I bought a couple 50# bags of rock salt this past weekend. $10/bag now in southern NH. It was $8.99 last year. I asked the local ACE hardware store why it was up in price. He told me their costs had gone up. I called BS on him to his face. He owns the store I have been going to for 30 years.
I told him I had just sold a truckload of rock salt the previous week. That American Rock Salts wholesale price had not changed at all from last year. The freight also has not changed. He said that they were competitive with the other local retailers. He was correct, Lowes was 10.29/bag.
My point is that even on items that are not up in price at the wholesale level, the retailers are pushing up prices because they know they can. IF their competition down the street is X, they only need to be at the same.
He told you their costs went up... He was probably thinking about overhead costs going up too. I agree with you that they are raising prices just because they know they can. Construction labor is doing the same thing.
This inflation and us getting used to it, is what I think the whole great reset is all about. The government is trying to inflate some breathing room in all its debts... Tax revenue increases along with everything thing else.