15 ms·

Consumers are increasingly pushing back against price increases – and winning

67 points by pg_1234 3y ago

delecti 3y ago
That headline is a weirdly empowering framing considering the article is closer to "people can't afford the things they bought 4 years ago."
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  At least the 20% inflation rate is underestimated
  - quxbar 3y ago
    Economists like Paul Krugman are using a SURVEY of people asking them what they spent (for a NON FIXED basket of goods). Let's say that you used to eat 10 units of grains ($1 each) and 5 units of beef ($5 each), for total spending of $35. Let's now say that prices doubled (grains $2, beef $10). You can't afford $70, so you adjust your consumption patterns and replace 2 units of beef with 2 units of grain (cutting your beef consumption in half). We have now replicated the graph that Krugman so proudly showed off. "Food at home" prices are "only" up ~25%. Paraphrased and copy-pasted from here: https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1761782081351196814 https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1761782081351196814
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - gruez 3y ago
      > Economists like Paul Krugman are using a SURVEY of people asking them what they spent (for a NON FIXED basket of goods). 1. What survey are you talking about? It's certainly not mentioned in the OP, and I don't have a twitter account so I can't see the prior tweets. 2. It feels incredibly suspect to paint "economists" as using this particular methodology, when "inflation" is usually synonymous with "CPI", and that uses a fixed basket. In fact your linked tweet even admits this.
  - HumblyTossed 3y ago
    I don’t know what you’re downvoted. I have a curated list of recipes I have been cycling through over the past 6 or 7 years. They’re things I like to cook and the family likes to eat. Two years ago we consistently spent about $110 per week on groceries. We are now consistently spending about $140 per week.
    - gruez 3y ago
      Sure, you might think you're buying the same thing, but are you really? I can imagine endless reasons that would cause your grocery expenditures to silently increase without you being actively aware of it. For instance, maybe you switched to a more upscale brand and/or variety (eg. free range eggs), or your family's appetite increased (ie. puberty). Without detailed records it's hard to take such anecdotes at face value.
      - fuzzfactor 3y ago
        >Without detailed records it's hard to take such anecdotes at face value. Well it's pretty easy for millions of people to notice when it's the face value of their currency which has rapidly lost quite a bit of meaning. When you do the math, it's a little too late now, the currency has lost more face value than the "anecdotes". It doesn't even need to be at this scale, there are many situations where the data is so overwhelming that even non-recordkeeping below-average observers can build a more accurate picture than some twice-removed lesser mathematicians looking only at kilos of numerals. And that's when the economists have a truly neutral agenda. Also keep in mind, sometimes the most valuable data is never recorded but it's still data. Sometimes the most accurate data is recorded but it's so sensitive that it's not the least bit available, so might as well not have been recorded anyway. Edit: not my downvote, I understand where you're coming from.
        gruez 3y ago
        >Well it's pretty easy for millions of people to notice when it's the face value of their currency which has rapidly lost quite a bit of meaning. For much of the 2000s and 2010s, people thought crime was on the way up, despite statistics that say otherwise. Clearly "millions of people" noticing a phenomena isn't a reliable indicator of it actually happening, which is why we have statistics agencies rather than going off vibes. >It doesn't even need to be at this scale, there are many situations where the data is so overwhelming that even non-recordkeeping below-average observers can build a more accurate picture than some twice-removed lesser mathematicians looking only at kilos of numerals. Examples of those "situations"?
- geor9e 3y ago
  I say cereal, you say dinner! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Dw1bjRxY0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Dw1bjRxY0
  - krackers 3y ago
    I'm always amazed that what's effectively a dessert is allowed to be marketed and sold as a breakfast food.
    - lotsoweiners 3y ago
      Besides eggs, meat, potatoes pretty much all breakfast foods could be considered deserts. Pancakes, French toast, waffles, donuts, crepes, all sorts of berries and syrups, etc. I couldn’t fathom the idea of eating eggs or potatoes as a child so I don’t think I had a savory breakfast until I was in my mid twenties.
      - lotsofpulp 3y ago
        Maybe prepared foods sold in America that comes in boxes. Otherwise, there is fruit (not juice), yogurt, vegetables, cheeses, whole grain bread, avocados, milk, soy milk, lentils, nuts, oatmeal etc. > Pancakes, French toast, waffles, donuts, crepes, I couldn’t fathom giving any of these to my kids on a regular basis (nor did I get them). The food traditions my parents came from was
    - FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
      Kellogg was a nutcase whose effect on US culture was much larger than people realize.
costanzaDynasty 3y ago
Almost everything that is advertised is something you don’t need. Whether it’s media, or food or something else, never push the consumer to the point that they realize they don’t need you. Pigs eat, hogs get slaughtered.
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  A corollary is where a large bulk of ads are for products that are completely economically inadvisable for consumption on average citizens' incomes. So much is geared toward uber-consumers who have way more funds that can be considered disposable.
superkuh 3y ago
