Examples of current inflation - add yours!

[ncbill]

Went out with friends to a restaurant we used to frequent. Haven't been there in a year.

New for this Fall is a 3.5% credit card fee. Yeah! One friend said he's starting to see this crop up in more places.

Let me get this right... just a short time ago people on this forum were talking about how they almost never use cash. I was headed that way too. I am now reversing and using cash more than ever.

Call me cheap, call me whatever. I just can't get LBYM out of my system.

One of my former go-to restaurants not only raised menu prices but added a 3% fee to all checks whether paid by credit card or cash.

 

[JoeWras]

One of my former go-to restaurants not only raised menu prices but added a 3% fee to all checks whether paid by credit card or cash.

This is also spreading. One restaurant in Ontario adds what they call an "Honest to Goodness" fee of 3% to all checks.

What is going on here?

 

[W2R]

I was at Wal-Mart today and noticed significant empty shelf issues. Not sure if the product shortages are because of diesel prices, continuing manufacturer supply problems, or what? Reminded me of early COVID days where the shelves were bare, except that this wasn’t throughout the store, only in certain sections.

+1

Frank went to the grocery store yesterday, so after reading your post I asked him about it. He said the same thing - - there were a lot of empty shelves, way more than usual, and we don't know why. He especially had a hard time finding bread, but there were other items that were lacking as well.

Hope we're not going to go through the Covid shortages again! But who knows.

 

[Fermion]

No shortages here. Bread isle had thousands of loaves. More paper plates and bowls than I have ever seen since COVID (actually had a choice! store brand, Dixie 2x stronger and Dixie 3x stronger).

Toilet paper for ages...looked like when they stacked the Ark in govt storage at the end of IJ.

I think any shortage is just local to you.

 

[W2R]

No shortages here. Bread isle had thousands of loaves. More paper plates and bowls than I have ever seen since COVID (actually had a choice! store brand, Dixie 2x stronger and Dixie 3x stronger).

Toilet paper for ages...looked like when they stacked the Ark in govt storage at the end of IJ.

I think any shortage is just local to you.

Oh good! That's wonderful to hear. Thanks for letting us know. What a relief!

 

[Fermion]

Oh good! That's wonderful to hear. Thanks for letting us know. What a relief!

Well, I mean you were sounding all doom and gloom, empty shelves, so I was just saying, maybe I could sell yall some tp or something

 

[W2R]

Well, I mean you were sounding all doom and gloom, empty shelves, so I was just saying, maybe I could sell yall some tp or something

Well, thanks, but that's OK...we have enough bread in the freezer for about 2-3 weeks, and ever since Covid I have squirreled away more TP than anybody alive. Just got another 18 mega-rolls from Amazon last week.

I think this tendency to hoard bread and TP is kind of like a mini-PTSD response! It doesn't make sense but I keep thinking "what if this isn't enough?" and then I hoard anyway.

 

[Koolau]

Card system rules used to prohibit surcharges (but permit discounts); a 2017 Supreme Court decision called Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman examined this and remanded the decision to the Second Circuit, which decided in 2018 that if the actual credit-card price is posted, it isn't a surcharge. Tomato-tomahto.

So now they're mostly permitted, and it's up to the market to figure out what to do.

Only one restaurant we visit, so far, has imposed a surcharge, and it's less than 3.5%. I haven't decided what to do yet; it's an inexpensive place.

I'm getting a crown replaced this week. I'm going to ask for a cash discount. We recently bought a hot tub, and I did get a cash discount -- 3.5% -- on that. The owner told the salesperson "OK, half the tax" which suggested he'd answered the question before.

We'll have to see what the answer is to "do people buy more when using credit" and "is what they buy higher margin" like alcohol and dessert. Cash management is a problem --our son's an assistant manager at a retail place, and cash is always disappearing anyway, usually in small amounts.

My crystal ball suggests that if this becomes a big problem, cash-back rebates to consumers might go away and be replaced by rebates to merchants based on volume.

Yeah, my dentist already (automatically) offers cash discount (beyond a certain total.) So routine cleaning, etc. I can use my card. But a crown or a couple of fillings and the cash discount applies.

DW used to operate the family business. Her "industry" (of thousands of mom and pop stores) had negotiated extremely favorable terms with various card companies. Because of this, credit cards cost her so little as to be nearly trivial compared to "house charge" type accounts (with the inevitable defaults) which used to be standard in the industry (due to lots of phone sales.) She never paid anything like 3.5% for credit transactions. YMMV

 

[Scuba]

+1



Frank went to the grocery store yesterday, so after reading your post I asked him about it. He said the same thing - - there were a lot of empty shelves, way more than usual, and we don't know why. He especially had a hard time finding bread, but there were other items that were lacking as well.



