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See also: Grocery stores. Prices went up "due to COVID". Prices will never come down again. (I've no doubt the supply chain was a mess for a hot minute, but ye

See also: Grocery stores. Prices went up "due to COVID". Prices will never come down again. (I've no doubt the supply chain was a mess for a hot minute, but years later?)

asah 8mo ago
so that's not true - I worked for years in the grocery business and prices DO come down and in fact, I've seen evidence all over the NYC market of prices falling recently. examples include eggs for $2.99 in some places (!), and other competitive categories like unbranded meat and cheese, pasta, and more. prepared foods seem to be slower, I'm assuming because labor costs continue to rise.
- loloquwowndueo 8mo ago
  You worked for years in the grocery business but all you have is anecdata? I also have anecdata, my grocery bill has not come down from pandemic times. Things like eggs are definitely more expensive.
  - tartoran 8mo ago
    Prices never came back to pre-pandemic levels, that is absolutely correct. But if you remember that prices ballooned last year when Trump just took office, eggs were getting more and more expensive, etc and I gotta say prices came down a bit after that, but always never to previous levels.
- ceejayoz 8mo ago
  So that's not true. A few months ago: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5539547/grocery-prices-tariffs-food-inflation https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5539547/grocery-prices-... > What's the item? Groceries > How has the price changed since before the pandemic? > Up 29% since February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  - cfiggers 8mo ago
    "That's not true" is too strong a statement on your part. The statistic you cite does not necessarily contradict what the parent comment is saying. "Up 29% since February 2020" is an absolute change since a specific point. The parent comment is saying prices have "come down" i.e. since their peak. It can still be up overall, so long as it's not up as high as it was at one point. EDIT: To be clear, the parent comment might still be wrong, or might be right only within a biased sample (i.e. their own experience). I'm only making the point that the statistic you're referencing does not outright disprove what they're saying. Prices can be up since six years ago AND down since two years ago (random time periods chosen for illustration only).
    - ceejayoz 8mo ago
      I'm gonna value national stats over unsourced anecdotal assertions. At no point has the US entered deflation so far this millennium.
      - DennisP 8mo ago
        The US did have deflation in the fourth quarter of 2008: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation Of course this is talking about the overall price level. The prices in specific sectors can fluctuate independently of that. Food and energy in particular are excluded from core inflation because they're especially volatile.
OscarCunningham 8mo ago
This is a deliberate choice by Congress to give the Fed a mandate to target 2% inflation. In particular Congress hasn't given them any instruction to try to make up for mistakes. If inflation overshoots in one year then they don't try to undershoot in the next year. They just keep trying to hit 2% inflation. So if retailers tried to lower prices to pre-COVID levels then they would fail. The Fed would see the falling prices and cut rates until 2% inflation was achieved.
- adrianN 8mo ago
  At least where I live I have the feeling that groceries got expensive faster than 2% per year for a number of years now.
kjshsh123 8mo ago
Wages also changed since then. During COVID food outpaced wages. Since then, wages have outpaced food. Maybe not for you but on average. Just like food prices didn't just jump one day, they won't just drop one day. We target 2% inflation, so they'll still go up, but slower. Going up slower than wages means better affordability.
marcosdumay 8mo ago
Prices went up because of this: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL
- jollyllama 8mo ago
  What's your explanation for the mechanism? Because my understanding is that the M1 spike was largely an accounting rule change [0], not a "money printer go brr." [0] https://collabfund.com/blog/the-fed-isnt-printing-as-much-money-as-you-think/ https://collabfund.com/blog/the-fed-isnt-printing-as-much-mo...
  - marcosdumay 8mo ago
    As your link says, the spike was the result of a change in policy, not an accounting rule change. Effectively, there is very little difference between printing the money or just making some extra money available for use. The money printer was also going brr. And that is probably the cause for some of the inflation.

See also: Grocery stores. Prices went up "due to COVID". Prices will never come down again. (I've no doubt the supply chain was a mess for a hot minute, but years later?)

asah 8mo ago

so that's not true - I worked for years in the grocery business and prices DO come down and in fact, I've seen evidence all over the NYC market of prices falling recently. examples include eggs for $2.99 in some places (!), and other competitive categories like unbranded meat and cheese, pasta, and more. prepared foods seem to be slower, I'm assuming because labor costs continue to rise.

loloquwowndueo 8mo ago
You worked for years in the grocery business but all you have is anecdata? I also have anecdata, my grocery bill has not come down from pandemic times. Things like eggs are definitely more expensive.
- tartoran 8mo ago
  Prices never came back to pre-pandemic levels, that is absolutely correct. But if you remember that prices ballooned last year when Trump just took office, eggs were getting more and more expensive, etc and I gotta say prices came down a bit after that, but always never to previous levels.
ceejayoz 8mo ago
So that's not true. A few months ago: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5539547/grocery-prices-tariffs-food-inflation https://www.npr.org/2025/09/19/nx-s1-5539547/grocery-prices-... > What's the item? Groceries > How has the price changed since before the pandemic? > Up 29% since February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- cfiggers 8mo ago
  "That's not true" is too strong a statement on your part. The statistic you cite does not necessarily contradict what the parent comment is saying. "Up 29% since February 2020" is an absolute change since a specific point. The parent comment is saying prices have "come down" i.e. since their peak. It can still be up overall, so long as it's not up as high as it was at one point. EDIT: To be clear, the parent comment might still be wrong, or might be right only within a biased sample (i.e. their own experience). I'm only making the point that the statistic you're referencing does not outright disprove what they're saying. Prices can be up since six years ago AND down since two years ago (random time periods chosen for illustration only).
  - ceejayoz 8mo ago
    I'm gonna value national stats over unsourced anecdotal assertions. At no point has the US entered deflation so far this millennium.
    - DennisP 8mo ago
      The US did have deflation in the fourth quarter of 2008: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation Of course this is talking about the overall price level. The prices in specific sectors can fluctuate independently of that. Food and energy in particular are excluded from core inflation because they're especially volatile.

OscarCunningham 8mo ago

This is a deliberate choice by Congress to give the Fed a mandate to target 2% inflation. In particular Congress hasn't given them any instruction to try to make up for mistakes. If inflation overshoots in one year then they don't try to undershoot in the next year. They just keep trying to hit 2% inflation. So if retailers tried to lower prices to pre-COVID levels then they would fail. The Fed would see the falling prices and cut rates until 2% inflation was achieved.

adrianN 8mo ago
At least where I live I have the feeling that groceries got expensive faster than 2% per year for a number of years now.

kjshsh123 8mo ago

Wages also changed since then. During COVID food outpaced wages. Since then, wages have outpaced food. Maybe not for you but on average. Just like food prices didn't just jump one day, they won't just drop one day. We target 2% inflation, so they'll still go up, but slower. Going up slower than wages means better affordability.

marcosdumay 8mo ago

Prices went up because of this: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL

jollyllama 8mo ago
What's your explanation for the mechanism? Because my understanding is that the M1 spike was largely an accounting rule change [0], not a "money printer go brr." [0] https://collabfund.com/blog/the-fed-isnt-printing-as-much-money-as-you-think/ https://collabfund.com/blog/the-fed-isnt-printing-as-much-mo...
- marcosdumay 8mo ago
  As your link says, the spike was the result of a change in policy, not an accounting rule change. Effectively, there is very little difference between printing the money or just making some extra money available for use. The money printer was also going brr. And that is probably the cause for some of the inflation.