I assume there's a lot of waste. Not all U.S. grocery stores are like this, and you can save a lot of money by avoiding the ones that are.

I hate walking across a giant store that's as long as two city blocks and has 4 brands and 30 flavors of everything but still manages to be sold out of the thing I actually want. It's definitely something that requires acclimation, and you can lose that acclimation if you don't visit one for a few years.