inflation what's it about

[disneysteve]

In the "smaller portions, same prices" department:

The largest Burger King franchisee said they are shrinking their chicken nuggets meal from 10 nuggets to 8. Dominos recently announced the same thing with their wings, going from 10 to 8. They blame inflation, obviously, and say this allows them to keep the price the same.

Is that what people actually want, though? I would much rather pay a little more and get the same amount of food. Whether you typically eat a whole order yourself or split it with someone else, you now have 20% less food. You haven't really saved any money as you've paid the same amount as before and gotten less. I'd like my 10-piece wings to still come with 10 pieces. Just charge me whatever amount you need to charge me for that to happen.

[jenn_jenn]

In the "smaller portions, same prices" department:

The largest Burger King franchisee said they are shrinking their chicken nuggets meal from 10 nuggets to 8. Dominos recently announced the same thing with their wings, going from 10 to 8. They blame inflation, obviously, and say this allows them to keep the price the same.

Is that what people actually want, though? I would much rather pay a little more and get the same amount of food. Whether you typically eat a whole order yourself or split it with someone else, you now have 20% less food. You haven't really saved any money as you've paid the same amount as before and gotten less. I'd like my 10-piece wings to still come with 10 pieces. Just charge me whatever amount you need to charge me for that to happen.

I may be an outlier but I wouldn’t mind fast food places / restaurants reducing portion size as a way to combat higher prices. I find their portions to be way too big and waste more than I’d care to admit because of it. Some things just don’t save well.

However, I don’t like when this happens at the grocery store for the reasons mentioned above re: recipes! Totally throws me off.

[disneysteve]

I may be an outlier but I wouldn’t mind fast food places / restaurants reducing portion size as a way to combat higher prices. I find their portions to be way too big and waste more than I’d care to admit because of it.

I agree with that to some extent. Not everything is good for leftovers, and sometimes we're not going home so taking the extra isn't an option, like when we're on vacation. That does lead to a lot of waste.

In the case of something like nuggets or wings, though, it would be simple enough for them to just have different sizes: 6, 8, 10, etc. Let me order and pay for the number I'd actually like and can use.

[jenn_jenn]

I agree with that to some extent. Not everything is good for leftovers, and sometimes we're not going home so taking the extra isn't an option, like when we're on vacation. That does lead to a lot of waste.

In the case of something like nuggets or wings, though, it would be simple enough for them to just have different sizes: 6, 8, 10, etc. Let me order and pay for the number I'd actually like and can use.

Fair point.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Oh i'd also like variety of sizes since when we travel less but at home more. And also I would prefer they would just raise the normal size because when you've been ordering something "normally" and the size changes without telling you it sucks when you realize it's less food than you expected

[QuarterMillionMan]

I live across the street from an Arco gas station and the price jumped .20 cents overnight from $4.59 to $4.79 today. I'm afraid we'll be seeing price hikes like this for at least the near future if not longer term.

[kork13]

I'll admit I'm a little confused by the market dynamics of how the prices of oil/gas spiked dramatically in the immediate days after multiple global nations announced a 60B-bbl release of oil from national reserve supplies. Almost always, such action rapidly drives down such prices. Almost certainly, multiple additional factors must be out-weighing the influence of that release.... But what? My best guess is speculation/fear that nations (including the US) will start banning the import of Russian oil, which would certainly constrict world markets (Russia accounts for 8-10% of global oil supply, 5M bbl/day crude + 3M bbl/day refined petroleum products). But how does 8M/day compare to 60B? It's almost negligible! So I'm confused.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I have no idea either. I'm also curious how long inflation will burn so hot. We've been without substantial inflation for so long but stagnate wage growth I wonder if that's the real cause of the inflation. People's wages are finally going up?

[james.hendrickson]

Guys - just bumping this.

Even though everyone knows about inflation its still impacting on a personal level.

For example boxes of bowtie pasta at Kroger are about 20 percent more expensive than they were last year. Also....they have less pasta in the box than last year also.

The box I had for dinner tonight was totally like a third empty.

[ua_guy]

I think that's called "shrink-flation" Same size box. 20% less pasta!

[james.hendrickson]

I think that's called "shrink-flation" Same size box. 20% less pasta!

Yep - and it was more expensive also.

[kork13]

Even though everyone knows about inflation its still impacting on a personal level.

For example boxes of bowtie pasta at Kroger are about 20 percent more expensive than they were last year. Also....they have less pasta in the box than last year also.

The box I had for dinner tonight was totally like a third empty.

FWIW, they fill most (almost all) bagged/boxed products by weight. Was it still a 1lb box of pasta (or whatever weight it normally is)? "Some settling may occur" -- besides, filling a box/bag with alot of dead space packed in reduces crush damage to the product. It's the same reason that bags of chips are always almost half-empty.

But, the price increases are undeniable. Though I've been thinking for a while, how much of this might also be pent-up inflationary pressure from the last 15 years of free-wheeling federal debt-spending and economic stimulus actions, while nearly all other inflationary indicators stayed rock-bottom thanks to the Fed's "quantitative easing" and such (a.k.a. meddling?). Inflation has been counter-intuitive for a long time, and maybe we're just finally paying the pied piper.

[ua_guy]

I remember this from last year, and although the article is dated, I believe the situation has gotten worse? And that would explain the very sharp rise in pasta prices and other things which are made with wheat/grain.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-22/even-your-bowl-of-pasta-is-getting-pricier-as-drought-zaps-wheat

[james.hendrickson]

Posting the first three paragraphs of that article - looks like Bloomberg has it a ration on the number of articles you can view before you have to sign up.

-------------------------------

Your Bowl of Pasta Is Getting More Expensive as Drought Zaps Wheat Fields

• Hot, dry weather shrinks output in top exporter Canada
• Durum costs soar, squeezing pasta producers who use the wheat

By Jen Skerritt and Kim Chipman

So much for cheap noodles.

Pasta is poised to become the latest staple consumers are forced to pay more for after drought scorched North American production of durum wheat, the high-protein grain that’s milled into semolina flour for spaghetti. Output of durum in Canada, a top exporter, shrunk by nearly half this year and the U.S. harvest is the smallest in 60 years.

Durum prices in the western Canadian province of Alberta have risen more than 60% since August and are currently trading near the highest since at least 2015, according to data from Farmers Advanced Risk Management Co. in Winnipeg.

“Prices are quite a bit elevated from what they were at the end of June and the fears that everybody had at that point have come to realization,” said Jim Meyer, president of St. Louis-based Italgrani USA, North America’s largest semolina and durum flour miller, and treasurer on the National Pasta Association’s board of directors. “It’s going to be reflected in higher costs at the grocery store.”

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I can't stand it because the recipes are not adjusted to the shrinking sizes. But these companies dont' want to scare us off by charging so much more.