Hope we're not going to go through the Covid shortages again! But who knows.

Interesting to hear it’s happening in both LA and CA. ?

 

[athena53]

Yeah, my dentist already (automatically) offers cash discount (beyond a certain total.)

I just realized mine no longer applies the small "friends and family discount" I used to get. (We knew them from a church we all attended at the time.) Well, I like him and j=he also doesn't add a surcharge when I use my credit card on major work.

DW used to operate the family business. <snip> She never paid anything like 3.5% for credit transactions. YMMV

Yes, 3.5% is a little greedy. I just used my Amex to make a $1,000 donation to a charity; you have to spend $1,000 in the first 3 months to get 80,000 Hilton points. The charity offered me the option of adding an amount to cover the credit card fees and I ended up donating $1,029.97. Amex is notorious for high fees; I'm already finding places that don't accept it- so I imagine the other issuers charge more like 2.5%. Since they're also avoiding the risk of robbery/pilfering of large amounts of cash, 3.5% is too much.

And another item for the list: early this year my trash hauler announced they would stop picking up recyclables. I asked if they were decreasing their fees. Yes, they were- but then they decreased by less than they said they would and THEN they added a bogus "environmental fee" that brought it up to the original level- so no decrease at all. I found a place that takes recyclables but it's 10 miles away. I wonder how many customers just throw them into black trash bags and put them out with the regular garbage.

While I'm generally against over-regulation, I hope the current administration does enact laws cutting down on "junk fees".

 

[frank]

I think all these fees are the government/s way of making more money from the public. the public information act says you can get the information you want from the courthouse they charge you by the page and by the hour.

 

[John Galt III]

Stopped by my local luncheonette for my beloved reuben sandwich. Used to be $6.99 or 7.99. Now it is $9.08. I kept walking. Sad, but I won't pay that much.

 

[John Galt III]

What is with the cost of having a tree cut down? I have heard people talk about $10,000 for one big tree to be cut down. And $13,000 for one big pine tree. Sounds like a huge profit for the tree people. And people agree to be abused this way, apparently. That's the mind-blower. Maybe they are all using some government grant money, not their own ? Mind-blowing.

 

[Fermion]

We are having several big pine trees cut down, the cost is $1000 per tree (the wood (ponderosa) is said to be near worthless.

At $13,000 per tree I wouldn't touch them, just lower my insurance deductible to like $100.

 

[athena53]

What is with the cost of having a tree cut down? I have heard people talk about $10,000 for one big tree to be cut down. And $13,000 for one big pine tree. Sounds like a huge profit for the tree people. .

Depends on the tree. We have a giant emerald ash tree on the common property just past my boundary line. We've been treating it but from what I've read it's just postponing the inevitable destruction by the emerald ash borer. Access is down a steep hill so you need to get the equipment down the hill, cut it into pieces and haul them up the hill. Not a DIY job. It's dangerous work so the insurance premiums are likely pretty steep and you don't want uninsured workers doing the job- the HOA could be liable for injuries to the workers or large branches falling on nearby property. We're figuring $10K at least.

I think all these fees are the government/s way of making more money from the public. the public information act says you can get the information you want from the courthouse they charge you by the page and by the hour.

The fees to which I was referring are imposed by businesses. Here's the base rate. Oh, by the way, the hotel has a mandatory "resort fee". The airline charges $X per carry-on or to choose your seat. The restaurant adds a separate % to cover employee health insurance costs. The inescapable ones should be included as part of the base cost.

 

[JoeWras]

I spent $10k on 20+ trees of varying size. Two towering pines and one massive oak, the rest were smaller.

They had two cranes at one point. It was 15 crane hours. 4 guys worked 12 hours, 3 more worked 6 hours. Most stumps were ground.

They did it in one day. I got multiple quotes, very similar.

I could have saved about 30% by not grinding stumps and using a 2 man crew that would have spent about 7 work days of disruption. Everyone wanted two of the trees to use a crane, too dangerous otherwise.

This will hopefully be the last time I cut a tree while I'm alive.

So for many trees, $1k is not unusual. Typical trees should be less than 500. It all depends on many factors. Any crane work pushes $1k right away.

$10k a tree is something off the charts both in price and size of the tree.

These guys were pros.

 

[karen1972]

$10k may not be unreasonable for some of these monster trees but it certainly isn't average. My friends is having 4 large poplars cut down for $3200 as one dropped a rather large limb on the house and its very clearly dead.

