THE HIGH COST OF KOSHER

When we lived on Staten Island, a local Jewish book store charged high prices for his goods. When asked why his prices were higher, he said that the cost of gas and the toll on the bridge meant that he had to raise his prices. What was absurd was the fact that the toll and the gas were a fixed price. No matter if he brought ten dollars or one thousand dollars of merchandise across the bridge,the cost to him was the same. So why, then, was the full bridge toll added to every item? It seems to us, if you bring over ten items the cost should be broken down over ten items. If you bring one hundred items, the cost per item should be much lower. Sadly, that was not the case.

That seems to be a common disease in the kosher food industry. Costs in the kosher aisle have gone through the roof. The sad part is that no one seems to know why.

Granted, in some parts of the kosher industry, the cost of supervision of a product is a factor, but in most cases, the cost of supervision is neglible. So why the vast difference in price?

Over on Failed Messiah.com, there is an article about the high cost of keeping kosher. The article speaks of a family paying a huge amount for kosher grape juice- an amount at least three or four times the East Coast price.

This is a bad situation- the question is: Can something be done about it?