Text 9504, 63 rader
Skriven 2008-06-24 14:31:03 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: I Lived Through It 494
==============================
Hi Michael,

 RH> One thing we did see in the Honolulu airport was fresh pineapple for
 RH> sale--all boxed up, gone thru the agriculture checks & clearances,
 RH> ready for tourists to take home with them.  But, pricing it out--you
 RH> end up paying about $20.00 per pineapple.  Cheaper to buy one at your
 RH> local grocery store!  No, we couldn't pack any in our luggage to bring

 ML> When I visited Hawaii, I marveled at the same thing. I figure the
 ML> cost comes from packing the stuff up fancy and the hoops that the
 ML> sellers have to jump through to make sure the produce is free of
 ML> whatever nastiness they're fearing will contaminate the mainland
 ML> from the islands. Plus the tourists in question are over a barrel:
 ML> their friends and neighbors probably all said, bring home a
 ML> pineapple for me (with a smirk), and

Some of it is the cost of packaging and governmental regulations but I
suspect there's a pretty nice profit margin there as well. I mean,
pineapples in the stores there are usually $2.00/lb, give or take a bit
but $20.00 for one pineapple? We can get the same ones, just about as
inexpensive, here in GA.


the travelers, feeling guilty
 ML> that they got to go to paradise and their acquaintances did not,
 ML> feel obligated to do so (with a grimace).

No, I don't think most tourists feel guilty about going to HI and
leaving their friends back on the main land.  The tourists would feel
worse if they tried smuggling one back in their luggage and were caught.
I don't recall what the fine was/is but it wasn't peanuts.

Back in 2002 when Rachel and David graduated from college, Steve and I
put on a Hawaiian themed graduation party for them.  Steve did kalua
pork in the crock pot; I did chicken long rice and others did various
sorta related things. Rachel wanted to do a fruit tray so we looked for
a pineapple.  The only thing we could find was a miserable looking one
from Costa Rica (less than half the size of a decent Hawiian pineapple)
for about $3.00. I told her it wasn't worth buying so we had a fruit
tray without pineapple.

 RH> to friends and family either--our luggage had to go thru the
 RH> agricultural checks as well.

 ML> As well it should. Thrips and plant scale and such things do not
 ML> discriminate between tourists and former residents, whether
 ML> military or civilian. What gets me is the fact that carry-ons
 ML> are exempt from the agricultural checks. A big old "huh" to that.

Yes but they do go thru the security check point later on. That's when
stuff like pineapples are caught.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly@earthlink.net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Mind... Mind... Let's see, I had one of those around here someplace.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)