But if you look at the sibling comment, all of that came from "Food away from home ". In other words, it's all because of takeout/restaurants, not groceries. Those were actually dragging inflation down.
Distributor fuel costs are a really small part of the food price, with the notable exception of things that are bulky and full of air like Cheerios. The overwhelming fuel component of grocery consumption, by a margin so large you can consider it to be 100%, is the consumer's fuel. Driving 5 miles to an American grocery store to buy a few pounds of food is the most absurd scheme ever hatched. Having your groceries delivered by a van on a route is much more efficient but, perversely, by internalizing the last mile fuel cost that would show up as higher prices for food in aggregate inflation statistics.
Some businesses use that as cover to increase prices even when their costs may not have actually been affected by the price of energy. Never waste an opportunity to put the big squeeze on.
Steadily rising prices will be the norm from now on. What will be interesting to see is how fast the corporate elite figure they can boil the frogs without them noticing too much.
Is this of any significance? I would imagine most people are like me: we shop based on quality and price and where we want something on that curve. Whether someone raises the price on me “because of inflation” or “because we want to make more money” is indistinguishable.
A rationale for the price rarely affects my choice. If I don’t want to buy something for a price, explaining that the guy won’t be able to survive without pricing it that high won’t get me to buy it. If I do want to buy something for a price, explaining that a guy is charging a hefty profit won’t get me to not buy it.
The only thing that will get me to buy it or not buy it is if it is at the point on the price/quality frontier where I want it.
> A rationale for the price rarely affects my choice.
This would make you the exception.
Companies are constantly increasing prices to see how much they can charge consumers before they feel cheated and stop buying and/or enough customers get priced out to hurt profits.
Consumers tend to feel ripped off if they think a price increase was due to greed but are way more forgiving if they think the price increase was needed because of something outside of a company's control. That's why companies are quick to tell consumers that rising prices are due to things like fuel prices, bird flu, or supply chain problems.
Of course, that tactic isn't as effective as it used to be since consumers have seen companies using those excuses and feed them lines like "We're all in this together!" while those same companies report skyrocketing profits and they've watched as prices remained high or even increased even after the blamed fuel prices dropped and supply chain issues resolved.
You're treating what the consumer believes and what is the case as if they were synonymous. How able is a consumer on the street to judge whether a price increase is legitimate or arbitrary? "Feeling ripped off" sounds more like a post hoc rationalization that's applied when a price is pushed just past the threshold.
A small number of companies control the meat supply in the United States. If you decide that you don't want to buy that $50 hot dog, you likely won't have many comparable options.
This cannot be emphasized enough. The rise in egg prices was such a thing. Avian flu was an impact, but not to the degree that egg prices increased. Those producers are reporting record profits.
For your interpretation:
All items: +0.5% monthly; +4.2% year-over-year.
Energy: +3.9% monthly; +23.5% year-over-year.
Gasoline: +7.0% monthly; +40.5% year-over-year.
Fuel oil: +58.9% year-over-year.
Electricity: +0.6% monthly; +5.9% year-over-year.
Utility natural gas: -0.5% monthly; +3.0% year-over-year.
Food overall: +0.2% monthly; +3.1% year-over-year.
Food at home / groceries: +0.1% monthly.
Food away from home / restaurants: +0.3% monthly.
Nonalcoholic beverages: +0.6% monthly.
Cereals and bakery products: +0.4% monthly.
Fruits and vegetables: +0.2% monthly.
Dairy: -0.6% monthly.
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs: -0.2% monthly.
Core CPI / all items less food and energy: +0.2% monthly; +2.9% year-over-year.
Shelter overall: +0.3% monthly.
Rent: +0.4% monthly.
Owners’ equivalent rent: +0.3% monthly.
Lodging away from home: +0.4% monthly.
Communication: +1.3% monthly.
Airline fares: +2.7% monthly.
Personal care: +1.0% monthly.
Recreation: +0.3% monthly.
