They are not telling the story of food price inflation

[edhopper]

while I see reports of 6%, 8% and 9% inflation, I see little that tells what I see at the grocery store, there are products that have gone up 50% to 100% without explanations. Fuel prices are down and these are not foreign products. Butter double what it was. Cans of tomatoes were $1.99, now on sale 2 for $5. Corn chips on sale 2 for $9, that is the sale price!! I just bought a bunch a scallions for $1.99, I used to get them 2 for $1. Soup that was $3.99 is now $5.99 (these are just examples that come to mind, but it is throughout the store)

I am sure you all have seen the same thing, but I rarely if ever see any News story that looks into this. I think there is something going on beyond "inflation".

[yardwork]

1. It's price gouging and the media is ignoring it.

[edhopper]

2. That is what I am thinking

Corporate media has to protect it's advertisers.

[DENVERPOPS]

80. Exactly

EVERYTHING is going up, it's not just food.

For two years I have been watching the escalation of prices of everything. And the massive Republican owned main stream media is playing oblivious to everything..........Not only are the prices going up astronomically, their package size being considerably smaller is a double whammy. For about two years prices have been going up steadily in the grocery market, but kicked into high gear before the election to frame the cost increases/inflation as being caused by the Dems/Biden. Rape and Run is what it is called in many industries.
It is almost revenge by manufacturers to get even for increases in the Minimum Wage increases.

Also utility price increases are un-fathomable. We use the budget billing where you pay the same amount every month. Last years Xcel's bill for us was 182 a month. I just received the new year budget billing amount for us.......299 a month.
One eighty Two to Three hundred a month. A 74% increase!!!!!!!! The Colorado the PUC was, in the past, a group that looked out for the consumer in the situation of a monopoly. Colorado, (and I don't know about the other seven? states Xcel provides utilities) has done nothing except rubber-stamp every single rate increase Xcel puts across their desks. Xcel has succeeded in changing utility users in Colorado, from a PUC governed/regulated monopoly, into basically a For Profit Corporation.......
I saw an article that the Oil companies, and other major/top corporations and industries are reporting massive increases in their profits.
That wouldn't be the case if their "costs" were indeed increasing as they use as an excuse for all the corporations in America playing Rape and Run like nothing ever before in the History of our country/democracy.

BEND OVER AMERICA...........

The dictionary defines, in the most simplest of terms, FASCISM, as a merger of Government and Corporations. The New Republican party is hell bent on trashing Democracy, and installing a Corporate Fascist Tyranny. They are one millimeter away from achieving their goal. The top 1% is going all out to make that happen, and they will use any and all corrupt means to get there. They want the remaining 99% to be crushed into what would be the bottom 1%, becoming merely serfs and peasants.
WASF

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. This

Except for eggs.

[DownriverDem]

22. Egg prices are up

due to some kind of viral infection. Many chickens died and many had to be put down.

[a kennedy]

30. Avian flu, and a real reason for the egg prices going up.

Thousands of chickens have been killed because of the flu.

[SergeStorms]

65. Millions of chickens....

I wish it were only thousands (I bet the chickens wish so too!). 😕

[a kennedy]

68. Right, and thanks.

[Traildogbob]

66. Gotta

Hatch the eggs to replace dead chickens. The eggs do come before chickens…..right? Hard to remember with GQP banning science books or anything pertaining to sex. Even among birds.
Eating eggs is abortion, we need to protect the life of unborn birds. It’s written in the BuyBull.

[Ferrets are Cool]

72. ...

[yardwork]

83. I don't think this is all due to avian flu.

Commercial chickens have short lifespans. I understand that avian flu has disrupted the supply, but I think producers are growing more chickens. I understand egg prices going up, but not to this extent. I think there's price gouging going on.

[summer_in_TX]

99. A highly virulent strain of avian flu is the primary reason

for the huge increase in the price of eggs and poultry meat. Since the outbreak was detected last February, more than 57 million birds in hundreds of commercial and backyard flocks have had to be culled in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

The disease is still being spread by wild birds and if even one bird in a flock is positive for avian flu, the flock must be eradicated.

[iluvtennis]

21. Absolutely grocery stores as well as other retailers raised prices just because they could

and blamed it on Covid.

[Tadpole Raisin]

46. Yah and the rabid right store owners blame it on Biden while they laugh

all the way to the bank at the gullibility of their shoppers for believing the lie. Sometimes they do such a good job they start to believe it themselves.

I can’t help but be overjoyed when a right winger is caught cheating their fellow man and then begs for forgiveness as they site God.

What shallow hollow vessels they are.

[iluvtennis]

59. Well said @Tadpole Raisin. n/t

[True Blue American]

33. Amen

[Ford_Prefect]

37. The media ignores it because that is one of their prime advertising patrons.

Big Ag, along with selling groceries, soap, and perpetual debt is what pays the bills, and edits the news at the MSM.

[yardwork]

82. Yep.

[uponit7771]

88. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[True Dough]

3. I love Kellog's Raisin Bran

but I held my nose and bought the Great Value brand at Walmart the other day. Essentially the same size box but $3 difference!

[edhopper]

4. I noticed my $3 Trader Joes cerial

was $5.99 at the store for the regular brand. Food is becoming unaffordable.

[Glaisne]

42. Store brands are often made at the same factory

as the name brands. I always buy the store brands for most items.

[Kaleva]

7. Family sized Kellogg's Raisin Bran at DG is $3.20 a box

That's if one buys 2 for $8 and then use the $5 off if you spend at least $25 coupon which reduces the price per item by 20%

[True Dough]

12. Good to know.

Thanks!

[NullTuples]

31. "Family sized"...now turn the box sideways and find it's only 1.5 inches thick!

[Kaleva]

87. It's actually a little over 2 1/4 inches thick

A store brand box of corn flakes is 3 inches thick but is 6 oz lighter

[NullTuples]

90. I haven't seen a 3-inch thick box of cereal in years...different market/region perhaps?

Nearly our entire cereal aisle in multiple local chains is packed with boxes so thin they'll fall over if there aren't any behind them and the shelf has any tilt to it.

