has anyone else noticed - prices going up?

[garybeck]

I've been noticing the last few weeks, several basic things at the grocery store are skyrocketing in price. I've been buying the same can of spaghetti sauce for 5 years now, it's always between 88 cents and $1.09. All of the sudden, it's $1.79, and they had the nerve to put a sign next to it claiming they have great pricing.

I noticed the same kind of thing with a few other products in more than one grocery store. then I was buying lunch at Subway and noticed their prices went up. Then I was buying some clothing for my wife's birthday, and I don't shop for clothes that much but it seemed like prices were higher than I was expecting. And, I just went to the vending machine in the hall where I work and noticed they just jacked the prices on junk food!

am I imagining this?

note, my income is not going up :(

I'm not really into economics. Wondering when the next inflation report is due and if there are indicators that it might show a jump. Could I be noticing a ripple effect from the jump in oil prices in the last year or two?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. I do most of the grocery shopping for my family...yes, I've noticed.

[kliljedahl]

2. What took you so long to notice?

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[garybeck]

3. what I'm saying is a bigger jump in the last few weeks

and my understanding is that inflation has been kept pretty low so far. I'm wondering if the next inflation report could be bad.

[Tux]

4. Oil

As oil prices go up, so does everything else due to shipping costs. Even if oil prices go down, companies still make a profit from the higher costs and still blame shipping costs or as GM did, healthcare costs.

No matter what, people will have to work harder to maintain what they have.

[wtbymark]

7. also the fact of the decline in the value of the dollar (nt)

[Tux]

22. Forget that nightmare

Sheesh, no wonder I didn't major in economics.

Off-topic question: how many here attended college but have a job that doesn't require a degree? I have one but most jobs here don't require one and I need to re-enter the job market or else it'd be harder to find a job. Can't live on my own but I'd have a job. :cry:

[Carni]

5. Oh I have most definitely noticed!

I am a really picky shopper and try to do all my grocery shopping at Costco non-chain fruit/vegetable markets and bakeries but the other night I had to shop at a typical grocery store for stuff that I didn't want to buy by the ton at Costco--I was shocked at how much everything had gone up in price.

The same goes for clothes -- everything is going up in price!

[cornermouse]

6. To check on inflation, you don't just watch for the prices that go up

you watch for the size of contents to shrink while paying the same or more. And yes, we have inflation even though they've been trying to hide that fact by juggling the statistics for a while now.

[phantom power]

8. It would be even worse, except China's currency remains pegged to ours.

Climate is also probably going to begin impacting food prices in the near future. Droughts are going on everywhere. They are likely to become the new "normal", in some places. Other places will see increases in other kinds of extreme weather.

I'm sure the economists are all still behaving as if these trends are temporary, but I would plan on things getting worse, not better.

[RebelOne]

9. I'd say it was pretty much related to the high oil prices.

It's probably because it now costs more in gas to transport food to the stores.

[Blue Diadem]

10. yep, I've noticed it too,

I've been stocking up when some grocery items are on sale, items that before, I'd just normally run to the store to pick up when it was needed.

[Lone_Wolf]

11. Prices going up while people's incomes are going down.. Stagflation

n/t

[kilgore65]

12. bread went up a dollar

at Kroger where I shop ... from $1.50 to $2.50 for their quasi-artisanal whole wheat french bread... ironically, that's exactly the thing that was a precusor to the French Revolution ... I predict a long-overdue episode of blood in the streets by the end of the summer.

[maxsolomon]

13. that not inflation

you see, food & energy, the 2 most essential costs of living, aren't included!

so quit your bitching & just work harder.

[garybeck]

14. Really, that's weird

why would they not include food and energy in the inflation figures? Are you saying gas and bread could triple in price without affecting inflation? Weird.

[newportdadde]

23. Essentially yes.

They have a core rate they use for the CPI. If you check out the finance page of yahoo when the report comes out or the LBN here on DU you can often find the CPI which has gas and food included. Doing so particularly the last few months shows a much different picture in regards to inflation and how rapidly is occurring.

But that figure isn't used by companies with labor agreements etc to figure raises or pension increases, those come from the 'core CPI', thats how they get COLA amounts. What does this mean? Well big money looks at the reports and knows inflation is bad so they can move funds to prepare and at the same time are sparred the upfront pain.

If you watch you will begin to see companies complaining about weak sales. Every time gas goes up, food goes up we all have less disposable income and all the useless shit from China we don't need gets dropped off the old family budget.

And as mentioned in the OP wages aren't following the trends up, this sets up stagflation as the poster above mentioned and Paul Krugman has touched on in some of his NYT oped columns.

[elehhhhna]

33. Yes. Food & gas are "too volatile". NO SHIT!

[killbotfactory]

15. i've noticed...

