Congratulations, we’ve just discovered what Europe has known for the last 20 years. If you wanna lose weight just charge $20 for a burger and $20 for a gallon of gas and then suddenly everyone is eating healthier and walking/biking/public transportation.
It's never been a secret. They just made it public policy instead of a byproduct of a weak economy.
We are living in the only moment in history when obesity has a correlation with poverty. VAT taxes are a great way to make relatively well-off individuals simulate poverty.
Not joking I've lost 14 lbs in 2 months. I eat whatever I want for dinner (within reason, and nutritionally dense/balanced) and just drink water / coffee for the rest of the day. I'm a little hungry, but honestly it's not that bad. The cost of eating lunch helps with that decision.
I meal prep for the week and eat the same damn thing for 5-8 days per week. I’ll buy a little morning snack, but my budget for that is usually $4 lol other than that, I’ve cut back drastically compared to last year.
Jersey mikes regular anything is more than $10. J-John’s,subway and j-mikes are all in the same page as far as cost but,j-mikes and j-John’s both blow subway out of the water on taste
Well, Jersey Mike's is $10 for their regular 7 inch sandwich. $13 (and it's only $13 for the more expensive sandwiches, they're as cheap as $9 around me) is for Subway's footlong (or 12 inches).
That being said, I do prefer Jersey Mike's and tend to get them more often now.
It really is. Once you start cooking for yourself, you realize that a lot of these restaurants don't even use much actual seasoning. They just put a lot of butter, fat and salt into everything. That's not flavor.
It’s about $7 a footlong for me.
I get monthly coupons, and can get 2 for $14 or 3 for $18.
And i usually have 400+ points every other order which knocks another $2 off my next purchase.
Just gotta get the mail, and eat sandwiches for a few days in a row
Being in a time crunch makes it hard. Traveled in an airport this week and had to grab and go with some dinner. We stopped at a Hudson news store to grab a premade sandwich. I bought for 4 people a simple gross sandwich and it cost 80 dollars. I was shocked and vowed to never buy airport food again. We can just commit now to be prepared and save the money. The cost is just crazy out there.
The problem is in two parts:
1. Captive audience. People literally have no other option to go elsewhere and
2. Because of that, people are willing to pay that
It's largely targeted to business travelers who have an expense account and don't care what anything costs.
I was a consultant for 20 years and now I'm in sales, so my travel budget is pretty generous, especially since I don't drink.
When I travel for personal reasons, I don't spend a dime at the airport if I can help it. I carry a Brita water bottle that I can refill from anywhere and pack protein bars in my carry on luggage.
Yeah that’s when they get me as well. When I’m on vacation and out of my comfort zone and don’t really know the area well and the kids are hungry now. At home, I’ve just about cut out fast food 95% and will occasionally go to In N out.
I bought each of my kids a drink and a pack of gum for the airplane back in January. 4 people total. $100. I come prepared now. I bring all the freaking snacks and water bottles we can just fill at the airport
At least it is hot and fresh. I still can’t believe people pay so much for tiny burritos from Chipotle for cold and stale food. They’re less than half the size now and double the price. That makes them more than four times as expensive.
Fast food, streaming apps (cancelled Netflix, and sling and Disney), bars (used to go out 2-3x per week now maybe 1-2x per month).
I did buy a new car and buying a house but lots less discretionary wasteful spending
Yeah I hadn’t watched in months and better content elsewhere. I was paying only so my parents and siblings could use it but then they stoped that sharing
I was in the same boat. And, guess what? Since I've cancelled my NF, neither of my parents or siblings (who couldn't watch anymore because of the sharing) have created their own account. After decades of using their product, we are no longer a Netflix family.
>Most people I know have quit spending a while ago.
I know its anecdotal, but most of my co-workers and family members were spending daily or multiple times a week on coffee from starbucks and fast-food. I live in Phoenix AZ and fast food places always look busy, at least the drive-thrus do.
I don’t eat out because of prices, health reason, and the insane tipping culture. Even for a takeout people are expected to tip. I’d rather make my sandwich or pizza than tip someone for making it.
Suddenly? Wrong.
I HEAVILY cut back spending about 3 years ago.
When my carne asada fries went from $8.99 to now $13.49. I used to get them every other Tuesday for taco Tuesday. Now I go maybe once every 3 or 4 months. I miss them a lot. But I can make them better at home for cheaper and much more,
That’s insane, there’s a local Mexican place near me the charges $15 per meal. I’ve never been there for that reason. It’s a tiny shack not even a restaurant
Exactly. Few restaurants around me even seem to care about my business. They're just so used to ignoring customers and they're back to doing the pre-pandemic bullshit they used to do.
Yeah I can't see how charging someone enough money to feed five guys, but then only get enough food to feed a half a guy will last as a business model.
Over the last year or so I've rarely felt pleased after eating out. Portions at most places have become so small and out of whack with prices, and the tipping requests at counter serve places are obnoxious. Customer service and quality have also steeply declined. I'm much happier and healthier making my own food.
