Okay, inflation is pegged at 2% or below for the past 3 years…but this means that still, prices should have gone up by around 5%!
I know this is an average: however, I have noticed that most prices have stayed about the same. What products have you noticed that have gone up in price?
The obvious two?
– Housing
– Gas
But those are really too obvious to mention.
My contributions:
– Dialup Internet access (restricted free access and expensiver AOL.)
– Soft drinks (3 years ago is was easy to find $3 a 12 pack and sometimes even $2.50! Now even $3 is rare.)
Milk.
It’s steadily risen since I was a kid, when I’d run down to the corner market for my mom with a buck and some change. When I first started doing my own shopping about five years back it was hovering around $2.20 a gallon, and now I’m lucky if I can find it for anything less than $2.89.
The vending machines used to charge 50¢ for a can of soda at my work. Now it’s up to 55¢. Fifty-frickin’-five cents! That’s a 10% increase! The crooks!
Movie admissions have risen steadily for as long as I can remember. I remember when regular (not matinee) admission was $3.00. It held steady at $5.00 for while but went up from there. The current admission price at our local megaplex is $8.00 (matinee admission is $5.50).
Ohhh, Movies is a good one. I can remember shelling out about $5.25 as a youngster, but the last time I went it was $9.25. Not to mention the $5 popcorn and the $4 cup of ice…er, I mean soda…that goes along with it.
Even the “dollar theatre” where they play the not-quite-ready-for-video movies is up to $2.25 now.
I don’t mind the effects of inflation so much, but why does it have to hit now when prices are so high?