Inflation or Greed....

[Clearwater AL]

(This is probably more a rant than my After Five thread.)

As one guy said, “It’s not inflation… it’s greed by the big
box stores and grocery stores.

The supply chain issues are over… there are no ships
waiting at sea like before to unload, the trucking issues are
over, distribution centers are full. The Pandemic is over.

Myself in a small way I used to buy a 20 pack of zip ties
at Wal Mart for $2.97… now they are $4.27. The cat food
I buy was $3.97, now… $6.27. The price of a bag of treats
has almost doubled. Is there a cat food shortage?
(Yes... I'm a cat person.)

Then, same size bag or box… half full. I buy lil bite
Blue Berry muffins, the bag used to have five… now 4,
same size bag. Here’s a funny one, I buy an expensive
toothpaste, how’d they do it… now about half way thru
the tube there is a big air pocket before more comes out.
(Same price… same size tube.) Maybe there's more others
can add.

Maybe because my life has slowed down so much now
I notice these little things where others haven’t.

 

[Clearwater AL]

Finally, the President has spoken out about...

“Shrinkflation.”

Maybe he saw my post above from about a month ago. He said...

“When buying snacks for the game, you might have noticed one thing:
Sports drink bottles are smaller, a bag of chips has fewer chips, but they’re
still charging you just as much, Then a consumer report...

For example, a pack of Double-Stuffed Oreos now weigh 9% less, Gatorade
bottles hold 14% less liquid, and a Walmart’s Great Value Ultra Strong paper
towel roll has 28% fewer sheets, according to the report.

I buy a certain margarine in a tub container, before it was full to the top
and some would even be on the bottom of the lid. Now when I take the
lid off there is almost a half inch drop. No chance to have any over fill on
the bottom of the lid like before.

Same size tub... 46 cents more.

“Shrinkflation.” My opinion, it's corporate greed.... you can't blame a
certain person if you aren't happy with the economy.

 

[KimT]

Yep, I've noticed it. I spend a fortune on organic food. But it seems the conventional food and other household supplies skyrocketed even more than my local farm food. I've seen the quality of things like furniture tank, too.

 

[Clearwater AL]

Kim, you wrote about furniture… there is a furniture outlet, mostly
order online, that runs countless commercials. Most of their furniture
is made in China and some from Mexico. It amazes me that a couch,
recliner, office chair can be made in China, then spend 28 days at
sea on a ship, then trucked across country and sold here at a lesser
price.

Consumer complaints are pouring in… poor quality, castors that do
not rotate, cushions that don’t keep shape, fabric stretches out and
not happy with the shade of color they thought they ordered, poor
framework support.

The return policy or any kind of money back would be a long
hassle, legal wordage, phone calls, but then… how do you load up
and return a couch/sectional? Where? Why all this? Cheap junk.
From my casino days and learning odds... I'd put the odds that
the buyer will end up up stuck with it. Unless they have a close
family member who is a lawyer that would do it for free.

My opinion, if you’re going to buy furniture you expect to last
10, 15 or even 20 years… put down the computer or whatever,
get off the old couch and go to a furniture store, look at it, touch it,
sit in it, ask where it is made, negotiate the price. Same for a car.

If someone doesn’t want to do that, spend some time on their
device and go the Consumer Reports and BBB. Don’t put a
lot of faith in online customer reviews.

 

[lisa g]

I've been meaning to comment on this post. It's nothing more than greed, corporate, political and personal. The newest one is the fast food chains that now want the power to fluctuate menu prices during the day when demand is high. I believe that Wendy's would be the first one to implement and all others would follow suit.

Another prime example of greed would be the airline industry, shrinking seat sizes so they can cram more people in and then nickle and diming you for as much as they can get away with.

It's just sickening. We have a plate on our car that's a John Lennon signature, Imagine. We paid extra for it but worth every penny

 

[KimT]

Love the plate, Lisa.