Wal-Mart shopper Doris Swartz said she doesn't feel like she has been getting a bargain at the grocery store lately.

The 61-year-old Swartz said she only notices when a price increases.

She said it seems like most things "go up and stay up."

And she said she was surprised to hear the price for 17 common items at four area grocery stores has decreased over the past six months, according to a price comparison done by The York Dispatch.

Prices appear to have peaked last fall, after record high summer gas prices and the demand for corn and wheat products used to make alternative fuels drove up the cost of many goods.

Between April and October 2008, the price of the 17 items -- such as milk, butter, sugar and flour -- increased by more than 6 percent.

On Oct. 2, it cost an average of $68.53 to buy the items at York County Weis Markets, Giant Food, Shurfine and Wal-Mart grocery stores.

Last week, it cost an average of $64.98 to buy the same items.

The $3.55 drop represents a 5.2 percent decrease over the past six months.

The lower cost seems to be in keeping with national trends. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index, the price of some staples is on a downward trend.

For example, a dozen large Grade A eggs cost $2.06 last April. That price had decreased to $1.79 in February, the most recent numbers the index has published.

The four local stores were selling those eggs for as much as $2 per dozen in October, but the average price last week was $1.43.

Milk prices are also on the
decline, according to the Consumer Price Index. The average price of a gallon of whole milk fell from $3.79 last April to $3.31 in February. Locally, the price of milk fell anywhere from 50 cents to more than $1 between October and last week.

Lower underlying prices: The lower prices are a result of declining costs for dairy products, eggs and the gas needed to transport grocery items, said Tracy Pawelski, a spokeswoman for Giant Food.

Supply and demand are also factors, she said. Prices are lowered on items when there is less of a demand, but there's adequate supply.

Items such as beef cost less than they did six months ago because customers are steering away from higher priced cuts of meat, Pawelski said.

She said customers are also moving away from name brands and buying store brands to save money, which creates pressure for name brands to lower their price.

Weis Markets spokesman Dennis Curtin said the global economic crisis has led to lower prices. The U.S. export markets have weakened since last summer, so companies have extra production capacity; output is higher than demand.

The price of commodities such as yellow corn and wheat also affects the price of goods, he said.

Flour and other wheat-based products cost less this year because the wheat crops in recent years haven't been extremely productive. But for the 2008-2009 growing season, farmers planted a lot more wheat and were able to harvest ample crops, flooding the market, Curtin said.

Some items rose: While the overall price of the sample grocery list decreased, a few items cost more than they did six months ago.

A loaf of bread costs about a dime more than three months ago in all but one store, and the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes jumped 20 cents at Weis and Giant.

The price of Folgers coffee also increased, but it's hard to tell by looking at price alone. The company switched from selling a 13-ounce tub for about $3.30 to selling an 11.3-ounce tub for about $3.20. Though the price appears to have gone down, the price per ounce is slightly higher for the smaller container.

Swartz, of York Township, laughed when asked whether she noticed the lesser amount the last time she bought Folgers; she hadn't.

"It's sorta sneaky," she said. "I think there's the same amount of plastic, just less coffee inside ... like they didn't want you to notice."

She said she buys the store brand or generic brand of almost everything except for coffee and chicken, and she spends about $150 per month on groceries.

She said she also only buys what she knows she will eat.

"You can't be afraid of leftovers," she said.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.