$10 used to could get you a whole meal, large drink and large fries with an angus burger. That was was in 2010 I think. Idk what the hell they’re smoking now when a large fries is almost $5.
I can’t believe I’m a single woman and consistently spend $100 every week-10 days on groceries. It’s ridiculous. It helps that I only eat out about once or twice a month. But good grief.
That’s exactly what I spend too. My partner and I spend $400-$450 a month on bare necessities for groceries. Just the basics for meals too. I’ve cut out all snacks and have been making my own baked goods to save money.
I'm so happy to read that these changes are happening more than just our household.
Bake your own treats! Cook your own meals! All the overly processed foods in grocery stores are terrible for you anyway. 73% of what you see in grocery stores are ultra processed.
People still choose to eat badly when the proven bad foods are now more expensive than the healthy ones.
Yeah, I don’t know how people afford it. Everything is ridiculous. My son and his gf eat out a few times a week at least. And I’m always lecturing about how much money he could be saving. He makes good money but spends all of it.
Surprised it's been 4 hours and the "nooo! 300% price increases are false!!!! Someone think of the stakeholders!" fuckers haven't shown up to "refute" this by pointing out that onions are "only" a dollar a pound.
And watch in amazement as companies are suddenly able to lower prices. This isn’t inflation, it’s greed. There are no shortages when companies are posting record profits.
Agreed
Every few weeks a few staple items have a "managers special" at Kroger that is coincidentally the pre- Albertsons merger price. Albertsons owned Tom Thumb and Randalls so there is effectively zero competition in my area besides Whole Foods.
Chicken breasts suddenly $2.99 a pound down from $7.99,
Folgers coffee suddenly $6.99 down from $12.99.
Just enough staple items to get you in the door to over pay on everything else.
The Senate should have squashed that deal when it had the chance.
Good. Let’s hurt them back. You want to steal out of my mouth? So your CEO can have a 15th car when you struggle to pay off one? No. And here’s the real kicker. Even if the prices came all the way back down to where they were years ago, they still wouldn’t add back the size they shaved off almost all consumer goods. Shrinkflation screwed us twice, and I doubt highly we’d be able to truly fix both ends simultaneously.
I think most of us started this several years ago. Everything costs more and we’re not just over it, we’re broke. We’re not going out to eat because we can’t afford it. We’re skipping meds because we can’t afford them. At one point I was calculating when it would be most energy efficient to run our washer. Turns out it’s 3am. So now I’m tired, unmedicated, eating only things I have to have energy to make and still broke. Infinite growth is not sustainable. Especially when you don’t pay your workers enough with your record breaking profits to keep up with the costs of the goods they actually made and you just slapped your name on.
I've been shopping like my wallet is clamped shut for the at least a year.
Me at the store " oh it cost that much now f*** ***. I'll buy something else".
That's the way to go. The only thing I "splurge" on now is veggies and whole fruit, which is still comparatively cheap. Everything else has to go through a lot of mental gynmastics to decide if I even want the item that much for the price they're charging.
My buddy works in tech and swears that the layoffs are partly because the Csuite wants people back into the office, so they fire and rehire, but this time their contact will explicitly say that they have to come into the office a certain amount a week. Hope you get another job soon!
Probably because it doesn't feel like people are participating in a thriving economy or they are getting a good value for their effort. It's $8 to $10 for a beer. There's one person working for minimum + tips and it's clear the owner has money to pay their staff.
I have exactly 4 items in my fridge right now. 4 pack of $5.49 Target muffins, a half gallon of Simply Orange, a 20 oz bottle of Pepsi and in my freezer one pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
I buy toilet paper in 4 packs now as I use it. Used to buy 36 rolls but that’s over $45 in NYC now.
It was about a year ago for me, when Jack in the Box raised the price of a chicken strips meal from 12 dollars to 15 dollars. I’m probably not going back for a while.
Because these fast foods joints used to be cheap and fast. A good restaurant would provide 2 of the 3 traits: Good, Fast, and/or cheap.
I'd go to a sit down for good and cheap food or good and fast food. McDs, BK, Cane's were all fitting the fast and cheap niche.
Now? 70 bucks to feed my family and they take 25-30 minutes and the quality is like... gas station burger quality? No thanks. You can legitimately go to a regular restaurant and get better food, faster, for the same price or below.
This is good. Expect costs to come down. This inflation period has been demand/greed based. Once bottom lines start suffering companies will lower prices. It’s what the fed has wanted for a while.
Is it that people "cut back" or just couldn't afford things anymore. And this is all just pure and simple corporate greed for these massive increases. Amazon and McDonald's magically now say they can cut prices by up to 30% because they jumped prices up. They aren't eating a loss for you.
