|
11-28-2008, 02:49 PM
|
#1
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,671
|
Grocery Prices
Several months ago prices at the grocery store rose quickly as fuel prices rose above the $4 mark. We were told that the main reason for the precipitous rise was that fuel prices rise for all of us, even grocery stores, and that they were just passing the costs on to the consumer. We bought this
Current local gasoline prices at the pump in our area are in the $1.70 range today however, I can see no appreciable decline in price at the grocery store to reflect this. Has anyone else noticed this phenomena?
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
11-28-2008, 03:04 PM
|
#2
|
Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 46
|
I visit 2 main grocery stores (HEB and Foodarama) and their regular prices have not gone down. If anything there may still be some prices still creeping upwards. The Walmart and FoodTown store isn't competitive enough to HEB and FAR. Only thing at Wallyworld cheaper is OTC drugs. FAR has some great deals in their weekly mail ads that keep me in that store. Though, I don't see as many 'deals" as I have in the past...
I believed once there is a reason, real or not, to raise prices such as Groceries. Stores don't want to let go of that easy money even if it costs less in gas/diesel these days.
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 03:48 PM
|
#3
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: At The Cafe
Posts: 6,873
|
The supermarket that delivers my stock-up groceries didn't seen to have as many free delivery offers as they used to until last week's order. For some inexplicable reason, they gave me 10% off the entire order which pretty much covered the two turkeys and delivery fee. Two days later they sent a coupon for free delivery on the next order.
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 03:50 PM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
|
Holiday markup (or failure to mark down) would be my guess.
i don't frequent the normal grocery stores. i've learned to shop in small batches if i am downtown anyway.
i use a local mom-n-pop meat market for meats. excellent quality and turnover and always 2 meat items on special every day. they divvy things up from 1 lb to 5 lbs, essentially the same price.
i use dollar type store for canned and dry goods and cleaning stuff.
i go to the regular supermarket for fresh veggies and seafood . i tried Aldi's and wallyworld for a while for veggies, but the quality and frig storage lifespan was markedly less.
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 03:56 PM
|
#5
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
|
Two things happening. Prices are going up or producers are keeping the price the same and shrinking the amount in the package... or a combination of both.
Ever notice how the weight of a box is lower?
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 04:02 PM
|
#6
|
Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird5825
Holiday markup (or failure to mark down) would be my guess.
i don't frequent the normal grocery stores. i've learned to shop in small batches if i am downtown anyway.
i use a local mom-n-pop meat market for meats. excellent quality and turnover and always 2 meat items on special every day. they divvy things up from 1 lb to 5 lbs, essentially the same price.
i use dollar type store for canned and dry goods and cleaning stuff.
i go to the regular supermarket for fresh veggies and seafood . i tried Aldi's and wallyworld for a while for veggies, but the quality and frig storage lifespan was markedly less.
|
A large percent of my spending is food; grocery stores and local farmers. I have ordered a custom cut turkey; am thinking of moving up to custom lamb, beef, goat cuts.
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 04:03 PM
|
#7
|
Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaco
Two things happening. Prices are going up or producers are keeping the price the same and shrinking the amount in the package... or a combination of both.
Ever notice how the weight of a box is lower?
|
That's been going on since at least the '70s.
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 04:06 PM
|
#8
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Khan
That's been going on since at least the '70s.
|
Yes... and there is almost nothing in the box at all now days.
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 04:10 PM
|
#9
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
|
I noticed my usual coffee brand did that this summer. Dropped the weight by a couple ounces.
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 04:11 PM
|
#10
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaco
Two things happening. Prices are going up or producers are keeping the price the same and shrinking the amount in the package... or a combination of both.
Ever notice how the weight of a box is lower?
|
i just bought 2 sugars in a 4 lb bag at the dollar place. i didn't notice it until i put it up on my pantry shelf at eye level. what a ripoff.
i might even write to the company and complain. my mom used to do that if there was something wrong or missing and got lots of free replacement item coupons. she was a character.
