Cost of living/Price Increse/Shortages

[melbourne_yankee]

The news is full of stories about prices increases and shortages for many things around the world. Usually the stories are vague and have no real data about individual prices.

It would be interesting to hear about actual price increases and shortages of items.

Here are a couple of recent ones from Australia.  Australia is a high cost of living country with prices for many things much higher than in the USA and even Europe or Japan. We have a few things that are cheaper, but that is generally the exception. 

Went to the store today (Wednesday) and the price of rice bran oil had gone up from A$9.75 for 3 liters to A$12 (US$6.8 to US$8.40) or about 24%.  On Monday  the price was A$9.75.

Regular Pepsi cans, which have been out of stock or only a few cases on the shelf at the local supermarkets, was priced at A$25 for 30 cans.  The previous price was A$19. (US$13.30 to US$17.50) a 35% price increase. They had a whole two cases on the shelf.  Lots of Coke, other  brands, and sugar free crap well in stock though.  So I thought I'd check out the other supermarket on the way home.  The only regular Pepsi cans that they have had in stock for the last couple of weeks were ten packs priced at $A12.50 (US$8.75).  Amazing....they had a whole two cases of 30 can packs and a couple of those ten can packs. Their price was still A$19 (US$13.30) for the 30 can pack so I bought one.

It looks like I'm going to have to reduce or eliminate soft drinks from our purchases.  Yeah, the stuff isn't good for you, but it is nice to have one once in while to drink.

Last week it was the price of milk going up. It went from A$2.85 for two liters to A$3.10 for two liters. (US$2.00 to US$2.17) an increase of 8.5%. A couple of years ago we had a sort of "milk war" with the price at A$1 per liter.

And the week before that it was eggs. They went up from A$3.85 to $A4.20 (US$2.70 to US$2.94) a dozen.  A couple of years ago the price was around A$2 a dozen.

I don't know when the price for supermarket bread went up as we quit buying it a while back. The taste and quality was never that great had gone down so much that it was like eating cardboard.  I noticed that it went up from the old price of A$2 per loaf which we had been paying to A$2.50 a loaf. A 25% increase.  The bakery where we buy bread, which tastes pretty good and almost like the bread we used to buy in Japan, costs $A4.40 (US$3.08) a loaf. They haven't raised their prices yet.  I asked when were they planning on increasing prices and they said that they increased the price on their rolls, buns, and other items by 25 to 30%, but not yet bread so one of these days it will go up too.

And one thing you have to remember about these prices is that when converted into US dollars the prices are much cheaper than they were years ago.  At one time the Australia dollar was worth US$1.10.  It is now only 69 cents or so.  This means that the above prices in US dollar terms are much cheaper than before.

Using that higher exchange rate would result in having to pay about 57% MORE in US dollar terms. So instead of paying US$13.30 equivalent for the 30 can pack of Pepsi it would have been US$21.......

 

Shortages

As mentioned above Pepsi regular cans for some reason has been in short supply. If you go to the supermarket with your shopping list there will usually be something out of stock.

Strawberry jam.  The store brand strawberry jam and big brands have been out of stock for weeks.  There are a couple of jars of the higher priced boutique type strawberry jam on the shelves, but they cost more than twice as much as the other two brands.  Tissues (Up in price over 30% compared to a year ago) are again either out of stock or have a limit of two boxes at one other supermarket, if in stock. 

Toilet paper and paper towels.  Yep, only a few packages on the shelves and those are the higher priced ones.  We stocked up every time the store had  toilet paper so we are ok on that for a while.  I expect prices to go up on toilet paper soon as well.

We've had cold, cloudy, rainy crappy weather with floods in New South Wales and Queensland which means vegetables are hit and miss.  Sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't.  Prices are ridiculous too.  Except for Avocados this time of year.  A huge crop which has pushed the price down to A$1 each or US70 cents.

During our numerous lockdowns this or that would have been out of stock.  Sometimes it was funny too. Store brand croissant rolls made in Australia were out of stock, but the imported ones from France were in stock.  Brioche buns from France were in stock as well and then gone for weeks. Heinz baked beans which are made in New Zealand and imported into Australia were gone for weeks as well. (Of course once they were in stock again the price went up from  A$3 for three cans to A$4.20 and now A$5.50.  Needless to say we don't buy them anymore.) Heinz ketchup (made in the Netherlands, by the way) was similar - gone for weeks.

