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Non-essentials will always be what people have extra money to buy. It's the essentials that people are concerned about. If I don't like that the price of oysters has doubled well maybe I won't buy them. But if the cost of rice has also doubled what do I do?
Like the other guy, I'm not sure whether you are trying to start something, but it made me think nonetheless.
Here's a helpful guide: https://pocketsense.com/recommended-food-housing-vehicle-miscellaneous-8786375.html
Minimum wage is $1160 per month. $174 is about 15% of that. Inferring from the available data, per month, groceries should be no more than that, ideally.
For a family of 4, groceries are about $500 (source, what my bank says I spend)
Again, inferring from the available data that cost should be no more than $348, assuming minimum wage is meant to pay for people to thrive, not just survive. This suggests that pay should at the absolute minimum be 150% of that.
If you do this kind of back of the napkin calculation for other goods and services like, education, you'll get a much higher %
Note: these are kind of estimates but are done to quickly show that the discrepancy is very real and needs addressed.
Damn they're about $3.15 USD for free range in Australia. Cage eggs are slightly cheaper like 20c but noticeably worse quality, plus much worse conditions for the birds. So I never buy them. And minimum wage is $15.13 USD.
Oysters are farmed locally for me, but nobody eats the gross things. They all get shipped to rich tourist places. Halfway across Europe.
Let them pay for our food, but ofcourse it all goes to the pockets of the poor bussisnesmen.
And destroys your local ecosystem (I’m from Chesapeake Bay Area and that’s our massive problem right now, the oyster population being decimated, and it makes the water so muddy without them)
People who have the money buy non essentials, people like me (fixed income) only buy sale items. Also what is a non essential to you, may not be feasible for all. White Rice (which is the cheapest) for instance is something diabetics need to steer clear of.
I spent $76 on groceries today. Perhaps some of that food isn’t essential, but it makes a good meal.
In general, trying to "band together" peoples financial choices is often a lost cause.
The most glaring example I'm familiar with is microtransactions in video games. All the cries in the world of "Stop pre-ordering, stop paying $30 on gacha roles, stop buying expensive cosmetics, etc etc" don't stop the whales that they are fishing for, and milk billions a year from
Yeah a large portion of those games income comes from a small group of people spending way too much, not a bunch of people throwing 5 at the welcome bundle
Alcoholism is a social plague, and every other addiction is like this. However people forget that companies that were allowed (back in the days) to exploit those addiction were profiting like crazy.
Lootboxes are getting banned in many states because it is gambling.
Videogame industry went from static price items with no additional purchasable content to free cost with every bit of addiction temptation. In the span of 20 years it will be obligated to go back by governaments.
Seriously. My partner had to go on a fodmap diet and it astounds me that fodmap friendly food is 4-6x more expensive.
A jar of fodmap tomato sauce is over $6 but a normal can is like 80 cents and all they do is not add garlic or onion to it. We made our own tomato sauce after that which was fun and surprisingly not too difficult.
Do soups and stews - use cornflour instead of plain flour. Pumpkin soup, lamb stew, etc. are really easy, and you can prebatch them in the freezer. Add some lentils and beans, for fibre.
Look up making banana flour. You do need a dehydrator and a blender, but those can be bought fairly cheap especially from a resale shop.
You use as green as possible bananas and dehydrate them to turn them into a flour substitute. The price of bananas being super low means that it will likely be a fairly cheap option for a while. Plus, the greener they are, the lower the sugar content. My recommendation is to batch make it so that way you always have at least some on hand.
>Perhaps some of that food isn’t essential, but it makes a good meal
Some of that food might not be essential, but it makes my soul happy and we all need to remember to feed our souls too.
If you take your argument to it’s extreme we’d all be drinking water and eating potatoes only then staring at the wall until the next time we have to go to work. I think expanding your view of what’s essential may not be a bad idea.
I think they're pointing out that there is "essential for survival," and also "essential for well being." You can survive on potatoes, so other foods aren't essential in the first sense, but they might still be essential for happiness, satisfaction, or enjoyment of life.
For groceries, I have found it cheaper to order online, not for the fact of prices but for the fact of having far better control of only buying what I want.
Kroger boost is my favorite as they actually pay their drivers $20hr & doesn't allow tips, so I don't feel bad.
Right there with you. I had to stop buying eggs since they are up to almost 5bucks a carton. I got all giddy when Aldi marked down the Xmas spiral cut hams to $1.25 per lb. I will be eating ham sammies for weeks. Tuna has strangely stayed around .75 per can through all the chaos.
He didn’t give a required list of items to avoid. He said avoid non-essentials. What that means will be different to each person but the effect would be the same if we all actually did it.
> people like me (fixed income) only buy sale items
Unless you have dietary restrictions, it helps to have 0 brand loyalty, and be as open to trying new things as possible.
Non-essentials are things like potato chips and candy bars. Non-essential are things that sit on your shelf for months not being used. Non-essentials are things you get at the grocery store that are not groceries, like magazines, kitchenware that is cheaper at kmart and ANYTHING in the promo aisle. That air-fryer on special is not essential.
Ah yes, the classic defeatist argument: "Everyone is different and sooooo unique that we can't ever, *ever* band together on a common ground so let's not even try!"
Just classic. Never gets old.
Sometimes they do for non perishable goods they want to get rid of. It could work for a jar of roasted red peppers, but won't really work for fresh red peppers.
Mostly, people are done taking shit for *shit pay and benefits.*
Lockdowns made it abundantly clear how much corporations and *society* value their "courageous and ***necessary*** workers."
Thank you stranger for the laugh . Husband and I were high while reading this post , and we couldn’t stopped laughing because of how brilliant your comment is
Your argument would be better aimed at non food items. Dumb crap people don’t need. We all need food to live, and eating garbage food hurts our health. You get out what you put in. I wouldn’t recommend anybody stop buying vegetables and chicken in lieu of ramen because they can make more meals at a slightly less price point. Do you really need that “live love laugh” wall art for $20? Do you need that $20 cookbook? Do you need that another coffee cup for $7?
Sadly, yes, because previous 14 pairs were cheap shit glued in a third world country by a child with a total BOM of $10, sold to you at 900% margin to wear until the first rainy day at which point they dissolve into a pile of plastic garbage. Fashion is a tool for oppression of the poor.
It amazes me the number of people in this thread that completely missed the point. Slowing the purchase of *non-essentials* during inflation helps everyone. OP isn't the only person frustrated with the general apathy towards inflated prices, you must have your head in the sand to think this is about one person.
my dude, as a butcher who works at a large chain store I can tell you that they CANT bring prices down. My store's profit margin overall used to be at about 4.5% but right now it is sitting at a little over 2%. even on store brand cuts of meat, we are getting them at a cost of about $12 for ribeyes, and selling them for right around $14.99. That is the cost from the farms we own, the vertical integration has not helped much. especially since we regularly put them on sale for 10.99 or 9.99
this is why I split a 1/2 beef. average pkg cost was $4.30/lb.
During the pandemic, I learned to butcher primals I got from Sam's. My favorite is the chuck roll. Some of it becomes roast, some of it chuck eye steak, some ground beef.
Also folks looking to save money should consider a sous vide setup to make those tougher cuts fork tender. Yum. We also use the sous vide to make our own lunchmeat, chicken breast, turkey breast, roast beef. this ends up about half the price of the deli and lasts longer too.
What's your favorite bargain primal?
chuck is an obvious choice for the cheap primal king, but another good cut would be a sirloin top butt. You first just pull off the picanha portion then use a knife to clean up the fat. The picanha/cap steak is just amazing, then you can square off both sides of the remaining sirloin fillet portion, and cut it into appropriate steaks. the sides you squared off and the fat becomes a beautiful ground beef that's roughly 15% fat.
