https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/food-inflation-mysterious-fees-distributors-ed17bb45
Some food makers complain of a flood of obscure charges from distributors; ‘Is that price gouging or costs going up?’
The granola maker, Wildway Foods, said the cost of making the cereal hasn’t gone up that much, and that it isn’t pocketing more profit. It jacked up the price, it said, in large part to offset fees that piled up from a little-known link in the supply chain: grocery distributors. There were charges for processing grocery promotions, others for potential spoilage and still more related to alleged shipping glitches.
TL;DR - Middleman junk fees to reduce risk and increase profits.