> Most consumers have now long since spent the savings they built up during the pandemic. Is this supposed to be comedy? Most people did not become more well off during the early years of the pandemic. I wish we could exercise the same choice (branded vs generic) in the ISP utility we chose to pay for. For me it's either 56k or Comcast cable. I'm on the same comcast plan as I signed up for in 2012 (80/5 for $78/mo total with modem rental then) and it's not only gone up in price by over 1/3 but the service has decreased in quality too. When I signed up I had unlimited data transfer. Now I'm repeatedly paying $10/50GB "overage fees" on my 1.2 TB/mo allowed data transfer. And my speed has not increased at all, still 80/5. Only now I pay $106/mo (w/modem rental). You could argue internet is not essential to live like food. It really isn't. But it sure is hard to live without.
- tzs 3y ago
  > Now I'm repeatedly paying $10/50GB "overage fees" on my 1.2 TB/mo allowed data transfer. And my speed has not increased at all, still 80/5. Only now I pay $106/mo (w/modem rental). If you aren't using your own modem it is usually worth adding unlimited data if you are repeatedly going over your cap. It's normally $30/month, but if you rent their modem it is only $10/month more to add unlimited [1]. [1] https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/xfi-complete https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/xfi-complete
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    I can't seem to figure out the angle? Whats the scam they are running? There is always a scam. Is the modem collecting data? Are they hoping you'll use their streaming service and then gouge you later once you are addicted? It can't just be that they give you unlimited bandwidth just to get you to pay a bit more for their modem. They could make so much more money by just charging for the 50GB like what OP pays.
    - FireBeyond 3y ago
      Their modem is also a (semi-) public hotspot for other Xfinity customers (the "xfinitywifi" SSID, that they've made something of a "mesh-ish" network). It's separated out, I believe by VLAN at least. But yeah, the incentive is "use our modem so we can increase that network footprint" (and it's not the case any more or actually probably more on the Business side, but it used to be that even with their modem, you could opt out of providing the hotspot network, but if you did so, you were unable to use the hotspot network).
rcornea 3y ago
OP's link redirects me straight to google.com, possible request overload i found the same title at Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging-spending-economy-999e81e2f869a0151e2ee6bbb63370af https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging...
- metaphor 3y ago
  The AP source is the original; recommend updating submission to this since it properly links to some critical cites that the original submission omits for some reason, e.g. > And in a March 2023 research paper, the economist Isabella Weber at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, referred to it as “seller’s inflation.” ...which links to this absolute must read paper[1]. [1] https://scholarworks.umass.edu/econ_workingpaper/343/ https://scholarworks.umass.edu/econ_workingpaper/343/
Aurornis 3y ago
I’m really fascinated with the way journalists are trying to turn the most basic supply and demand situation into “fighting back”. > In grocery stores, they’re shifting away from name brands to store-brand items, switching to discount stores or simply buying fewer items like snacks or gourmet foods. Like everything must be a war between two sides. It can’t simply be the most basic economic concept at work. On the other hand, I’m equally surprised at how few people seem to understand supply and demand has influence on prices. I watched as some family members complained loudly about how concert prices were outrageous and unaffordable for the average person like them, then went right on ahead and then bought the tickets they wanted anyway. They didn’t understand that people’s willingness to pay uncomfortably high prices was the entire reason tickets were so expensive. I watched the same thing happen at the grocery store earlier where a couple picked up a package of steaks, lamented that it was going to cost them X hours of work, and then threw them in the basket anyway. It’s like large parts of the population are on purchasing autopilot and the price barely matters. I think it speaks volumes to how high our standard of living has been if we think that it’s newsworthy that some people are switching to store-brand foods or buying fewer gourmet food items (quoted from the article above). Of course, the people suffering the most are the ones who have had to buy store brand foods and avoid gourmet luxuries long before inflation kicked in.
- duxup 3y ago
  I generally agree with your statement, but I'll add that "Like everything must be a war between two sides." people seem to love that concept too. If they're not identifying with what they buy, it's with what they don't buy and so on. It's a bummer because I want to know about what people enjoy, like, not what they hate or dislike. So often it is the latter. I somewhat blame social media as outrage and anger gets more engagement than anything else it seems and folks seem conditioned to express that more often than something ... nicer.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - Lammy 3y ago
    A lot of people probably don't even realize they're doing it. This stuff is drilled into our heads from the time of our very earliest memories. Red versus blue, the farthest two things can be apart from each other while still being the same sense to us (visible light). When you're a kid it's blue toy aisle versus pink toy aisle. SEGA (blue logo / mascot) — or I guess Playstation these days — versus Nintendo (red logo / mascot). Coke versus Pepsi. As we reach adulthood we're primed for duality in a way that makes us think we must choose one way or the other when presented some choice we didn't even ask for. Do I shop at Walmart, or Target? Do I vote Democrat, or Republican? Do I watch CNN, or Fox? Do I use iPhone, or Android? Do I take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill? By the time one has been coerced into the decision they've already lost. The only winning move is not to play :)
walterbell 3y ago