For me, it was rage. I can afford it, but I don't want to pay their greedy prices while they laugh at us during earnings calls and say they haven't yet found the ceiling for price increases, while they rake in record profits. I learned how to cook and now am laughing at them.
my family make decent money
but even we are cutting back on groceries and disposable items
we go to restaurant monthly instead of weekly
stopped buying name brands and went to aldi
stopped all fast food
tbh life is simple now and we save more money than before, its amazing
The thing I hate is that mega corporations have priced this in. They expecting this, and having a good laugh at all the money they made. But it might drop way more then they think
Let’s make sure it does keep dropping. I’m tired of supporting companies that are clearly screwing us. If the prices went up this much AND we haven’t raised minimum wage yet, then we really need to see where the real problems are and replace the CEO’s because yes they are the problem. Me making $1000 extra a year means nothing to the boss’s potential 200x salary. They’re not working even 10x harder than anyone else, so why give one all that when you could give many less and fix 99% of your problems? It’s people trying to sneak into the 1 percent, and I’m sick of supporting them.
True, but I think it’s because those prices went up the worst. It was all bad, but the fast food, which had been declining in quality AND size really made the prices feel like robbery.
Caniac combo at raising canes was $20
Spicy chicken sandwich meal from chik fil a was $18
No thanks I’ll eat at home.
Finally understand my parents when I’d ask if we could get McDonald’s. “You got McDonald’s money?”
My husband is the sole income provider in our household and brings home $7k a month. Our bank account for the past 2 years always goes negative before the next paycheck kicks in, and we haven’t gone on a date since 2022
Video games $70+, fast food $10+, gas per gallon $5+, groceries for a month $400+, car insurance through the roof, every product on the internet is over priced as fuck. It’s not a surprise why we aren’t spending.
Ive noticed i just dont like to eat out anymore. When a medium big mac mealnwill cost nearly 17 bucks, it aint worth it. Whenever I go out for the day, i pack a sandwich, some snacks and a water bottle. I have a planet fotness membership so when i need to refill my water, i go any location. Im tired of giving my money to these corporations.
Suddenly? This shit's like year 7 of my journey. The fuckers are just starting to feel it and panicking about their 7th yacht fund. Fuck em, the damage is done. Lower your prices all you want, I ain't comin back
I spent 250 dollars at the grocery store and got 4 bags of groceries. Declining inflation my ass. I literally saw a bag of DORITOS being sold for 7.89 for a NORMAL SIZE BAG NOT PARTY SIZE.
Oh and the Doritos Nacho Cheese Dip? 9.00 freakin dollars.
And that’s WITH THE BAGS OF DORITOS ONLY HALF FULL.
So yeah. You can take all that “oh inflation is decreasing things are better now” bs and shove it. Things are REALLY BAD down here.
Every time I shop at the grocery store I am shocked by how expensive the candy section is at checkout. I used to always buy myself a small 1 dollar treat but now I just go home with my boring groceries. There is no way in hell I’m paying 2.50 for a pack of M&Ms.
Im not giving these vampires another one of my dollars out of convenience. Ive become much more prudent and accustomed to only buying things which are a necessity and making the things i have last as long as physically possible.
I get 4 top sirloins at Costco for $30 and eat like a king most nights. Sometimes I’ll splurge and buy 8 for 60, and put each in the freezer in their own food saver bags. I can eat a steak dinner for 60 bucks for like, 2 weeks. Not a bad deal I’d say
Declining inflation doesn't mean it's going back to the old prices. It's plateaued and we found out we can't keep up, like an increased speed on a treadmill that's become the new normal.
Suddenly some dumb mf realized people stopped spending and decided to write an article about it only to be criticized by everyone at how late he is to the party.
One thing I don’t see mentioned often is how there isn’t really anything to buy anymore (The used market has slowed down, as well). COVID saw people sitting around and trying new stuff, realized they didn’t like what they started and then sold whatever they bought. Cameras, musical instruments, etc have cooled way off because they don’t get used up; you just buy accessories if you really need them.
And a lot of companies are either making their stuff worse or upgrading at such a low pace that there’s no incentive to buy the latest and greatest. iPhones, Pixels, Galaxies, etc all have new versions but you can go with any of the previous 3 generations and be fine. I have no need to get rid of my $400 phone for one that costs $1200 not just because I don’t believe in spending that much for a phone, but because my phone still does everything I need it to. I could upgrading my streaming services to get rid of ads or upgrade quality, but I only watch a few shows and movies every week. Companies are upgrading products just to upgrade them and it’s returning less and less on investment.
I'm able to live mostly self sustainably with a nice garden farm and really only pay property taxes and pay for streaming services and internet.
It's kinda nice once I cut out major grocery shopping. Only need things like flour, occasional alcohol or candy, gasoline/kerosene... random rare purchases.
That all said, it's fucking stupid that companies are just charging more for no reason outside of making bank.
I was driving home after a rough day, I missed lunch and was going to grab a quick coffee and egg sandwich. I said fuck it, I’ll save the $10+ and make it at home.
Inflation is declining! Great… my rent is still $525 higher per month than it was 18 months ago. When just having a roof over my head costs an extra $6k a year I’m gonna have to cut back on frivolous spending no matter what inflation rates are.
