Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[GoDawgs]

For the first time in months, Sam's is carrying 8 O'Clock whole bean coffee again. It used to be 40 oz for $13.58 (.34/oz). Now it's a 38 oz bag for 13.98 (.37/oz). When we couldn't get it at Sam's we were getting it at Walmart, a 30 oz bag for 14.54 (48 oz), buying one bag at a time as needed in case Sam's started carrying it again. Now that Sam's has it again we bought the usual four bags which should last until the next quarterly trip to Sam's.

Sam's still doesn't have the two pack of 23 oz Frank's Red Hot sauce or the 16 oz container of Hidden Valley Ranch powdered mix. They've been out of both for a good while. At least they have the two jar pack of Jiff Extra Crunchy Peanut butter back!

[worth1]

I looked at ground bison meat the other day.
Wow has that ever went up in price.
10.39 a pound or some such thing.

[karstopography]

HEB carries ground bison. I’ve had a bison burger, but bison isn’t something I get a craving for. Maybe I have not had enough of bison to get a real taste for that meat.

[worth1]

HEB carries ground bison. I’ve had a bison burger, but bison isn’t something I get a craving for. Maybe I have not had enough of bison to get a real taste for that meat.

I bought it a few times back when it was relatively cheap to see what all the big deal was about.
Not much of anything to me.

[bower]

You can buy ready made bison burgers in the frozen section of my grocery store. Nice enough for a slightly gamey burger.

[bower]

Oh wow. The jig is up here, and they are gone crazy with the high prices.
The 3L can of oil I bought last week for $26 (an increase of $2) is now listed as $40. FORTY bucks. Every other cooking oil also sky high. I needed oil for baking, so I can finish the Empty Freezer Imperative, and paid $15 for what was $9 last week.
A regular large tub of 'butter substitute" has doubled in price to over $9.
I had to buy Hellman's, I'm nearly out, and the unchanged jacked up price of $7.99 seemed like a bargain!!!!!!
Unbelievable.

[GoDawgs]

@Bower, is there any news about WHY prices are going nuts all of a sudden? I haven't heard of any transport troubles etc, at least not here in the US. That's ridiculous and deserves an explanation.

I just tried searching for reasons and all the articles I found are from last year except one. This site updates recent prices for stuff in St. John's, lots of things from food to clothing, etc. It says updates reflect this march.

https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-livi ... wfoundland

[GoDawgs]

One article (dated several months ago) told about the increasing demand for biofuel causing shortages of cooking oils. And the shortage keeps getting worse. This push to rid the world of fossil fuels is insane. You CANNOT grow enough grain and oil seeds to run vehicles AND feed people and the animals that contribute to the food supply. It's getting close to "peasants with pitchforks" time. 'Nuff said.

For pete's sake, Canada is #1 in canola oil production so whassup wit dat?

https://www.worldblaze.in/canola-produc ... the-world/

I was going to ask if Canada was exporting all of it and read further:

"The U.S. is the biggest importer of Canola Oil, and it is estimated that 70% of the oil produced in Canada is imported by U.S. It is also seen that major global fast food chains like KFC, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s have started the usage of this oil for making their food products.... It is expected that by 2025 the production of Canola oil is to rise by 40%. In the last decade, the export of this oil has also doubled."

Still, there shouldn't be any shortage at home unless the Canadian government is mandating diverting a bunch to biofuels.

$26 to $40... I'd be asking the store manager about that and see what he or she has to say. And don't let them give fluff answers. Politely drill down to a solid answer.

[slugworth]

Stuffed cabbage from a store that makes the meals; they used to be a nice rolled hung of meat in cabbage.
The latest batch was like a hamburg wrapped in cabbage tilted to look like the original version.

[bower]

@GoDawgs the grocery chain where I shop made a big deal of not raising prices before the end of January. Some things went up in February for sure, IDK how much that reflects the store itself or the chain. But for example, the apple juice I buy went from 2 for $6 to 2 for $7 just like that, a full buck. Not like your Walmart where they at least appear to be nibbling it down to cents, whatsoever. This thing with the oil and butter... IDK, no clue, it seems to me like SCALPING. Everybody needs cooking oil of some kind, and if you jack it all and anybody's out, they have to buy at the price. I am not convinced this is a real "new price" and I don't see a good reason, other than the general shipping issues. And the fact it is a STAPLE that people will buy if they need it, even at a shocking price.
I did not know about the biofuel issue (and really, is biofuel even a thing anymore? They already saw how that wasn't going to work!!)
There was one kind of margerine on special, and one lady was just filling her cart with as much as she could get. Fear of being forced to pay so much for basics. She said to me did you see that hard tack is $9 a bag??? I didn't have the heart to say, I never buy it and don't know what it costs. Very old school basic necessities food for old timers (making fish and brewis). Really sad to see.
And this was not the only shopper who said to me, "Everything is so expensive!!".
I wasn't shopping for a big haul of things today just a few things I needed so IDK how far it went.

Edited to add: I just opened a can of oil so I'm good for several months, I can wait to see what happens. But I will also check the wholesale place, and see what they're charging, and if it's reasonable I'll stock up there.