Grocery store greedflation could be seen as collective producer discovery of demand curves, by dramatically spiking list prices and then slowly lowering them to find a new equilibrium above the previous stable price. See grocery stores where 30% price increases in perishable goods lead to items sitting on the shelf until near expiry, then going "on sale" close to the original price. Over time, higher list prices are slowly reduced, in search of an optimal price to maximize revenue. This manipulation only works when there are no defectors in the pricing cartel, otherwise non-gouging producers happily accept new customers and market share that may never return to producers enamored with algorithmic discovery of price-vs-demand curves. What software is being used for revenue management of perishable food products? Are the algorithms similar to the software used to manage sales of perishable airline seats and "unbundling" of related benefits like seating and baggage? In a cyberpunk novel, consumers would wield OSS price discovery.
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  People have built food price trackers to help monitor inflation. [0] 0: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275 https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275
  - walterbell 3y ago
    Thanks for that fantastic analysis of Austrian grocery stores exploring demand curves via both pricing and sizing. It should be possible to adapt the OSS code to North American grocery supply chains, https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  > Grocery store greedflation could be seen as collective producer discovery of demand curves, by dramatically spiking list prices and then slowly lowering them to find a new equilibrium above the previous stable price. Yet the profit margins of the biggest grocery stores (Walmart/Kroger/Costco/Albertsons/etc) remain at 2%-3%, as they always have. So there is no “greed”, just higher expenses, or there is massive fraud in the US’s financial sector. Edit: to reply to below comment due to posting limit. Kraft profit margin (11%, which was ~10% 15 years ago): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KHC/kraft-heinz/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KHC/kraft-heinz/pr... ADM (4.3%, which was ~3% for years before): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADM/archer-daniels-midland/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADM/archer-daniels... Bunge (3.77%, not increased compared to history): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BG/bunge-global-sa/net-profit-margin https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BG/bunge-global-sa... The point is, complaining about greed in food businesses when they are historically low profit margin businesses, and still are for the most part (search Tyson/pilgrim/Hormel for meat, and other categories for similar profit margin trends) does not make much sense to me. These are high labor, high liability, and low ability to scale businesses. It’s mostly their costs rising due to increased labor prices that causes price increases, and one you would expect with less and less poorer working age people in the world at the very bottom end. I would reserve the term “greed” for software businesses with infinite scalability that not only deliver 20%+ profit margins year after year, but growth on top of that.
xnx 3y ago
Consumers readily paid the increased prices for meals outside the home and sticking with brand names when they could've bought store brand. I'm glad people are finally wising up.
- Simulacra 3y ago
  Especially with food delivery apps. If someone is willing to spend $35 to have a big Mac delivered, how much would they be willing to spend on the big Mac itself?
geor9e 3y ago
Sometimes I wonder if Kroger Corporate saw the inflation headlines and said "nows our chance to milk our customers, without them blaming us, they'll blame Biden". I live between the Fillmore Safeway and the Nob Hill Trader Joes and the price difference is almost 2x. Cage free eggs are $9 vs $3.50, Block of cheese is $8 vs $3.50. Pound of hamburger is $13 vs $5. Something fishy is going on.
- thwyforpriv824 3y ago
  This is what my company did. I was in several Pricing meetings. “Competitors have increased 12% on these key items. We suggest to increase our prices 9%. Everyone good ? Great”. Major increases done on simply competitor action no research on the customer
WirelessGigabit 3y ago
I've actually increased my spending more than just the inflation / rising costs. The current state of food processing allows for way too much adulteration, even in the simple foods. Even yesterday I discovered that there is high quality pasta and low quality. The high quality pasta is made with seminola wheat. And on the lower quality one you get wha it's called "durum wheat (seminola)". Same name, but different processing. Th difference in quality is staggering.
fullshark 3y ago
This article seems to have no actual evidence for its premise outside random quotes from a few consumers. Is there evidence in name brands' quarterly reports?
wepple 3y ago
I started scrolling that article to read, and not far into it, 100% of my (mobile) screen was ads. I’m not interested enough in what the article is trying to tell me to put up with that.
- fragmede 3y ago
  > Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - fuzzfactor 3y ago
    >tangential annoyances Timely reminder, when ads take up the whole screen, or anything like that at all, they are not tangential.
FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
What I've seen, is people stop shopping at the nearby supermarket and start shopping at Aldi instead. This only works because Aldi (unlike all the American companies) is actually competing on price. The price difference is very significant.
firebaze 3y ago
Here in germany, there is a company producing milk, which expects 1.60€ per liter of milk. Regional, but non-"bio"¹. On the other hand, there is a no-name brand, which delivers "bio" milk¹, for 1.05€ per liter. During the high-inflation period, the regional "non-bio" milk was significantly less stocked than the "bio" milk. This has turned around by now, the "non-bio" milk is quite obviously hard to sell (i.e. tags with "30% off due to expiry date" on it), while the "bio" milk is out of stock. ¹ "bio" is regulated quite strictly, cows must have quite a few m² to roam around freely in the open, amongst others