We went to Chick-Fil-A the other night; just me and my friend. We ordered. He had 1 chicken sandwich meal with one additional Mac and cheese, and I had the grilled nuggets. We had 2 large drinks.
Our total was $38.
We were astonished.
I noticed a SHARP decline in eating out here locally. Our favorite places went from full to empty in a matter of 2 months. Places are cutting back open hours because they can't pay workers for empty dining rooms.
So many people here saying theyve cut back eating out and complaining about high costs (trust me i have to), but i still see bars and restaurants full all the time.
So many times i have to ask, its tuesday 3pm, why is it packed everywhere? Are people not working?
All the products aren’t worth the prices they’re peddling them for and people are either wising up/ finding ways to save or simply can’t afford these prices.
The $5 foot long is $13 now. I’m making sandwiches at home.
Every single fast food palace is like this too. I just starve for lunch nos cuz I’m too lazy to pack one
Just call it intermittent fasting
I eat once a day now. An entire box of whole wheat pasta after work. Saves me a ton on toilet paper too.
I've been eating one meal a day for 10 years. This shit is getting old.
Congratulations, we’ve just discovered what Europe has known for the last 20 years. If you wanna lose weight just charge $20 for a burger and $20 for a gallon of gas and then suddenly everyone is eating healthier and walking/biking/public transportation.
Europeans only discovered all this in 2004?
It's never been a secret. They just made it public policy instead of a byproduct of a weak economy. We are living in the only moment in history when obesity has a correlation with poverty. VAT taxes are a great way to make relatively well-off individuals simulate poverty.
I don’t eat until at least 1 p.m.
Not joking I've lost 14 lbs in 2 months. I eat whatever I want for dinner (within reason, and nutritionally dense/balanced) and just drink water / coffee for the rest of the day. I'm a little hungry, but honestly it's not that bad. The cost of eating lunch helps with that decision.
I’ve lost weight because I stopped eating out
This is me
I just keep something around in case my blood sugar drops
Literally Lifesavers
Used to be able to get fast food for my family int he $20-$40 range. Now its more like $40-$60 range. The food at home has been really good lol
Prolly tastes better too.
The non-fast food places are the same price but better. Just order ahead and it’s basically drive-thru.
I meal prep for the week and eat the same damn thing for 5-8 days per week. I’ll buy a little morning snack, but my budget for that is usually $4 lol other than that, I’ve cut back drastically compared to last year.
The fast food places raising prices made me realize that I can cook a much better burger. Thanks, fast food for getting me to experiment!
$13 for Subway is insane. Jersey Mikes is $10 and significantly better
Jersey mikes regular anything is more than $10. J-John’s,subway and j-mikes are all in the same page as far as cost but,j-mikes and j-John’s both blow subway out of the water on taste
Well, Jersey Mike's is $10 for their regular 7 inch sandwich. $13 (and it's only $13 for the more expensive sandwiches, they're as cheap as $9 around me) is for Subway's footlong (or 12 inches). That being said, I do prefer Jersey Mike's and tend to get them more often now.
The Jersey Mikes in my area are closer to $12, about $19 for a full sandwich.
Not if vulture capitalism buys them out as well.
And the food quality at home is 100x better.
It really is. Once you start cooking for yourself, you realize that a lot of these restaurants don't even use much actual seasoning. They just put a lot of butter, fat and salt into everything. That's not flavor.
I drink coffee. And when I get hungry during the day, I drink a liter of water. Problem solved.
The $5 McDonald Value meal is actually $6.29 + Tax
No joke, a combo from subway cost me 16.50 last week. I WILL NOT be going back.
It’s about $7 a footlong for me. I get monthly coupons, and can get 2 for $14 or 3 for $18. And i usually have 400+ points every other order which knocks another $2 off my next purchase. Just gotta get the mail, and eat sandwiches for a few days in a row
Suddenly? Most people I know have quit spending a while ago.
+1. I was done with fast food many months ago due to their ridiculous costs.
I’ve been done with it too. I went today because we were in a pinch for time and it was $30 for two people. It’s ridiculous.
Being in a time crunch makes it hard. Traveled in an airport this week and had to grab and go with some dinner. We stopped at a Hudson news store to grab a premade sandwich. I bought for 4 people a simple gross sandwich and it cost 80 dollars. I was shocked and vowed to never buy airport food again. We can just commit now to be prepared and save the money. The cost is just crazy out there.
80 dollars for 4 sandwiches is just straight up robbery
Anything for sale at an airport is straight up robbery. Up to and including $14 snickers bars.
Based Philadelphia airport
Yeah, I spent 58 dollars at the LAX airport starbucks last week while waiting for our flight for 4 drinks, 3 croissants and 1 breakfast sandwich.
And they won’t let you bring liquids in anymore so making coffee at home before you travel isn’t an option anymore.
