donated food profits and losses rambling

You would think that they would just keep the prices low thus selling more and that it would be easier in the long run but it might be that the tax deduction pays off more in the end and allows them to say pay their employees more, or well even less, I'm not real sure on how tax deductions work. Though if you think about it some stores would go out of business, there are stores around that are made just for the purpose of old breads flowers and hanes breads to name two.

o ya.

There are a lot of reasons for the high prices. Most of those companies are publicly held. That is, they have sold shares to raise money to grow and expand their business and they have shareholders that expect a return in the form of dividends. Lots of dividends! If they don't get those dividends they will sell their shares and if enough of them do, the company will not be worth as much which will impact their ability to get loans to grow and expand or even maintain their present size. Then you have labor costs. Lots of them employ union labor, which means above average wages as well as generous benefits packages and other concessions. All this has to go into the cost of the bread and baked goods that they market. Donating their older products gives them a tax write-off that can save them millions and let them keep paying those dividends and labor costs. Then you have the cost of materials. Did you know that the price of wheat has risen over 100% this past year? Look around you at the grocery and see how high the prices have risen. There are other things that go into the bread--seeds, flavoring, preservatives, etc., all of which have had price increases. Corn has gone up about 125% and that's used in bread, too. And how about the machinery? Maintenance, labor (usually union) to keep them repaired and in good condition costs money. I've just listed some costs off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more. They've all gone up in the past year. And while I don't understand why anyone would pay $4-5 for a loaf of bread, there are people that think they must if they want good nutrition. So the price stays. If people quit buying the high priced bread there will eventually be a price drop as companies try to win back their customer base. That's the free market system. I bake most of my own bread. It's cheaper, better for me and tastes a helluva lot better! I'm one that refuses to pay the prices. If there were a few million more like me, the prices would come down.

Sadly it is because if they sell two they have already immensely profited. See then the cheaper later is extra to them plus the tax deduction too.