Obviously prices are higher. Have you noticed, though, that sizes are shrinking?
I love chocolate, paricularly Dove milk chocolate. A bag of it was $5.87! AND, when I pulled it off the shelf the bag was puffed up with air, and there were 10 pieces inside. I remember beingable to buy a bag for $3.50 and there were 26 pieces in it.
I put it back. I just couldn't do it.
Now, chocolate is a dumb example, I realize. The same thing is happening to everything. Here's the good news: smaller packages means you can store them more easily as you stock up before prices go hyper-crazy. And, another positive thing: it might be a good time to break some bad habits (such as not buying the chocolate, for me).
One last thought: the smaller volumes is a sneaky tactic, and many people will not understand the double-whammy and will go through their grocery money way too fast. Credit card debt will spike, but so will crime. Keep extra vigilant.
Chocolate has been changing sizes and changing prices ever since the 70s, when a Hershey bar was only ten cents. They would make the bar larger and charge more. Then they would make the bar smaller again and label it as still being the same price. Then they would repeat.
I saw this cycle a lot of times, as I was working in a store back then.
BTW, chocolate is good for you. Plain Hershey bars are good for long-term storage. If they aren't kept cool enough, they turn white, but they are still good to eat. I have eaten some that I had stored ten years or more, and they were still good.
i remember when a two pack of twinkies was 13 cents.
.23 for a loaf of bread?
Burger Chef and McDonald hamburgers were 15 cents, so were the fries and shakes!
imagine if there was no minimum wage and taxes were capped at 5% -- based on consumption and not earnings. We would be sooooooo much wealthier as a nation! The obsession with money and material things would be less pervasive (always there, of course) because the ability to earn enough for simple living would be greater.