# Increases in price over last 3 years?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 2, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044 "2003-04-02T20:31:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044/1 "2003-04-02T20:31:53Z")

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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.)

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**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044/2 "2003-04-02T20:47:19Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044/3 "2003-04-02T21:11:49Z")

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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).

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**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044/4 "2003-04-02T21:29:16Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increases-in-price-over-last-3-years/166044/5 "2003-04-02T22:34:57Z")

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I don’t mind the effects of inflation so much, but why does it have to hit _now_ when prices are so high?