[True Blue American]

36. I refuse to pay the high prices

Of name brands . Love the Great Value and Kroger brands.

[True Dough]

70. That's true of many products for me

I don't mind Great Value raisin bran. It's okay. I LOVE Kellog's. But I hate Post raisin bran. Tastes like cardboard.

[bullimiami]

5. always real quick to raise prices to cover "costs" but real slow dropping prices back.

[edhopper]

6. I can't see how these prices

are just a rise in "costs". Be nice if somebody looked into it. News Media? Congress? Bueller?

[bucolic_frolic]

8. 10-4 Confirming evidence

Whole wheat flour was about $2.42-59 in 2020. That price from the biggest, a regional, and a foreign owned company, local prices.

Now at these stores $5.58 to 6.99, same two stores, the regional closed.

But, 40 miles away in another shopping region, house brand of largest co-op - $3.49.

National discount closeout retailer, the best known national brand was $1.99 in August 2022, but availability was sparse.

I did pickup a 10 pound sack last week, King Arthur, very near to expiration, $7.99.

I believe the big box stores are scalping to make up for lost prices in all of their other, non-food, departments.

The big grocers are jacking up prices to fatten profits. They know lean times are coming.

All stores have a few prices here and there, that vary, to entice the consumer, but I don't believe these are retail "loss-leaders" - items sold at a loss to draw foot traffic. They're just the old, normal price.

Supermarkets have it good right now! I doubt this will continue much longer. Consumers' larders are bulging in fear of further price increases. When that demand slackens and merchandise sits on the shelves, prices will fall.

[NullTuples]

35. I don't give them that much credit when it could be simple greed, not foresight.

They raised the prices during COVID supply chain failures, and people kept buying food anyway. Then they raised them again when fuel prices went up, and people kept buying food anyway. Now they're raising prices simply because people will keep buying food anyway.

This is what unconstrained capitalism, the so-called "Free Market" really looks like. Don't even get me started on drug prices, another product people need to survive.

We - all Americans, Republican or Democrat or 3rd party - need to pressure our representatives to bring back industry regulation and reign in price gouging. It's not a new idea, but so many people who buy things now were not even alive before Reagan and the start of wide scale deregulation.

[Hope22]

49. To be clear, people with money kept purchasing the items.

Low income folks were out of luck and food pantrys are swamped. Pretty terrifying news actually!

[NullTuples]

57. Yet corporate profits still grew, so the tactic was deemed successful.

[Genki Hikari]

61. We're not rich

And we kept buying the same things we always have.

It helps that we're not eating out anymore. The savings there is covering the higher costs of grocery food for us.

And no, we don't eat processed junk, or not much of it. Of those we do get, we've never bought many national brand items, and those seem to be going up far faster than the store brands (exception: eggs). So we're not feeling as much pain with that as we might have if we were dependent on national brands.

[Hope22]

89. During Covid we ramped up the garden

And shopped at road side stands for fresh food. We still had jobs and a roof over head. Not true for so many. Our homeless population grows here and food donations are more important than ever. These mega stores need to donate more directly to the pantry.

[elocs]

107. I'm retired, under the 100% federal poverty level, and I'm doing ok.

I eat a low carb, keto lifestyle so I avoid processed food. I practice intermittent fasting, eating 2 meals a day with no snacking and since my diet is high fat/low carb I'm not hungry every couple of hours. So my daily food intake is voluntarily cut by 1/3 and some days I choose to fast for health reasons and don't eat at all.

[True Blue American]

40. We have been buying

OTC products online, free shipping. Thise year they are doing away with buying online. You have to buy them in the store. You could order different things, they had smart way to pay,OTC CARD OR Walmart.

[mnhtnbb]

9. For years the food companies have been reducing the size of containers or net weight

of products in order not to raise prices. Now we're getting it both ways. I can remember when a regular size can of tuna was 7 oz. Some years ago they were reduced to 5 oz., but the price didn't drop. It's happened to lots and lots of products.

[True Blue American]

41. Coffee,1 lb.

Now 12 ounces. And the digital coupons the register never shows. Not programmed in.

[Kaleva]

10. I always look at the reduced price section at the local store

Cans of soup for $.50 each, bacon at $2.99 a 12 oz package, hot dogs at $.99 a package, hamburger at $1.99 a pound and so on.

[jmbar2]

11. Wages are rising, and they need to rise

More boats need to be lifted.

I will happily pay a bit more if it goes into improved living standards for workers. Not saying that is happening, but I hope some of the price rises are going to the production workers.

[Bettie]

14. It isn't about wages

It's about consolidation.

There is virtually no competition in the grocery industry (or really any industry in the US) at this point.

If anti-trust laws were enforced, things would change, but they aren't and corporations like it that way.

[dalton99a]

16. +1. The grocery industry is gouging Americans big time

[Bettie]

23. Though, I will add that the price of eggs

is higher because of the number of chickens killed because of Avian flu, but mostly, it's just gouging.

[dalton99a]

26. Agreed. However, the systematic across-the-board price changes are clearly not 8% or even 10%

The new prices are downright extortionate on some items and hard on people on limited income

In fact poor people on food stamps will soon see a big CUT in benefits:

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas families who have been getting extra money to buy food during the pandemic through the Supplemental Nutrition Assitance Program (SNAP) will soon see a dramatic cut in their benefits. In March, all SNAP recipients – roughly 3.6 million Texans – will see a reduction of at least $95 a month, and other families seeing a cut of more than $400 a month.

Early on in the pandemic, Congress temporarily increased SNAP benefits by allowing states to give all recipients that maximum dollar amount per family size. Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations Spending Bill late last year, which ends the temporary increase in allotment in February.

“In March, participants will have their benefits decreased back to their original benefit amount, which is calculated based on their income, the number of people in their family and their expenses,” Feeding Texas Director of Policy and Advocacy Jamie Olson said.

