[tokensimian]

Parent's "a few cents" and what I pay in SoCal for a can of beans ($1.40 regular price; $0.99 on sale) indicate a different scope.

You project a 1:3 ratio. Cheaper estimates of chip cost, more expensive beans suggest the other end of that ratio is $0.03:1.40 indicate the chip cost around 2%, which could potentially be recouped by better inventory practices.

[michaelt]

I don't dispute you can spend $1.40 on a can of beans if you're buying premium brand, but in Asda (a British supermarket chain brought by Wal-Mart a few years ago) I can buy a can of "SmartPrice Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce" [1] for £0.24 (about 33 cents) and a can of "SmartPrice Mushy Peas" [2] for £0.16 (about 22 cents), and a can of "SmartPrice New Potatoes in Water" [3] for £0.15 (about 21 cents).

If you can get those goods onto shelves profitably and spare a cent for an RFID tag, you could have a successful career in grocery retailing :)

[1] https://groceries.asda.com/product/baked-beans/asda-smartpri... [2] https://groceries.asda.com/product/peas/mushy-peas/34117 [3] https://groceries.asda.com/product/potatoes-instant-mash/asd...