Things are getting expensive, and reading some of the other threads I see I'm not the only one noticing prices that seem to be out of control, but what have you seen lately, fuel aside, that's made you think holy carp, caught you completely off guard, or think that's ridiculous?
We saw a nifty looking small travel trailer at a dealer recently and wanted to look it up. So when I got home I started looking. It was overpriced by about double what I thought it should be, so i also looked up what I do know, small, entry level tent trailers. The ones I saw, and they were not high end models, were $21,000, which is about double what they should be. And more interesting, you can now finance a trailer over 20 years. Yes, 20 years.
We went to Wendy's last night. It cost $34 for two of us. Now, to be fair, Mrs. does seem to have the ability to make a cheap meal expensive, but $34 for two people at a fast food place? That's nuts.
In reply to Peabody :
I don't pay attention to prices at the store, but I've noticed it's usually $130-$140 where it used to be closer to $100. I also noticed it's a lot closer to $10/person at McDonalds now.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
wae
PowerDork
6/7/22 10:40 a.m.
My idea of going out to lunch during the workday is about $10. Granted, I don't do a lot of that in the last two years, but when I was in the office more frequently and we'd all go out to lunch, anything more than $10 had to be pretty special. Or bought by a vendor, of course. Occasionally, if I was by myself for lunch and wanted to relax a bit and either get some work done or read a bit, I'd go to Frisch's. I'd get a Swiss Miss, the salad & sour bar, and splurge on a cherry Coke. After leaving a tip, it would violate my $10 threshold by a little, but not crazy-town. A couple months ago, I was working over at the shop and decided to buzz out for something a little different than a Marie Calendar frozen pot pie. Same order, same quality of the food, but it was more than $20 after tip. Haven't been back to Frisch's since and I used to go a couple times a month.
Go price a 30 pound tank of R134a.
In reply to SpeedwayFan :
That's amazing!
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
ummm ok I was making a joke about McDonalds
Milk. The kid drinks gallons. I haven't see the same price on a gallon in over 9 months. Its higher ever time I buy one.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
No. That's about inflation, is now discussing investment, and currently at risk of being French fried.
This is about indivicual examples of items that have gotten so expensive ,so quickly, that you're taken aback (or suspect shenanigans) when you see their prices.
Peabody said:
Things are getting expensive, and reading some of the other threads I see I'm not the only one noticing prices that seem to be out of control, but what have you seen lately, fuel aside, that's made you think holy carp, caught you completely off guard, or think that's ridiculous?
We saw a nifty looking small travel trailer at a dealer recently and wanted to look it up. So when I got home I started looking. It was overpriced by about double what I thought it should be, so i also looked up what I do know, small, entry level tent trailers. The ones I saw, and they were not high end models, were $21,000, which is about double what they should be. And more interesting, you can now finance a trailer over 20 years. Yes, 20 years.
..and I keep telling Mrs. Snowdoggie that my old Dodge Motorhome is a better investment than the stock market right now.
For several years, the wine I bought was $32.11 and suddenly it shot up to $36.25 (13% increase).
I Guess I'm switching to...
In reply to Peabody :
RV prices have been somewhat nuts since 2020. A combination of increased demand and supply chain issues for materials (a lot of RV trailers are stick-n-tin construction; mostly wood) and various components sourced from China.
Class B van-style RVs are even worse. They have always been pricey for their size, but these days most start in the $150K range and $200K isn't uncommon. Thus the prices of used ones has also increased.
Personally, I haven't noticed fast-food prices going up too much, but I usually buy small combo meals or just individual items and no drink if I'm getting it to-go and eating at home. I never order a "large" meal or drink. Since most places have self-serve drink dispensers, I order a small drink and refill it. All that said, I go to fast-food places maybe a half-dozen times per month.
While milk seems to have held steady at just under $5/gal, I've definitely noticed a marked increase in grocery costs. I am buying food for only myself and typically only 3 or 4 bags worth. It was rare the bill was over $100. Now it's rare when it's under $100. On the plus side, if I time it right, I can use the store rewards points to get $ off on gas at the associated gas station. Saved over $5 on almost 17 gallons yesterday.
I have noticed a marked increase in coffee. A standard can of Folgers is $13. Yikes!
In reply to Peabody :
Travel trailers have always have massively overprice MSRP's. The advertised prices to draw you in were 20% under, and you could buy them for 30% under. While MSRP's have gone up too, the bigger change is that there is currently more demand than supply... So they aren't discounting below MSRP. Same thing with full-size trucks that used to be regularly advertised for 20% off ($10k off $50k MSRP) but now you're stuck looking for a dealer to even sell as low as MSRP. The difference is that the truck pricing is driven by a reduction in supply, where as the travel trailer pricing is driven by an increase in demand. Of course, both are causing a corresponding increase in used pricing as well.