For example, the maximum monthly benefit for a family of four is $939. If this family’s regular monthly allotment is $500, they would have received $939 per month with the supplement. Starting in March 2023, their regular monthly benefit of $500 will resume, Texas Health and Human Services told KXAN.

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/over-3-million-texans-will-see-a-reduction-in-snap-benefits-in-march/

[toesonthenose]

24. While there has been consolidation, I don't agree that there isn't competition.

It is any easy thing to say monopoly, no competition, etc.. but that is not how I see it. Just in my area, there is a Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Kroger (they are owned by the same company), Publix, Wegemans, Walmart, Target, Costco, Aldi, Lidl, Fresh Market, Trader Joes and Whole Foods/Amazon. There are also a host of other smaller and specialty stores that are more targeted to specific markets such as Latino and Asian. There is most definitely a lively competition among grocery store chains and there are other reasons as to why prices have increased so much.

[IbogaProject]

74. The consolidation is at the wholesale level

That is where the prices are being jacked up. There are only 4 major meat processors. Two cereal producers etc. And just because there is multiple players they can still collude. Oligopoly is what we are facing. And they are slick in how they collude without overtly aligning prices. https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/america-has-oligopoly-problem

[onenote]

108. Two cereal producers? I can name four: Kellogg's, Post, General Mills, Quaker

Here are the principal cereal producers and their shares of the market:
Kellogg's -- around 30%
Post --- around 30%
General Mills -- around 19%
Private Label -- around 7.5%
Quaker (Pepsico) -- around 6.5%
Various others - around 7%

[IbogaProject]

119. An Oligolopoly is where 2-5 control an industry

https://blog.ucsusa.org/rebecca-boehm/why-competition-in-food-system-matters/
So top two are 60% and top four put the total almost to 85%. And now w new secure messaging methods collusion is very easy and almost unnecessary As they can track each other in near real time. Another issue is the concentration in ownership between index funds and other pools.

[NJCher]

27. give 'em some competition!

Grow a garden!

Many people think gardening is a spring/summer operation.

I grow all four seasons.

The other day I read a post by Kaleva, I think, about the number of items he cans. It was amazing! It was about the use of a digital canner, I think.

But to the OP's post, I notice it, too. I will be considering an item and see that there is a 25% increase in its price. Back it goes: because I am flexible and resourceful and will not fall for these tactics. There is always an option. Always.

[True Blue American]

44. My son and DIL

Do that now! I had a big, fat blueberry muffin from Kroger brand, cream cheese, home made blackberry jam!
J

[MissB]

92. I don't have a lot out there right now

I can pull some arugula, some onions, some chard and kale, but the freezing weather we had in early December did a number on my garden. I've avoided putting up a hoop over a bed, but I really should get around to that next fall, as I'm pretty sure I could be growing a lot during the winter season.

I mentioned way down thread that I'll start winter sowing this week. It's a bit windy and chilly today, and I've already spent plenty of time outside today cleaning the hen house. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

[toesonthenose]

19. You are correct.

I can't stand the "it's just gouging, greed, corporate profits" arguments that are constantly bandied about here. Yes, corporate profits are important and I am sure figure into some of the price increases, but it is a very tight margin business and I don't think people understand what it takes to keep the doors open and employees paid. My daughter works part time for a grocery store while home for breaks from college, and what they pay her for what she does is almost a bit shocking.
Wages have increased a great deal in the past few years (especially considering the minimum wage in most places), and that is a good thing. I fully support it. But people need to realize that companies aren't just going to eat those costs, they are going to raise prices. There are a multitude of reasons as to why prices have exploded the past few years outside of wage increases as well. The invasion of Ukraine really battered fertilizer and wheat/grain supplies. When you start at the very beginning of where we get our food from, and realize the price increases that have happened to the items that are used to start the "food" process, it just gets passed down the line. The increase in fuel prices, supply chain issues, shortage of labor, etc... are all more things that need to be factored into why food prices have increased so much.

[NJCher]

29. it's complex

good post. Thanks for pointing this out.

Pursuant to your point about your daughter's wages, "what they pay her for what she does is almost a bit shocking," I am unclear about what you mean.

Shocking because it's a lot or too little?

[toesonthenose]

78. In my opinion, it is a lot.

This is tricky, I hate posting instead of an actual discussion face to face because what I say/mean sometimes doesn't come across quite as well. Shocked may have been an inappropriate description or word to use. I guess it is more related to her situation. She isn't supporting a family, doesn't need to pay for rent, food, etc... But, I am cognizant of the fact that many of the people working those positions do have those expenses. So, for them, I completely understand, and I support increased minimum wage levels. But what they are getting paid now, is almost 100% more than what they were a couple of years ago and I know that increases the cost to the employer to pay them. Unfortunately, I think quite a bit of labor is going to be replaced by automation more and more to help address the situation. I was eating at a Denny's with her a few months ago when I went to see her at school. An employee seated us and took our order. A few minutes later, a robot wheeled out to our table with the food on it for us to take. As a person that waited tables for many years, that one really hit home.

[toesonthenose]

73. So define for me what "realistic" profits are.

The other option to not eating those costs are increased automation, and hiring less workers. If that works for you, then so be it. I certainly am not the type of consumer they want. I work my butt off to find the best deals that I can and utilize many resources to do so. It takes effort, but you can lower your costs if you work at it.

[edhopper]

48. How does a 5% or 6% raise in wages

lead to a 100% rise in price.

When New York raised minimum wage, my local Pizza place raised prices, from $3 a slice to $3.25. Costumers were glad to pay it for the guys who make our pies. A 25% raise in wages was less than a 10% price increase.

[jmbar2]

64. Good question - made me do some digging...

Ran across an interesting explanation that was new to me, but apparently known all the way back to Adam Smith.

Companies have 3 choices when they receive cost increases. They can absorb and take a hit on their margins. They can pass through and share the pain with customers. Or they can put an additional mark-up above and beyond the rate of cost increase, padding their margins at the expense of customers. Up and down the value chain, this profit-driven model is responsible for over 50% of consumer price inflation. And without profit inflation, price increases would be tracking more closely with wage growth.