My sister has some 100 year oaks, those I could easily see someone quoting $8-10k for, we took them down ourselves with a crew of men that knew what they were doing plus a 60 ft cherry picker we rented.. it was a massive project, I just couldn't believe how big the limbs were even 60 feet up in the air.. it was something we could handle when we were all 30, no way we would even remotely attempt it today.

 

[Fermion]

Isn't it amazing? We were all told how good trees are, but now I think all they are is negative money growing around your home.

 

[JoeWras]

The tree I pictured with the worker hanging from the crane among the branches cost me $5.5k before it was cut down.

I tried to save it from whatever disease two services recommended. You can see it is diseased in the picture. Treatment cost me $1.5k and was useless. The real problem is it destroyed the driveway, and the driveway destroyed it. I think the root rubbing from the broken concrete was an entry for the disease. Driveway repair (section replacement) cost me $4k.

And let's not even talk about the damage to foundations, drainage and sewer, and general lack of drying out in a moist climate.

I love trees, but they take work and worry. I've had them fall in the house in hurricanes and cause damage. Our friends are currently out of their house for 8 months due to a tree fall.

So we moved the exclusion zone back with this work and got rid of the showpiece -- but dying -- oak.

The upside is the remaining trees in the back yard are flourishing. I have two naturally sprouted white oaks exploding with growth. I've nurtured them from germination. They put on 10 ft last year. Growth can be crazy in the southeast during good years. We have plenty of replacements coming in, and they'll be mature when we move.

We have Nextdoor neighbors who freak out at every tree cut. They don't want to hear the reasons for cutting. They are trying to rally the city council to require a permit for every tree cut. Arghhh. During this work, I had one neighbor come by and chastise me for getting it cut. She did not want to admit the tree was failing and diseased. She was just mad.

 

[38Chevy454]

During this work, I had one neighbor come by and chastise me for getting it cut. She did not want to admit the tree was failing and diseased. She was just mad.

I think I would have told her where to put the tree I have no tolerance for stupidity and people that don't listen to logic and facts.

 

[W2R]

During this work, I had one neighbor come by and chastise me for getting it cut. She did not want to admit the tree was failing and diseased. She was just mad.

I was scared to death that my neighbors would respond like that, when I had every tree and bush on my property cut down and removed (the month after I bought my Dream Home). We live in an older upscale neighborhood that is touted as having "shady, tree-lined streets". The trees on our street are fairy-tale HUGE water oaks that were original to the land before it was developed back in the last century. In an even more upscale neighborhood next to ours, it's illegal to cut down trees without a permit and they are nearly impossible to obtain.

But I have seen what happens after hurricanes! Big trees like that not only fall into houses and block streets, but also break electric lines and cause power outages. This is not what I want for my old age. So, I didn't ask anybody but hired a team to cut down all 4-5 gargantuan trees on my lot and remove every last twig.

Then as I met my neighbors, each conversation began, "I hope you don't mind that I cut down my trees! I love them, who wouldn't, but the arborist said they were all dying and rotten inside and filled with termites, so I had to do it." That was actually true, although I would have cut them down anyway.

My neighbors were very accepting of that reason. One of them said she had done the same thing with several of her trees a few years earlier.

The electric company and Parish (=County) inspectors were equally approving and said it would cut way back on their work and expense after storms.

 

[JoeWras]

We haven't had a good hurricane in 25 years. Those of us in the neighborhood back then understand. The transplants don't.

Back to inflation. Yes, the tree work is more expensive than previous years for sure. It doesn't help that a lot of the cranes are shared with construction, which is still hot. Additionally, many of the workers want to graduate to more skilled jobs. I don't blame them. Even with all the automatic equipment, it is a very physical job. I was amazed just how much tree went into the chipper without anyone touching them. Yet still, there's a lot of manual work.

 

[Walt34]

Oh yes, for anyone contemplating saving money by cutting down a large tree themselves, see the youtube videos of "idiots with chain saws"or "tree cutting fails" or similar:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=idiots+with+chain+saws

Lots of stuff to go wrong when cutting down trees.

 

[NW-Bound]

I like trees, but big ones interfere with solar panels. The shade that they provide is nothing compared to the electricity put out by solar panels to run AC.

So, I only have smaller fruit trees.

 

[Sunset]

When I was having tree work done, one of the estimators said I'd get 10% off for cash. I told him, "No problem, I'm not paying with a credit card."

He said: "No, bills. Cash."

Oh. Well, I didn't happen to have $8,000 of bills handy. Sounded shady to me.

I see what you did there: "having tree work done" by a fellow that "Sounded shady"