And I could give more examples, but will stop here.

How about some examples from where you live?

 

[kaseykernriver]

I'd like a Cost of Living raise for survey pay-outs! The rewards keep getting smaller!

[neminem]

On 7/20/2022 at 10:24 AM, kaseykernriver said:

I'd like a Cost of Living raise for survey pay-outs! The rewards keep getting smaller!

This! Especially at Paidviewpoint, 10 cents per short survey felt more worth my time 5 years ago than it does now...

[ConnecticutMarc]

On 7/20/2022 at 1:24 PM, kaseykernriver said:

I'd like a Cost of Living raise for survey pay-outs! 

Me too!!!!

[melbourne_yankee]

Well bought some brioche buns yesterday and the price was A$6.10. The previous price was A$5.50.

Shortages at the supermarket this time were: 

1. Cucumbers and cabbage.  No cucumbers of any type and there were no half or whole heads of cabbage either.

2. Still no tissues or large packs of toilet paper at this supermarket.  The other one had a few large packs of toilet paper.

As I did quick shop I didn't really pay much attention to other items not on the shelf.

Wanted to get in and out of the place as fast as possible as we are continuing to have a large number of cases of the virus here.  12,154 new cases yesterday and 37 deaths.  Our number of deaths continues to be quite high compared to other states in Australia.  I don't the reason why either.

[melbourne_yankee]

Well life is "looking up"!!

 

The supermarket had strawberry jam on the shelves for the first time in months, bu the egg section was mostly empty with only the super high priced "free range" eggs left on the shelf.  They were also out of a lot of the frozen foods.  We only buy and eat a few items from that section such as frozen hash browns and a brand of Chinese dim sims (only when they are on sale at 50% off though). The  store was out of hash browns. The hash browns are actually made in Australia too. Amazing.

 

And even better yet.................

 

As of the 29th of July we can now get airmail packages from Japan.  How long has it been?  18 months?

Mail service from Japan to Australia has been all mixed up over the past two years plus.  IIRC in March 2000 ALL airmail postal service from Japan was stopped.  Then airmail letters started up. I can't remember exactly when that was....maybe after 6 or 8 months???  And for a couple of months we had small packet airmail service which  was then stopped again.

We can now buy Japanese tea direct from the grower and get it while it is still fresh.  The same with seaweed we use for sushi.  Yes, we can buy the same type products here in Australia, but they are lower quality, not fresh, and cost more than we pay for the products from Japan even with postage costs added..  We have been buying from the same tea grower for well over 15 years now and they provide a great product as well as super service.

They provide free shipping on their products to Japanese customers and for us they don't charge the full international airmail postage cost, but deduct the domestic postage cost from the postage.  Now how great it that!!

Letters from Japan to Australia are still taking three to four weeks.  From the USA to Australia is about the same.  And from Europe?  I have been waiting now for six weeks for a letter and it still hasn't shown up.............

[melbourne_yankee]

Latest price increase and it is a whopper.

 

The other supermarket that had Pepsi cans at A$19 for a 30 can pack has now raised its price as well.

 

Not only did they raise the price they went even one better than the other supermarket.  The other supermarket raised the price from A$19 to A$25.

 

The other supermarket chain put its price up to $33.50.

 

That works out to a price increase of 76%...........................

 

Guess no more Pepsi for me.

[dawn_b_adams]

14 hours ago, melbourne_yankee said:

Latest price increase and it is a whopper.

 

The other supermarket that had Pepsi cans at A$19 for a 30 can pack has now raised its price as well.

 

Not only did they raise the price they went even one better than the other supermarket.  The other supermarket raised the price from A$19 to A$25.

 

The other supermarket chain put its price up to $33.50.

 

That works out to a price increase of 76%...........................

 

Guess no more Pepsi for me.

Yes, soda has become very expensive in the States also. I get sparkling water in 2 liter bottles, and it's much cheaper and healthier to boot. 

