# Price increases you've noticed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 6, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833 "2011-10-06T23:07:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/61 "2011-10-09T01:21:50Z")
Exactly. That’s why I didn’t bring the topic back up. I knew he understood. But you are right. And don’t get me started on the incredible markup that convenience stores have. That’s what you’re paying for, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/62 "2011-10-09T03:54:02Z")
> [@](#): > > And don’t get me started on the incredible markup that convenience stores have. That’s what you’re paying for, after all.[URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=14338292](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=14338292)”] You’re also paying for the incredible amount of shrinkage that c stores have. Kids (and adults) goof off in c stores and pass the time by shoplifting. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/63 "2011-10-09T03:58:04Z")
Beef is ridiculous. I paid $3.99 a pound for soup bones last week. The shrinking sizes piss me off. Yesterday I bought a box of M&M’s that I knew was light, but I didn’t find out how light until I opened it. The M&Ms were vacuum-packed in a foil inner bag such that they lay in a single layer. That spread out the pack so you couldn’t hear it rattling around inside the box. I opened the inner wrap and poured the M&Ms back into the box and they couldn’t have filled it more than a quarter of the way. I’m surprised some environmental group doesn’t get up in their bidness about wasteful packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/64 "2011-10-09T04:00:51Z")
Cereal seems to be a lot higher. I don’t like to buy it in the summertime or during breaks because it’s nasty and I loovvveee eggs, but in the morning we’re in a rush, so my son eats cereal and small snack when he gets to school. It’s usually about $3-4 a box. Eeesh. But what really irks me is MOVIE TICKETS. Gah! I know that getting snacks will set you back, but $25 to see Lion King in 3D made me want to cry. I am no longer embarrassed to be bringing in my own food to the theatre. Over the summer I tried to get some snacks for the lil dude and it was $26. Oh, and bowling. I took him and his friend bowling last June for the end of the school year celebration and it was over $60. :eek: “Family-friendly” entertainment is so expensive. His bday is coming up and there’s no way I can afford a party at a remote location and our place is too small to host one, so he’s going to have to settle with inviting a few friends to do something (and probably still cost me a few hundred bucks). 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/65 "2011-10-09T04:02:35Z")
Yeah, the price of “cheap” cuts is incredible. I don’t buy soup bones, I buy a bone-in chuck roast and make a pot roast, and then soup. After all, it’s meat that needs slow cooking, and it’s bones, and it’s the same price (or cheaper) than soup bones. Some stores sell ham hocks at a reasonable price. Other stores seem to think that ham hocks are an expensive delicacy. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/66 "2011-10-09T04:04:43Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > I get why beef prices are up and are probably going to go sky high later this year - the drought in Texas and other Midwestern states means that a lot of cattle are being killed off before the reach their sell weight. So, a glut of beef followed by a shortage. > > But why the price increases on everything else? I could see it if gas prices were up (again), but they’ve been stable for nearly a year. > > More and more, I’m wanting to produce my own food, but there’s precious little space for a garden at my house, absolutely no way to keep bees, and if I tried to keep a chicken or two for eggs, I think the neighbors would tar and feather me, and then run me out of town on a rail. Join a co-op or ‘buy a share’ of a farm. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/67 "2011-10-09T13:12:36Z")
Back in the day I ran a 7plex movie theatre. The three owners of said theatre were a insane 80 year old harridan, a short round guy who sweated in the dead of winter and someone in the Witness Protection Program (all now taking dirt naps). Tickets were $4.75. Every week I would get $200 in 50 cent pieces. The bank thought I was nuts. People would get two tickets and a half, pick it up and go “What the hell is this?”, walk over to the concession stand and buy something to get rid of it. End of the night, the box office would buy them all back. Owners were pleasantly surprised that my per-head was higher than the other theatres in the chain. Never figured out why. Today, tickets range between 11.75 and 14 per seat, and I avoid the concession stand like the plague. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/68 "2011-10-09T13:29:13Z")
A year or two ago, I bought toilet paper. The width of the TP was about 3/8" shorter than the my previous purchase. ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/69 "2011-10-09T16:08:18Z")
Yes, prices on everything are going up: but I am most irked by the practice of shrinking the size of the package to keep the price the same. My (ex)favourite kitty litter did this a while back… the salesguy chirped “But we didn’t raise the price!” Sorry babe, but 40 pounds at the 50 pound price IS an increase. And the new bag does not last as long. I switched brands. ---
