"Anybody who has ever been inside a supermarket has encountered greater
variety in five minutes than Marco Polo was exposed to in a lifetime.
Hundreds of breakfast cereals stand across the aisle from as many different
cookies, including enough subspecies of chocolate chip to provide the
adventurous a new type each day of the month.

But that's just the start: The average grocery store stocks 30,000 distinct
items, of which 20,000 are unceremoniously dumped and replaced annually."



http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0106/p...tryBottomStory