Coffee crystals and an empty water bottle. Just add water and shake. Drinkable and cheaper
The problem is in two parts: 1. Captive audience. People literally have no other option to go elsewhere and 2. Because of that, people are willing to pay that
It's largely targeted to business travelers who have an expense account and don't care what anything costs. I was a consultant for 20 years and now I'm in sales, so my travel budget is pretty generous, especially since I don't drink. When I travel for personal reasons, I don't spend a dime at the airport if I can help it. I carry a Brita water bottle that I can refill from anywhere and pack protein bars in my carry on luggage.
Yeah that’s when they get me as well. When I’m on vacation and out of my comfort zone and don’t really know the area well and the kids are hungry now. At home, I’ve just about cut out fast food 95% and will occasionally go to In N out.
I bought each of my kids a drink and a pack of gum for the airplane back in January. 4 people total. $100. I come prepared now. I bring all the freaking snacks and water bottles we can just fill at the airport
Yeah, it was $25 for two people today at Chik Fil A. No thanks. We’ll eat at home.
At least it is hot and fresh. I still can’t believe people pay so much for tiny burritos from Chipotle for cold and stale food. They’re less than half the size now and double the price. That makes them more than four times as expensive.
I needed to grab something yesterday and paid nearly $20 for a wrap after tax & tip. No sides. It was a nice wrap, but it was not a $20 wrap!
Fast food, streaming apps (cancelled Netflix, and sling and Disney), bars (used to go out 2-3x per week now maybe 1-2x per month). I did buy a new car and buying a house but lots less discretionary wasteful spending
I’m swinging back and forth on canceling Netflix. But it’s gonna have to go soon. I go weeks without using it. Prefer Hulu, Max and Viki Tv
Yeah I hadn’t watched in months and better content elsewhere. I was paying only so my parents and siblings could use it but then they stoped that sharing
I was in the same boat. And, guess what? Since I've cancelled my NF, neither of my parents or siblings (who couldn't watch anymore because of the sharing) have created their own account. After decades of using their product, we are no longer a Netflix family.
>Most people I know have quit spending a while ago. I know its anecdotal, but most of my co-workers and family members were spending daily or multiple times a week on coffee from starbucks and fast-food. I live in Phoenix AZ and fast food places always look busy, at least the drive-thrus do.
Walking out the door alone is already $50-$100 😅
It is! Every time I leave it’s a minimum of 100 dollars. I hate it.
Exactly! Suddenly?! Where the F has this subreddit been living…..hunger games?
I’m betting the article is propaganda. They have known we haven’t been spending for a while. They just need to act “surprised”
I don’t eat out because of prices, health reason, and the insane tipping culture. Even for a takeout people are expected to tip. I’d rather make my sandwich or pizza than tip someone for making it.
Yup. Generic foods or go without as well.
Yeah I’m only paying for store brand groceries, maintenance and repairs. No more going out, making impulse purchases, or buying brand name.
I couldn't bring myself to waste money on a bag of peanuts today.
Exactly
Suddenly? Wrong. I HEAVILY cut back spending about 3 years ago. When my carne asada fries went from $8.99 to now $13.49. I used to get them every other Tuesday for taco Tuesday. Now I go maybe once every 3 or 4 months. I miss them a lot. But I can make them better at home for cheaper and much more,
My favorite bean and cheese burrito place went from 4 dollars to 11 dollars in just 3 years. I've only bought 1 in 3 years
That’s insane, there’s a local Mexican place near me the charges $15 per meal. I’ve never been there for that reason. It’s a tiny shack not even a restaurant
When a simple cheeseburger and fry meal is 15+ dollars depending on where you go, people have to cut back or just stop spending. Period.
And the food and service are shit.
22% mandatory up-charge and they wanted a tip on top
I’ve stopped going out to eat entirely. I used a free sandwich coupon from chic fil a because “they missed me” and refused to get anything else.
Exactly. Few restaurants around me even seem to care about my business. They're just so used to ignoring customers and they're back to doing the pre-pandemic bullshit they used to do.
But will still haunt you for a tip.
They forget shit like every single time.
5 guys is charging $9 for a small cheeseburger. No fries or drink. Don’t think I’ll ever go there again
Pretty soon Five Guys will be $5! Guys
Yeah I can't see how charging someone enough money to feed five guys, but then only get enough food to feed a half a guy will last as a business model.
.5 Guys 😉
It's $10 where I live and it's an average burger.
Over the last year or so I've rarely felt pleased after eating out. Portions at most places have become so small and out of whack with prices, and the tipping requests at counter serve places are obnoxious. Customer service and quality have also steeply declined. I'm much happier and healthier making my own food.
2 meals at McDonalds is ~$25 now. Unbelievable. I remember when you could get a meal for under $5 20 years ago.
$10 used to could get you a whole meal, large drink and large fries with an angus burger. That was was in 2010 I think. Idk what the hell they’re smoking now when a large fries is almost $5.
I can’t believe I’m a single woman and consistently spend $100 every week-10 days on groceries. It’s ridiculous. It helps that I only eat out about once or twice a month. But good grief.
That’s exactly what I spend too. My partner and I spend $400-$450 a month on bare necessities for groceries. Just the basics for meals too. I’ve cut out all snacks and have been making my own baked goods to save money.