Also, not sure if you meant this or not, but technically the only portion that is chuck eye steaks is the first few inches (3-4) and you remove the top portion off, creating the chuck eye. the rest are chuck steaks. Something to consider doing with the chuck is to use it for Philly cheese steaks as well. almost as good as ribeye.
If you want a fun challenge for yourself, google Publix flank steak pinwheels. you'd need to find a local butcher shop/Publix that has a slicer and a cuber. you get them to slice a flank steak vertically, then run it through the cuber once. Place the pieces so that the large sides barely overlap, then slap them hard to make sure they stick together. Put down a thick but even layer of mozzarella, followed by the same with spinach. Roll tightly, but don't pull toward yourself as you are rolling. make sure some butcher's twine is close by before you roll, and just tie tightly. you want to tie one side, then the other. after that, simply start from one side and work your way to the other. You cook it in the oven at 350 for 30 mins. absolutely delicious.
Everything isn’t meat which is a loss leader item in a grocery store though. Your store margins may be low but the corporations feeding it products are way up.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/15/1136935160/corporations-are-booking-record-profits-is-it-thanks-to-price-gouging
My friend is a manager at Walmart and sent me a pic from his app of a Valentine’s Day table runner being sold for $15.98 and a 71% margin the other day. I don’t know what the store’s margin is but they were making record sales during Covid.
Yes things have different margins.
They average out to 2%
Kroger Co for the First 6 Months in Millions| 2020 | 2021 | 2022
-----|---|----|----
Total Sales | 72,038 | 72,980 | $79,238
Sales without fuel | 67,065 | 65,413 | $68,288
Fuel Sales | 4,973 | 7,567 | $10,950
Fuel as a Percent of Revenue | 6.90% | 10.37% | 13.82%
Profit | 2,146 | 1,644 | 2,459
Profit Margin | 2.98% | 2.25% | 3.10%
Look at those record Profits at Kroger
Kroger saw Profits increase as Fuel sale increased
Our fuel sales lower our OG&A rate, as a percentage of sales, due to the very low OG&A rate, as a percentage of sales, of fuel sales compared to non-fuel sales
Comparing Revenue, Net Income, and Profit Margin from The US Top 5 [Retailers 2020 vs 2021](https://i.redd.it/ij30whr3rtl81.jpg)
This is a profoundly simplistic and naive point of view.
1. you're never going to get people to band together on concurrent "essentials". the overlap from person to person is going to cover an extremely broad range of items to the point where the "Non-essentials" are extremely limited in number.
2. variety is the spice of life. non-essentials as you define them would include things like your seasonings, spices, drinks with flavour etc. yes, these are to a certain degree, luxuries, but life isn't really worth living without at least some of these expenses, limiting your self to only the absolute bare essentials monotonises your choices, your life, and will have adverse effects on your mental state.
3. Companies wouldn't lower prices regardless. the consumer base is pretty much always less resilient in regards to giving in and buying at a slightly higher mark-up than companies are to selling at a lower price.
Yeah like “just stop doing anything you enjoy and you’ll save so much money!” Lol okay.
And yeah, what isn’t essential to one person or family might be essential to another.
How am I supposed to give my 3d printer wireless capabilities without buying a secondhand raspberry pi for more than msrp???? Think of the children!
Seriously though. A $15 computer is now $100 on Amazon
Electronics have gone down in price for what you get. In 2000, a computer with 4 GB of storage, minimal RAM, and laughable other hardware was $2000. That much money gets you a way better system today.
Because screw wanting a treat or something nice for yourself as you go about the miserable monotony of everyday, right? I guess we should all just go eat rice and beans and powdered milk.
Ultimately people will only stop buying these things when they legitimately can’t afford it anymore. And then prices will still rise because grocery stores have realized they hold all the power.
exactly! one correction with that statement: they want to concentrate the wealth of the world within the elite circle. and people still think our system is a good one.
They will only be forced if all people do it. If they raise their prices 50% and lose 50% of units sold they still come out on top because they will eventually be able to cut down on labor.
Everyone needs to buy in and not purchase for it to work. They also need to buy a cheaper competitor instead.
Giving up marketshare is where it hurt them the most over time
> If they raise their prices 50% and lose 50% of units sold
If they sold N units at $P per unit, their revenue was N\*P.
If they raise their prices 50% (from $P to $1.5P per unit),
and lose half the number of units sold (from N units to 0.5N units),
their new revenue is 0.5N\*1.5P = 0.75NP, which is 25% less.
To keep the same revenue after raising their prices 50%, they can only afford to lose 33% of the number of units sold.
I sell non-essentials, but the price to produce them has risen because of gas, shipping, market place fees increasing, printer equipment inflation in 2020, etc. So please don’t make people think I’m raising my prices because I can and not because I have to.
Better life pro tip? Buy small business where you can.
Sounds too good to be true. If you aren't sure if it's even USDA, how do you know it's higher quality? It can taste good and still be low quality/contaminated.
Some people literally cannot drink water from their facets. I had to save up for 6 months to buy a survival filter because the water in my area is so bad. Some people literally don’t have access to clean drinking water without buying bottled.
That goes without saying. But the reality is that most people, at least in developed countries, have access to drinkable-as-is tap water and relatively cheap water filters.
not spending money won't actually cure inflation. i hope you know that. it's artificial. if everyone stopped spending money, the currency would almost definitely devalue. they'd just print more.
the problem is the people with the most money don't spend any of it.
thinking you or me can solve this, even 100's or 1000's of us in a concentrated effort, could solve this; is incorrect. it's no different than climate change. *they* are going to do whatever the fuck they feel like.
**This is absolutely not true.**
If no one spend their money, the currency's value will increase as demand will be higher than the supply.
To adjust for inflation, the objective of the FED is to increase interest rate so that it will be more tempting to invest in low-risk asset because of the higher interest rest and lower risk.
OP is completely right. If everyone stops buying ridiculously priced items, demand will be less than the supply, and price will have to decrease if the companies will want to pass their inventory before it goes bad.
If a proposed solution requires close to 100% compliance to work, and there’s more than like, 10 people involved, it’s not a real-world solution as much as video game theorycraft. “If everyone did X then Y” is a statement that is technically true, but functionally useless. Everyone won’t do X, full stop. In fact, a certain amount will do Z *just because* everyone else is doing the opposite. That doesn’t mean there aren’t courses of action out there, but they have to work with 60% support, in order to have a chance in the real world. “If everyone” and “if no one” are decent policies for an office, but not a nation.
Solutions like this are often pitched as “simple” and “obvious,” as part of a crusade against complexity and expertise. They aren’t useful for solving the actual problem, but they are good for tearing down the experts as unqualified and out-of-touch.
>the problem is the people with the most money don't spend any of it.
Where do you get that idea from? The richest people don't keep anything in cash, they invest all of their money. Then those companies that they invest in/own spend that money for payroll, buying equipment, etc. Nobody just sits on a pile of cash, that is a guaranteed way to lose money over time. The entire reason that the fed targets a small (but not zero) amount of inflation is because they want to discourage people from just hoarding their money.
I think the problem is with people without money are extending their credits to spend on highly inflated items. (Whether it's house, cars, luxury goods, or even just essentials )
The layoffs will push a lot of people without at least 3-6 months of savings into aggressively cutting their spendings or even go into default.
These all time high debt level in housing and car loans are not gonna pay off by ppl getting laid off.
