522139 Fri May 23 16:52:39 -0700 2008 6 32 Chains 0 3716212 I usually buy nearly the same set of staple items every 2 weeks or so at Costco. Milk, soy milk, juice, half-and-half, coffee, bread, bananas... But wait! One day, several weeks ago, at there were no bananas at Costco! Must have been a fluke, we thought. But then the next time, and the next... still no bananas. Plenty of bananas at Safeway, 99 Ranch, Trader Joe's, and the other stores, so it doesn't seem to be a worldwide shortage. Just Costco. (As an aside, the second cheapest source of bananas seems to be Trader Joe's, at least around here - "here" meaning the Bay Area.) I've seen some speculation on people's blogs, but nothing conclusive. Anyone know what the story is? Fri May 23 16:52:40 -0700 2008 55069 2m8ohed 1 3716805 Flooding in Panama and Ecuador wiped out their banana crop. Panama and Ecuador were Costco's primary (only?) suppliers. This is what my local Costco manager told me when I asked about the absence of their 4lbs. bananas for $1.30. Fri May 23 22:43:45 -0700 2008 3716212 11583 ipsedixit 2 3759958 I'll second 'ipsedixit's comment. Our local Arizona Smith's Food & Drug had a sign posted stating that the regular crop of bananas were wiped out due to severe flooding in the Central and South American (Banana Belt) countries. I have observed in the last couple of visits that they appear to be better quality wherever they are getting them from. -BnF Sun Jun 08 01:48:10 -0700 2008 3716805 125375 Big N Fat 1 3721962 My local Kroger had a sign up next to the bananas saying this year's crop was bad ... Mon May 26 16:04:29 -0700 2008 3716212 16381 DingoWallaby 2 3723804 4lbs for $1.30? When I saw 4lbs for $1.60 at Costco in Michigan a couple of weeks ago, I made a beeline for the display. Bananasa in the midwest went up at least a dime a pound. Tue May 27 10:11:01 -0700 2008 3721962 92112 Fibber McGee 1 3746103 Costco in Austin currently has them for $1.47 if I remember correctly. Tue Jun 03 13:24:42 -0700 2008 3716212 83462 Lixer 1 3759776 Went to Costco last Friday and - surprise! - they had bananas! Different supplier than the usual one, though. And not the same quality, it seems... it's been 8 days, and the bananas are still green, but beginning to get some brown spots. Don't you hate it when they go from green to brown, without passing yellow? Sat Jun 07 21:13:14 -0700 2008 3716212 55069 2m8ohed