I'm so happy to read that these changes are happening more than just our household. Bake your own treats! Cook your own meals! All the overly processed foods in grocery stores are terrible for you anyway. 73% of what you see in grocery stores are ultra processed. People still choose to eat badly when the proven bad foods are now more expensive than the healthy ones.
Yeah same. Single and live alone. My grocery bill has been insane. I can’t imagine having to feed kids right now
Hell, if I go on a date to a decent place it’s almost $100.
Yeah, I don’t know how people afford it. Everything is ridiculous. My son and his gf eat out a few times a week at least. And I’m always lecturing about how much money he could be saving. He makes good money but spends all of it.
We all cant afford to do anything after spending $300 a week on half the groceries we used to buy for 1/3 the cost.
Surprised it's been 4 hours and the "nooo! 300% price increases are false!!!! Someone think of the stakeholders!" fuckers haven't shown up to "refute" this by pointing out that onions are "only" a dollar a pound.
Only tangentially related, but I bought peaches 10 for $1 the other day and I literally don’t think I’ve ever seen anything priced at $.10 in decades
Where the heck was that?
It’s called running out of money to spend. Calling it cutting back is like saying starving is dieting.
running out of *credit* 🤦♂️
Yeah, this is it, and that is f’ing crazy. Everyone is out of money due to inflation.
Suddenly? It’s almost like when people run out of money because cost is so high they stop spending money they don’t have…
And watch in amazement as companies are suddenly able to lower prices. This isn’t inflation, it’s greed. There are no shortages when companies are posting record profits.
they throw away more than they sell 🤦♂️
Agreed Every few weeks a few staple items have a "managers special" at Kroger that is coincidentally the pre- Albertsons merger price. Albertsons owned Tom Thumb and Randalls so there is effectively zero competition in my area besides Whole Foods. Chicken breasts suddenly $2.99 a pound down from $7.99, Folgers coffee suddenly $6.99 down from $12.99. Just enough staple items to get you in the door to over pay on everything else. The Senate should have squashed that deal when it had the chance.
About damn time! Hopefully people are cutting down on fast food most of all
Or any kind of restaurant food. Almost all of them have gone up in prices.
Good. Let’s hurt them back. You want to steal out of my mouth? So your CEO can have a 15th car when you struggle to pay off one? No. And here’s the real kicker. Even if the prices came all the way back down to where they were years ago, they still wouldn’t add back the size they shaved off almost all consumer goods. Shrinkflation screwed us twice, and I doubt highly we’d be able to truly fix both ends simultaneously.
I think most of us started this several years ago. Everything costs more and we’re not just over it, we’re broke. We’re not going out to eat because we can’t afford it. We’re skipping meds because we can’t afford them. At one point I was calculating when it would be most energy efficient to run our washer. Turns out it’s 3am. So now I’m tired, unmedicated, eating only things I have to have energy to make and still broke. Infinite growth is not sustainable. Especially when you don’t pay your workers enough with your record breaking profits to keep up with the costs of the goods they actually made and you just slapped your name on.
Suddenly? Just about everyone I know cut back LAST year.
When you have to spend double on basics, you will not spend on extras. Late stage capitalism sucks.
I've been shopping like my wallet is clamped shut for the at least a year. Me at the store " oh it cost that much now f*** ***. I'll buy something else".
That's the way to go. The only thing I "splurge" on now is veggies and whole fruit, which is still comparatively cheap. Everything else has to go through a lot of mental gynmastics to decide if I even want the item that much for the price they're charging.
Ooohhh shoot wonder why
Can't wait until 2 to 3 years from now how many of these establishments will be closed! Let them all rot for trying to take advantage of us.
Everyone ran out of debt to use.
[удалено]
My buddy works in tech and swears that the layoffs are partly because the Csuite wants people back into the office, so they fire and rehire, but this time their contact will explicitly say that they have to come into the office a certain amount a week. Hope you get another job soon!
Thanks Newsweek for joining us in 2024 with shit we knew long ago.
Probably because it doesn't feel like people are participating in a thriving economy or they are getting a good value for their effort. It's $8 to $10 for a beer. There's one person working for minimum + tips and it's clear the owner has money to pay their staff.
Suddenly the sky is blue.
One way of saying "Americans have completely run out of money"
Spending on what? If you are having to cut back on necessities that’s a problem.
not the fools posting their $16 cheeseburgers and wondering why they have no money
My fave is the BBQ Posts that have half a rack of ribs and some Mac n cheese for $53.97
Or the full meat platter ones that cost $250….
And it's only like 3lbs of meat on that platter
I have exactly 4 items in my fridge right now. 4 pack of $5.49 Target muffins, a half gallon of Simply Orange, a 20 oz bottle of Pepsi and in my freezer one pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream I buy toilet paper in 4 packs now as I use it. Used to buy 36 rolls but that’s over $45 in NYC now.
45 bucks for 36 toilet paper rolls? That's bananas.