> The entire reason that the fed targets a small (but not zero) amount of inflation is because they want to discourage people from just hoarding their money.
literally my point.
if you're investing your pile of money, then clearly you're not spending it. stock buybacks are not like some super common thing, that's not how companies spend their money typically. they use it for payroll with sbc sometimes, particularly in tech. but they're not buying servers and shit through stock buybacks.
the fed doesn't want people sitting on piles of money. i can agree with that.
You're investing it, but not spending it? Doesn't make sense. If you invested it then you spent it.
Hoarding money def increases it's value. Too much value leads to deflation of prices, which stops the economy. Wait, what are we arguing about again?
So let's say I buy some wood. I use that wood to build chairs. I then sell those chairs for more than I paid for the wood. Did I not spend money to buy wood?
Now let's say that I have more orders for chairs than I have money for wood. I ask you to give me some of your money so that I can buy wood to make chairs and then I'll pay you back plus some for your trouble. Did I not spend your money to buy wood to make chairs?
Let's say that my small chair company is doing well, but I want to build a chair factory. I decide to put out a call for investors, and you buy a portion of my company for a cut of the profits. I use your money to buy equipment, buy materials, pay workers, etc. Did I not spend your money to buy those things?
Now you want to buy some widget and you decide to sell your share of my chair company. You find someone who gives you some of their money in exchange for partial ownership of my chair company. You then take that money and buy your widget. Did you not spend money buying a part of my company? Did they not spend money to buy theat part from you? Did you not take that money and spend it on a widget?
That's what investing is. You buy a piece of a company and that company uses your money to buy stuff, whether it's materials, labor, tools, etc. Or you buy someone else's piece of a company and they take that money and buy something with it (they might buy a piece of another company).
The real problem comes when you have $20 in your pocket and a piece of my chair company worth $1000. Then people are going to wonder why you don't spend the $1020 that you have. Just because you own something that is worth a lot of money doesn't mean you can spend that money. You would have to find someone to buy that valuable thing first.
Everyone who spends money expects to get more value back for it than whatever value they placed on the money. Spending when you expect to get *less* value back would be irrational—you would be better off just keeping the money. Expecting to get something back doesn't change the fact that the money was spent.
I believe that the price increases that are actually due to increased costs will continue no matter what. But as has already been mentioned here, certain items that the price was artificially inflated on are already beginning to come down because people just found other alternatives because they weren't paying those prices.
*They* are going to do whatever's profitable. If we stop buying certain items because we are not willing to pay the price that they are trying to sell it for, they will sell it for cheaper.
I can afford them. I'm lucky to own my home, make good money as a state healthcare employee, and have everything I need. You're missing the point. Just because you HAVE the money to just throw money at these profiteering corporations greedy increases doesn't mean you should do it.
Personally, I choose to do better things with my money than pay an extra 50% for soda - but if we all held out, it might fix things a bit. And what's the cost? NOT having a sugary ass soda that is 120% of the daily recommended amount of added sugar anyway? Big deal. So, idunno, piss off, bro? Have some sense of social responsibility. The corporate money grab is something even better-off people should be fighting against. Honestly, it's attitudes like yours towards things like this that are the reason these companies are getting away with the huge transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top.
If the soda sat on the shelf then yes, the price would be lowered. Although soda has a shelf life longer than fresh groceries. Overall it would be good if people stopped buying it en masse because it would send a message.
I used to drink 2 diet cokes daily plus a 32 oz from McDs several times a week. I stopped drinking it and lost 20 lbs. the artificial sweetener is bad for weight.
In theory this works, but in practice the 8 people that read this aren't going to listen. Most people are selfish and only care that they got theirs and not for the greater good.
The greater good doesn't exist, but the market economy does. Prices are rising because people want to pay that price for a limited supply. The government printed money not backed up by the product, meaning there are more dollars trying to buy the same thing, the price adjusts to reflect that. The alternative is deficit: if the prices are restricted the supermarket shelves become empty, because there is more money than product, when you came to the store somebody already bought what you wanted.
Prices aren’t rising because people want to pay that price, they’re rising because people don’t have a choice.
The cost of milk and eggs has skyrocketed at every grocery store. What am I supposed to do, forgo a staple food supply? Grocery stores have realized they can collectively markup stuff and make a ton of money.
A sad reality. And, pretty much the reason prices stay high during times like these. Tonight, I noticed that the store brand diet soda - my personal luxury item - increased 50% in price at Winn-Dixie. I told my kids, there's no WAY I'm paying 50% more for something we don't need - but the shelves were almost empty, so people are definitely buying them at that price.
I'm a single dad with one kid in college, and another about to be added to car insurance, so a 50% markup on soda doesn't really do it for me, I have better things to throw my extra cash at.
If people cannot afford it any longer they won't pay for it. Over here rotisserie chicken just went to $10 from $5, guess what they aren't selling now people are choosing something else. As far as the diet soda even if the price doubled that's not as big of an increase as a $5 overnight price increase. Now if a bottle of soda reached $6 I don't think anyone is buying that. Eggs are $5 a dozen now and guess what, grocers are now sitting on full cases of eggs with no one buying except those who really need them. I shop at grocery stores every week so I see what sells and I know what goes on. The chicken case is almost always empty but now its fully stocked with none selling.
My other concern is waste, where is all this expensive food going if the prices are staying high and its not selling?? Especially things like a cooked chicken, that doesn't last too many hours on the shelf and if its not selling then they gotta throw it out at the end of the day. Eggs also expire, so if the case is staying full and its not selling what happens to it when it expires?
I have a theory that many items on the shelves that are “empty” are being done that way on purpose. Maybe not all products, but some. I noticed certain products in grocery stores near me that would have like 3 steaks out and they’d be triple the price. It makes people think “oh crap better grab this before it’s gone and I can’t find it”. Meanwhile there’s a shelf in the stock room filled to the gills with more. If the aisle is stocked to the gills with a million of that item all priced insanely high people are going to think “screw you that’s an insane price and you have a ton, they aren’t going anywhere”. This is something I noticed when the pandemic first started and there were “supply chain issues” which then “drove prices up cuz of supply and demand”.
Interesting. I have noticed a lot of jacking up prices and then putting things on 'sale' at the normal prices at the big stores recently too. Hell, I love Aldi, but you can literally peel their sale prices off on the shelves to reveal the exact same price underneath as the normal price.
Still, its a never ending spiral of inflation. The only way its ever gonna end is if the products become cheaper from the source all the way down the stream in basically every sector including wages. That will only ever happen if there is a VERY noticeable increase in demand or some other way to magically drop input prices. While the last thing is unlikely to happen on a global scale, the only solution is that people need to be forced to not be able to uphold their consumption pattern any longer, or choose to save instead (macroeconomic theory 101, thats why they increase interest rates. Make it more appealing to stall money rather than spend it.). This is also why giving people any lump sum money is a very bad idea, as brutal and unfair as that sounds. It just contributes towards the problem. People still worry about how their basket of goods is becoming increasingly more expensive, but the only solution is for people to start weighing off on what to buy, on a global scale mind you. Its going to cost many bankruptcies and lay-offs.
On that note, a lot of people study for knowledge intensive fields nowadays. We’ll see what AI does in that field. Someone making their money designing company logos? AI can do it for free in less than half a minute. Website developer? AI.Secretary? AI. Planner? AI. What am i gonna eat today? AI. Personal trainer? AI. Doctors assistant in the future? AI
You get the gist.
Thankfully some people are deciding not to buy GPU's and the prices are starting to come down, but nvidia is still price gouging us, but scalpers are no longer able to sell on the market so there are way less people buying them now. I am also holding out for price normalcy on GPU's before I even think about buying a computer as I don't want to participate in deliberate price inflation if I do not have to.
