Examples of current inflation - add yours!

[cbo111]

The thing that bugs me most is they didn't even bother resizing the wrapper.

 

[ls99]

The other day opened a can chunk white tuna. It was only filled hafway.

 

[Andre1969]

I finally got to see what all the fuss was about with eggs. Went to Aldi with my housemate. He buys most of the food. He got two dozen eggs, because he's doing a lot of baking for Christmas. Those suckers were like $4.19 per dozen! It's funny, the whole food bill was something like $87, which actually didn't seem bad considering how much we got. But it's disturbing to think the eggs accounted for almost 10% of that.

 

[Sunset]

My dad cancelled his trash outright, started burning in his fire pit outside and also asked the neighbor if he could stash what wasn't burnable. He said that recycling is free which I think is odd.

$90 every 2 months or $45/month for our trash bill. Insane.

I didn't think a person could cancel trash pickup.
Seems he could just pay his neighbor 1/2 the price to take his garbage. Burning garbage is stinky, and could give off harmful fumes.

 

[Teacher Terry]

In our town even if a house is empty with no one living there you have to pay for trash.

 

[JoeWras]

All depends on the state, county and city.

Some put it on the tax bill. No getting out of it. Most cities do this. In less traveled wide open counties, sometimes people contract for private pickup.

I think that's a bad idea because it encourages poor debris practice. Same can be said about dump fees for residents. In my county, they went to a "no questions asked" at the dump drop off. Well, they will question you if you are a commercial truck or they see a pattern. Otherwise, bring your crap to the dump (mattresses, appliances, couches, tires, hazardous waste, whatever) and they take it. This has resulted in much, much cleaner roadsides than we had before they went to this method.

 

[Koolau]

All depends on the state, county and city.

Some put it on the tax bill. No getting out of it. Most cities do this. In less traveled wide open counties, sometimes people contract for private pickup.

I think that's a bad idea because it encourages poor debris practice. Same can be said about dump fees for residents. In my county, they went to a "no questions asked" at the dump drop off. Well, they will question you if you are a commercial truck or they see a pattern. Otherwise, bring your crap to the dump (mattresses, appliances, couches, tires, hazardous waste, whatever) and they take it. This has resulted in much, much cleaner roadsides than we had before they went to this method.

Even though we pay taxes just like everyone else on Island, because we live in a condo building, we are considered a "business" and have to contract for our trash pick up. The cost is include in our HOA dues. Houses in the neighborhood have tax-paid home pick up - no extra charge. We pay the taxes but also pay for trash pick up.

Our cost of trash pick up has gone up quite a bit year over year as has our HOA dues (up 9% for next year - approaching $1K/month!) The only "burning" of trash allowed on Island is at "H-Power" which converts some burnable waste to electricity. https://www.honolulu.gov/opala/trash-collection-and-disposal/hpower.html

Big story these days is that our only trash dump on Island is nearing the end of its life. Looking for another space on Island has been problematic as folks have manipulated the law to essentially make the entire Island "off limits" for trash burial. (Either too close to aquifers, too close to schools, too close to houses, etc., etc.) Gonna a be a big problem very soon - not to mention very expensive.

Returning you now...

 

[zinger1457]

Received a gift certificate to Omaha Steaks so had a look at their web site, talk about crazy pricing. Of course just about everything is listed at 50% off to make it look like a deal but their non-discounted price for 4lbs of top sirloin steak is $340 ($85/lb), even at 50% off it's crazy high.

 

[Koolau]

Yeah, I've seen the ads and always wondered what the prices were like. Think I'll just stick with Costco for meat and let my uneducated palate protect me from such prices. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Received a gift certificate to Omaha Steaks so had a look at their web site, talk about crazy pricing. Of course just about everything is listed at 50% off to make it look like a deal but their non-discounted price for 4lbs of top sirloin steak is $340 ($85/lb), even at 50% off it's crazy high.

I happened to be listening to the radio today and heard a documentary describing how the meatpacking industry has consolidated into four big corporations that pretty much call the shots on retail pricing while driving down what ranchers get for cattle on the hoof. https://www.nprillinois.org/2022-12-26/more-than-money-the-monopoly-on-meat

 

[Koolau]

I happened to be listening to the radio today and heard a documentary describing how the meatpacking industry has consolidated into four big corporations that pretty much call the shots on retail pricing while driving down what ranchers get for cattle on the hoof. https://www.nprillinois.org/2022-12-26/more-than-money-the-monopoly-on-meat

That's also how we can get country-wide recalls if there is a recall for a particular pathogen contamination. It's not a good idea for a lot of reasons to consolidate meat packing (and lots of other things) but that's how things are going in most industries these days. It appears to be inevitable if near suicidal in the long run. No small player can jump in now and say "hey, I'm here." No "independent" can compete.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

That's also how we can get country-wide recalls if there is a recall for a particular pathogen contamination. It's not a good idea for a lot of reasons to consolidate meat packing (and lots of other things) but that's how things are going in most industries these days. It appears to be inevitable if near suicidal in the long run. No small player can jump in now and say "hey, I'm here." No "independent" can compete.

You could read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and see a lot of contemporary parallels. Or "The Octopus" by Frank Norris. History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.