[Sue_CT]

I stocked up on oil last fall when I read the prices would likely skyrocket because of the war in Ukraine. They are one of the worlds biggest producer of grain for oil. That has not improved at all.

"Ukraine and Russia are important exporters of wheat, corn, barley, and sunflower oil and meal. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted agricultural exports from the region..."

"As of April 5, 2022, 11 countries have implemented export bans, including Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia, and Egypt, for products ranging from wheat, wheat flour, barley, rye, corn, and oilseeds, to lentils, fava beans, and pasta."

"Two major oilseed producers have implemented export restrictions. Argentina raised export taxes on soybean meal and oil from 31 percent to 33 percent. Indonesia raised the minimum percentage of palm oil output that processors are required to allocate to the domestic market from 20 percent to 30 percent, effectively limiting exports. These measures had a large impact on the vegetable oil and meal market since Argentina typically supplies more than 40 percent of the world’s traded soybean meal and oil, while Indonesia accounts for more than half of global palm oil exports."

"For sunflower oil, Ukraine and Russia account for roughly 80 percent of global exports...+

It also said Canada had crop problems that are also contributing.

Here is the entire article if anyone is that interested.
https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/ukraine-c ... %20percent.

[bower]

Well the oil I buy is olive oil. It's all I use for cooking and baking alike. So I'm not sure what's happening with olive producers. But the price of every oil was up across the board, no doubt about that!

[Sue_CT]

I buy California oil oil from the producer for good finishing olive oil and have not noticied a huge increase here. For lower quality, mass produced olive oil for cooking I have only noticed the same types of increases I see in most food, not good, but not what you are seeing at all. So not sure why it is so bad where you are.

[karstopography]

Peanut oil has gone up, now $17.66/gallon at HEB. $16.98 at Walmart. Not too long ago peanut oil was under $14/gallon. HEB has a coupon running for next several days for $3 off the basket if I buy $12 in oil. Better stock up.

I like EVOO and typically get the one made from Hojiblanca olives in Spain. That runs $8.30/500ml.

[worth1]

They have cheap Port wine back in stock.
I bought two bottles and drank 1/4 of one in one sitting.
On ice mind you.
Kool aid of the gods.
One could say I was very happy to see that section with port wine in it again.

If your kids are having a party serve port wine instead of some sugary drink.
So what if they get drunk and run naked in the yard.
It's a party after all.

[JRinPA]

I don't read this thread on a regular basis but I have noticed something of late that really ticks me off. I can't say I do a whole lot of shopping, either, as I hunt, fish and grow much of what we eat. But this is what I'm seeing this year...

Unit Pricing seems to have been corrupted. On the same display of hot dogs, instead of all unit pricing being listed in price/oz, now I am seeing a mix of price/oz, price per lb, and price per unit.
Not just hot dogs. Packs of bacon. Pepperoni. Bags of snacks, chips, tortillas. Even generic extra strength Tylenol - 500 mg tablets, sometimes listed per pill, sometimes listed by the entire package price. They used to all be listed as per pill unit.

This is not the producers, not inflation from printing free money, not lowered supply from war zones. This is straight up deceitfulness by the store, making it harder for the consumer to make wise choices. The above examples were this week at Walmart. I thought maybe it was just walmart - I noticed it a couple months back - but I have asked around and people say it is happening at other grocery stores as well.

[bower]

I have noticed before, that meat specials are advertised and displayed in signs that give price per lb. Everything here is sold per kilo though. I've been bewildered for a moment, a couple of times, until I realized what was going on. lb prices don't mean anything unless you're planning to do the conversion math in your head. But luckily their product labels have a format that always states weight in kilograms, price per kilo, and unit price. So I don't pay attention to the 'specials' signage, just look at the package for that kilo price.

[worth1]

The cheapest mayonnaise brand keeps fluctuating.
This week it was Duke's.
Something else I've noticed that I haven't ever seen here before is reduced price on meat getting or beyond date.
It's simply because people aren't buying it.

[GoDawgs]

This is not the producers, not inflation from printing free money, not lowered supply from war zones. This is straight up deceitfulness by the store, making it harder for the consumer to make wise choices. The above examples were this week at Walmart. I thought maybe it was just walmart - I noticed it a couple months back - but I have asked around and people say it is happening at other grocery stores as well.

Time for a little chat with the manager and ask why all the departments aren't on the same sheet of music when it comes to unit pricing. The answer (or non-answer, word salad etc) might be interesting.

I'll have to check around here and see if that's happening.

[Danny]

Noticed the unit pricing games in pretty much all the stores here, and it is BS. I feel it is meant to confuse and is underhanded.

On an up note, has anyone tried the Mark Cuban Pharmacy thing? So far, it seems to work on standard meds quite well. Was paying out a bit over a 100 bucks a month for meds, after insurance. MC does not take insurance, but total cost for a 90 supply of all 4 meds came to 35 bucks and that included the 5 for s/h. Turn around, this was a first time, took about 2 weeks before shipping, took 3 days for real shipping.

I don't usually recommend more than a seed seller, but this saved me a goodly chunk of change.