It's no secret that inflation affects the price of virtually everything — not simply by rising prices across the board, but also by giving consumers less product for the same (or more!) cost.
Yes, inflation is real. No, we can't really do anything about it on an individual level. But what we can do is commiserate in the fact that everyone is experiencing it in different ways.
It's bad news for java lovers: coffee is one of the products most likely to be affected by inflation. The days of paying $7 for a pound are likely gone forever.
Sometimes it's tough to parse the difference between prices driven by inflation and prices driven by bougie restaurants. In any case, it can't feel good to pay $14 for a partial serving of greens.
Back in my day, 'family size' meant something. It meant a product would be a big size, one that didn't change, and one that would comfortably satisfy the whole family. Judging from this picture, it appears that nothing is sacred anymore.
We've all been in a situation where we're hungry and simply order a meal without checking the price. This should be a modest meal, but instead this place is charging about the same as a steakhouse would for a cheaper steak dinner.
The scary thing about inflation is that it seems to be accelerating at a faster and faster rate. It's so fast, in fact, that you might never pay the same price for the same product two times.
At first, I didn't see the problem. These all looked like pretty standard fast food combos. But then I noticed the fact that these "$5 meals" all cost between $7.69 and $8.89. Nothing makes sense anymore.
Secondhand shops like Goodwill used to be a reliable place to find affordable goods. More and more, though, they feel like antique shops — places where old goods are sold for a pretty penny.
Before seeing this, if someone had asked you how much a can of soup costs, what would you say? I'd say a dollar or a buck fifty maybe, but certainly not $4.59.
Prime is a service that makes it easier and more convenient to spend lots of money on Amazon products. Hiking the price of something that only works if you're already buying stuff seems like a bad faith move.
You can barely make it out under the new tag, but the original price of this was $45 — $5 cheaper than what Kohls is charging. It's not like it's an old product, either, as it was made in 2021.
Water is something that should be a universal right — in other words, if you need water, it should be provided freely. The age-old tradition of restaurants and fast food places giving out free water might be in jeopardy if this DQ receipt is any indication.
We all know that airports and airlines charge exorbitant rates for food, but this is ridiculous even by those standards. I mean, it's two eggs. Even charging five bucks for them would be too much.
Here's a new one: a retail establishment straight-up lying about the original price in an effort to make the sale price seem more enticing. If they're going to do this, they should probably do a better job of hiding the original price tags.
How fast does inflation work? Apparently fast enough to significantly raise the price of chicken, by one whole quarter, in one short day.
Granted, these are big bags of M&Ms. But I could have sworn that bags of candy like this cost, like, seven or eight dollars, tops. Spending $15.99 on some M&Ms doesn't feel like something that should be possible.
Beef jerky often seems overpriced for what you're getting. The explanation only partially comes down to inflation, but inflation is certainly a factor. These bags wouldn't have cost $26.99 a few years ago.
Rocks, as in ice, is the thing that gets placed into drinks to dilute them and make them seem like they're better value than they really are. Charging for something like this goes against the whole principle of restaurants adding ice in the first place.
Here's a classic thing that brands do to increase the perception of their value. In this case, consumers lose and the environment loses, but hey, at least the corporations win.
Once again, we can see coffee inflation in action. This is a modest example of shrinkage, as the newer can still contains 90% of the old can. But soon there will be a new-new can that takes another 10% away.
This picture is, in a nutshell, an argument in favor of stocking up on stuff with no expiration date. Why? Well, you can buy five years' worth now, or you can watch the sizes steadily go down while the prices steadily go up over the next five years.