67 points by pg_1234 3y ago

That headline is a weirdly empowering framing considering the article is closer to "people can't afford the things they bought 4 years ago."

readthenotes1 3y ago
At least the 20% inflation rate is underestimated
- quxbar 3y ago
  Economists like Paul Krugman are using a SURVEY of people asking them what they spent (for a NON FIXED basket of goods). Let's say that you used to eat 10 units of grains ($1 each) and 5 units of beef ($5 each), for total spending of $35. Let's now say that prices doubled (grains $2, beef $10). You can't afford $70, so you adjust your consumption patterns and replace 2 units of beef with 2 units of grain (cutting your beef consumption in half). We have now replicated the graph that Krugman so proudly showed off. "Food at home" prices are "only" up ~25%. Paraphrased and copy-pasted from here: https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1761782081351196814 https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1761782081351196814
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - gruez 3y ago
    > Economists like Paul Krugman are using a SURVEY of people asking them what they spent (for a NON FIXED basket of goods). 1. What survey are you talking about? It's certainly not mentioned in the OP, and I don't have a twitter account so I can't see the prior tweets. 2. It feels incredibly suspect to paint "economists" as using this particular methodology, when "inflation" is usually synonymous with "CPI", and that uses a fixed basket. In fact your linked tweet even admits this.
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  I don’t know what you’re downvoted. I have a curated list of recipes I have been cycling through over the past 6 or 7 years. They’re things I like to cook and the family likes to eat. Two years ago we consistently spent about $110 per week on groceries. We are now consistently spending about $140 per week.
  - gruez 3y ago
    Sure, you might think you're buying the same thing, but are you really? I can imagine endless reasons that would cause your grocery expenditures to silently increase without you being actively aware of it. For instance, maybe you switched to a more upscale brand and/or variety (eg. free range eggs), or your family's appetite increased (ie. puberty). Without detailed records it's hard to take such anecdotes at face value.
    - fuzzfactor 3y ago
      >Without detailed records it's hard to take such anecdotes at face value. Well it's pretty easy for millions of people to notice when it's the face value of their currency which has rapidly lost quite a bit of meaning. When you do the math, it's a little too late now, the currency has lost more face value than the "anecdotes". It doesn't even need to be at this scale, there are many situations where the data is so overwhelming that even non-recordkeeping below-average observers can build a more accurate picture than some twice-removed lesser mathematicians looking only at kilos of numerals. And that's when the economists have a truly neutral agenda. Also keep in mind, sometimes the most valuable data is never recorded but it's still data. Sometimes the most accurate data is recorded but it's so sensitive that it's not the least bit available, so might as well not have been recorded anyway. Edit: not my downvote, I understand where you're coming from.
      - gruez 3y ago
        >Well it's pretty easy for millions of people to notice when it's the face value of their currency which has rapidly lost quite a bit of meaning. For much of the 2000s and 2010s, people thought crime was on the way up, despite statistics that say otherwise. Clearly "millions of people" noticing a phenomena isn't a reliable indicator of it actually happening, which is why we have statistics agencies rather than going off vibes. >It doesn't even need to be at this scale, there are many situations where the data is so overwhelming that even non-recordkeeping below-average observers can build a more accurate picture than some twice-removed lesser mathematicians looking only at kilos of numerals. Examples of those "situations"?
geor9e 3y ago