**Author:** ![littlespeedysuperbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@littlespeedysuperbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/littlespeedysuperbike)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/70 "2011-10-09T16:34:54Z")
Food prices rising hasn’t got anything to do with inflation. It’s called “the worst drought in 100 years all across Texas”. Take a ride through any Texas city or suburb and you’ll see green lawns, normal-looking golf courses, no water-restriction signs. Now, head ten miles out of town. Every field will be brown. All the leaves on the trees will be dead. The animals, if you see any, look like they’re in Somalia. I used to enjoy the best produce I’ve ever seen at any cheap grocer; now it’s like wintertime in New England. 60% of Texas’s water goes for irrigation, and that got cut massively. The other 40% should’ve been cut but wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/71 "2011-10-09T16:42:19Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > This article suggest that a good option for cheap nutritious food is bean and brown rice. She calls it grad student food. Beans and brown rice have gone up, too, even if not as much as milk and some other items. Believe me, what with getting the montly foodstamps cut I have _noticed_ this. Thank Og the garden did well this year, because prices for vegetables keep going up. Greens for $2-3 a pound? Gimme a break! Or maybe I’m just spoiled what with them growing in the backyard. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/72 "2011-10-09T16:47:43Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Black oil sunflower seed. Double the price that we were paying this summer. ^ And _this_ is why a corner of the garden is in sunflowers and corn, for my pet birds. Of course, the wild birds get some of it, too, before I can harvest it, but that’s life, right? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/73 "2011-10-09T23:26:50Z")
> [@littlespeedysuperbike](#): > > It’s called “the worst drought in 100 years all across Texas”. Take a ride through any Texas city or suburb and you’ll see green lawns, normal-looking golf courses, no water-restriction signs. Now, head ten miles out of town. Every field will be brown. All the leaves on the trees will be dead. The animals, if you see any, look like they’re in Somalia. I used to enjoy the best produce I’ve ever seen at any cheap grocer; now it’s like wintertime in New England. > > 60% of Texas’s water goes for irrigation, and that got cut massively. The other 40% should’ve been cut but wasn’t. Don’t know where you’ve been but we have water-restriction signs and brown lawns. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/74 "2011-10-10T02:15:27Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > A year or two ago, I bought toilet paper. The width of the TP was about 3/8" shorter than the my previous purchase. A year or two ago?! I hope you bought a truckload. That’s a long time to go between purchases. 😃 A while back (before I retired) a friend came to work with a package of something called Lunchables. All it was was a couple slices of bologna and cheese and a few crackers. I don’t know what she paid for it but I know for sure it was outrageously overpriced for what she got. It didn’t seem to dawn on her though that it was nothing more than a tidbit and the plastic packaging was an environmental nightmare. More plastic than food. The thing I’ve notice the past few years is the price of nuts has gone sky high. I always look forward to fall because that’s when the grocery stores stock walnuts, pecans, almond, hazelnuts, etc. But now the price is prohibitive and I don’t buy any. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/75 "2011-10-10T02:40:24Z")
No wonder when Washington comes out with its monthly report on inflation, they EXCLUDE food and gasoline costs. Got to keep the peasants in the dark. [http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate\_data/inflation-charts](http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/76 "2011-10-10T13:40:48Z")
> [@littlespeedysuperbike](#): > > Food prices rising hasn’t got anything to do with inflation. > > It’s called “the worst drought in 100 years all across Texas”. Take a ride through any Texas city or suburb and you’ll see green lawns, normal-looking golf courses, no water-restriction signs. Now, head ten miles out of town. Every field will be brown. All the leaves on the trees will be dead. The animals, if you see any, look like they’re in Somalia. I used to enjoy the best produce I’ve ever seen at any cheap grocer; now it’s like wintertime in New England. > > 60% of Texas’s water goes for irrigation, and that got cut massively. The other 40% should’ve been cut but wasn’t. > [@kayT](#): > > Don’t know where you’ve been but we have water-restriction signs and brown lawns. In the HEB area of NE Tarrant County, I see water-restriction notices all over the place, informing me that we are under Level 1 restrictions. We’ve also been notified about the rules for watering, we’re only allowed to water on certain days, and we can only water during certain hours of those days. And yeah, our lawn and our plants have suffered, I think that we’ve lost about half of our rose bushes. I don’t see my neighbors doing any unlawful watering, either. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/77 "2011-10-11T19:35:23Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > In the HEB area of NE Tarrant County, I see water-restriction notices all over the place, informing me that we are under Level 1 restrictions. Wouldn’t it more PC to say, “the Jewish-American area of NE Tarrant County”? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/78 "2011-10-11T20:27:45Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Wouldn’t it more PC to say, “the Jewish-American area of NE Tarrant County”? Assuming this is not a whoosh, “HEB” stands for Hearst-Euless-Bedford. Those three cities all connect together and the area is called “HEB”. It doesn’t have anything to do with the residents there. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/79 "2011-10-11T21:31:52Z")
No, it was whoosh, or at least I was teasing Lynn a bit for assuming we’d all know what HEB stands for. I debated a smiley, but I really don’t like smileys. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833/80 "2011-10-12T05:45:31Z")
It’s Hurst, and yeah, I’m so used to hearing HEB used that I forgot that it can be used as an abbreviation for Hebrew. And what do you mean, not everyone knows what HEB stands for? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-increases-youve-noticed/598833.md?page=5)