The typical personal care product which we buy in a gocery or drug store
costs less than 5c on the dollar to produce.  The rest covers advertising (a
huge chunk), shipping, warehousing, more shipping, and finally the retail
store's markup.  I would imagine formula is similar, although grocery stores
mark up personal care products more than food because of needing to stay
competitive for food.  Pharmacists have told me that they actually do not
make much profit (don't know how they define that) on formula because they
have to match competitor's prices.

Michelle Bentley, CLE

----- Original Message -----
From: "Elisa Casey" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Mark-ups on formula (was: Re: Formula company donations)
> Unfortunately I think it's probably the mothers that are buying formula
> at hugely inflated prices.  ... I don't know enough about marketing to
know how much the chain
> and distributor take from that, but even figuring in the extra water and
> supplies for making the liquid concentrates and the single-use products,
> that is a KILLING off of what is essentially cow milk protein, fats,
> sugars, and vitamins.

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html