I say cereal, you say dinner! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Dw1bjRxY0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Dw1bjRxY0
- krackers 3y ago
  I'm always amazed that what's effectively a dessert is allowed to be marketed and sold as a breakfast food.
  - lotsoweiners 3y ago
    Besides eggs, meat, potatoes pretty much all breakfast foods could be considered deserts. Pancakes, French toast, waffles, donuts, crepes, all sorts of berries and syrups, etc. I couldn’t fathom the idea of eating eggs or potatoes as a child so I don’t think I had a savory breakfast until I was in my mid twenties.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      Maybe prepared foods sold in America that comes in boxes. Otherwise, there is fruit (not juice), yogurt, vegetables, cheeses, whole grain bread, avocados, milk, soy milk, lentils, nuts, oatmeal etc. > Pancakes, French toast, waffles, donuts, crepes, I couldn’t fathom giving any of these to my kids on a regular basis (nor did I get them). The food traditions my parents came from was
  - FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
    Kellogg was a nutcase whose effect on US culture was much larger than people realize.

costanzaDynasty 3y ago

Almost everything that is advertised is something you don’t need. Whether it’s media, or food or something else, never push the consumer to the point that they realize they don’t need you. Pigs eat, hogs get slaughtered.

fuzzfactor 3y ago
A corollary is where a large bulk of ads are for products that are completely economically inadvisable for consumption on average citizens' incomes. So much is geared toward uber-consumers who have way more funds that can be considered disposable.

superkuh 3y ago

> Most consumers have now long since spent the savings they built up during the pandemic. Is this supposed to be comedy? Most people did not become more well off during the early years of the pandemic. I wish we could exercise the same choice (branded vs generic) in the ISP utility we chose to pay for. For me it's either 56k or Comcast cable. I'm on the same comcast plan as I signed up for in 2012 (80/5 for $78/mo total with modem rental then) and it's not only gone up in price by over 1/3 but the service has decreased in quality too. When I signed up I had unlimited data transfer. Now I'm repeatedly paying $10/50GB "overage fees" on my 1.2 TB/mo allowed data transfer. And my speed has not increased at all, still 80/5. Only now I pay $106/mo (w/modem rental). You could argue internet is not essential to live like food. It really isn't. But it sure is hard to live without.

tzs 3y ago
> Now I'm repeatedly paying $10/50GB "overage fees" on my 1.2 TB/mo allowed data transfer. And my speed has not increased at all, still 80/5. Only now I pay $106/mo (w/modem rental). If you aren't using your own modem it is usually worth adding unlimited data if you are repeatedly going over your cap. It's normally $30/month, but if you rent their modem it is only $10/month more to add unlimited [1]. [1] https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/xfi-complete https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/xfi-complete
- nebula8804 3y ago
  I can't seem to figure out the angle? Whats the scam they are running? There is always a scam. Is the modem collecting data? Are they hoping you'll use their streaming service and then gouge you later once you are addicted? It can't just be that they give you unlimited bandwidth just to get you to pay a bit more for their modem. They could make so much more money by just charging for the 50GB like what OP pays.
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    Their modem is also a (semi-) public hotspot for other Xfinity customers (the "xfinitywifi" SSID, that they've made something of a "mesh-ish" network). It's separated out, I believe by VLAN at least. But yeah, the incentive is "use our modem so we can increase that network footprint" (and it's not the case any more or actually probably more on the Business side, but it used to be that even with their modem, you could opt out of providing the hotspot network, but if you did so, you were unable to use the hotspot network).

