Restaurants and Inflation

[Michigan11]

If you have went out to eat at any restaurants lately, you may have noticed; a lack of customers, smaller staff, "new menus", higher prices and/or smaller portions, drinks cost more, food choices are geared away from more costly foods, etc....

A pizza chain, has changed the size of their pizzas, the amount of dough, and the ingredients I can tell. This didn't happen at every store at once though, it started months ago, then I just noticed the size of their salads got smaller.


The reason why I post this is because there isn't one thing besides gas, that is actually getting cheaper that I know of or use. Even cigarettes are inching up around here, about .20 cents a pack, in the last couple of months.

One last point, how high are postage rates expected to climb, seeming that they are cutting thousands of jobs due to a lack of profit?....or natural gas for heating this winter is climbing in double digits...

If anyone can point out real examples of deflation, have at it!

 

[LittleLightShining]

I buy VT Coffee Co. coffee. It used to cost $9.99/lb but now it's only $8.99/lb

Other than that I can't say I've seen anything else go down.

 

[newyearsrevolution08]

I swear taco bell changed their bean burritos.

It happened a few months ago I think. I used to love them and now they taste completely different.

The sauce, the beans the secret ingredients who knows.

Other than that, not really seeing too much change locally.

 

[Michigan11]

I swear taco bell changed their bean burritos.

It happened a few months ago I think. I used to love them and now they taste completely different.

The sauce, the beans the secret ingredients who knows.

Other than that, not really seeing too much change locally.

LOL! Maybe because it's damn early for a Sunday, that cracked me up.

 

[Michigan11]

I buy VT Coffee Co. coffee. It used to cost $9.99/lb but now it's only $8.99/lb

Other than that I can't say I've seen anything else go down.

Okay good one, will keep an eye on coffee prices around and see if that is happening elsewhere.

 

[DFF]

I got an ice cream cone at McDonald's the other day for the first time in months - it was at least 25% smaller than the previous time I'd eaten there.

Quizno's subs (at one location) seem a little smaller, too.

 

[Michigan11]

I stocked up on some food back in January and recently went grocery shopping again, and I found by accident:

January 08' paid .59cents for a 6oz can
September 08' paid .96 cents for the new 5oz can (same brand and same store)

That is a 100% increase in a year. Again try and find any examples of deflation, I can't.

 

[gilliganscorner]

//

 

[gilliganscorner]

I swear taco bell changed their bean burritos.

It happened a few months ago I think. I used to love them and now they taste completely different.

The sauce, the beans the secret ingredients who knows.

Other than that, not really seeing too much change locally.

They upped the fluoride as the FDA is worried about too many people learning about how the Fed works discussing it over bean burrito's @ Taco Bell.

What? You didn't get the memo?

 

[lodge939]

The turkey this year was double the price of last years

 

[gilliganscorner]

I've seen the price of frozen organic vegetables go down.

Then I discovered why. Used to be that they were products of US and/or Canada.

Now in very small print: Product of China

Mmmm........melamine....polyethylene glycol. Pass.

Needless to say, we stopped buying it. I actually bumped into the grocery store manager and told him about it and why.

 

[Pete]

I've been observing the cheapening of menus for a long time. When I was a kid, we would routinely have steaks, prime rib, lamb, veal, and fish like halibut, sole, and red snapper. Chicken wings and spare ribs were for poor people, and you'd see wings for 12 cents per pound and ribs for 19 cents. Chicken was relatively expensive compared to now, but that was before Tyson-style factory farms.

I'm expecting that the next food 'crazes' will be hog cheeks, chitterlings, and chicken feet.

 

[moostraks]

Walmart has been messing with marketing the ol roy dog food. Price went through the roof for a fifty pound bag ($17+ and this was east coast wide since we moved from Atlanta to NE Ohio) and then they dropped it to 44 lbs with the same cost per pound. Then dropped the price by $5 and went to a 50lb bag again so they are roughly at the price of 2 years ago.

Walmart is starting to do a slide down on prices here in Ohio. It started about 2 weeks ago. Mostly in the food products area. Looking around and startled by the huge array of mark down tags. If they do it, other stores will follow suit.

 

[Created4]

It takes a while for prices to work its way into the economy, especially the food chain. You will probably see higher prices for a while because a lot of what is on shelves right now (or in restaurants) was produced this summer, when commodities were at an all time high. Remember how quick we went from all time highs in gas just a short time ago to where we are today, where you can fill up for less than $2.00 a gallon now. It takes time to work that into the supply chain. And at the retail level, merchants are reluctant to fluctuate their prices until they see a longer-term trend. They didn't raise their prices, in general, at the same percentage that their input costs when up, because if they had, nobody would have bought their products. So they need to eat some of those costs themselves if they can, and when the input prices drop they will keep their pricing structure higher as long as possible to recover those costs. But if this deflation continues well into 2009, you will begin to see prices drop a lot more also in 2009.

 

[2orb]

I just saw coca cola products in 20 can cases for the same price 24 can cases were a week ago.

 

[danberkeley]

I just saw coca cola products in 20 can cases for the same price 24 can cases were a week ago.

lol

 

[Michigan11]

I've seen the price of frozen organic vegetables go down.

Then I discovered why. Used to be that they were products of US and/or Canada.

Now in very small print: Product of China

Mmmm........melamine....polyethylene glycol. Pass.

Needless to say, we stopped buying it. I actually bumped into the grocery store manager and told him about it and why.

That sounds delicious...not

How sad we are now starting to import our foods.

 

[Michigan11]

Walmart has been messing with marketing the ol roy dog food. Price went through the roof for a fifty pound bag ($17+ and this was east coast wide since we moved from Atlanta to NE Ohio) and then they dropped it to 44 lbs with the same cost per pound. Then dropped the price by $5 and went to a 50lb bag again so they are roughly at the price of 2 years ago.

Walmart is starting to do a slide down on prices here in Ohio. It started about 2 weeks ago. Mostly in the food products area. Looking around and startled by the huge array of mark down tags. If they do it, other stores will follow suit.

Is this dog food now being made in China?

 

[Michigan11]

I just saw coca cola products in 20 can cases for the same price 24 can cases were a week ago.

That is pretty damn funny. Again rising prices. No deflation to be seen.

 

[Johnnybags]

Tuna can now 5 ounces vs six

last time, same brand. Barely makes 1 decent sandwich. Toilet paper roll has a gigantic hole in the middle now and less sheets. Yet commodities are dropping like a rock? They must have locked in high priced contracts for supplies, seems a good time to start a food business. Anyone wanna start a canned soup business to put the fat guys outta business?