puerto rico: I saw a commercial for Walmart that said "Prices may vary in Alaska and Puerto Rico" Are prices more or less there?|||more probably - farther away - higher shipping costs uhh, Steve - you say it's not always something to do with transportation cost, but then you go on to describe two different situations where is it definitely related to shipping costs or distance - you contradicted your own statement|||Prices are always higher. Contrary to popular belief, it is not due entirely to transportation costs. Almost all goods are barged in and it barging items on the ocean costs a fraction of trucking. (think about it, all those Chinese goods sold in America come via ocean freight and shipping doesn't eat up the majority of the price). I used to own a retail store in Alaska and sometimes the manufacturers shipped things to me at no cost. Depending on their location (west coast versus east coast) the cost of getting product to Alaska was cheaper than them getting it to New York. Some items, like fresh produce (leafy greens etc) have to be flown in and have higher shipping costs. Other foods (canned goods, fruits, etc) come on the barge. However in the areas you describe everything costs more. Real estate, energy, health care, food, building maintenance, etc. The cost of doing business is higher so the stores have to charge more.|||I live in Anchorage, ak. My mother and I had a conversation 2 weeks ago while we were both at wal-mart. I was here in Anchorage and she was ain the Kansas City area. We compared prices on the exact same products and found that in some cases we are almost paying double up here, but overall we were paying about 30% more than a KC wal-mart. The reason for this is that absolutely everything in Alaska has to be shipped in by ship or plane--there is only one road that connets us to the lower 48 states and 18 wheelers are not allowed to drive it all the way to us (about a 4 day drive).|||They are rural areas.