rcornea 3y ago

OP's link redirects me straight to google.com, possible request overload i found the same title at Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging-spending-economy-999e81e2f869a0151e2ee6bbb63370af https://apnews.com/article/inflation-consumers-price-gouging...

metaphor 3y ago
The AP source is the original; recommend updating submission to this since it properly links to some critical cites that the original submission omits for some reason, e.g. > And in a March 2023 research paper, the economist Isabella Weber at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, referred to it as “seller’s inflation.” ...which links to this absolute must read paper[1]. [1] https://scholarworks.umass.edu/econ_workingpaper/343/ https://scholarworks.umass.edu/econ_workingpaper/343/

Aurornis 3y ago

I’m really fascinated with the way journalists are trying to turn the most basic supply and demand situation into “fighting back”. > In grocery stores, they’re shifting away from name brands to store-brand items, switching to discount stores or simply buying fewer items like snacks or gourmet foods. Like everything must be a war between two sides. It can’t simply be the most basic economic concept at work. On the other hand, I’m equally surprised at how few people seem to understand supply and demand has influence on prices. I watched as some family members complained loudly about how concert prices were outrageous and unaffordable for the average person like them, then went right on ahead and then bought the tickets they wanted anyway. They didn’t understand that people’s willingness to pay uncomfortably high prices was the entire reason tickets were so expensive. I watched the same thing happen at the grocery store earlier where a couple picked up a package of steaks, lamented that it was going to cost them X hours of work, and then threw them in the basket anyway. It’s like large parts of the population are on purchasing autopilot and the price barely matters. I think it speaks volumes to how high our standard of living has been if we think that it’s newsworthy that some people are switching to store-brand foods or buying fewer gourmet food items (quoted from the article above). Of course, the people suffering the most are the ones who have had to buy store brand foods and avoid gourmet luxuries long before inflation kicked in.

duxup 3y ago
I generally agree with your statement, but I'll add that "Like everything must be a war between two sides." people seem to love that concept too. If they're not identifying with what they buy, it's with what they don't buy and so on. It's a bummer because I want to know about what people enjoy, like, not what they hate or dislike. So often it is the latter. I somewhat blame social media as outrage and anger gets more engagement than anything else it seems and folks seem conditioned to express that more often than something ... nicer.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Lammy 3y ago
  A lot of people probably don't even realize they're doing it. This stuff is drilled into our heads from the time of our very earliest memories. Red versus blue, the farthest two things can be apart from each other while still being the same sense to us (visible light). When you're a kid it's blue toy aisle versus pink toy aisle. SEGA (blue logo / mascot) — or I guess Playstation these days — versus Nintendo (red logo / mascot). Coke versus Pepsi. As we reach adulthood we're primed for duality in a way that makes us think we must choose one way or the other when presented some choice we didn't even ask for. Do I shop at Walmart, or Target? Do I vote Democrat, or Republican? Do I watch CNN, or Fox? Do I use iPhone, or Android? Do I take the Blue Pill, or the Red Pill? By the time one has been coerced into the decision they've already lost. The only winning move is not to play :)

walterbell 3y ago

Grocery store greedflation could be seen as collective producer discovery of demand curves, by dramatically spiking list prices and then slowly lowering them to find a new equilibrium above the previous stable price. See grocery stores where 30% price increases in perishable goods lead to items sitting on the shelf until near expiry, then going "on sale" close to the original price. Over time, higher list prices are slowly reduced, in search of an optimal price to maximize revenue. This manipulation only works when there are no defectors in the pricing cartel, otherwise non-gouging producers happily accept new customers and market share that may never return to producers enamored with algorithmic discovery of price-vs-demand curves. What software is being used for revenue management of perishable food products? Are the algorithms similar to the software used to manage sales of perishable airline seats and "unbundling" of related benefits like seating and baggage? In a cyberpunk novel, consumers would wield OSS price discovery.