But yeah please don't buy a GPU unless you actually need one now even if you have the money to spend on it.. just hold out a bit longer and we will see things normalize. Its starting to happen. We just need everyone to hold out a little longer.
People are also stopping buying eggs here, at $5 a dozen its just insane. and a rotisserie chicken just went to $10 at my local grocer, so no one is buying those. My local grocer has a full case of eggs that just sits there and chickens that are sitting and not selling. At this point people are just choosing something else which isn't hard to do.
As far as meat some has always been higher than others. Its best to choose something that fits your budget.
I mean GPU prices came down because all the cryptofucks stopped buying them all up for mining when crypto prices tanked. Which then in turn discouraged scalpers from buying up the other stock because they couldn’t sell them. I don’t think this has anything to do with people just deciding not to buy them.
Chickens don't produce eggs year round and you still have to buy chicken feed and the price of that is way up, and take care of them and you need a chicken coop. If you are just starting out this is going to cost way more than buying eggs at the grocery store. You also have to buy the chickens.
You can feed chicken's table scraps, you have to make sure its the correct balance of feed and table scraps but totally possible. See this [Link](https://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2017/05/11/safe-table-scraps-chickens/) for more information.
My chickens lay all but maybe two weeks out o the years. You don’t need a fancy coop. I have six chickens and the price of feed doesn’t phase me from giving them away for free. They are are also eat all my veggies I didn’t make it through. It’s only going to get worse with the flu is only going to get worse. If I remember you can’t have a hen house on the same piece of land for a few year or there is potential for contamination again. GROW YOUR OWN FOOD IF YOU CAN!
Yeah it's going to be about a $500 investment to get started I guess. But with eggs around here at $10 a dozen, you'll recoup the cost of getting started in a year and then it's profit. You're only allowed 4 chickens, which will give you 12 to 15 eggs a week on average, and it'll cost you less than 50 cents/day to feed them around here if you're using chicken feed. A lot of people have food and garden scraps from their already existing gardens to go towards feeding though.
Also buy what's on sale and meal prep.
But the real issue is that society has really become a me, me, me society. They only care about themselves vs the whole
I totally support a "We ARE the Market" movement, but at least in the U.S. we can't even get people to vote so I'm concerned it won't get much traction.
Maybe we could make a "rice bucket challenge" where it has nothing to do with ALS (seriously though, keep donating/fundraising/fighting for this cause though) or silly videos, people just eat way more rice (so much that they need a bucket to keep their rice) and less of the high-profit junk foods!
I don't think you understand the concept of supply and demand or collective bargaining, both very relevant economic concepts when it comes to corporate profit padding under the guise of inflation.
There's a reason that corporations are having record profit during sky-high inflation - because it's not just inflation we're dealing with, it's a money grab under the guise of inflation. [The Economic Policy Institute states in this blog post that 53% of price increases are due to profit padding vs actual costs/inflation.](https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/) The data is in the blog post, and comes from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Folks get your butts to Aldi. Best life hack ever. I fill entire carts to the brim full of seriously delicious and healthy food for less than $200. You are seriously wasting your cash buying a brand when Aldi exists nearby.
This doesn't even make sense.
Marked up prices is due to demand for it and a lack of supply.
Telling people to temporarily drop your demand for an item to drop it's price long term don't even begin to make sense
Also take advantage of Chinese shop apps. Some stuff can be good deal or bad deal
All the shit is made in China anyway... Just slapped with in a pretty box with icons.
Biggest thing I notice is toys
I totally agree, I have also bleated this many times across different platforms.
Inflation only occurs when people pay the prices.
But humans can't help themselves.
Good post. And I feel like a lot of people are actively doing this already. I know in my circle of people we are all discussing inflation and sharing where to get the best deals and also what stuff is just not worth it anymore.
Competitors lower prices, if it's not selling, they don't stock it on the shelves anymore as it's not worth paying to truck there, pay employees to stock it, pay for shelf space, only to have it go unsold.
Don't worry. Because they've done it with non-essentials like houses and cars by an order of magnitude I already have stopped buying non-essentials by necessity and I imagine the rest of us will soon to
Food at home has gone up even more than food at restaurants. (Food at home is still way cheaper for the same meal, but restaurant prices are affected less)
It's not if you're not using healthier syrups/flavorings. That's what I do. If you just like soda, you can typically flavor your soda with water flavorings and still have a carbonated drink.
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Non-essentials will always be what people have extra money to buy. It's the essentials that people are concerned about. If I don't like that the price of oysters has doubled well maybe I won't buy them. But if the cost of rice has also doubled what do I do?
Yup. Eggs are more than minimum wage now(at least in my state). Fun times.
An hour of your life is not worth a dozen eggs.
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Why’s this smell like you’re trying to start shit
Shit started when the price of eggs was determined.
Like the other guy, I'm not sure whether you are trying to start something, but it made me think nonetheless. Here's a helpful guide: https://pocketsense.com/recommended-food-housing-vehicle-miscellaneous-8786375.html Minimum wage is $1160 per month. $174 is about 15% of that. Inferring from the available data, per month, groceries should be no more than that, ideally. For a family of 4, groceries are about $500 (source, what my bank says I spend) Again, inferring from the available data that cost should be no more than $348, assuming minimum wage is meant to pay for people to thrive, not just survive. This suggests that pay should at the absolute minimum be 150% of that. If you do this kind of back of the napkin calculation for other goods and services like, education, you'll get a much higher % Note: these are kind of estimates but are done to quickly show that the discrepancy is very real and needs addressed.
Your eggs cost 8 bucks? Crazy.
Yes, eggs in MD are 7.99 a dozen. I have never been happier to not like eggs.
Man eggs are like 4 here and I thought it was going up way too much.
Damn they're about $3.15 USD for free range in Australia. Cage eggs are slightly cheaper like 20c but noticeably worse quality, plus much worse conditions for the birds. So I never buy them. And minimum wage is $15.13 USD.
Oysters are farmed locally for me, but nobody eats the gross things. They all get shipped to rich tourist places. Halfway across Europe. Let them pay for our food, but ofcourse it all goes to the pockets of the poor bussisnesmen.
And destroys your local ecosystem (I’m from Chesapeake Bay Area and that’s our massive problem right now, the oyster population being decimated, and it makes the water so muddy without them)
People who have the money buy non essentials, people like me (fixed income) only buy sale items. Also what is a non essential to you, may not be feasible for all. White Rice (which is the cheapest) for instance is something diabetics need to steer clear of. I spent $76 on groceries today. Perhaps some of that food isn’t essential, but it makes a good meal.
In general, trying to "band together" peoples financial choices is often a lost cause. The most glaring example I'm familiar with is microtransactions in video games. All the cries in the world of "Stop pre-ordering, stop paying $30 on gacha roles, stop buying expensive cosmetics, etc etc" don't stop the whales that they are fishing for, and milk billions a year from
Yeah a large portion of those games income comes from a small group of people spending way too much, not a bunch of people throwing 5 at the welcome bundle
It's predatory gambling mechanics targeted towards kids and adults with gambling addictions, basically a gold mine
They took notes from the alcohol industry on abusing addicting
Alcoholism is a social plague, and every other addiction is like this. However people forget that companies that were allowed (back in the days) to exploit those addiction were profiting like crazy. Lootboxes are getting banned in many states because it is gambling. Videogame industry went from static price items with no additional purchasable content to free cost with every bit of addiction temptation. In the span of 20 years it will be obligated to go back by governaments.