The Price-Profit Spiral:
An economic analysis by The Roosevelt Institute concluded that shareholders favor conglomerates with large market share because they are able to both raise prices and retain customers: “Firms increased their markups substantially in 2021, both to their highest level and with the largest single-year increase since 1955. Firm profitability, both before and after taxes, also increased to its highest levels… a phenomenon that could be described as a price-profit spiral.

Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nation recognized this dynamic early on in the development of capitalism. “High profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages. Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price. … They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2022/09/12/how-profit-inflation-made-your-groceries-so-damn-expensive/?sh=16fdbb892eb9

[edhopper]

67. And outside of Sanders and Warren

why aren't our leaders talking about this? I would love to see Yellen say something.

[jmbar2]

75. Robert Reich has been posting on twitter a lot about it.

But yeah, needs to be mainstreamed.

[edhopper]

81. I love Reich

But he is a voice in the wilderness and not a Democratic leader.

[yardwork]

84. And, not at all coincidentally, many companies are reporting record profits.

And, the salaries of corporate leaders have gone through the roof. Compare the average CEO salary now to in 1985, adjusting for inflation, etc. It's not just the CEOs, too. Most large corporations now have dozens of vice presidents, all being paid outrageous salaries compared to the people who actually do the work. It's way out of control.

[MichMan]

98. What about double digit increases in ingredients ?

Flour, Cheese, Pepperoni, Sausage, Tomato Sauce, Mushrooms, and everything else that people put on pizza.

All those items are farmed, raised and harvested using fertilizers, animal feeds, diesel fuel for tractors, processed, and then transported all over the country in diesel powered trucks with diesel fuels at over $5 per gallon.

[GumboYaYa]

122. Tomato prices are up in part because of drought last summer.

Tomato production was way down.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/californias-drought-withers-tomatoes-pushing-grocery-prices-higher-2022-10-10/

[dalton99a]

15. Grocery stores have been routinely raising prices on everything by at least 15-20%

If you see a "sale", grab it before the price goes up AGAIN

[Sympthsical]

17. Chicken came down, which surprised me

It started at $22/10 lbs of frozen breasts at Costco. Over a period of twelve months, it ticked up to $29. Now, it's down to $23. And that drop was sudden and completely out of the blue.

I did see coffee finally tick down. It started at $8 a can at Costco. Went all the way to $12.69. But the other day I noticed it was at $12.

But then there are things like eggs (we know why), milk, butter, etc.

A lot of the lower inflation we're seeing at the moment is reduced energy prices in things like gasoline and heating oil. Food actually ticked up again last month. People like touting the headline numbers, but they rarely dig in to look at the spread. For example, housing is up yet again by 0.8%.

And I think people see lower inflation = lower prices. That's not how that works. It just means prices are going up more slowly. A lot of prices are sticky. They will not go back to what they were.

[NJCher]

32. re coffee

and just about any item, if you can be flexible (many people can't because they are dependent on caffeine to awaken them), you can always do a search using the word and adding substitute. You will be amazed at how many options there are. For example:

coffee substitute

Will yield articles on chicory, coffee made from mushrooms, etc. I've tried many of them and like them even better than coffee.

The key is to be flexible and be willing to try something new.

We all know the wonders of the capitalistic market will straighten things out in the long run.

[Sympthsical]

45. It's more of a flavor choice

I just like pouring a yeti thermos of it in the morning, and then I sip it until the afternoon. Fortunately, I'm not much of a crazy drinker. One pot usually lasts around three days here. But having something to sip at also cuts down food cravings and things - easier to adhere to eating healthy since coffee is in place of whatever snacks I might reach for out of idle boredom.

For pure caffeine if I feel I need it, I get a bottle of caffeine pills from Amazon. $8 for 100 caps of 200mg (2-3 cups of coffee). If necessary, pop one upon waking in the morning with a glass of water. By the time I get to gym, I'm fully awake.

We're really insulated from food prices, because we're professional DINKs. But I grew up poor and so stare at prices every store trip, wondering how fixed or low income people are managing. A $12 can of Folgers once every month or two isn't setting me back. But for people fingernailing it, it all adds up.

[intheflow]

58. I usually buy my coffee at liquidator stores, like

Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lots, or Home Goods. I often find Starbucks, Peets, and other name brands at 1/3 or 1/2 what it costs in grocery stores.

[tiredtoo]

18. Two words

Corporate greed!

[FoxNewsSucks]

20. Post #14 has the answer. Lack of competition

all the way from corporate mega-farms, to wholesaler, to corporate retail chains.

They are gouging because they can. It's not covered by news for the same reason as other corporate malfeasance - the corporations own the media. And those which don't spend billions in advertising. So the media looks the other way.

[Warpy]

25. I know my weekly order price has gone way up

I'm not poor any more, but I can still see a return to beans and rice if it goes on much longer.

They have always lied about consumer prices, especially the price of food.

[Tumbulu]

28. From the farm side

production costs are way way up.

I can never figure out why food in stores is so relatively cheap. It speaks to the amazing efficiencies of scale that perhaps we take for granted.

[Happy Hoosier]

34. I'm curious where you are....

As the prices you are quoting are way higher than my local prices.

[edhopper]

50. New York

yes they are high, but I think the percent of increase reflects the rest of the country.

[Paper Roses]

38. My trip to the grocery store last week was a shock.

Yes, I expected a rise in prices but some have been beyond belief.
As a senior on limited income, I have resorted to making soups and stews to fill the freezer.
Eggs: $6.00 dozen
Romaine lettuce $3.99
Canned soups: now over $3.00 for Progresso
Butter $5.99
Hot dogs..of all things, $6.99 pkg.
All fresh veggies up about 50%. Can't afford fresh fruit now.
Meat? Yikes. Even the least expensive steak over $6.00 lb. I buy the cheap cuts for stew.
Chicken breast. Now 4.29 lb.
The list goes on and on.
Things like TP..if you can find your brand, now double. How about Laundry soap. Even the cheaper brands are about double. If you use Tide, be ready to remortgage your house.