[rosiesmom]

Two weeks ago I bought a loaf of French bread at Walmart for $1, it's been that way for a few years.  Yesterday I was in and in a week's time, it went to $1.47.  so I am buying a bread machine this next weekend.  Time to get real.  I used a Walmart gift card from one of the survey companies to buy groceries for a week.  It is getting worse, not better. 

[peach6]

The prices are definitely out of control the prices are not going up like 25 cents I have seen the prices jump 1.00 or 2.00 in a weeks time

I have put things back on the shelf

[rosiesmom]

15 hours ago, peach6 said:

The prices are definitely out of control the prices are not going up like 25 cents I have seen the prices jump 1.00 or 2.00 in a weeks time

I have put things back on the shelf

Same here peach, the whole Jiff bad peanut butter issue through me off.  I was supposed to get a coupon to buy new peanut butter.  I don't think I will ever get it.  So now I buy Skippy.

[melbourne_yankee]

Did a couple of shops this week as one supermarket had a couple of loyalty points booster programs going on.

Checked the Pepsi at both big chains.

Prices have changed again.  The first place that raised the price now had them at $A21 a 30 can pack.  The other was at $28.50. Didn't buy at either place.

Our crappy weather is still affecting vegetable prices and supply.

One place had a notice about low supply of a kind of potatoes. Cabbage has gone up to A$9 a head at one store and the other place only had one head in stock at A$6.50.  The size was so small that it wasn't much bigger than a grapefruit. Didn't buy it.  Will have to walk to the other place this weekend to check their prices and supply.

Snow Peas were priced at A$30 a kilogram so I guess we won't be eating any of those for a while.  I'll plant some seeds as soon as the latest streak of rain is over.  We've had rain 9 days in a row here.  Really variable weather with short spans of beautiful sunny skies followed by 40 mph winds and lashing sheets of rain.

Boxes of tissues are still in short supply with one chain completely out and the other only stocking the super high priced boxes.

Luckily, we still have apples (we picked and put into our extra fridge), oranges, and Japanese mikan to eat from our trees so fruit isn't a problem.  The oranges and Japanese mikan we are still picking fresh off the trees to eat.

Last year we lost our entire cherry crop as a result of two huge wind storms that knocked all the fruit and blossoms.  We made it through the first storm and only lost half the blossoms.  The next storm took every piece of fruit off the trees.  We usually get well over 150 pounds of cherries.  We eat them fresh, make pies and deserts, and give them away to friends and neighbors.

So hopefully this coming season we'll get a normal crop...................

 

[NFriday]

I just found out that the Idaho potato crop is the worse it has been in 50 years, and so potatoes are really expensive right now.  I don't know how places like McDonald's are going to deal with this.  If french fries get too expensive, people will quit coming to McDonald's.  It is the same with potato chips.  People will quit buying them.

[melbourne_yankee]

Spuds here are still reasonable in the supermarkets.   They are about A$4 a kilogram or about US$1.25 a pound.  I don't know how that compares to the USA.

A little while back Japan was having a potato shortage as well due to the poor weather there and McDonald's Japan was flying in spuds from the USA.

Winter supposedly ends here in one week, but recently we have had only two seasons: crap and a little warm.  We are again in the middle of another week of rain. There are puddles all over the place and moss growing quite well. Can't do any work in the yard or on the house with this weather continually going on.

I would usually plant spuds starting about now, but there is no way with all the rain.  We are also supposed to get another 10 day spell of rain in the middle of September too so that will put it off even longer. Put them in and watch them rot............no thanks.

I did some garlic in planters this year because of the poor weather forecast. It is easy to move them out of the wet ,windy weather and easy to drain the excess water. The price of garlic here depends on where it comes from.  The cheapest stuff is imported from China.  Won't buy it.  The next rank up is a product of Mexico at about twice the price of the Chinese crap.  The most expensive is Australian grown at A$25 a kilogram.or about US$8 a pound. That is what we buy. Don't want to mess with that foreign crap that may have been doused with who knows what.

Australian ginger is around A$50 a kilogram.  Tried to grow some the year before last and got just a little bit.  Last year it wasn't warm enough for it at all.  A totally worthless spring,summer, and fall for growing vegetables.

So far the garlic is growing quite well and we may actually get a crop this year.