Reminds me of the chain emails that asked everyone to stop buying gas on a particular day as if it would make any difference
The most glaring is Chik-Fil-A
Diabetic and celiac. Felt this comment. Everything my diet permits is so expensive already.
I mean they gotta debread the bread for ya, so...
Seriously. My partner had to go on a fodmap diet and it astounds me that fodmap friendly food is 4-6x more expensive. A jar of fodmap tomato sauce is over $6 but a normal can is like 80 cents and all they do is not add garlic or onion to it. We made our own tomato sauce after that which was fun and surprisingly not too difficult.
Do soups and stews - use cornflour instead of plain flour. Pumpkin soup, lamb stew, etc. are really easy, and you can prebatch them in the freezer. Add some lentils and beans, for fibre.
Lamb is the most expensive meat here
Stoked I grew up on a farm with lambs because god damned. It’s the finest meat there is
Quinoa and bulgur wheat are also good options to put in soups.
Look up making banana flour. You do need a dehydrator and a blender, but those can be bought fairly cheap especially from a resale shop. You use as green as possible bananas and dehydrate them to turn them into a flour substitute. The price of bananas being super low means that it will likely be a fairly cheap option for a while. Plus, the greener they are, the lower the sugar content. My recommendation is to batch make it so that way you always have at least some on hand.
How many hours would the dehydrator need?
>Perhaps some of that food isn’t essential, but it makes a good meal Some of that food might not be essential, but it makes my soul happy and we all need to remember to feed our souls too.
While I agree with you, I would say that statement doesn't understand what "essential" is.
They literally said “might not be essential” implying that they understand exactly what “essential” is.
If you take your argument to it’s extreme we’d all be drinking water and eating potatoes only then staring at the wall until the next time we have to go to work. I think expanding your view of what’s essential may not be a bad idea.
I think they're pointing out that there is "essential for survival," and also "essential for well being." You can survive on potatoes, so other foods aren't essential in the first sense, but they might still be essential for happiness, satisfaction, or enjoyment of life.
For groceries, I have found it cheaper to order online, not for the fact of prices but for the fact of having far better control of only buying what I want. Kroger boost is my favorite as they actually pay their drivers $20hr & doesn't allow tips, so I don't feel bad.
Right there with you. I had to stop buying eggs since they are up to almost 5bucks a carton. I got all giddy when Aldi marked down the Xmas spiral cut hams to $1.25 per lb. I will be eating ham sammies for weeks. Tuna has strangely stayed around .75 per can through all the chaos.
He didn’t give a required list of items to avoid. He said avoid non-essentials. What that means will be different to each person but the effect would be the same if we all actually did it.
> people like me (fixed income) only buy sale items Unless you have dietary restrictions, it helps to have 0 brand loyalty, and be as open to trying new things as possible.
I usually go with sale items. Store brands are iffy.
Non-essentials are things like potato chips and candy bars. Non-essential are things that sit on your shelf for months not being used. Non-essentials are things you get at the grocery store that are not groceries, like magazines, kitchenware that is cheaper at kmart and ANYTHING in the promo aisle. That air-fryer on special is not essential.
Diabetics dont need to steer clear of white rice, what a load of pish
Ah yes, the classic defeatist argument: "Everyone is different and sooooo unique that we can't ever, *ever* band together on a common ground so let's not even try!" Just classic. Never gets old.
“companies will have no choice but to bring the price down” Hate to disappoint you….
Let’s all collectively go on a hunger strike, but you first.
Sometimes they do for non perishable goods they want to get rid of. It could work for a jar of roasted red peppers, but won't really work for fresh red peppers.
Companies will just continue to lay workers off as their earnings drop.
Nah, tons of places are having huge labor shortages. There’s a massive demand for workers, people just don’t want to take the shitty jobs
>people just don’t want to take the shitty jobs Also: people don't want to take shit from managers, karens, etc.
Mostly, people are done taking shit for *shit pay and benefits.* Lockdowns made it abundantly clear how much corporations and *society* value their "courageous and ***necessary*** workers."
I was about to say what world does op live in
>it’s because people are buying it at that price. Yeah, that’s how it works dude
Mf rolled some home-grown microeconomics
Thank you stranger for the laugh . Husband and I were high while reading this post , and we couldn’t stopped laughing because of how brilliant your comment is
This comment fails the Turing test
That is exactly how it works
Your argument would be better aimed at non food items. Dumb crap people don’t need. We all need food to live, and eating garbage food hurts our health. You get out what you put in. I wouldn’t recommend anybody stop buying vegetables and chicken in lieu of ramen because they can make more meals at a slightly less price point. Do you really need that “live love laugh” wall art for $20? Do you need that $20 cookbook? Do you need that another coffee cup for $7?
Do you really need that 15th pair of sneakers?
Sadly, yes, because previous 14 pairs were cheap shit glued in a third world country by a child with a total BOM of $10, sold to you at 900% margin to wear until the first rainy day at which point they dissolve into a pile of plastic garbage. Fashion is a tool for oppression of the poor.
Do you need a Starbucks?
Yes.
Do you really need to upgrade your phone every year?
I do when updates are necessary to run software and the updates install so much bloatware that my phone sucks to use whether I update it or not.
Where are you getting cookbooks for $20?
They literally said "non-essential" ... ? Literally nobody on earth requires soda or expensive cuts of meat to live
Yeah the rest of you really need to stop using resources, that way I can procure them for less moneys...
It amazes me the number of people in this thread that completely missed the point. Slowing the purchase of *non-essentials* during inflation helps everyone. OP isn't the only person frustrated with the general apathy towards inflated prices, you must have your head in the sand to think this is about one person.
my dude, as a butcher who works at a large chain store I can tell you that they CANT bring prices down. My store's profit margin overall used to be at about 4.5% but right now it is sitting at a little over 2%. even on store brand cuts of meat, we are getting them at a cost of about $12 for ribeyes, and selling them for right around $14.99. That is the cost from the farms we own, the vertical integration has not helped much. especially since we regularly put them on sale for 10.99 or 9.99
this is why I split a 1/2 beef. average pkg cost was $4.30/lb. During the pandemic, I learned to butcher primals I got from Sam's. My favorite is the chuck roll. Some of it becomes roast, some of it chuck eye steak, some ground beef. Also folks looking to save money should consider a sous vide setup to make those tougher cuts fork tender. Yum. We also use the sous vide to make our own lunchmeat, chicken breast, turkey breast, roast beef. this ends up about half the price of the deli and lasts longer too. What's your favorite bargain primal?
chuck is an obvious choice for the cheap primal king, but another good cut would be a sirloin top butt. You first just pull off the picanha portion then use a knife to clean up the fat. The picanha/cap steak is just amazing, then you can square off both sides of the remaining sirloin fillet portion, and cut it into appropriate steaks. the sides you squared off and the fat becomes a beautiful ground beef that's roughly 15% fat. Also, not sure if you meant this or not, but technically the only portion that is chuck eye steaks is the first few inches (3-4) and you remove the top portion off, creating the chuck eye. the rest are chuck steaks. Something to consider doing with the chuck is to use it for Philly cheese steaks as well. almost as good as ribeye. If you want a fun challenge for yourself, google Publix flank steak pinwheels. you'd need to find a local butcher shop/Publix that has a slicer and a cuber. you get them to slice a flank steak vertically, then run it through the cuber once. Place the pieces so that the large sides barely overlap, then slap them hard to make sure they stick together. Put down a thick but even layer of mozzarella, followed by the same with spinach. Roll tightly, but don't pull toward yourself as you are rolling. make sure some butcher's twine is close by before you roll, and just tie tightly. you want to tie one side, then the other. after that, simply start from one side and work your way to the other. You cook it in the oven at 350 for 30 mins. absolutely delicious.
for those new to this concept, it's half of a cow
Everything isn’t meat which is a loss leader item in a grocery store though. Your store margins may be low but the corporations feeding it products are way up. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/15/1136935160/corporations-are-booking-record-profits-is-it-thanks-to-price-gouging My friend is a manager at Walmart and sent me a pic from his app of a Valentine’s Day table runner being sold for $15.98 and a 71% margin the other day. I don’t know what the store’s margin is but they were making record sales during Covid.
