Examples of current inflation - add yours!

There's nothing in a newspaper other than day old news. Why bother?
Two reasons:
1. I hate reading on-line as it's too hard to tell an ad from a news story and I end up clicking and going down the rabbit hole.
2. reading hard copy with my morning coffee and breakfast is a life-long tradition.
 
I sort of understand why routine dental costs are not covered by insurance. By definition, insurance is pooling of risk. Dental is more of an ongoing expense that everyone "should" be paying. And for when it goes from a regular dental to an actual medical issue, many medical insurance plans do cover it.

I'm not saying I like it, but it does explain why dental "insurance" is such a lousy deal for most people.
My medical not only covers routine annual exams and inoculations, but waives the deductible as well. They know that preventative care is much cheaper than waiting until things go bad.
 
Even the mirco-regional pricing is nuts. Egg prices at the same chain located 3 miles apart differ by $1.
Yep, there are only a few corporations that own most of the grocery stores in the U.S., and a few corporations that supply most of the meat in the U.S. (see Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, Marfrig, and Agri Stats for the meat supply).
 
Got the mail from the mail box. There was a post card from Ducks Unlimited Shreveport for their annual banquet. I never paid to go as contractors would purchase the tables and give us the tickets. Last time I went was probably 2018 or 2019. Ticket prices then individual $50 and purchase a table with a few goodies $500 and has 8 tickets. Now individual ticket is $350 and the buy a table is $5000 for a table for 8 with a special addition Ducks Unlimited rifle. I could see my former coworkers fighting over who gets the rifle. As an aside I never duck hunted just went for the food and it was paid for.
 
I've noticed going out to restaurants really seems to be getting uncomfortably expensive lately, so I looked back a few years. Chart shows spending (yes high, always been a pastime we enjoy) and I added % increase YOY. We may start cutting back, or not - BTD?

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I've noticed going out to restaurants really seems to be getting uncomfortably expensive lately, so I looked back a few years. Chart shows spending (yes high, always been a pastime we enjoy) and I added % increase YOY. We may start cutting back, or not - BTD?

View attachment 52369
I'm impressed you can find that many quality restaurants to dine in. Too many have taken a real dive here in my vicinity to even bother to enjoy at any price.
 
I've noticed going out to restaurants really seems to be getting uncomfortably expensive lately, so I looked back a few years. Chart shows spending (yes high, always been a pastime we enjoy) and I added % increase YOY. We may start cutting back, or not - BTD?

View attachment 52369
If it’s something you enjoy doing together and a priority, why cut back? If it is reducing funds allocated to something even mmore important to you, then I could see cutting back, otherwise enjoy.
 
We are repairing and restaining our front deck and needed to buy some new 1x8x10' clear cedar boards for the edge banding. I originally got these at Lowes but their stock looked horrible, so I went to a local lumber yard. Each 1x8x10' board cost over $62. Four boards with sales tax was $270! Ouch.

I've also noticed 3/4" birch plywood at Home Depot is nearly $90. I remember buying those for $45 several years ago.

I keep hearing lumber prices are coming down but I certainly haven't seen that.
 
Gas prices up over 11% today - 35 cents to $3.39, confirmed at all 5 gas stations I drove past this evening.

Walmart's new everyday low price on their candy (that I mentioned in the "inflation easing" thread) didn't last long. Most of those prices were increased 137% in recent days.
 
Oil and sugar are pretty volatile. Especially oil. And this is sort of the peak season for candy. Not really any news there.
 
Not inflation but unbelievably amazed! Had to exchange the welding gas bottle (75/25), a few days ago.
Price was DOWN several dollars. That's even with a new $6 handling fee for rolling the filled bottle 10' to the loading dock!!
This being from a business that has no issues maintaining/raising high prices!
First item, prior to covid, I've seen lowered below pre Covid price.
 
:2funny: Not inflation but unbelievably amazed! Had to exchange the welding gas bottle (75/25), a few days ago.
Price was DOWN several dollars. That's even with a new $6 handling fee for rolling the filled bottle 10' to the loading dock!!
This being from a business that has no issues maintaining/raising high prices!
First item, prior to covid, I've seen lowered below pre Covid price.
Your increase in your auto insurance bill will more than make up for the savings with the gas bottle!:ermm:
 
Gas prices up over 11% today - 35 cents to $3.39, confirmed at all 5 gas stations I drove past this evening.

Walmart's new everyday low price on their candy (that I mentioned in the "inflation easing" thread) didn't last long. Most of those prices were increased 137% in recent days.
Just paid 4.99 for gas yesterday. There’s a few times we have been close to 6/gallon. Luckily I have a small car that runs on fumes:)).
 
