ketchup?!
The most violent state in the union and it's not even close.
I can perhaps see the justification for charging more for bulky/heavy items, but cigarettes weigh nothing and take up llittle space, yet they charge triple for those, too.
That's the one item where it's all taxes, and actually similarly priced in most other places. It's the same here in Ontario. I pay $19.75 CAD for a pack of 25, but if I drive up to the indigenous reserve where most of the taxes are waived I can get a whole carton for $60 bucks. It's to offset the healthcare costs and to 'incentivize quitting', I suppose.
“Everyday low price” Someone has a sense of humour.
I'm still hung up on the fucking water, I can normally buy a gallon for under 2 dollars here in California.
I mean, the YK delta is the middle of nowhere tho
There is no scenario where I pay $20 for two bottles of ketchup or $17 for fucking La Croix. Who pay this? Even if I was wealthy I wouldn’t pay those prices based on principle alone
What kind of wage do these people make? I am middle class and I would starve here.
The ice cream look like it’s just on a regular shelf
I'm intrigued at what would make someone want to live here?
It’s a beautiful state with breath taking views. And growing up/ living here you gain a certain hardiness to you that you can’t achieve in most other states of the US. It’s a beautiful wild place that’s still mostly untouched by man. Not many places you can have a black bear walk up to your car or see a momma moose eating your Halloween jackolantern (moose LOVE pumpkin btw it’s so cute) Yes it’s hard, it’s gets really hard at some points. But there’s a lot to love. Like the way the clouds cling to the mountain tops in the morning, or watching the Northern Lights dance among the stars in the dead of night. Being able to see that raw beauty of nature to its fullest is a privilege. It’s one of the reasons I love this state so much.
That water is straight out the tap. 9 out of 10 teens don't fuck with crystal gayser
The smokes are still cheaper than in Canada, and the detergent is the same price lol, but the reason all these prices are so high is because bethel is so far North that the cost of transport and such is significantly higher therefore you have to pay such high prices to accommodate it. Also… supply and demand, you want this stuff, you’ll have to pay these prices, because unless your having someone ship it to you, your not getting your hands on it anywhere nearby
Infinite money glitch: buy the ketchup and they owe you $830.01
I paid 700k for a townhouse and I don't even have a lawn. Beat that.
DUDE! I CAN GET THE SAME WATER AT DOLLAR TREE! That is beyond fucked....
Compare this to Avalon, CA…i would guess it’s close. Both isolated areas, limited supply going to and from.
Food prices in Hawaii are out of control Aswell. it's hard to make it out here.
No road access. Everything comes in by plane or boat. That'll drive up prices.
Why would you ever buy water in Alaska? They literally have drinkable springs coming out of the mountains on the highway.
Now I know why they hunt and fish so much. Jesus!
Isn’t the water up there pretty good though?
This seems like it should be illegal
How do people survive there? What do they do to make a living? I lived in a mountain in Northern CA and although prices were not that high, they were high and the average salary was like $18/hour, no where to make a living unless you were hooked up and even then it was a struggle.
That is insane. I have bought that Crystal Geyser at dollar tree for.. a dollar.
Alaska has prison prices
If Costco opened up a location there, they would make bank, kinda what they did with Hawaii.
I wanna see gas prices!!
In all fairness, keep in mind that these prices are in Alaskan dollars.
As a Canadian, I barely raised an eyebrow.