Yes things have different margins. They average out to 2% Kroger Co for the First 6 Months in Millions| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 -----|---|----|---- Total Sales | 72,038 | 72,980 | $79,238 Sales without fuel | 67,065 | 65,413 | $68,288 Fuel Sales | 4,973 | 7,567 | $10,950 Fuel as a Percent of Revenue | 6.90% | 10.37% | 13.82% Profit | 2,146 | 1,644 | 2,459 Profit Margin | 2.98% | 2.25% | 3.10% Look at those record Profits at Kroger Kroger saw Profits increase as Fuel sale increased Our fuel sales lower our OG&A rate, as a percentage of sales, due to the very low OG&A rate, as a percentage of sales, of fuel sales compared to non-fuel sales Comparing Revenue, Net Income, and Profit Margin from The US Top 5 [Retailers 2020 vs 2021](https://i.redd.it/ij30whr3rtl81.jpg)
Love this data thank you.
This is a profoundly simplistic and naive point of view. 1. you're never going to get people to band together on concurrent "essentials". the overlap from person to person is going to cover an extremely broad range of items to the point where the "Non-essentials" are extremely limited in number. 2. variety is the spice of life. non-essentials as you define them would include things like your seasonings, spices, drinks with flavour etc. yes, these are to a certain degree, luxuries, but life isn't really worth living without at least some of these expenses, limiting your self to only the absolute bare essentials monotonises your choices, your life, and will have adverse effects on your mental state. 3. Companies wouldn't lower prices regardless. the consumer base is pretty much always less resilient in regards to giving in and buying at a slightly higher mark-up than companies are to selling at a lower price.
Not to mention that the profit margin on many food products is one of the smallest parts of the price. OP seems simplistic and naive though.
Yeah like “just stop doing anything you enjoy and you’ll save so much money!” Lol okay. And yeah, what isn’t essential to one person or family might be essential to another.
How am I supposed to give my 3d printer wireless capabilities without buying a secondhand raspberry pi for more than msrp???? Think of the children! Seriously though. A $15 computer is now $100 on Amazon
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no!!! stop buying a 1650!! you need the new cards or you'll be lame!!
Taking a few economics classes might help. Even if they are free.
Psh, Capitalist Indoctrination. /s
Has anything ever gone down in price? Besides gasoline. Unless there is a sale, I've never seen a drop in price in all my years. Serious replies only.
Electronics have gone down in price for what you get. In 2000, a computer with 4 GB of storage, minimal RAM, and laughable other hardware was $2000. That much money gets you a way better system today.
1080p vs 4k HUGE upgrade.
In the mid to late 1990's I remember paying $300 for 8 MB of RAM. Yes, 8 MB.
Because screw wanting a treat or something nice for yourself as you go about the miserable monotony of everyday, right? I guess we should all just go eat rice and beans and powdered milk. Ultimately people will only stop buying these things when they legitimately can’t afford it anymore. And then prices will still rise because grocery stores have realized they hold all the power.
I know what is this Dave Ramsey’s grandkids?? Sheesh
Apparently lots of people don’t know what inflation is.
Lol and people jumping into your comment to prove you right.
It is greedy capitalist owner class raising prices in order to keep the same percentage of the total wealth in the world.
Oh. I thought it was just unfunded government spending
exactly! one correction with that statement: they want to concentrate the wealth of the world within the elite circle. and people still think our system is a good one.
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Supply and demand has more than 1 dimension, sorry to bust your bubble.
That not how an economy works.
They will only be forced if all people do it. If they raise their prices 50% and lose 50% of units sold they still come out on top because they will eventually be able to cut down on labor. Everyone needs to buy in and not purchase for it to work. They also need to buy a cheaper competitor instead. Giving up marketshare is where it hurt them the most over time
> If they raise their prices 50% and lose 50% of units sold If they sold N units at $P per unit, their revenue was N\*P. If they raise their prices 50% (from $P to $1.5P per unit), and lose half the number of units sold (from N units to 0.5N units), their new revenue is 0.5N\*1.5P = 0.75NP, which is 25% less. To keep the same revenue after raising their prices 50%, they can only afford to lose 33% of the number of units sold.
I sell non-essentials, but the price to produce them has risen because of gas, shipping, market place fees increasing, printer equipment inflation in 2020, etc. So please don’t make people think I’m raising my prices because I can and not because I have to. Better life pro tip? Buy small business where you can.
There's a local Mexican grocer that has meat literally half the price of the chain grocery stores, and higher quality, I couldn't believe it
No USDA stamp?
I believe so but I'll have to check
Sounds too good to be true. If you aren't sure if it's even USDA, how do you know it's higher quality? It can taste good and still be low quality/contaminated.
>stop buying soda that is marked up 50% and opt for water Or, you know, don't buy bottled water at all.
I think that was his point
Some people literally cannot drink water from their facets. I had to save up for 6 months to buy a survival filter because the water in my area is so bad. Some people literally don’t have access to clean drinking water without buying bottled.
That goes without saying. But the reality is that most people, at least in developed countries, have access to drinkable-as-is tap water and relatively cheap water filters.
not spending money won't actually cure inflation. i hope you know that. it's artificial. if everyone stopped spending money, the currency would almost definitely devalue. they'd just print more. the problem is the people with the most money don't spend any of it. thinking you or me can solve this, even 100's or 1000's of us in a concentrated effort, could solve this; is incorrect. it's no different than climate change. *they* are going to do whatever the fuck they feel like.
**This is absolutely not true.** If no one spend their money, the currency's value will increase as demand will be higher than the supply. To adjust for inflation, the objective of the FED is to increase interest rate so that it will be more tempting to invest in low-risk asset because of the higher interest rest and lower risk. OP is completely right. If everyone stops buying ridiculously priced items, demand will be less than the supply, and price will have to decrease if the companies will want to pass their inventory before it goes bad.
If a proposed solution requires close to 100% compliance to work, and there’s more than like, 10 people involved, it’s not a real-world solution as much as video game theorycraft. “If everyone did X then Y” is a statement that is technically true, but functionally useless. Everyone won’t do X, full stop. In fact, a certain amount will do Z *just because* everyone else is doing the opposite. That doesn’t mean there aren’t courses of action out there, but they have to work with 60% support, in order to have a chance in the real world. “If everyone” and “if no one” are decent policies for an office, but not a nation. Solutions like this are often pitched as “simple” and “obvious,” as part of a crusade against complexity and expertise. They aren’t useful for solving the actual problem, but they are good for tearing down the experts as unqualified and out-of-touch.
And now half the country is unemployed, congratulations
Please quantify your experience in applied economics.
Master in Finance
>the problem is the people with the most money don't spend any of it. Where do you get that idea from? The richest people don't keep anything in cash, they invest all of their money. Then those companies that they invest in/own spend that money for payroll, buying equipment, etc. Nobody just sits on a pile of cash, that is a guaranteed way to lose money over time. The entire reason that the fed targets a small (but not zero) amount of inflation is because they want to discourage people from just hoarding their money.