Very discouraging and will probably get worse. I can't speak for the rest of the country but here in Mass, things are ridiculous!

These prices are at the least expensive store in my area. Some local chains are worse. I pass things I used to buy. The heck with that.

[Rebl2]

43. I sure hear about it on local news

Especially about flour and eggs. What they don’t talk about is bird flu and how thousands have been killed to keep it from spreading.

[LuvLoogie]

47. In Chicago, strawberries $2.99 a lb at Aldi

Kroger-owned Mariano's, 7.99

I get Strawberries are out of season, but...

[Genki Hikari]

51. Eggs have gone from $2.55 or so a dozen

For cage-free eggs, to $5.85.

But the cause for that is avian flu wiping out so many of the laying hens.

I've noticed lately that some other prices are starting to stabilize, and even come down some. Not on very many things, but even for a few, it's a start.

[joanbarnes]

52. Mr.Barnes and I eating less and cheaper, though we can afford meat and such, don't care

to allow ourselves to be gouged. Senior day pasta meal $4, less than making it at home! Also other non-essential products: $2 hair gel now $4.49!

[FakeNoose]

53. You're exactly right - the "sale" price is really a markup from the week before

Once the "sale" is over, the "regular" non-sale price will be even higher.

These grocers think we're so stupid that we don't remember what we've been paying for the same items for years. Of course we remember, and we know that it just jumped 50 cents two weeks ago, and today it's up another 50 cents.

I also know that grocers are caught in a vise because in most cases, they aren't the producers, they're the resellers. If they don't keep raising their prices to reflect their costs, they go out of business. It's the big conglomerates that are driving food pricing, I'm talking about Hunt-Wesson, General Mills, Kraft-Heinz, and the the other big guys. They raise their prices whenever they can, and everyone else jumps in and follows suit. Most of the grocery stores have no choice in the matter.

Certain holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas - that's when we see the big price jumps in food items. They can't blame their inflation on the price of gasoline either. How stupid do they think we are?

[edhopper]

54. And it's not like we can stop

buying food.

[Hope22]

55. Kroger merging with Albertsons to form yet another mega monopoly is not good news.

We try to continue shopping at our local IGA. This small town store installed whole house generators so in times of emergency they can still serve the community. Prices are higher but it’s hard to compete with the giants. The big boxes shut down when the power goes out!

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/albertsons-kroger-merger

[sinkingfeeling]

56. I have a 4 page flyer from 1966....

Those were the days, except most folks made $10,000 a year.

[roamer65]

96. Prices are generally 10 times as high from 1966.

A salary that was $10,000 in 1966 now needs to be nearly $100,000 to somewhat keep pace.

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

I go by the silver standard dollars of 1964 to make comparisons.

[yellowdogintexas]

60. Eggs are truly awful! Yet still a cheaper protein

alternative to meat. I used a lot of eggs between Thanksgiving and Christmas because I baked a lot of cakes. (these were auction items at fundraisers and requests pile up at holiday time.) $6.99 for an 18 pack even at Winco.

WINCO has some good values. I am still finding decent fresh food prices at Sprouts but far less variety.

What I am dreading is the long range effect of the flooding in CA. A lot of dairy and produce comes out of CA and nothing can be planted until the fields dry up. The cows can still produce milk, but if the fields are flooded, there isn't grass for them.

I keep rice and beans in my pantry, and stock up on cases of the canned goods I habitually use when I am at Costco. The canned chicken breast and (new) roast beef are fabulous for soups. The chicken also makes good chicken salad and enchiladas.

[femmedem]

62. Dairy prices are high because the war in Ukraine raised feed prices.

Climate change is a factor as well: cows produce less milk when temperatures soar.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/butter-prices-are-at-an-all-time-high-partly-because-extreme-heat-is-taking-a-terrible-toll-on-dairy-cows-11664386592#:~:text=The%20cost%20of%20maintaining%20dairy,Ukraine%20sent%20feed%20prices%20soaring.

[jaxexpat]

63. Inflation is price gouging, excused and unchecked.

The only solutions " economists " have is to try and spread the gouge out among the powerless consumers.
Some people think the root cause is a scarcity or something. It's simply the price adjustment made by corporations who know they'll have no resistance to maintaining and increasing their prices.

[packman]

69. Folks - It's Capitalism in it's purest form

Seriously, what would you expect , what should you expect from capitalism whose ultimate goal is profit at any cost to the consumer. Tell me, what choices - grow your own food, generate your own electricity, treat yourself when health issues happen? Yes, maybe for a few, but not for the majority of society. We are in a death dance with the system that can gouge and exploit because we have let it .

[Emile]

71. Predatory Capitalism is alive and well.

[Mr. Evil]

76. "Inflation" is just a more MSM friendly euphemism

for describing corporate greed.

I shop mainly at Kroger and about a year ago I noticed their store brand pizzas that were typically $2.79 for a good long while were all of a sudden $4.99. Overnight. Bam! Marie Calender's Beef Pot Pies were usually around $2.29 and sometimes on sale (with the Kroger card) two for $3.49. Now, they're $3.79 for one.

CEO's are going to maintain or increase their profit margin one way or another or the precious shareholders get antsy. When the shareholders get antsy, the board of directors get itchy. And when the board of directors get itchy, the CEO gets paranoid. The CEO will do anything to maintain his or her status quo.

When you make an eight figure salary (not unlike winning the lottery every year), self preservation becomes your singular mission in life. At the expense of hundreds of millions of people. Most of whom cannot afford those drastic increases. Myself, being one of them.