Not much new to report on the supermarket runs.  Cabbage was in stock at one place at A$5 for half a head (US$3.50).  Needed it so bought it. At least it was decent sized.  The supermarket had tissues in stock with a limit of two boxes.   Bought two. Toilet paper was out of stock in the morning, but they actually had some in stock in the evening (5 whole packs!!!). Don't know what is going on with those products and the stocking problems.

Heard on the new people were complaining about the price of beef in the USA.

You can buy various grades of beef here and a lot of it is just plain poor quality. 

There is NOTHING like USA Prime Rib for sale here at all.  Went to restaurant that had "USA Prime Rib" on the menu and it was total crap.  Some kind of mystery meat. Yuck.

Anyway some of the supermarkets sell grass fed beef which generally is good.  The price of grass fed mince (Yank speak: hamburger) is A$9.50 for 500 grams or US$6 a pound.  The grass fed steak scotch fillets works out to A$56 a kilogram or about US$17.50 a pound. Butcher shops are usually more expensive.

Pork?

Pork scotch fillets works out to about A$28.50 a kilogram or US$9 a pound.

You can also buy here what they call Australian WAGYU which is supposed to taste something like Japanese wagyu. To be perfectly frank, we've tried a number of different brands and grades and they just don't make it.  Overpriced and taste like crap compared to the real Japanese wagyu. 

We can buy the real Japanese wagyu from a number of stores and specialty shops and once in a while do so for special occasions. We have our favorites now and stick to those as we like the taste, but still nothing like the real thing. 

Last trip to Japan the best tasting stuff we had was a bunch of off cuts we bought from a butcher in a shotengai (shopping arcade) in Yokohama and cooked in our rental apartment.  Also had really good fresh clams and other assorted stuff as well.

I really do miss the food in Japan especially the restaurants.  The quality, the variety, and affordable prices.....................

And on another grocery item..........

I'm sure that you might find it unbelievable, but a Japanese convenience store has more different types and kinds of milk for sale than a supermarket here in Australia.  Supermarkets in Japan have a huge range of milk from different areas in Japan and they taste different. The milk in Japan also tastes better than the stuff for sale here. There is one brand that tastes decent, but it costs twice the price of the regular store brand milk. IMO the regular milk here tastes like cardboard!!!

 

(PS:  Haven't bought a burger a the golden arches for something like four years now and then only because I was out at a club meeting. There are a couple of specialty burger places in the village CBD where I live, but haven't tried them. They want between A$12 and A$15 just for burger. IIRC the last place we bought burgers from was a place called Grilled and they run about A$12+ for a burger.  (The numerous lock downs and travel restrictions pretty much stopped our ability to eat at or pick up food from their restaurants as they were too far away.)

FYI:  Their burger website menu: https://www.grilld.com.au/menu

 

 

 

[melbourne_yankee]

Well this weeks run and not much too report.

One store was out of cabbages and the other one wanted A$9 a head.

Lettuce is now back in stock and about A$2 a head down from not being stock or at around $10 a head.  We don't eat lettuce so the price doesn't make any difference to us.

We used to buy honey direct from a producer when we took day trips down to the Mornington Peninsula area.  It was much cheaper than in the supermarkets and of course much fresher.  With the lockdowns and me being sick we haven't been anywhere for the past couple of years

But anyway, honey was on sale at one of the supermarkets so I bought a tub.  The price was A$12 (US$8.25) for a kilogram or 2.2 pounds for generic type honey.  No idea what the price of honey is now in the USA.  The local stores are supposed to stock that producer's honeys, but I haven't seen it in stock for years.

They have all sorts of different varieties of honey here (https://purepeninsulahoney.com.au/collections/honey) depending on where it is produced and the type of flower that is in bloom at the time. The type that I like the best is one called Yellow Box. It is really, really good tasting. 

I can't remember the name of the company, but some years back they were caught blending honey from China (I don't think it was even real honey either) into their products and calling it domestically produced honey..............

Also bought some brioche buns.  Believe it or not they import the things from France. Taste a lot better than the stuff made in Oz and stocked in the store.  The price has gone up from A$5.50 to A$6.50.  When they first stocked the buns they had them on sale at A$2.75.  That is for six buns.