I've mentioned before that a couple cousins I've been close to all my life are midsize soybean farmers in east-central North Dakota. To compete, they use the Roundup method with herbicide resistant seeds that Monsanto sells. Man, they hate Monsanto, along with the other Big Ag chemical firms. But they're basically trapped in a market that favors massive monoculture.

When I was a kid we used to visit up there. Their dad farmed maybe 750 acres, planting potatoes, sunflowers and durum wheat over the years. The boys plant about 5,000 acres in beans, along with a little corn.

They're doing OK financially, but the surrounding area looks a little rough. Drive around and you see one abandoned farmstead after another. When the word came around to get big or get out, Lots of people got out.

The surrounding towns have less demand for their services with fewer farming neighbors. That's why you see a lot of small towns drying up and blowing away.
About all the megafarms need is mechanical service from John Deere ... which is also leveraging its monopoly power.

 

[Chuckanut]

That's also how we can get country-wide recalls if there is a recall for a particular pathogen contamination. It's not a good idea for a lot of reasons to consolidate meat packing (and lots of other things) but that's how things are going in most industries these days. It appears to be inevitable if near suicidal in the long run. No small player can jump in now and say "hey, I'm here." No "independent" can compete.

The same is true for bagged veggies. A few bad boxes of lettuce can literally contaminate hundreds if not thousands of bags of salad mix.

It's all about balance. If easy to prepare veggie mixes make more people healthier, perhaps it's worth it.

 

[JoeWras]

Today's Amazon Turbotax deal (12/28) confirms that all the best Turbotax deals from everywhere are up at least $5 over last year. About a 15% rise.

 

[athena53]

Today's Amazon Turbotax deal (12/28) confirms that all the best Turbotax deals from everywhere are up at least $5 over last year. About a 15% rise.

I went with Costco- maybe should have shopped around- but I paid $70 last year for Federal plus one state and now it's $80 so that's consistent with your 15%. I wish I could do the State by hand but after my experience in 2020 waiting for a VERY large Federal refund from my return filed on paper I learned my lesson. (I took the advice of my brother the retired tax CPA and e-filed a duplicate return or I'd probably still be waiting.)

 

[isisdave]

I bought TurboTax Deluxe Federal and State (download) at walmart.com on December 4, the day after it was released, for 39.99. That's the best deal I've seen. Today it's $5 more.

 

[CardsFan]

I bought TurboTax Deluxe Federal and State (download) at walmart.com on December 4, the day after it was released, for 39.99. That's the best deal I've seen. Today it's $5 more.

BUT, at Amazon (today only), you get a $10 gift card, so it would be $5 less

 

[Koolau]

BUT, at Amazon (today only), you get a $10 gift card, so it would be $5 less

I sure hope my CPA is reading these threads. I'm hoping she doesn't have to pay too much for her TT!

 

[Qs Laptop]

And here we are one month later. Wow!

View attachment 44427

l dug into this a bit more.

CFO Michael Morgan of Dakota Layers, a family-owned egg layer in Flandreau, South Dakota, said, “We don’t anticipate prices going higher, but we don’t see them going down yet, either.”

“The chief culprit behind the price rise is the avian flu affecting the nation’s bird populations,” Morgan said.

The 2022 avian flu is the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.
According to the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), national depopulations have totaled an estimated 44 million YTD out of 325 million birds (egg-laying hens) – that’s 13.5% of the total hens.



I wonder how long it will take for the chicken population to return to normal?

Oliver Douglas asked Mr. Haney and he said 16 to 18 weeks.

 

[Chuckanut]

$4.99 for a package of 24 of the cheapest white X-large eggs at Costco earlier this week.

Brown eggs, free range, vegetarian feed, etc. etc. etc. were all more.

 

[Gumby]

$4.99 for a package of 24 of the cheapest white X-large eggs at Costco earlier this week.

Brown eggs, free range, vegetarian feed, etc. etc. etc. were all more.

As I mentioned earlier, egg prices are up due to a fatal flu killing the laying hens. This article is helpful in understanding the situation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/29/why-egg-prices-have-been-rising.html

 

[Sunset]

$4.99 for a package of 24 of the cheapest white X-large eggs at Costco earlier this week.

Brown eggs, free range, vegetarian feed, etc. etc. etc. were all more.

That's a great price, I got a free pack of 18 large white eggs at Jewel that they were charging $6.99.

It was free as they haven't figured out the inflation cost effect on their dumb reward program..

 

[Philliefan33]

I’ve never seen egg prices this high. Today at the grocery store in town (the only one for about 4800 residents) eggs are $6.99 / dozen for large eggs.

 

[GenXguy]

I bought a 6 pack of large eggs at Walmart - $2.26! I only eat one for breakfast when I'm off work and not at all on workdays. So, it's more affordable since I can stretch them out.

 

[disneysteve]

We didn't travel in 2020 thanks to COVID. We barely did anything in 2021. And we lost most of 2022 due to my wife's illness. So I really haven't paid much attention to hotel prices - until today. I went online to book a couple of short local getaways, one this month and one next month. A pretty average hotel in a non-tourist area in the middle of January was $150/night, and that was the AAA rate. It was $170 without the discount. The February hotel - an even more basic place also in a non-tourist location in the middle of winter was $178 or $154 with AAA. I'm paying for the first one but using points for the second so at least we get a break there. And we actually have a gift card that I bought early in COVID when they sold them for 20% off and will use that to pay for the first stay.