[moondust]

79. "shrinkflation"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation

[Marthe48]

85. I still have pantry items I bought because of Covid

so I've been insulated a little from the prices and I am really glad. I noticed over the holidays that processed food is ridiculous, like a bag of chips for $5. Pet food is up. I think the world ran out of dirt, because if you can even get cat litter, the price is crazy. Same with soda. I read that the producers were short on carbon dioxide. Hey people, figure out a way to pull it from the atmosphere, solve 2 problems at once. Fresh produce, if available, is pricey.

r's have weaponized every aspect of living, from choices about having children to supply chains to food growing, collection, processing and access. I blame the r's for every bit of the suffering people are enduring. Especially bad when I hear that vegetables and fruit are rotting in Fl. Where are the migrant workers? Oh, in Cape Cod and other points north, because r's are idiots. And they don't care they they are hurting their base. Just tell the starving r's that is is Biden's fault. Or Obama. Or Clinton. Never r policies. And the lies must be filling, because the base swallows them whole.

[Takket]

86. its not your imagination

i shop once a week for my wife and I. before the pandemic it was $90-100, now its $150 on average every week.

so the cost has gone up WAY more than just the overall inflation numbers. we've cut back on eating out. we moved last october. i was excited to try a local deli, i looked online, it is $15 for a turkey sandwich. $15? No thanks. i'll make my own sandwich at home. then i went to the grocery store deli (which took me two trips because they had no staff to open it at 4PM the first time). by the time i bought, bread, a tomato, miracle whip ($5 for the smallest size now) and Boars Head (which is the most expensive brand they sell but damn it tastes so much better), it was basically the same cost as if i'd gone to the deli to begin with. i'm grateful i can absorb the higher prices, that puts me in the minority of Americans though.

The cost increases are certainly supply chain BASED, but it seems to me the gouge on top of it. "Hey, we can't sell Campbells soup for $1.19 a can anymore, we need to raise it to $1.39 because of the supply chain, so let's just make it $1.69, throw our hands up in the air and say 'supply chain' and pocket that other 30 cents. No one will know." Grocery stores are in a unique position. Target can't just forever increase the cost of TVs and and sweaters. But what are you going to do, NOT buy food? It's the last thing you cut out of your budget.

So you cancel your vacation, you drive your car a few more years, you keep that TV you wanted to upsize... eventually the American consumer will hit a wall non-essential product/services companies are going to need to tell grocery chains to kinda knock it the fuck off because they are sucking up too much of America's income.

[dalton99a]

93. +1. It is a real and serious problem for many

[MissB]

91. The most expensive food that I buy

is the food that goes to waste. (Although to be honest, I have backyard hens, so nothing truly goes to waste, it just goes to the hens. Or if it is too far gone, it'll go to the bokashi bins then to the compost pile.)

This morning, I made strawberry lemonade concentrate and canned it. My brother had brought over some strawberries this summer. They weren't particularly good enough to eat fresh - just not quite sweet enough - and I wouldn't use them to turn into jam. So I washed them, cut off the green tops and threw them into the freezer. My neighbor recently left to go to their second home in a warm place and gave me a bunch of food that wasn't going to survive, including a bag of lemons. The bag has been sitting, languishing, in my fridge. Finally, I took the time to defrost the berries, juice the lemons (had to use some bottled lemon juice too) and add sugar and make the concentrate. It's enough for four gallons of strawberry lemonade, and the pint jars of concentrate will be shelf stable for at least a year.

I also threw together some banana bread. I came across some frozen bananas in my chest freezer (it's the time of year that we try to eat mostly out of our freezer and pantry) and threw a couple on a plate in the fridge last night. My mom was over the other day and had part of a banana, so I grabbed what was left of the banana and added it to the bowl in the fridge. My kid left a bag of almond flour here when he headed back east, so I looked up a banana bread recipe that uses almond flour. It'll be nice to have something sweet to nibble on this week.

I also sliced up a red onion and made some spicy refrigerator pickled onions to use in a couple of lunch dishes this week.

I made some salads for dh and I for lunch. Kinda threw everything in there - had a few sprouts left in the jar, some black beans and grated cheese in the fridge, plus the usual suspects like radish, tomato, cucumber and avocado. I'm on my last container of lettuce, and am about to start some on my rack inside.

I'm gearing up for the 2023 garden. I generally start things at the end of January, but I'll start a bit earlier this year because I need some baby lettuce. I'll get the peppers, tomatoes and eggplants started, along with some pansies, petunias and violas. I'm also gearing up to do some winter sowing of various things outside. I could've started in late December, but I wanted to wait until company left. I'll start getting some jugs outside to the garden soon, probably a few a day until I run out of containers or seeds, whichever comes first. I don't like to winter sow tomatoes and peppers because I do have a fairly short growing season up here, so they really need a head start inside. But all of my squash, leeks, onions, chard, kale, etc get started outside after Christmas. Needless to say, my seeds have been sorted and my garden planned for the year. I'm looking forward to canning pickles, tomatoes, beans, jalapeños, etc as well as harvest more dried beans for use in cooking. The more I grow, the less I have to buy at the store. I do grow quite a few flowers, both decorative and edible. Most of them are winter sown. Super easy method with more successes than failures.

This weekend, I shopped at Winco for a few items. I noticed the price of cat litter had dropped nearly a couple of bucks. The bulk pasta and beans seemed to be the same price. I rotate out from my basement pantry room, and needed to buy the equivalent of a quart jar of red lentils, two quarts jars of rotini pasta and two quart jars of orzo. I pour those into clean/dry quart jars and dry can them using my vacuum sealer jar attachment. Basically, every time I run out of a dry ingredient in my kitchen pantry, I grab the jar of the replacement item out of my basement pantry, empty it into the kitchen pantry container and put the ingredient on the list for my next week's shopping trip. I did go to Trader Joes this weekend for 2 jars of their marinara sauce (I'm totally out of homemade, and I prefer theirs to any of the other national brands). The price hasn't increased recently.