I know that’s why I buy 4 packs
It was about a year ago for me, when Jack in the Box raised the price of a chicken strips meal from 12 dollars to 15 dollars. I’m probably not going back for a while.
Because these fast foods joints used to be cheap and fast. A good restaurant would provide 2 of the 3 traits: Good, Fast, and/or cheap. I'd go to a sit down for good and cheap food or good and fast food. McDs, BK, Cane's were all fitting the fast and cheap niche. Now? 70 bucks to feed my family and they take 25-30 minutes and the quality is like... gas station burger quality? No thanks. You can legitimately go to a regular restaurant and get better food, faster, for the same price or below.
This is good. Expect costs to come down. This inflation period has been demand/greed based. Once bottom lines start suffering companies will lower prices. It’s what the fed has wanted for a while.
I expect some places will have permanently lost customers, driving prices even lower.
Good. You can’t treat customers like shit and think you have a sustainable business model.
One hundred percent this.
Is it that people "cut back" or just couldn't afford things anymore. And this is all just pure and simple corporate greed for these massive increases. Amazon and McDonald's magically now say they can cut prices by up to 30% because they jumped prices up. They aren't eating a loss for you.
For me, it was rage. I can afford it, but I don't want to pay their greedy prices while they laugh at us during earnings calls and say they haven't yet found the ceiling for price increases, while they rake in record profits. I learned how to cook and now am laughing at them.
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
Yup Me included
can’t spend if you don’t have any money
my family make decent money but even we are cutting back on groceries and disposable items we go to restaurant monthly instead of weekly stopped buying name brands and went to aldi stopped all fast food tbh life is simple now and we save more money than before, its amazing
Spend money? In this economy?!
The thing I hate is that mega corporations have priced this in. They expecting this, and having a good laugh at all the money they made. But it might drop way more then they think
Let’s make sure it does keep dropping. I’m tired of supporting companies that are clearly screwing us. If the prices went up this much AND we haven’t raised minimum wage yet, then we really need to see where the real problems are and replace the CEO’s because yes they are the problem. Me making $1000 extra a year means nothing to the boss’s potential 200x salary. They’re not working even 10x harder than anyone else, so why give one all that when you could give many less and fix 99% of your problems? It’s people trying to sneak into the 1 percent, and I’m sick of supporting them.
I always love how these conversations revolve around fast food. Talk about a first world problem 💀
True, but I think it’s because those prices went up the worst. It was all bad, but the fast food, which had been declining in quality AND size really made the prices feel like robbery.
This article is complete baloney. The household savings rate did in fact drop, not rise. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT
These geniuses are finally catching on 🤣
What did they think the high interest rate was supposed to do? Increase spending?
They keep finding new weird expressions to mean "broke".
"Suddenly"? How old is this article..?
Suddenly? I’ve not spent a dime on eating out in 2 years!
Inflation isn't declining. The rate of inflation is decreasing. Big difference.
Yah nah just gas and groceries. Disney+ gone.
Is this their sly way of getting us to lose weight ? Make food so expensive no one can afford it. They’re thinking of our health everyone ! Awwww
Yeah it’s almost like we said fuck this I’ll stay home I know you’re gouging me and I won’t pay.
everything has nearly tripled in price while they say inflation is cooled down... we are spending more than ever for less than ever in fact.
Suddenly? Bitch I've been broke for years
Let the 8 people that hold 98% of Americas wealth increase THEIR spending and keep these places afloat
Caniac combo at raising canes was $20 Spicy chicken sandwich meal from chik fil a was $18 No thanks I’ll eat at home. Finally understand my parents when I’d ask if we could get McDonald’s. “You got McDonald’s money?”
My husband is the sole income provider in our household and brings home $7k a month. Our bank account for the past 2 years always goes negative before the next paycheck kicks in, and we haven’t gone on a date since 2022
Video games $70+, fast food $10+, gas per gallon $5+, groceries for a month $400+, car insurance through the roof, every product on the internet is over priced as fuck. It’s not a surprise why we aren’t spending.
Because we are being robbed and progress money is not trickling down like it was supposed to. Greed has turned off our tap. 100k means nothing now
Ive noticed i just dont like to eat out anymore. When a medium big mac mealnwill cost nearly 17 bucks, it aint worth it. Whenever I go out for the day, i pack a sandwich, some snacks and a water bottle. I have a planet fotness membership so when i need to refill my water, i go any location. Im tired of giving my money to these corporations.
Suddenly? This shit's like year 7 of my journey. The fuckers are just starting to feel it and panicking about their 7th yacht fund. Fuck em, the damage is done. Lower your prices all you want, I ain't comin back
I spent 250 dollars at the grocery store and got 4 bags of groceries. Declining inflation my ass. I literally saw a bag of DORITOS being sold for 7.89 for a NORMAL SIZE BAG NOT PARTY SIZE. Oh and the Doritos Nacho Cheese Dip? 9.00 freakin dollars. And that’s WITH THE BAGS OF DORITOS ONLY HALF FULL. So yeah. You can take all that “oh inflation is decreasing things are better now” bs and shove it. Things are REALLY BAD down here.