In reply to Peabody :
Water softener salt. I purchase it monthly from Aldi's (grocery store chain). Between April and May it went from $4.79 a bag to $6.99 a bag. That's a %45 percent increase. Actual inflation numbers are higher than the governments stated 8.5%. Much higher.
It's milk for me. This year it has gone from 2.19 gallon to 4.30 a gallon.
I bought a hydraulic lift table from HF about 2 years ago for $220, the same table from them right now is $350!
I echo the expensive cost of eating out - but I completely understand it when burger flipper's wages start at $15-20/hour. The wife and I are pretty light eaters, but for a dinner out we used to get by for about $25 (I'm talking a medium sized pizza and 2 cokes) it's now closer to $50.
I build engines and trans for small Brit cars - Minis and Sprites - and the cost of parts has doubled for most of the smaller items. Pistons and such are almost impossible to find right now. Diff side gears have been unavailable for 6 months or more. A cross pin diff that I could buy for about £130 is now £187 and so on......if you could get one.
Anyone price a car paint job lately? They want upwards of $20K to paint a Mini now, materials that used to be a few hundred now run a few thousand for the same stuff.
So, is it going to drop back at some point, or is this the new normal? Cause if it is, it will sorely restrict what those of us on fixed income can do with our remaining days.
Housing prices are thru the roof too! And because of the increased value of our long paid for home, our taxes have tripled, not much chance of those going down again unless we have one hell of a recession!
My mortgage. A 30 year fixed that has been happily locked in for 10 years took an 18% jump starting in January. Half of it is a revaluation of the home and subsequently higher taxes and half in homeowners insurance jumping up significantly.
Natural gas. Been on the spread-it-out-over-the-whole-year plan and last month I opened the bill to find that instead of the usual $120 a month I owed just under $500. Turns out the costs have gone WAY up and my budget had gotten behind.
wae said:
My idea of going out to lunch during the workday is about $10. Granted, I don't do a lot of that in the last two years, but when I was in the office more frequently and we'd all go out to lunch, anything more than $10 had to be pretty special. Or bought by a vendor, of course. Occasionally, if I was by myself for lunch and wanted to relax a bit and either get some work done or read a bit, I'd go to Frisch's. I'd get a Swiss Miss, the salad & sour bar, and splurge on a cherry Coke. After leaving a tip, it would violate my $10 threshold by a little, but not crazy-town. A couple months ago, I was working over at the shop and decided to buzz out for something a little different than a Marie Calendar frozen pot pie. Same order, same quality of the food, but it was more than $20 after tip. Haven't been back to Frisch's since and I used to go a couple times a month.
Sticker shock? Go into UDF and look at the fresh donuts... $1.79! For ONE! Last time I had got one it was like 89 CENTS.
In another recent thread I commented about tires. Prius tires. Westlakes were $52, now $65. My Falkens have gone from $65 to $82. So, about 20% increase.
In reply to Driven5 :
Travel trailers, not so much, but I'm familiar enough with tent trailers to know that, accounting for inflation, prices on them have actually dropped over the last 30 (or maybe more) years. The prices I saw were, accounting for inflation, 100% over what they should have been. I understand prices going up, but the level of some increases I'm seeing make me wonder if they're thinking, people will pay anything if they want it. Demand is there, double the price and see if we can get it. And in this case, financing over 20 years makes it possible for people to afford.
The RV business is nasty. If you thought used car salesman are douchebags, look at new and used trailer sales.
RX Reven' said:
For several years, the wine I bought was $32.11 and suddenly it shot up to $36.25 (13% increase).
I Guess I'm switching to...
Been a while since I've made a purchase of the old NTE. What's a bottle go for these days?
Just for old times' sake, I had to see if this website still exists. It does: http://bumwine.com/
1988RedT2 said:
RX Reven' said:
For several years, the wine I bought was $32.11 and suddenly it shot up to $36.25 (13% increase).
I Guess I'm switching to...
Been a while since I've made a purchase of the old NTE. What's a bottle go for these days?
Just for old times' sake, I had to see if this website still exists. It does: http://bumwine.com/
I have never seen it for sale locally, and all the mail order places show it's not available.
They probably don't make it anymore.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
I have never seen it for sale locally, and all the mail order places show it's not available.
They probably don't make it anymore.
Oh, no! I sincerely hope you are mistaken.
Freight costs have damn near doubled for LTL shipments.
Beef. $8 a pound for ground. Steaks are insane.
Chicken, when you can find it, is also through the roof.