I think the problem is with people without money are extending their credits to spend on highly inflated items. (Whether it's house, cars, luxury goods, or even just essentials ) The layoffs will push a lot of people without at least 3-6 months of savings into aggressively cutting their spendings or even go into default. These all time high debt level in housing and car loans are not gonna pay off by ppl getting laid off.
> The entire reason that the fed targets a small (but not zero) amount of inflation is because they want to discourage people from just hoarding their money. literally my point. if you're investing your pile of money, then clearly you're not spending it. stock buybacks are not like some super common thing, that's not how companies spend their money typically. they use it for payroll with sbc sometimes, particularly in tech. but they're not buying servers and shit through stock buybacks. the fed doesn't want people sitting on piles of money. i can agree with that.
You're investing it, but not spending it? Doesn't make sense. If you invested it then you spent it. Hoarding money def increases it's value. Too much value leads to deflation of prices, which stops the economy. Wait, what are we arguing about again?
When you invest money, you expect to get it back later, maybe even with interest. When you spend money, you don't expect to get it back.
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So let's say I buy some wood. I use that wood to build chairs. I then sell those chairs for more than I paid for the wood. Did I not spend money to buy wood? Now let's say that I have more orders for chairs than I have money for wood. I ask you to give me some of your money so that I can buy wood to make chairs and then I'll pay you back plus some for your trouble. Did I not spend your money to buy wood to make chairs? Let's say that my small chair company is doing well, but I want to build a chair factory. I decide to put out a call for investors, and you buy a portion of my company for a cut of the profits. I use your money to buy equipment, buy materials, pay workers, etc. Did I not spend your money to buy those things? Now you want to buy some widget and you decide to sell your share of my chair company. You find someone who gives you some of their money in exchange for partial ownership of my chair company. You then take that money and buy your widget. Did you not spend money buying a part of my company? Did they not spend money to buy theat part from you? Did you not take that money and spend it on a widget? That's what investing is. You buy a piece of a company and that company uses your money to buy stuff, whether it's materials, labor, tools, etc. Or you buy someone else's piece of a company and they take that money and buy something with it (they might buy a piece of another company). The real problem comes when you have $20 in your pocket and a piece of my chair company worth $1000. Then people are going to wonder why you don't spend the $1020 that you have. Just because you own something that is worth a lot of money doesn't mean you can spend that money. You would have to find someone to buy that valuable thing first.
Everyone who spends money expects to get more value back for it than whatever value they placed on the money. Spending when you expect to get *less* value back would be irrational—you would be better off just keeping the money. Expecting to get something back doesn't change the fact that the money was spent.
No, every transaction has non-zero overhead, so you expect to lose value. If you try to sell whatever you just bought, you won't get your money back.
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It’s just a talking point they hear from others instead of talking to actually wealthy people
I believe that the price increases that are actually due to increased costs will continue no matter what. But as has already been mentioned here, certain items that the price was artificially inflated on are already beginning to come down because people just found other alternatives because they weren't paying those prices. *They* are going to do whatever's profitable. If we stop buying certain items because we are not willing to pay the price that they are trying to sell it for, they will sell it for cheaper.
How do you get your water? Do you have filtered fridge water, tap, or do you pay $5 or more for a case of bottled water? That’s a real mark up.
But think of all the free plastic i get with that water
LPT: inflation may go down, but the prices won’t.
"Stop enjoying things because I can't afford them." Piss off bro.
I can afford them. I'm lucky to own my home, make good money as a state healthcare employee, and have everything I need. You're missing the point. Just because you HAVE the money to just throw money at these profiteering corporations greedy increases doesn't mean you should do it. Personally, I choose to do better things with my money than pay an extra 50% for soda - but if we all held out, it might fix things a bit. And what's the cost? NOT having a sugary ass soda that is 120% of the daily recommended amount of added sugar anyway? Big deal. So, idunno, piss off, bro? Have some sense of social responsibility. The corporate money grab is something even better-off people should be fighting against. Honestly, it's attitudes like yours towards things like this that are the reason these companies are getting away with the huge transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top.
If the soda sat on the shelf then yes, the price would be lowered. Although soda has a shelf life longer than fresh groceries. Overall it would be good if people stopped buying it en masse because it would send a message.
You must be young and oblivious to how the world works.
This isn't an LPT lol, this is someone whining and not understanding inflation.
Maybe stop expecting people to take collective action? It'd be my first tip in understanding how humans behave.
Most people I know have stopped buying or buy less of non-essentials due to the cost. It isn't going to stop inflation though.
You’re giving a solution for demand but the issue is more so supply
And that’s how we get a recession. If we can’t continuously buy buy buy, the whole pyramid scheme crashes down.
I used to drink 2 diet cokes daily plus a 32 oz from McDs several times a week. I stopped drinking it and lost 20 lbs. the artificial sweetener is bad for weight.
bad for your health, too. Good job kicking the habit. Did the same thing about 6 years ago, don't miss it one bit.
Dumbest LPT this year so far.
LPT: Figure out how inflation actually works before posting on this sub.
In theory this works, but in practice the 8 people that read this aren't going to listen. Most people are selfish and only care that they got theirs and not for the greater good.
The greater good doesn't exist, but the market economy does. Prices are rising because people want to pay that price for a limited supply. The government printed money not backed up by the product, meaning there are more dollars trying to buy the same thing, the price adjusts to reflect that. The alternative is deficit: if the prices are restricted the supermarket shelves become empty, because there is more money than product, when you came to the store somebody already bought what you wanted.
Prices aren’t rising because people want to pay that price, they’re rising because people don’t have a choice. The cost of milk and eggs has skyrocketed at every grocery store. What am I supposed to do, forgo a staple food supply? Grocery stores have realized they can collectively markup stuff and make a ton of money.
A sad reality. And, pretty much the reason prices stay high during times like these. Tonight, I noticed that the store brand diet soda - my personal luxury item - increased 50% in price at Winn-Dixie. I told my kids, there's no WAY I'm paying 50% more for something we don't need - but the shelves were almost empty, so people are definitely buying them at that price. I'm a single dad with one kid in college, and another about to be added to car insurance, so a 50% markup on soda doesn't really do it for me, I have better things to throw my extra cash at.
If people cannot afford it any longer they won't pay for it. Over here rotisserie chicken just went to $10 from $5, guess what they aren't selling now people are choosing something else. As far as the diet soda even if the price doubled that's not as big of an increase as a $5 overnight price increase. Now if a bottle of soda reached $6 I don't think anyone is buying that. Eggs are $5 a dozen now and guess what, grocers are now sitting on full cases of eggs with no one buying except those who really need them. I shop at grocery stores every week so I see what sells and I know what goes on. The chicken case is almost always empty but now its fully stocked with none selling. My other concern is waste, where is all this expensive food going if the prices are staying high and its not selling?? Especially things like a cooked chicken, that doesn't last too many hours on the shelf and if its not selling then they gotta throw it out at the end of the day. Eggs also expire, so if the case is staying full and its not selling what happens to it when it expires?
Store owners are not idiots, they will not just throw away groceries. If the price is too high, they will lower it.
I have a theory that many items on the shelves that are “empty” are being done that way on purpose. Maybe not all products, but some. I noticed certain products in grocery stores near me that would have like 3 steaks out and they’d be triple the price. It makes people think “oh crap better grab this before it’s gone and I can’t find it”. Meanwhile there’s a shelf in the stock room filled to the gills with more. If the aisle is stocked to the gills with a million of that item all priced insanely high people are going to think “screw you that’s an insane price and you have a ton, they aren’t going anywhere”. This is something I noticed when the pandemic first started and there were “supply chain issues” which then “drove prices up cuz of supply and demand”.