Just an observation regarding shifting currency denominations:
It used to be the 20 dollar bill was the biggest denomination in my wallet.
Local businesses have made a noticeable shift to discounts for cash. Optometrist, Vet, Restaurants
And the Wells Fargo ATM has started including 50's as a withdrawal option with withdrawal limits raised from $300, to $500, and now $1000 with an option for $2000.
With the faster cash burn (the optometrist alone was over $1900), I've started pulling 50's out of the ATM.
And danged if they don't spend like 20's used to.
 
Just an observation regarding shifting currency denominations:
It used to be the 20 dollar bill was the biggest denomination in my wallet.
Local businesses have made a noticeable shift to discounts for cash. Optometrist, Vet, Restaurants
And the Wells Fargo ATM has started including 50's as a withdrawal option with withdrawal limits raised from $300, to $500, and now $1000 with an option for $2000.
With the faster cash burn (the optometrist alone was over $1900), I've started pulling 50's out of the ATM.
And danged if they don't spend like 20's used to.
Good points! Our ATMs have gone that way and now even have an option for $5 bills. I like $5's as I use those as tips. Those tips used to be a couple of $1's!
 
My daughter has had her rent go from $1200/mo to $1600/mo in 3 years. She decided to buy a house so her rent stops going up. Very proud of her because she realized that and she bought a house that was within her budget and saved 20% for a down payment. I cautioned her on the added expenses of home ownership but I was overridden by momma because my daughter bought a house just down the street. Guess who's honey do list just got a lot longer?
 
That takes care of any questions you might have had about "What will I do all day?":)
She closed today and I drove my zero turn mower down and mowed her yard and trimmed everything up nice. So it begins.
 
Thought this was a good summary of how I have felt about many of these discussions.


I believe the true inflation metric is hours/purchase and since my hourly rate has increased more than prices I have not been concerned with inflation that much. People who are on a fixed income or who have lagged inflation clearly have a different experience. For the general working public I believe people generally think of price increases as things done to them while wage increases are things that they deserve.

The only area where I see things really out of whack is housing (more expensive/hr than any time in my lifetime). It would be interesting to see the same method applied to automobiles, insurance, and childcare. Autos went crazy due to supply chain issues, insurance has had much higher loss rates, and now that I have a grandson I am aware of how much family income goes to childcare. Not sure how these stack up historically, but they "feel" higher to me. As much press as gas/energy bills get I know that I spend a much lower % of my budget on them than my parents did, so that is cheaper over time than it has been.
 
..... For the general working public I believe people generally think of price increases as things done to them while wage increases are things that they deserve. ......
I think this applies to more than just prices. When good things happen in my life, it's because I made them happen. When bad things happen, it is due to the malevolent actions of others.
 
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Just a quick look at that, and I could tell it didn't match reality. Grocery prices are way up. Steak and many foods are about double, while my stocks only recovered to past levels in recent months. I'm not working a job, so I didn't get 10% pay increases each year to offset the price increases. Insurance has doubled, home maintenance has more than doubled in some cases, property taxes went way up, gas went way up. Of course, people are still mad about prices.
 
Childcare has always been expensive. If you didn’t have a well paying job it didn’t pay for both parents to work. One salary just went to daycare. It’s the reason that in the early 70’s Carter instituted free or low cost daycare for single parents so they could afford to work and get off of welfare.
 
Just a quick look at that, and I could tell it didn't match reality. Grocery prices are way up. Steak and many foods are about double, while my stocks only recovered to past levels in recent months. I'm not working a job, so I didn't get 10% pay increases each year to offset the price increases. Insurance has doubled, home maintenance has more than doubled in some cases, property taxes went way up, gas went way up. Of course, people are still mad about prices.
You miss the point, and I guess prove the point. Prices are up, but so are wages. The net effect is that food prices are almost exactly equal to the mythical pre-covid 5 years ago. Prices bottomed when the Fed started to increase interest rates and then were up sharply, but are now back to the 2019 trend. Whether it continues to decline remains to be seen.
 
You miss the point, and I guess prove the point. Prices are up, but so are wages. The net effect is that food prices are almost exactly equal to the mythical pre-covid 5 years ago. Prices bottomed when the Fed started to increase interest rates and then were up sharply, but are now back to the 2019 trend. Whether it continues to decline remains to be seen.
Your point is valid. With high inflation, over time wage earners come out even, or at least similar. The losers are lenders (fixed income investors) and people on pensions.
 
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