This week's menu will include a roasted turkey (bought an extra one - small hen - around thanksgiving and it's currently defrosting in the basement fridge), stuffed pasta shells with a pumpkin/tomato sauce, some homemade pizza, and likely some beef stew. I'm guessing I'll be making a pot pie with some of the leftover turkey, so I'm really only planning four meals. I have ingredients for a good chili if needed.

I'm appalled by some of the prices in the store, and am determined to grow more this year. I don't want to pay $1.50 for a bunch of green onions. I'd rather grow my own, dehydrating some as I get overwhelmed with them. It's a bit easier to swallow the price increases when I'm not buying the prepackaged stuff.

[GumboYaYa]

125. do you save the ends of your green onions and regrow them?

take the end with the bits of roots and put them in some water in a sunny window and they will regrow. I get 2-3 uses from each bunch of green onions we buy.

[TigressDem]

94. Food - especially FRESH during WINTER means IMPORT

And if you aren't getting food local it also means transportation.
SO with COVID and Russia Invasion of Ukraine many things got difficult, gas prices affected all deliveries and SUPPLY Chains got clogged.

Food has a shorter shelf life than something like electronics, but the profit margin isn't as high generally. SO if the buyer has to get something expedited because it got stuck in Customs or on a Ship that got held up somehow then prices go up and that cost is passed on to the consumer.

IT IS GETTING BETTER, but it went on such an upward trajectory that it is VERY different from a decade ago.

(You may need to copy/paste the link into browser directly. For some reason it doesn't want to redirect from another website.)
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/food-inflation

[edhopper]

95. And all that does not account for

100% price increase.

[TigressDem]

100. Where are you getting 100% price comparisson? From when to when?

It's easier to see if you look at the charts, but the links won't post here.
Food prices are on a downward trend after gas prices started going back down and since Covid vaccinations have allowed people to go back to work. I worked in a warehouse and we were constantly having to put things on back order that got hung up in customs for months. These were medical supplies, not food though.



United States Food Inflation CHART for this year --- You can click on the 10Y comparison and you will see from 2012-2020 the rate of inflation on food products didn't go above 4%. Yes there is some price gouging, the main one was gas, which affected every business and they just passed on the price increases. Then kept them up even when gas prices went down for oil companies. The prices going down is usually only in response to people not buying items, but food is a necessity.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/food-inflation

Food prices in the United States increased at a slower 10.4% from a year earlier in December of 2022, decelerating from a 10.6% rise in November and a peak of 11.4% in August. It was the lowest reading since June of 2022, as prices slowed down further for both food at home (11.8% vs 12% in November) and food away from home (8.3% vs 8.5%). source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Producer Prices
140.98
140.56
points
Nov 2022
Producer Prices in the United States increased to 140.98 points in November from 140.56 points in October of 2022. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


Related Inflation Rate
Last 6.50
Previous 7.10
Unit percent
Reference Dec 2022

The annual inflation rate in the US slowed for a sixth straight month to 6.5% in December of 2022, the lowest since October of 2021, in line with market forecasts. It follows a 7.1% reading in November. Energy cost increased 7.3%, well below 13.1% in November, as gasoline cost dropped 1.5%, following a 10.1% surge in November. Also, fuel oil cost slowed (41.5% vs 65.7%) while electricity prices rose slightly faster (14.3% vs 13.7%). A slowdown was also seen in food prices (10.4% vs 10.6%) while cost of used cars and trucks continued to decline (-8.8% vs -3.3%). On the other hand, the cost of shelter increased faster (7.5% vs 7.1%). Compared to the previous month, the CPI edged 0.1% lower, the first decline since May of 2020, and beating forecasts of a flat reading. Inflation seems to have peaked at 9.1% in June of 2022 but it still remains more than three times above the Fed's 2% target. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Core Inflation Rate
5.70
6.00
percent
Dec 2022

US core consumer prices, which exclude volatile items such as food and energy, went up by 5.7 percent from a year earlier in December of 2022, compared to a 6.0 percent rise in the prior month and mostly in line with market expectations. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Core Consumer Prices
300.97
300.07
points
Dec 2022

US core consumer prices, which exclude volatile items such as food and energy, went up by 0.3% from a month earlier in December of 2022, compared to a 0.2% rise in the prior month, in line with market expectations. The indexes which increased in December include shelter, household furnishings and operations, motor vehicle insurance, recreation, and apparel, while the decreases were reported for used cars and trucks, and airline fares. Year-on-year, core consumer prices advanced 5.7% in December, slowing from a 6% increase in November, and matching market forecasts. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

[Arthur_Frain]

101. It became worth my time to create my own "codex".

Never used to drive from store to store to get my shopping done, I figured I spent what I saved in gas getting there and my extra time. Until the last few years. The difference in prices definitely isn’t uniform across chains (except for media highlighted items, like eggs right now), sometimes varying by as much as $2-$3 per item.

Made a list of the things that ended up on 90% of my shopping lists and did the hoof work one day. Between only buying at the lowest price on my list or a sale that beat those prices, and maybe stocking up when they went on a fire sale, I honestly saved bucks deluxe.

They’re reducing the size of items too though, 10 oz bags of corn chips are now 8 oz. Oh, and “new and improved”!

[Meowmee]

102. Agree

Lots of prices way up here and keep going up. It is crazy price gouging at this point. Nit just food either, it is EVERYTHING. Pure greed.

[twodogsbarking]

103. My exact experience also. Eggs are double and even triple but

they say the price has increased 60% in a year. Stores used to raise prices
by cents and now they add dollars. Started with COVID and has never
settled. Still weak supply on many products. Not close to normal.

[Envirogal]

104. The irony is food waste

If people knew how much food is wasted in this country from the farm to the wholesaler to the grocery store to the consumer at home, it is truly a travesty of inefficiency. My one hope with the price increase (gouging) is that food waste goes down because now it’s much more of a precious commodity.

Frankly, I hope meat prices don’t go down. So much of this oligopoly industry is based on false sense of affordability. It is overly subsidized and the demand for cheap meat enables cruelty, sickness, and environmental degradation. “Cheap” costs in so many other ways that don’t reflect the price tag.