A wendy's jr. bacon cheeseburger used to be 99 cents...

Now they jacked up the price to 1.29 !!!!!

I am outraged.

Okay, not really.

I assume it's the gas prices taking effect.

[newportdadde]

18. So the 'dollar menu' is now the dollar and a quarter menu?

:)

[Horse with no Name]

16. A small zucchini at Kroger for $2.99?

Last year they were 3/1.00.
That has been the one that got me.

[newportdadde]

17. The inflation report is bogus..

It doesn't include things like food or gas. You know the shit that actually matters to normal people to survive. Ow and they don't take into account the skyrocketing housing costs either instead they figure it off of the 'rents' you could get for the home. Its all bull.

[Tracer]

19. Kitty litter.

Used to be $2.99 for a whoppin' big bag.

Now it's $3.49.

Sheesh. It's just crumbled up clay, for pete's sake.

[Lochloosa]

27. Actually, it's attapulgite.

Strip mined 80 to 120 feet down. Then it's heated to about 800 degrees, strained, bagged and shipped. By the recycled paper type. You will be doing your earth some good.

[Ikonoklast]

28. That crumbled up clay

still costs money to ship. Since diesel fuel has gone up nearly 50% since the first of the year, do you think that the operators of the trucking firm would just absorb that cost increase? They would go broke in a month. It now costs the shipper that much more to move his commodity to market and those costs are passed onto the consumer. Shipping cost increases (rail, truck) are always a few months ahead of the retail price increases; the government uses freight tonnage shipped as an economic indicator and tracks it closely. But you ain't seen nothin' yet when it comes to price increases, they have just started.

[okieinpain]

20. nope I'm too busy reading about mjackson, and missing white

women ( I hope she's ok).

[dejaboutique]

21. Tomatos are for the rich

I agree with your post, things are creeping up. I love tomatos and here in Washington they are 2.99-4.99/ pound. I got ONE tomato the other day and it was 1.75!!!!!!!! We are growing our own tomato plant this year on the balcony. I understand why america is fat, all the bad stuff is cheap.

[patcox2]

24. Single malt scotch is through the roof.

Laphroig is now over $50 a bottle. Poor exchange rate, I guess.

[gollygee]

25. I knew you were talking about groceries before I opened the thread

My husband and I have discussed the grocery budget over and over and over again. He doesn't understand why I'm spending more and getting less good food. It's because food prices are going up and up and up.

[Lochloosa]

26. I am an estimator for a large construction company

for the past 6 - 8 months we have seen HUGE jumps in the price of raw materials. Steel, lumber, concrete, sheetrock, you name it. I don't think the effects of these prices have been felt at the consumer level yet, but they are coming. It's astounding the price increases we have seen. We use to hold our pricing for 60 days. Now, it's 14 days and we stick by it. Expect these prices to start filtering down soon. Especially housing.

[elehhhhna]

34. concrete is doubling in FL

[kaiden]

29. Safeway radishes are $1.39 a bunch!

I complained last year when they were 79 cents a bunch. Here's what I figure: a greenhouse, four hens, a draft horse and a wooden wagon. We already have well water and propane. When the gas goes out, we have a wood stove and a fireplace, so I supposee we could survive.

[BamaGirl]

30. Yeah, but it isn't something new

My grocery bill has almost doubled in 2 years. And our take home income has actually gone down due to the rise in health insurance premiums. :mad: The economy's just fine though. :grr:

[noonwitch]

31. I switched from my upscale grocery store to Meijer because of it

I'm saving about $20 a week. My grocery tab has gone from around $90-100 to $70-75.

[swag]

32. Food prices have risen faster than gasoline prices

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B15BF411E%2D2B62%2D45C7%2DB64B%2D75CC9749ECF1%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=

By Lisa Sanders, MarketWatch

DALLAS (MarketWatch) -- It may pinch your pocketbook to fill up your tank, but a gallon of gasoline is cheap compared with food, water and beer, an analysis by John S. Herold revealed Wednesday.

"Even with unleaded regular selling for more than $2 per gallon, the increase in gasoline prices since 1982 is 25% lower than the increase in food prices, 50% lower than the rise in housing costs, 70% lower than the spike in medical costs and a whopping 80% below the surge in college tuition," the industry research firm found.

Accounting for inflation and better miles to the gallon, the cost of gasoline per mile driven is less than half of the cost of 1981 rates, according to Herold co-director of research Nick Cacchione. He called it "America's bargain liquid," at 10% less than bottled water, 33% of the price of milk and 20% of the price of beer.

. . . more

[Ms. Clio]

35. A package of Ranch dip mix --- $1.79 What the bloody hell?

And a price sticker on the shelf indicated that the double packages were $2.15, but there weren't any of those on the shelf at all.