Community Chat

[CelticCrafter]

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@qualitygal wrote:

After the lasI round of empty shelves, if  I see it on the shelf, and know it will be used in a timely manner, I get it.  I no longer trust it to be there on my next visit.  Lesson learned.

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This is what we do.

[Porcelain]

If you live in a low vaccination zone like I do, this is probably a good time to stock up. There are going to be problems again in the Fall when Covid infections spike again.

On the other hand, if you live in a high vax zone, you can help out by not stocking up too much, since your area probably won't have as many problems. That will leave more supply to circulate.

[Drythe]

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@Foxxee wrote:

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@Drythe wrote:

@Foxxee 

Your source is partially cut off, could you please re-post?

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@Drythe 

The link doesn't copy entirely.  It still works.  

US supermarkets stockpile up to 20% more supplies as they predict inflation will get even worse | Da...

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@Foxxee 

Thanks, I see it’s the Daily Mail.

[homedecor1]

@decaf 

Youre right I happened to be outside my neighbor asked me if I needed any bottled water she must have 10 full cases stocked up in her garage & she's a single person!!!

She said she shopped for Elsa ...which by the way never came the way the media predicted ...just rained🤦‍♀️

I told her to get ice and put out for lawn guys I certainly don't need it.

[decaf]

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@homedecor1 wrote:

@decaf 

Youre right I happened to be outside my neighbor asked me if I needed any bottled water she must have 10 full cases stocked up in her garage & she's a single person!!!

She said she shopped for Elsa ...which by the way never came the way the media predicted ...just rained🤦‍♀️

I told her to get ice and put out for lawn guys I certainly don't need it.

@homedecor1 That's a nice thought to give the lawn men ice cold water these really hot days

I can definitely understand preparing for a storm but, so many people over purchase, and sometimes, they're among the first ones to complain when the stores are out of stock on certain necessary items 

What really blows my mind  is people who expect they can return cart loads of stuff to the store if the storm  never happens.  The store isn't in business to ' loan'  tons of food/water/batteries, etc. to tens of thousand s of people.  It's all very bizarre. 

[Carmie]

@homedecor1   I really hope your neighbor gets that water out of her garage.  Water sitting in hot places in plastic bottles is not good.  The plastic leaches into the water and  makes the water unsafe to drink and taste awful.

[CalminHeart]

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@Denise in PA wrote:

I work part-time in a supermarket.  The company owns over 260 stores.  I know with certainty that we do not stock pile products.  Biggest reason is storage - the business plan for our chain is all products received must be on the shelves within 2 days, so it is product in/product out in that time period.  It works.

I truly don't understand how any store could have sufficient storage to stock pile food items.

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I worked in a grocery store for a few years after retiring. I don't know where stores would put anything if they stockpiled. Stores want to sell what they have anyway. Perhaps the company's warehouse ordered extra but those are already pretty full with regular orders.

[Cumbercookie13]

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@chessylady wrote:

One way to overcome inflation is to stop wasting food. Too much of the fresh fruits and vegetables we buy go into the trash. If people start hoarding again because of fear, it makes problems worse. I need to reorganize my pantry and plan meals based on what is in my freezer and pantry.

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@chessylady  I've been buying when I can packaged cut up fresh fruit. It may be more expensive, but when you live alone and fruit can go bad quickly because one bag of apples/pears/oranges etc. is too much, I'm actually saving more money because it's much less waste. 

[Lipstickdiva]

So stores are supposedly stockpiling so they can get the items at the lower price but we all know those lower prices won't be passed on to the consumers.  

I have already seen a huge increase in some items in my store.  I was shocked walking past the refrigerated section last week and saw the price of bacon!  

The other thing I saw on the news that is being done by suppliers is they are making packages smaller to keep the price the same.  I'm sure they are hoping some won't notice.  An example given is that a case of Costco brand paper towel now has less sheets per roll.  It is the equivalent of 1 less roll per package. But the price is the same.  How many will notice that?    

[Spurt]

@Foxxee 

This is interesting too....as cost rise, our local TV news just did a story on how food manufactuers are cutting back on what you get in your food packages....items and quantities are shrinking as to what you get for your money to offset costs and rising prices......

"Shrinkflation" is hitting the grocery aisles as companies charge the same amount for less

BY AIMEE PICCHI

Ice cream maker Tillamook said in a recent blog post that a sharp rise in the price of berries and other ingredients left it no choice: It would "reduce the carton size from 56oz to 48oz and keep the price the same" rather than shock shoppers with a sharp price hike. 

Welcome to the post-pandemic grocery aisle, where consumers are increasingly paying the same price for less — a phenomenon known as "shrinkflation." It's not a new trick, as the technique often comes into play during periods of rising inflation or economic downturns, experts say. 

