The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: John Edward Heinbockel - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division - Analyst
: Bob, I guess we're in uncharted territory here with inflation in recent times. To what degree do you guys -- and I don't think you do
much of this -- test where you're going to take pricing up in certain places, see what the consumer reaction is and then go more
broadly? And have you seen, item by item, any elasticity where you'd say, okay, we're either not going to roll out the price increase
or roll it back?
Question: John Edward Heinbockel - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division - Analyst
: Okay. And then maybe secondly, gas gallons, right, so what has that been up? And I guess, historically, right, higher gas prices have
translated into share gains for you. Are you starting to see that accelerate and drive some incremental traffic to clubs?
Question: Brandon Babcock Cheatham - Citigroup Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: This is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. I just wanted to ask about supply chain bottlenecks. Any particular categories that have
improved, any that have gotten worse? I think some of your competitors have mentioned general merch and furniture as some
categories that have been challenging. Just wondering if you all are seeing that as well.
Question: Brandon Babcock Cheatham - Citigroup Inc., Research Division - Analyst
: And I think in the past, you've mentioned that if you did have shortages, you would be able to kind of switch out a vendor or utilize
an existing vendor for new product. Has that kind of slowed because the supply chain has improved?
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