datadrivenangel 3y ago
People have built food price trackers to help monitor inflation. [0] 0: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275 https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275
- walterbell 3y ago
  Thanks for that fantastic analysis of Austrian grocery stores exploring demand curves via both pricing and sizing. It should be possible to adapt the OSS code to North American grocery supply chains, https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise https://github.com/badlogic/heissepreise
lotsofpulp 3y ago
> Grocery store greedflation could be seen as collective producer discovery of demand curves, by dramatically spiking list prices and then slowly lowering them to find a new equilibrium above the previous stable price. Yet the profit margins of the biggest grocery stores (Walmart/Kroger/Costco/Albertsons/etc) remain at 2%-3%, as they always have. So there is no “greed”, just higher expenses, or there is massive fraud in the US’s financial sector. Edit: to reply to below comment due to posting limit. Kraft profit margin (11%, which was ~10% 15 years ago): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KHC/kraft-heinz/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KHC/kraft-heinz/pr... ADM (4.3%, which was ~3% for years before): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADM/archer-daniels-midland/profit-margins https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADM/archer-daniels... Bunge (3.77%, not increased compared to history): https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BG/bunge-global-sa/net-profit-margin https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BG/bunge-global-sa... The point is, complaining about greed in food businesses when they are historically low profit margin businesses, and still are for the most part (search Tyson/pilgrim/Hormel for meat, and other categories for similar profit margin trends) does not make much sense to me. These are high labor, high liability, and low ability to scale businesses. It’s mostly their costs rising due to increased labor prices that causes price increases, and one you would expect with less and less poorer working age people in the world at the very bottom end. I would reserve the term “greed” for software businesses with infinite scalability that not only deliver 20%+ profit margins year after year, but growth on top of that.

xnx 3y ago

Consumers readily paid the increased prices for meals outside the home and sticking with brand names when they could've bought store brand. I'm glad people are finally wising up.

Simulacra 3y ago
Especially with food delivery apps. If someone is willing to spend $35 to have a big Mac delivered, how much would they be willing to spend on the big Mac itself?

geor9e 3y ago

Sometimes I wonder if Kroger Corporate saw the inflation headlines and said "nows our chance to milk our customers, without them blaming us, they'll blame Biden". I live between the Fillmore Safeway and the Nob Hill Trader Joes and the price difference is almost 2x. Cage free eggs are $9 vs $3.50, Block of cheese is $8 vs $3.50. Pound of hamburger is $13 vs $5. Something fishy is going on.

thwyforpriv824 3y ago
This is what my company did. I was in several Pricing meetings. “Competitors have increased 12% on these key items. We suggest to increase our prices 9%. Everyone good ? Great”. Major increases done on simply competitor action no research on the customer

WirelessGigabit 3y ago

I've actually increased my spending more than just the inflation / rising costs. The current state of food processing allows for way too much adulteration, even in the simple foods. Even yesterday I discovered that there is high quality pasta and low quality. The high quality pasta is made with seminola wheat. And on the lower quality one you get wha it's called "durum wheat (seminola)". Same name, but different processing. Th difference in quality is staggering.

fullshark 3y ago

This article seems to have no actual evidence for its premise outside random quotes from a few consumers. Is there evidence in name brands' quarterly reports?

wepple 3y ago

I started scrolling that article to read, and not far into it, 100% of my (mobile) screen was ads. I’m not interested enough in what the article is trying to tell me to put up with that.

fragmede 3y ago
> Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  >tangential annoyances Timely reminder, when ads take up the whole screen, or anything like that at all, they are not tangential.

FooBarBizBazz 3y ago

What I've seen, is people stop shopping at the nearby supermarket and start shopping at Aldi instead. This only works because Aldi (unlike all the American companies) is actually competing on price. The price difference is very significant.

firebaze 3y ago

Here in germany, there is a company producing milk, which expects 1.60€ per liter of milk. Regional, but non-"bio"¹. On the other hand, there is a no-name brand, which delivers "bio" milk¹, for 1.05€ per liter. During the high-inflation period, the regional "non-bio" milk was significantly less stocked than the "bio" milk. This has turned around by now, the "non-bio" milk is quite obviously hard to sell (i.e. tags with "30% off due to expiry date" on it), while the "bio" milk is out of stock. ¹ "bio" is regulated quite strictly, cows must have quite a few m² to roam around freely in the open, amongst others