Posted on 03/18/2010 5:09:09 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
A real sign of hyperinfation can be found in products on the shelf here and there in retail establishments. For example, let's take saline solution nose spray. At Wal-Mart, about two years ago, a 3 oz. bottle was 94 cents. Then, it jumped within the past year to $1.94. Yesterday, while looking at the same bottle, the price was $2.98. And, that's just for a little salt in water! Don't come back at me by saying that's just one item. A LOT of things are beginning to jump up in price. Leave your own examples here via commentary.
Thats true:
Federal brand .40’s are up from 12.97 to 14.97 at out local Wallyworld....
The McChicken is my favorite cheap lunch
On the other hand, there is a bad side. One dollar McDonalds ham biscuits are a tempting offering of forbidden fruit.
It can vary store to store as much as 11 cents a can. One thing that really galled me was a price tag at one that said, "NEW LOWER PRICE!! 5 cans for $3.00!!!"
What %^&*(%$ do you mean, 60 cents a can! It was 55 cents last week, sleazebags. I don't go there any more. Being gouged is one thing; being called an idiot is another.
In SW Texas it cost almost twice as much for a gallon of Milk than a gallon of gasoline.
although frankly I think one of the problems is that by now WalMart has managed to clear the field of much of their competition. (logically you had to figure that once they achieved that prices would be going up). Also they appear to be caving to the Green activists, which costs money.
You got that right! It’s often a loss leader around here so when I do splurge on my favorite, Key Lime Pie, I usually pay less for a 1/2 gal than the much smaller brands. In fact the last time I looked some of the brands were less than 1.5 quarts.
The pizza thing is what I am watching to see when recovery is really taking place. At $10, a lot of people can still buy pizzas and not feel like they are wasting money. Pizza shops can keep enough money flowing in to keep their heads above water and wait out the bad economic times.
When the $10 deals start ending without the chains closing a lot of stores, you can be sure that more people have more disposable income for pizza at $17 a pie, and that will be a sign to me that the economy is making a comeback.
I heard someone on the John Bachelor Show saying how they had reformatted all the floor plans in Wal-Mart to accommodate for the fact that there would be less product to see and they didn’t want for the consumers to notice.
God forbid, these outlets should stop refitting all their stores; turning the lighting up, turning the lights down, putting in natural wood treatments, replacing with clean metal,...what would they do with all of the money that could be saved?
It was all so breathlessly reported, per usual on Bachelor’s program. I like to listen to the show, but there IS a reason why it comes on just before “Coast to Coast”.
In the event of hyperinflation, I have to imagine that Wal-Mart will be the place where people flock to and where the chain of supply will be most assiduously monitored and serviced.
I dunno,...seems that way to me?
It would cost me more in time and frustration to comparison shop than I would save. Not to mention my pain index would be unbearable.
You used to buy a 64 ounce container of Ice Cream as a half gallon. Then the manufacturers changed the shape of the containers to an ovoid and put 56 ounces in a ‘half gallon’. The other day, I bought Ice Cream and the new ovoid package says 48 ounces in the ‘half gallon’ size. Oh, and the price has crept up from 2.50 per container at 64 ounces to almost $4 per. Then there are the smoked almonds ...
LOL...I had to check your profile, you sound just like an Ohioan. I was right! And so are you...I end up at Giant Eagle all the time. Although last week I did venture into a GFS store.
And still no one seems able to build a good working guillotine ...
I had the same experience with broccoli from there before. I ended up cooking it rather than for the purpose I bought it for jsut do it wouldn’t go to waster.
I’m glad it’s not just me.
You can make a pizza cheaper by scrimping on the toppings. Dominos just redid their whole pizza from crust to toppings. I’m sure they adjusted the recipe to lower the costs.
The dollar menus are just the small size. Perhaps they are pushing it because their sales were way off due to the unemployment situation. People who aren’t working don’t need to rely as much on fast food. They do need to find cheaper food.
I live within a 5 minute drive of 3 grocery and drug stores and my mom lives within about 10 minutes, so we compare together.
Wal-Mart is actually about a half hour away for me and the crowds are horrendous. (Many times I end up spending more at Wal-Mart because of the one-stop shopping thing and just wanting to get my stuff and leave.)
As a matter of principle (however it may be flawed), I try to avoid Wallyworld for grocery purchases.
The trick with Kroger is to buy lots when they run their specials, and try to minimize the pain on other items. In my neck of the woods, a family-owned grocery chain tends to pile stuff high and sell it cheap, so fortunately, I’ve got that option.
As for grocery prices, anything with corn or connected to corn has gone through the roof since we started putting ethanol in gasoline. I understand they’ve about maxed out the amount of gasoline they can cut with it, and still keep non - E85 vehicles running.
Generally, every grocery chain will run a special on protein once a month. That’s the time to stock up. Watch the ads for a while, and a pricing strategy for that chain will emerge.
Folger’s Gourmet Supreme Coffee in the 27.8 ounce plastican at Meijer
2009 $9.98
Yesterday, not on sale $7.49
The Bastards!
(When on sale, it breaks under $6.00 usually.)
Funny how that works. Any idea why?
After I had my operations, three in 2008, for removal of a huge inverted papilloma, I had no sense of smell for about six months. It has gradually come back in bits and pieces. Some things no longer smell the same as they used to...............
They have been redoing floor plans. But, they have just moved the center aisle displays to the end of the aisles, making them longer. But, I agree with you. During hard times, it would be nice if stores stopped doing expensive changes trying to attract a fractional number of new customers and kept costs down.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.