Inflation
”Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Publix, Yoplait Yogurt
Where did those two ounces of yogurt go? The dreaded grocery shrink ray has blasted them to oblivion, my friends. Not even store brands are safe.
More »
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Garden Salsa Sun Chips
These Sun Chips have shrunk from 11.5 oz to 10.5 oz and are still being sold at the same price. "Not even healthy foods that normally are already sold in smaller portions are safe," says tipster MasonTwo who spotted these on the shelves at Walmart. CNN says the products most vulnerable to the Grocery Shrink Ray are paper towels, potato chips, sticks of gum, toilet paper, detergent and candy bars. Hey, look at the bright side, maybe the Grocery Shrink Ray is just what we need to fight the obesity crisis.
As Food Costs Rise, People Are Buying More Ramen and...Spam?
The Associated Press is saying that rising food costs are driving people to buy more Spam, despite the fact that the Spam itself is more expensive. Are you really doing this? More »Make Your Own Groceries
Food's getting too expensive, leaving us with two choices: lose our lead on per capita obesity, or find new ways to save money. We're not the type of nation to give up a first place position on anything, so that leaves us with saving money, and one way to do this is to make your own stuff. We know, it's crazy! Apparently early settlers somehow created their own Cheetos and Frappuccinos, but we're not going to get that primitive. Instead, here's a quick rundown of some interesting Do It Yourself tutorials we found that might give you some ideas on how to cut costs the next time you go grocery shopping. More »Visualizing Inflation As A Pile Of Mold
The NYT has a cool graphic up that shows all the parts of the Consumer Price Index and uses a color scheme to show how much they've gone up by in the past year. Go to the version on their site so you can zoom in closer on all the cells. It looks like a horribly growing fungus inside a petri dish, which I guess is not far from the truth.
"We can only serve two options and beef and pork obviously have religious restrictions. "We have to try to use two meals which appeal to as many customers as possible."BA says that cost has (cough) nothing to do with it. [Daily Mail]
Consumer Price Index Shows That Consumers Like Eating Out, Gasoline
The New York Times made a pretty cool graph out of the Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in prices for many consumer goods over the past year. Turns out, gas prices went up. More »Consumer Bankruptcies Up Nearly 50% From A Year Ago
The number of people filing for bankruptcy continues to increase, as bad mortgages and the rising price of [insert noun here] squeezes every last penny out of debt-laden consumers. The American Bankruptcy Institute says the number of filings was up 47.7% in April from a year ago, and up 7.1% from March '08. More »Food Companies Threaten Higher Prices If FDA Increases Safety Oversight
Last week, the Grocery Manufacturers Association told lawmakers that if the FDA doubled its safety oversight budget by increasing fees from food companies, they'd have to raise prices to make up the cost. That's right: affordable food or safe food. Choose one! More »Delta & Northwest CEOs Say All Airlines Should Raise Fees 15-20%
Delta's CEO, Richard Anderson, told reporters today that all airlines need to raise fees by as much as 20% "just to break even due to the rising price of fuel." His new bedmate, Northwest CEO Doug Steenland, piped in to say cost-cutting measures "have largely been exhausted"—and by "cost-cutting" we assume he means, "We can't find anything else to add surcharges to, except maybe the bathroom and the recycled oxygen, and we're not monsters." More »United Airlines Raises Fuel Surcharges For The Second Time This Week
United Airlines has raised its already not-exactly-insignificant fuel surcharge for the second time this week, says USAToday. More »Wrigley's To Introduce New "Slim Pack" Gum Packaging With Two Fewer Sticks, Same Price
Sometime soon Wrigley's will start promoting its new Slim Pack packaging in select markets, and nationwide by 2009. It's slimmer! It's easier to carry! And it's got 15 sticks instead of 17—for the same price! A Wrigley's vice president told Brandweek that consumers wouldn't care that they're getting less product: "To them the value goes up because they're getting a better tasting product in a better package." Ha ha consumers sure are stupid, aren't they, VP of Wrigley's? More »
inflation
Stuff From China Could Cost 10% More
Long the land of low low prices, the prices on consumer goods imported from China could rise by as much as 10 percent this year. What's changed in China?
Uhoh, WallyWorld is going to be pissed.
China's Inflation Hits American Price Tags [NYT]
(Photo: DCvision2006)







