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I live in the UK, and our weekly shop has gotten a lot more expensive than the 14%. Me and my wife did the calculation literally last month and our weekly Tesco

I live in the UK, and our weekly shop has gotten a lot more expensive than the 14%. Me and my wife did the calculation literally last month and our weekly Tesco order has gone up from £50 to £70-80. We both follow a relatively strict diet so we just order the same stuff each week, and the increases are small but they are on everything and they add up. To give a simplest example - 4 pint milk bottle used to be £1.10 earlier in the year, now it's £1.55(and that's a cheap milk, nothing fancy) - that's an increase of 40% on milk alone. Oh and to add to this - energy is bonkers. Last year I used to pay 3p/kWh for gas(the heating kind, not petrol), and 12p/kWh for electricity. Now it's 10p/kWh for gas and 34p/kWh for electricity with much higher standing charge(daily payment for being connected to the network) for both. In effect our energy bill tripled from £100 a month to £300 a month.

woodruffw 4y ago
Thanks for sharing (this goes for everyone adjacent too; I figure it's better to say once than spam)!
gruez 4y ago
>I live in the UK, and our weekly shop has gotten a lot more expensive than the 14%. Me and my wife did the calculation literally last month and our weekly Tesco order has gone up from £50 to £70-80. Anecdotes like this (ie. "government says inflation is x% but my grocery bill went up y%", x < y) seems to be very popular. Why is there a discrepancy? Is there some sort of methodological issue on the part of government agencies (or in this case, private data providers)? Or is there some sort of sampling/recall bias on the part of internet commenters?
- mywittyname 4y ago
  The government uses a "basket of goods approach" that allows for substitutions and is averaged out over multiple grocery stores. As someone pointed to in this thread, half of the inflation is attributed to profit increases for the grocer. Thus, it stands to reason that groceries that aren't packing on the profits would see lower price increases. So where you're shopping matters a lot.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    I am completely disinterested in the "record profits" narrative, of course if the base cost goes up, and margin % stays the same you will have "record profits" This is an emotional argument targeted the same crowd (63% of the US Population by recent survey) that believes stimulus checks should be used to fight inflation I want to see what the profit margin % is, not what the raw profit is. I have yet to see anyone show a "record increase in profit margin" only headlines in currency not percentage
    - orra 4y ago
      > course if the base cost goes up, and margin % stays the same you will have "record profits" Yes, we know this. But we disagree it is a good thing to maintain a constant percentage margin. Tesco’s (etc.) isn't innovating. It's being rewarded solely for putting its prices up significantly. Ordinary people are being forced and asked to afford less. Corporates could also show some restraint.
      - phpisthebest 4y ago
        This is showing extreme business ignorance, I am not sure about Tesco, or UK grocers, but in the US the average margin is around 3%, this is one of if not the lowest margin industries. Keeping that margin at 3%, even if raw profits increase is a responsible business model, margin that low can put businesses in terrible places when recessions hit. To believe grocers to stick to a raw profit number, and not look at margin at all is ridiculous and irresponsible to not only the shareholders of the company but the employee's and customers as well Your advice is what leads to store closings and food deserts
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - piva00 4y ago
      Society won't gain much if a grocer keeps a steady 3% margin over base cost while capturing the increase in price instead of distributing it as part of salaries as well, don't you agree? The record profit in figure is important when compared to employees' salaries, if those aren't increasing in proportion (as part of the cost) then the grocer owners are just increasing their wealth while impoverishing their own employees.

woodruffw 4y ago

Thanks for sharing (this goes for everyone adjacent too; I figure it's better to say once than spam)!

gruez 4y ago

>I live in the UK, and our weekly shop has gotten a lot more expensive than the 14%. Me and my wife did the calculation literally last month and our weekly Tesco order has gone up from £50 to £70-80. Anecdotes like this (ie. "government says inflation is x% but my grocery bill went up y%", x < y) seems to be very popular. Why is there a discrepancy? Is there some sort of methodological issue on the part of government agencies (or in this case, private data providers)? Or is there some sort of sampling/recall bias on the part of internet commenters?

mywittyname 4y ago
The government uses a "basket of goods approach" that allows for substitutions and is averaged out over multiple grocery stores. As someone pointed to in this thread, half of the inflation is attributed to profit increases for the grocer. Thus, it stands to reason that groceries that aren't packing on the profits would see lower price increases. So where you're shopping matters a lot.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  I am completely disinterested in the "record profits" narrative, of course if the base cost goes up, and margin % stays the same you will have "record profits" This is an emotional argument targeted the same crowd (63% of the US Population by recent survey) that believes stimulus checks should be used to fight inflation I want to see what the profit margin % is, not what the raw profit is. I have yet to see anyone show a "record increase in profit margin" only headlines in currency not percentage
  - orra 4y ago
    > course if the base cost goes up, and margin % stays the same you will have "record profits" Yes, we know this. But we disagree it is a good thing to maintain a constant percentage margin. Tesco’s (etc.) isn't innovating. It's being rewarded solely for putting its prices up significantly. Ordinary people are being forced and asked to afford less. Corporates could also show some restraint.
    - phpisthebest 4y ago
      This is showing extreme business ignorance, I am not sure about Tesco, or UK grocers, but in the US the average margin is around 3%, this is one of if not the lowest margin industries. Keeping that margin at 3%, even if raw profits increase is a responsible business model, margin that low can put businesses in terrible places when recessions hit. To believe grocers to stick to a raw profit number, and not look at margin at all is ridiculous and irresponsible to not only the shareholders of the company but the employee's and customers as well Your advice is what leads to store closings and food deserts
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - piva00 4y ago
    Society won't gain much if a grocer keeps a steady 3% margin over base cost while capturing the increase in price instead of distributing it as part of salaries as well, don't you agree? The record profit in figure is important when compared to employees' salaries, if those aren't increasing in proportion (as part of the cost) then the grocer owners are just increasing their wealth while impoverishing their own employees.