We have a cavalier relationship about food compared to other countries for too long. So while ingredients and other mechanisms have gone up, the price gouging of grocery stores is incredibly apparent. Meanwhile most people have no idea how much food grocery stores waste. They build massive amounts of waste (loss) into the cake. That part of the model needs to change….especially in the bakery section.

More and more grocery stores are donating their unsaleable edible food to pantries…the very same pantries serving more residents that can’t afford groceries.

[machoneman]

105. Simple (except eggs)" rampant price gouging.

[Scrivener7]

106. So many retailers are just making fun of us now. In one local mid-priced restaurant, the menu

has recently been including entrees selling for $60. For one entree!

This is after a friend of mine who runs a local florist told me, "Oh, this town took very good care of its merchants during Covid. People did the best they could to keep giving us business."

That restaurant with the new $60 price point has lost my business for good.

A lot of the grocery gouging is hitting convenience foods, so I'm backing way off them. I even bought bread flour and yeast yesterday. I'll report back if my kitchen blows up.

[Progressive dog]

109. The CPI measures inflation based on average spending.

There are price indexes available for many categories, including food used at home. Of course it is also based on the purchases made in total.
Here's a link to food used at home for December of 2022. The same agency has all the inflation statistics that the government calculates.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
https://www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm

[edhopper]

112. It says the 12 month inflation for Food

was 10%, this is not what I am seeing at the store.
It says Food Away from Home was 11%, again, not what happened to me the last year.

[Progressive dog]

117. That assumes you buy the same products

as everyone else has been buying when they last updated the market basket.
Prices always depend on where you shop and what particular items you buy. Some items (eggs) are vastly higher because of a shortage caused by avian influenza and by higher profits on smaller sales.

The CPI is based on about 94,000 price quotes collected monthly from some 23,000 retail and service establishments as well as 43,000 rental housing units.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumerpriceindex.asp

[edhopper]

118. I wonder if they weight it

I find dairy and meat much higher. Is this weighed the same as other products. I think Flour and sugar has also sky rocketed. There are things people buy more of.
And I am saying, based on what I buy and see at the store , many price have gone up much more than 10%, this is a fact.

I am pretty good at math, so Philadelphia Cream Cheese going from $2.99 to 2 for $7 on sale and regular price at $5.49 is not 10%.

[Progressive dog]

120. the 12% is the average price

The market basket uses two years of actual sales (dollar value as and measure) as the reference for inflation. The new price per equal amount is the new price. The quantity purchased in the two year reference is the market basket. Each item may have a different price inflation.
This is interesting, meat prices did increase faster than the food average.

In 2022, food price increases are expected to be above the increases in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, all food prices are predicted to increase between 9.5 and 10.5 percent, food-at-home prices are predicted to increase between 11.0 and 12.0 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase between 7.0 and 8.0 percent. Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 than in 2022, but still at above historical average rates. In 2023, all food prices are predicted to increase between 3.5 and 4.5 percent, food-at-home prices are predicted to increase between 3.0 and 4.0 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase between 4.0 and 5.0 percent.

Recent Historical Overview

Between the 1970s and early 2000s, food-at-home prices and food-away-from-home prices increased at similar rates. Since 2009, however, their rates of growth have mostly diverged; while food-at-home prices deflated in 2016 and 2017, monthly food-away-from-home prices have been rising consistently since then. The divergence is partly due to differences between the costs of serving prepared food at restaurants and retailing food in supermarkets and grocery stores.

In 2020, food-at-home prices increased 3.5 percent and food-away-from-home prices 3.4 percent. This convergence was largely driven by a rapid increase in food-at-home prices, while food-away-from-home price inflation remained within 0.3 percentage points of the 2019 inflation rate. The largest price increases were for meat categories: beef and veal prices increased by 9.6 percent, pork prices by 6.3 percent, and poultry prices by 5.6 percent. The only category to decrease in price in 2020 was fresh fruits, by 0.8 percent.

In 2021, food-at-home prices increased 3.5 percent and food-away-from-home prices increased 4.5 percent. The CPI for all food increased an average of 3.9 percent in 2021. Of all the CPI food-at-home categories tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Economic Research Service (ERS), the beef and veal category had the largest relative price increase (9.3 percent) and the fresh vegetables category the smallest (1.1 percent). No food categories decreased in price in 2021 compared with prices in 2020.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/

[edhopper]

121. I don't get the disconnect

between these percentages and what I actually see in the store?

[Progressive dog]

124. 12% is a significant increase.

Looking at my total grocery spending, I would guess 12% is close and nearly 20% over 2 tears is also close. Meat is definitely higher, but other items not as much.

[edhopper]

126. I'd say mine

is closer to 25%

[MichMan]

110. If, due to greed, they raise prices just because they can, why just now?

Did they magically just become greedy for higher profits, when they weren't before?

I don't understand why they would have kept prices relatively stable for years and waited until just now to raise them. To blame it on inflation? Why would they even need an excuse?

[edhopper]

113. Because after years of low inflation

we got a big post=Covid spurt. The News reported it as the biggest crisis in America. So they assumed people would accept these massive increases and they could get away with gouging. They were right.

[MichMan]

115. So if they raised the price of butter and milk a few years ago, people would have stopped buying ?

It would have been unacceptable then, but not now?

Doesn't make any sense that they would have just started gouging people because of greed. Corporations wanting to maximize profits didn't just start.

[edhopper]

116. People would buy

but maybe the media would report on the price gouging and not ignore it like they are now.

I see a lot of people complaining about the inflation. Those on the right blame Biden. But I see few talking about it being from corporate greed, and the Media is silent about this.

[twodogsbarking]

111. So the people in charge of top secret documents also calculate

the increases in food costs? Starting to make sense.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

123. The wild conspiracy theories make this website appear foolish.

[ecstatic]

114. I'm probably late, but I just learned that the cost of eggs is inflated due to avian flu

Apparently birds are dying left and right. I was kind of grossed out when I learned about it.