They're shipped in oxygen free containers to prevent ripening and bruises while in transit, and then are over oxygenated to quickly ripen once unloaded to dockside facilities.
Before that, shipping distances were limited and the majority of what was unloaded had to be trashed before making it to market.
Only one interesting aspect of an extremely interesting historical topic.
Highly recommend starting with the story of Samuel Zemurray for those interested in the topic, who sold his company to united fruit then promptly turned around and took charge of it for the next twenty years in a hostile takeover.
I don't understand why nuts are so expensive. They sell for almost 10x their wholesale price.
They wholesale for ~$1.70 per pound. Peanuts wholesale for ~$0.25 per pound.
Yet walnuts sell for like ~$12 per pound and peanuts sell for ~$3 per pound.
Most foods that have sell for 10x wholesale price are delicate AND perishable, so a ton of that food goes to waste. Also, grocers reject a lot because of looks.
None of this is true with nuts.
So why do they retail for 10x wholesale price? I know technically, it's closer to 5x - since they usually retail blanched and the shell is half the weight. Still...
I've got around 10kg of them from a couple of trees in my garden. I've done zero maintenance, they're just there to keep other shit from growing (walnut trees poison the soil, most weeds stop growing, also because of the shade). All "high quality", the same stuff you get in stores.
Walnut trees are used on roadsides, they're perfect for it, zero maintenance, keeps the soil from moving/sliding and kills weeds. Random people just harvest them if they want to.
The store prices on them make no sense. Just like bananas :D
On that note, walnuts are so expensive, meanwhile they grow literally everywhere around here with no special care or anything.