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 05:42 PM
|
#11
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright
Posts: 2,847
|
When commodities increase in price it doesn't always reflect in an immediate increase in the finished product. If you look at a price of crude oil prices vs. retail unleaded gasoline you can see that gasoline did not exactly match the increase in crude prices.
The way I read this chart, if gasoline had more closely matched the price of crude on the way up, we would have had gasoline as high as $7-8 a gallon.
I remember earlier this year that many of the big food producers were saying that they had not yet passed on the majority of their increased costs to the consumer. Even though prices had gone up, and package size had decreased, the increased commodity costs had not been completely accounted for. Just like gasoline prices did not drop as quickly as crude oil prices have in the last 5-6 months because refiners and vendors were trying to recoup some of their lost profits, I think that food producers are doing/will do the same.
There is probably a longer lag time involved because it takes longer to plant and grow wheat, and then turn it into Wheaties in a box at the Safeway than it does to take crude oil and make it into gasoline in the tanks at the local Exxon station. There are still a lot of very high input costs that have not worked their way through the system yet. When prices for fertilizer were going up like a skyrocket last year I bet a lot of farmers locked in prices. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are cheaper now, but they haven't fallen as much as crude oil has, and Farmer Brown still needs to make a profit on top of paying for that expensive fertilizer he bought months ago for this year's crop.
Since feed is such an important input in meat and poultry production, you won't see much reduction in pricing there until after the grain prices go down.
Demand plays a big part in the pricing as well. There has been a lot of demand destruction in gasoline, but I'm not sure that the same thing has happened in food. I would bet there has been some shifting around (eating at home vs. restaurants, or eating less expensive food, etc.), but I don't think it has been as dramatic as what we've seen in gasoline.
Some prices have fallen. One that caught my eye recently was the price of lobster. I saw lobster at $6 a pound in the store the other day and I now have plans for boiling some up this weekend because that's a darn good price.
Why did lobster get so cheap? Fuel to run the lobster boat is now a heck of a lot cheaper than it was 6 months ago would be my first bet. Other than that, nature takes care of all of the rest of the input costs. The lobsterman just has to go out there and herd them up, or whatever one does to catch lobsters. There is almost no refining/producing costs - just keep them alive in some water until they get to the local lobster shack or you buy some at the grocery store. Given the shape of a number of regional economies, and increasingly the national economy, I would also think that there has been a decrease in demand for luxury foods like lobster either at home or in the restaurants.
I don't expect that food prices will get any cheaper soon, and most of the items I buy at the grocery will probably continue to go up for at least the next 6 months - 1 year.
__________________
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. - Andrew Jackson
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 05:59 PM
|
#12
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,856
|
My MIL does that at least weekly to sharpen her mind, her hand-eye coordination... and her tongue. She grumbles about the postage but she refuses to complain by e-mail-- she feels she owes the courtesy of a hand-written note.
You would think that the major retailers would share their complaints databases to weed out such consistently unhappy customers. But she gets an amazing number of coupons.
__________________
*
Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
|
|
|
11-28-2008, 07:09 PM
|
#13
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: ENE MO - near STL
Posts: 424
|
I have noticed some decrease in food prices. Milk is definitely down from summer prices and eggs are down too. $2.30/gallon for skim milk, 99 cents/dozen large eggs, down from almost 2 bucks not that long ago. Just a couple of anecdotal examples I've seen (and I just happened to have a receipt sitting next to me). Those are a couple of foods that always have more volatile pricing though.
|
|
|
11-29-2008, 10:07 AM
|
#14
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,671
|
Quote:
She grumbles about the postage but she refuses to complain by e-mail--
|
One thing that I have noticed is that if you complain about a product via the website (basicly email) of the company involved, they will generally send you a coupon for a free issue of that item. I just complained to Chicken-of-the-Sea and expect to get one soon, also International Delight creamer.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|