Posted on 03/20/2011 5:46:29 PM PDT by NRG1973
Look out! From Huggies diapers to Nike shoes, Americans are about to get less bang for their buck on some of the biggest brands.
This week, paper-products maker Kimberly-Clark announced plans to raise prices on diapers and toilet paper later this summer. Nike said it would increase prices on their shoes. And food companies Kraft, Smuckers and Heinz recently announced price hikes on some of their brands.
"The increases are necessary to offset inflationary pressure from higher raw material and energy costs," Kimberly-Clark (KMB, Fortune 500) said in a press release.
Huggies diapers and Pull-Ups prices will rise by 3% to 7%, the company said. Cottonelle and Scott 1000 toilet paper will rise about 7%.
Kraft Foods (KFT, Fortune 500) raised its price on Maxwell House coffee by 22%, or 70 cents per pound, after Smuckers (SJM) said last month it would raise the price of Folgers by 10%.
The increases come as major brands struggle to keep their profit margins intact, amid surging costs on raw materials. Producer prices rose 1.6% in February alone, the the biggest jump in nearly two years, according to government data released Wednesday.
Until recently, producers and retailers resisted price hikes, fearing they would lose customers during a still-sluggish economy and high unemployment.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Kroger store brand bread in Ohio...$1.00.
I’m with you, I do the same. And if soda keeps going up the way it has been, that will go as well.
Nike would hide the price increase through eliminating old shoe models, and introducing new ones with the higher price. Those new models would likely be re-tools of old models with Bold New Graphics.
Further, the price increase in shoes would largely be hidden anyway, since people generally don’t buy new shoes often enough to accurately track how much the new one cost compared to the old one (and likely, the new one would be a different model anyway due to the constant stream of changes they make, so there would be no direct comparison). Tracking the price of shoes only works if you can buy the same model over and over again, which is very hard to do with athletic shoes. Even though Nike still makes the original blue running shoe (which could be used to track the price), they can either pull it for a bit and re-issue with a higher price claiming it’s a fashion thing, or keep the price of that one model steady and absorb the loss by putting a little extra on the price hikes of other shoes.
Same here. I found baking my own bread very inexpensive (so far). If you’re baking from bulk yeast and storing in the fridge be sure you “bloom” the yeast at least 10 minutes for a sure rise. Lots of good tips on line. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Yes, and he doesn’t count the cost of FOOD or FUEL as part of inflation. All those people with babies better learn the art of using COUPONS, or they could go back to cloth diapers like I had to use.
I halve my grocery bill each week by using coupons..that is a tank of gas.
Yes, and he doesn’t count the cost of FOOD or FUEL as part of inflation. All those people with babies better learn the art of using COUPONS, or they could go back to cloth diapers like I had to use.
I halve my grocery bill each week by using coupons..that is a tank of gas. The coupons come in the mail, Sunday’s fishwrapper or here:
http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=13903&nid=10&zid=xh20
You should see the line of FRAIL elderly seniors in wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc that line up in the SOUP LINE...er commodity line at my community center each month...it’s grown by triple in the past 2 years. This for a few cans of fruit and veggies.
No only didn’t we Seniors get a COLA raise for the past 2 years, neither did those on Militray pensions. On top of that hubby’s Navy pension went down $120 through tax code fiddling in ‘10, and in ‘11 it gets hit by over $300 in more taxation. Our tax return this year is less than $190 as we are down to short form.
Where’s CNN been?
Food prices have been skyrocketing for a couple years.
The price increases in the article are 7%, 10%, and 20%, yet we are supposed to believe inflation is around 2%?
This govt really thinks we are stupid.
Cost of diapers rise!
Wow this is really going to affect the modern day parents who keep their children in “pullups” all the way through third grade!!! (Toilet training hurts children’s self esteem ping) /s
-——Americans are about to get less bang for their buck-——
Perhaps you need your tinfoil hat, but here is my rant......
There is a conspiracy among commercial bakers to resist inflation by screwing with the products. The screwing has to do with increasing the moisture content rather than raise prices. Bread is sold by weight. When the unit weight is increased with no change in price, the unit cost is reduced. This feat is accomplished by adding water.
I do not eat mass produced white bread and little whole grain. I do eat buns and some rolls. These are subject to the doughification. Recent hamburger buns from three different producers and hoagie rolls as well are dough. They have been cooked and appear to be bread, but when squeezed they become a ball of dough.
The water content has been increased to the point the product should not be called bread. If fishing for cat fish it is not necessary to dunk the bread into water to form a doughball, it is doughball ready right out of the package.
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.