The results are published twice a year in a catalogue that can be extremely helpful to comparison shoppers.

In matters of love, she is a comparison shopper with a shrewd sense of her own market value.

The whole king-size, boldface text runs to a little over a hundred words (or around 50 cents a page, for you comparison shoppers).

The report noted that the current reimbursement formula is supposedly based on market prices, but many Medicare patients are ill equipped to be active comparison shoppers.

So how do other retailers react toward comparison shoppers?

One site, dealtime.com, works as a comparison shopper.

An obsessive-compulsive comparison shopper may wind up being carried away in a padded van.

"Now that," he said, "is a serious comparison shopper."

In addition, Sears has "comparison shoppers" working out of Chicago who check the competition's prices.

Both are sending out crews of comparison shoppers to monitor each other.