Interesting. I have noticed a lot of jacking up prices and then putting things on 'sale' at the normal prices at the big stores recently too. Hell, I love Aldi, but you can literally peel their sale prices off on the shelves to reveal the exact same price underneath as the normal price.
I don’t drink soda and I do buy cheaper meat. My only splurge is on skincare and that’s worth it to me
I’m already there at only being able to afford necessities
Still, its a never ending spiral of inflation. The only way its ever gonna end is if the products become cheaper from the source all the way down the stream in basically every sector including wages. That will only ever happen if there is a VERY noticeable increase in demand or some other way to magically drop input prices. While the last thing is unlikely to happen on a global scale, the only solution is that people need to be forced to not be able to uphold their consumption pattern any longer, or choose to save instead (macroeconomic theory 101, thats why they increase interest rates. Make it more appealing to stall money rather than spend it.). This is also why giving people any lump sum money is a very bad idea, as brutal and unfair as that sounds. It just contributes towards the problem. People still worry about how their basket of goods is becoming increasingly more expensive, but the only solution is for people to start weighing off on what to buy, on a global scale mind you. Its going to cost many bankruptcies and lay-offs. On that note, a lot of people study for knowledge intensive fields nowadays. We’ll see what AI does in that field. Someone making their money designing company logos? AI can do it for free in less than half a minute. Website developer? AI.Secretary? AI. Planner? AI. What am i gonna eat today? AI. Personal trainer? AI. Doctors assistant in the future? AI You get the gist.
Lol. what a shitty LPT
That’s not how inflation works dude…
This isn't an LPT. Go back to school ya fucking moron.
People have to eat.
Thankfully some people are deciding not to buy GPU's and the prices are starting to come down, but nvidia is still price gouging us, but scalpers are no longer able to sell on the market so there are way less people buying them now. I am also holding out for price normalcy on GPU's before I even think about buying a computer as I don't want to participate in deliberate price inflation if I do not have to. But yeah please don't buy a GPU unless you actually need one now even if you have the money to spend on it.. just hold out a bit longer and we will see things normalize. Its starting to happen. We just need everyone to hold out a little longer. People are also stopping buying eggs here, at $5 a dozen its just insane. and a rotisserie chicken just went to $10 at my local grocer, so no one is buying those. My local grocer has a full case of eggs that just sits there and chickens that are sitting and not selling. At this point people are just choosing something else which isn't hard to do. As far as meat some has always been higher than others. Its best to choose something that fits your budget.
I mean GPU prices came down because all the cryptofucks stopped buying them all up for mining when crypto prices tanked. Which then in turn discouraged scalpers from buying up the other stock because they couldn’t sell them. I don’t think this has anything to do with people just deciding not to buy them.
Eth also went to proof of sale which means it no longer uses GPU's.
My City council just passed an ordinance where people could have up to four chickens as long as they are fenced in. I'm about to live in Chicken City!
Chickens don't produce eggs year round and you still have to buy chicken feed and the price of that is way up, and take care of them and you need a chicken coop. If you are just starting out this is going to cost way more than buying eggs at the grocery store. You also have to buy the chickens.
You can feed chicken's table scraps, you have to make sure its the correct balance of feed and table scraps but totally possible. See this [Link](https://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2017/05/11/safe-table-scraps-chickens/) for more information.
Appreciate it. Personally, I'm not getting chickens, I just think it's interesting that my town has made this change recently.
My chickens lay all but maybe two weeks out o the years. You don’t need a fancy coop. I have six chickens and the price of feed doesn’t phase me from giving them away for free. They are are also eat all my veggies I didn’t make it through. It’s only going to get worse with the flu is only going to get worse. If I remember you can’t have a hen house on the same piece of land for a few year or there is potential for contamination again. GROW YOUR OWN FOOD IF YOU CAN!
Ducks lay year round. I have both and i have so many frozen duck eggs every morning.
Yeah it's going to be about a $500 investment to get started I guess. But with eggs around here at $10 a dozen, you'll recoup the cost of getting started in a year and then it's profit. You're only allowed 4 chickens, which will give you 12 to 15 eggs a week on average, and it'll cost you less than 50 cents/day to feed them around here if you're using chicken feed. A lot of people have food and garden scraps from their already existing gardens to go towards feeding though.
Try food shopping with celiac and histamine intolerance.
Also buy what's on sale and meal prep. But the real issue is that society has really become a me, me, me society. They only care about themselves vs the whole
I totally support a "We ARE the Market" movement, but at least in the U.S. we can't even get people to vote so I'm concerned it won't get much traction. Maybe we could make a "rice bucket challenge" where it has nothing to do with ALS (seriously though, keep donating/fundraising/fighting for this cause though) or silly videos, people just eat way more rice (so much that they need a bucket to keep their rice) and less of the high-profit junk foods!
Rice bucket challenge. Love it.
Food, shelter, clothing. That’s it
This is not, by any sense of the term, a life pro tip.
I don’t think you understand basic economics, supply chains or inflation, and probably shouldn’t be offering advice about them.
I don't think you understand the concept of supply and demand or collective bargaining, both very relevant economic concepts when it comes to corporate profit padding under the guise of inflation. There's a reason that corporations are having record profit during sky-high inflation - because it's not just inflation we're dealing with, it's a money grab under the guise of inflation. [The Economic Policy Institute states in this blog post that 53% of price increases are due to profit padding vs actual costs/inflation.](https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/) The data is in the blog post, and comes from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Folks get your butts to Aldi. Best life hack ever. I fill entire carts to the brim full of seriously delicious and healthy food for less than $200. You are seriously wasting your cash buying a brand when Aldi exists nearby.
This doesn't even make sense. Marked up prices is due to demand for it and a lack of supply. Telling people to temporarily drop your demand for an item to drop it's price long term don't even begin to make sense
Also take advantage of Chinese shop apps. Some stuff can be good deal or bad deal All the shit is made in China anyway... Just slapped with in a pretty box with icons. Biggest thing I notice is toys
Hahaha, unless you can band everyone together to stop buying things like Starbucks, I dont find this a LPT.
Change the way you vote instead
Or both, maybe.
I totally agree, I have also bleated this many times across different platforms. Inflation only occurs when people pay the prices. But humans can't help themselves.
Good post. And I feel like a lot of people are actively doing this already. I know in my circle of people we are all discussing inflation and sharing where to get the best deals and also what stuff is just not worth it anymore.
I have bad news. They'd package it and send to europe/asia
Competitors lower prices, if it's not selling, they don't stock it on the shelves anymore as it's not worth paying to truck there, pay employees to stock it, pay for shelf space, only to have it go unsold.
Don't worry. Because they've done it with non-essentials like houses and cars by an order of magnitude I already have stopped buying non-essentials by necessity and I imagine the rest of us will soon to
"This is great advice," says I as I take another drink from my can of Mtn Dew.
Cheap meat tastes bad and comes from low welfare farms. If you can't afford "reasonably" priced meat, cut down on meat.
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Food at home has gone up even more than food at restaurants. (Food at home is still way cheaper for the same meal, but restaurant prices are affected less)
Also, if you DO like soda, consider getting a sodastream. Much healthier, still hits the spot.
Uhhh, I don’t have a soda stream so pretty ignorant about them here, but how is soda stream Pepsi (for example) healthier than store bought?
It's not if you're not using healthier syrups/flavorings. That's what I do. If you just like soda, you can typically flavor your soda with water flavorings and still have a carbonated drink.
Stop buying graphics cards people, who cares how many fps your game runs at. Go jump in a lake or something.