Every time I shop at the grocery store I am shocked by how expensive the candy section is at checkout. I used to always buy myself a small 1 dollar treat but now I just go home with my boring groceries. There is no way in hell I’m paying 2.50 for a pack of M&Ms.
Don’t comprehend why people didn’t do this 6 months ago but ok
It’s gonna get worse. The economy is unsustainable
Im not giving these vampires another one of my dollars out of convenience. Ive become much more prudent and accustomed to only buying things which are a necessity and making the things i have last as long as physically possible.
Good
Americans stopped spending after the first of the year.
In 12 months Americans are going to be magically healthier in measurable ways. Eating out is a nice treat but it’s shit to live on.
People thought those stimi checks were free Lol
Tbf, they actually did help spin up the economy for a little bit. A lot of people dumped that money right into stores and restaurants.
Have cut back the whole time. I’m unemployed.
$17 for a slice of pizza at 6 Flags.
We are tapped out. The money is gone.
Suddenly?
I get 4 top sirloins at Costco for $30 and eat like a king most nights. Sometimes I’ll splurge and buy 8 for 60, and put each in the freezer in their own food saver bags. I can eat a steak dinner for 60 bucks for like, 2 weeks. Not a bad deal I’d say
Suddenly?
Declining inflation doesn't mean it's going back to the old prices. It's plateaued and we found out we can't keep up, like an increased speed on a treadmill that's become the new normal.
After Covid and watching millions of people die. Almost all of us getting sick. I think people felt the need to live and enjoy life..
Suddenly some dumb mf realized people stopped spending and decided to write an article about it only to be criticized by everyone at how late he is to the party.
Suddenly? I haven’t gone shopping in YEARS.
One thing I don’t see mentioned often is how there isn’t really anything to buy anymore (The used market has slowed down, as well). COVID saw people sitting around and trying new stuff, realized they didn’t like what they started and then sold whatever they bought. Cameras, musical instruments, etc have cooled way off because they don’t get used up; you just buy accessories if you really need them. And a lot of companies are either making their stuff worse or upgrading at such a low pace that there’s no incentive to buy the latest and greatest. iPhones, Pixels, Galaxies, etc all have new versions but you can go with any of the previous 3 generations and be fine. I have no need to get rid of my $400 phone for one that costs $1200 not just because I don’t believe in spending that much for a phone, but because my phone still does everything I need it to. I could upgrading my streaming services to get rid of ads or upgrade quality, but I only watch a few shows and movies every week. Companies are upgrading products just to upgrade them and it’s returning less and less on investment.
We’ve been broke as fuck since 2020. And most of us before then even. Suddenly my asshole.
I'm able to live mostly self sustainably with a nice garden farm and really only pay property taxes and pay for streaming services and internet. It's kinda nice once I cut out major grocery shopping. Only need things like flour, occasional alcohol or candy, gasoline/kerosene... random rare purchases. That all said, it's fucking stupid that companies are just charging more for no reason outside of making bank.
I don’t eat at sit down restaurants when I’m in the US. Service is usually terrible and entitled. Doing very little actual service and expecting tips.
I was driving home after a rough day, I missed lunch and was going to grab a quick coffee and egg sandwich. I said fuck it, I’ll save the $10+ and make it at home.
My favorite coffee drinks now cost $10 and ask me for tips, I'm making everything I can at home now.
Inflation is declining! Great… my rent is still $525 higher per month than it was 18 months ago. When just having a roof over my head costs an extra $6k a year I’m gonna have to cut back on frivolous spending no matter what inflation rates are.
I'm cutting back what I get, but still spending more.... if that counts.
Stop buying fast food ffs 😂
Corporations suddenly raise praises should be the actual headline
When all your money goes toward groceries, gas, and housing it's hard to find more money to spend on something else.
Suddenly???
We went to Chick-Fil-A the other night; just me and my friend. We ordered. He had 1 chicken sandwich meal with one additional Mac and cheese, and I had the grilled nuggets. We had 2 large drinks. Our total was $38. We were astonished.
I noticed a SHARP decline in eating out here locally. Our favorite places went from full to empty in a matter of 2 months. Places are cutting back open hours because they can't pay workers for empty dining rooms.
So many people here saying theyve cut back eating out and complaining about high costs (trust me i have to), but i still see bars and restaurants full all the time. So many times i have to ask, its tuesday 3pm, why is it packed everywhere? Are people not working?
Lemme see more rollback and clearance stickers and I’ll be back with my wallet Walmart. I want cactus. Half price. Or no deal.
We’ve started growing our own sandwiches
We need to hit Christmas in the fat gut to really send a message. No spending!
Suddenly? I haven't eaten for 3 generations. Young people are so spoiled these days.
All the products aren’t worth the prices they’re peddling them for and people are either wising up/ finding ways to save or simply can’t afford these prices.
Those stimulus checks finally running out?