Apparel: +0.3% monthly.
Used cars and trucks: +0.1% monthly.
Medical care: +0.3% monthly.
Hospital services: +0.7% monthly.
Motor vehicle insurance: -1.7% monthly.
Household furnishings and operations: -0.6% monthly.
New vehicles: -0.3% monthly.
Prescription drugs: -0.9% monthly.
At least raw milk is getting cheaper
Na, the hospital/medical care that comes along with it has gone up.
Raw milk is hazardous
And eggs! Don't forget about the eggs!
My chicken tending has fallen to barely break-even on an EBIDTA basis.
Per the link, food is up 3.1% and everything else 2.9%. So energy pulled inflation up from about 3% to about 4%, but that's not "all of the increase"
>Per the link, food is up 3.1%
But if you look at the sibling comment, all of that came from "Food away from home ". In other words, it's all because of takeout/restaurants, not groceries. Those were actually dragging inflation down.
Energy going up drives evrything up, including food. Everything we do depends on energy in many different ways.
It's possible for energy to be behind the rises in other cost, but the data presented here gives no evidence for or against that possibility.
How much of the food cost (and everything else) is tied to the increase in diesel prices? Do they adjust that out?
Distributor fuel costs are a really small part of the food price, with the notable exception of things that are bulky and full of air like Cheerios. The overwhelming fuel component of grocery consumption, by a margin so large you can consider it to be 100%, is the consumer's fuel. Driving 5 miles to an American grocery store to buy a few pounds of food is the most absurd scheme ever hatched. Having your groceries delivered by a van on a route is much more efficient but, perversely, by internalizing the last mile fuel cost that would show up as higher prices for food in aggregate inflation statistics.
It's not just due to energy, at least not directly. Core CPI (ex-food and energy) has been increasing monotonically since February:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPILFENS#
Some businesses use that as cover to increase prices even when their costs may not have actually been affected by the price of energy. Never waste an opportunity to put the big squeeze on.
Steadily rising prices will be the norm from now on. What will be interesting to see is how fast the corporate elite figure they can boil the frogs without them noticing too much.
$50.00 hotdog is coming.
Is this of any significance? I would imagine most people are like me: we shop based on quality and price and where we want something on that curve. Whether someone raises the price on me “because of inflation” or “because we want to make more money” is indistinguishable.
A rationale for the price rarely affects my choice. If I don’t want to buy something for a price, explaining that the guy won’t be able to survive without pricing it that high won’t get me to buy it. If I do want to buy something for a price, explaining that a guy is charging a hefty profit won’t get me to not buy it.
The only thing that will get me to buy it or not buy it is if it is at the point on the price/quality frontier where I want it.
> A rationale for the price rarely affects my choice.
This would make you the exception. Companies are constantly increasing prices to see how much they can charge consumers before they feel cheated and stop buying and/or enough customers get priced out to hurt profits.
Consumers tend to feel ripped off if they think a price increase was due to greed but are way more forgiving if they think the price increase was needed because of something outside of a company's control. That's why companies are quick to tell consumers that rising prices are due to things like fuel prices, bird flu, or supply chain problems.
Of course, that tactic isn't as effective as it used to be since consumers have seen companies using those excuses and feed them lines like "We're all in this together!" while those same companies report skyrocketing profits and they've watched as prices remained high or even increased even after the blamed fuel prices dropped and supply chain issues resolved.
You're treating what the consumer believes and what is the case as if they were synonymous. How able is a consumer on the street to judge whether a price increase is legitimate or arbitrary? "Feeling ripped off" sounds more like a post hoc rationalization that's applied when a price is pushed just past the threshold.
A small number of companies control the meat supply in the United States. If you decide that you don't want to buy that $50 hot dog, you likely won't have many comparable options.
This cannot be emphasized enough. The rise in egg prices was such a thing. Avian flu was an impact, but not to the degree that egg prices increased. Those producers are reporting record profits.