The coronavirus crisis has placed cost pressures on a number of industries and their products due to a range of factors, such as difficulty hiring workers, trucking shortages and price increases for raw materials. On Thursday, the United Nation's FAO Food Price Index said global food prices jumped in May, marking the biggest month-on-month gain since October 2010 and bringing the index to its highest point since September 2011.

"A little less in the box"

The rising price of everything from berries to corn is placing food producers and grocery stores in a bind, pushing them to decide whether to increase the sticker price or to shrink the package and charge the same amount. Because many shoppers tend to base their purchasing decisions on price, rather than examining the weight of the package, some producers and grocers are opting for the latter.

"If you are a manufacturer or retailer, you have a couple of choices — you can keep prices the same, which means you have lower margins. Second, you can run fewer promotions, and that definitely happened in the last year," said Anne-Marie Roerink, the founder of market research firm 210 Analytics. "And the third measure is to keep prices the same but have a little less in the box."

She added, "In times of high inflation, your ribeye will be cut a little thinner, so you are around that price point that a consumer believes is ideal."

Shrinkflation is often more palatable for grocers and manufacturers because they can maintain their margins, which are often thin for grocery stores — about one or two pennies on the dollar. 

Smaller cans for kitty

Tillamook declined to comment, but the company said in its blog post that it decided to shrink its packaging "so that the affordable cost per carton of ice cream did not change for our fans." The dairy co-op noted that its consumer research found that grocery shoppers are focused on two things — price and brand — prompting the decision to shrink the carton.

At a Reddit forum on shrinkflation, people have documented shrinking packaging for everything from potting soil to facial tissues. Pet owners have posted their objections to smaller cans of pet food from Royal Canin, which The Washington Post noted has shrunk some cans to 5.1 ounces from 5.9 ounces. 

"You changed the name, label and reduced size — not the price — did you think consumers wouldn't notice!!" one consumer wrote on the Royal Canin website earlier this year.

Costco says it shrunk its paper towel rolls to 140 sheets from 160 sheets to keep more units on shelves and meet demand for the  product, which has risen during the pandemic. Prices for the smaller rolls have shrunk to $14.79 a pack, compared with $16.99 for larger rolls. But rising raw material and labor costs as well as other factors are pushing some manufacturers to charge the same price for shrinking packages, also known as "shrinkflation."AIMEE PICCHI

Other companies are shrinking product sizes simply to keep goods on the shelf. Costco said it changed its paper towel packaging to include fewer sheets per roll due to continuing demand for the product after shortages during the pandemic. That allowed the discount chain to increase the number of units it sells and keep the paper towels in stock.

But Costco said it is keeping the per-sheet price the same, with the smaller rolls selling for $14.79 a pack compared with $16.99 a pack for the bigger rolls. Both packages reflect a cost of 88 cents per 100 sheets. So while Costco shoppers aren't getting as many paper towels per roll as they did before, they also aren't paying as much for them.

"We recognize this change is not ideal and hope to return to the original 160 sheet per roll item as soon as possible," the company said in an emailed statement to CBS MoneyWatch.

Grocery bills 7% to 10% higher since COVID-19

Many Americans may be facing sticker shock at the grocery store, according to Roerink's data. Average prices rose 4% across a range of consumer packaged goods between March 2021 and mid-May 2021, compared with the same period a year ago. Household cleaning products have increased 8% from the year-ago period.

But compared with prices prior to March 2020, before the pandemic shuttered the economy, consumers are paying between 7% to 10% more across the grocery aisles, she added. 

"All throughout the supply chain, everyone is struggling to get labor. And transportation costs have, in some cases, tripled," Roerink said. "We are absolutely going to see more shrinkflation."

This is partly due to an imbalance in supply and demand, with Oxford Economics pointing to the reopening of the U.S. economy as putting new pressure on retailers, restaurants and other businesses. For instance, restaurants — which shut off purchases of meat and other supplies last year when the pandemic shuttered the economy — are now ramping up purchase orders to meet the resurgent demand from consumers. 

That means they're ordering meat and other supplies again, just as a few hundred million American consumers are also in the market for steaks to throw on the summer grill. Costco chief financial officer Richard Galanti said on an earnings call last month that beef prices have risen as much as 20% in the past month, partly due to higher feed and transportation costs as well as "increased demand coming now from institutional needs as restaurants start to reopen."

"Amid the economy's ebullient reopening, demand is rebounding more rapidly than supply, creating bottlenecks and price increases in many sectors," Kathy Bostjancic, chief U.S. financial economist at Oxford Economics wrote in a June 2 research note. 

Inflation is likely to cool later in the year, Bostjancic wrote, as supply and demand regain much of their post-pandemic equilibrium. But until then, consumers may feel the pain at the grocery store — including finding they're paying the same for less.