Did we ‘win’ inflation?

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor M an, everything costs so much these days… but it looks like relief is slowly happening, and I think we, the consumers, are at least partly to blame.

For the past couple of years, inflation has caused the price of literally everything to go up. A while back, my youngest son, who prides himself on trying to be as frugal as I am (or, yes, as others might put it, “cheap) called me and lamented, ““Dad, have you been to Wendy’s lately?

They took the double-stack off the ‘Four for Four’ … now it’s just … a junior cheeseburger.”

He texted again a while later… “Dad,” he lamented, “They did it again! Only it’s worse! The ‘Four for Four,’ Dad! It’s gone. They took it away.”

Yes, most of us have noticed the price of even fast food has ticked higher and higher. But it’s not just the rising cost of a value meal.

It’s everything. A gallon of milk at the Marion Market Place yesterday set me back $5.07. And that was for the “blue” milk my wife insists we drink for our health (which I, of course offset by eating Chip’s Ahoy cookies one sleeve at a time). The “red” milk” was $5.39. That’s pretty crazy when it wasn’t that long ago that I was upset at having to pay like $3.50 for milk.

I saw a sign that a restaurant had posted on its front door. It said 12 months ago, fryer oil was $15. Six months ago, it was $35. Today it is $50. It continued, noting that 12 months ago, a case of chicken wings was $45. Now, that same case of chicken wings costs $175. A gross of take-out boxes that a year ago cost the eatery $25 now runs $95.

“This is the same for all of our cleaning, paper, and food products we use,” said the sign. “If a local restaurant adds a few dollars to your meal, it’s not to get rich, it’s to continue to stay in business.”

And I’m sure that’s true.

And it’s not just food. My daughter got a job over the summer that requires her to drive to Memphis and back every day. She has always had us to lean on for gas money (and still does most of the time) but now that it’s her 40 bucks or so going toward a tank of gas, she’s understanding what the real world cost of living is like. Now that she’s heading off to college, where she’ll be pretty much on her own, I expect she’ll get to experience her fair share of sticker shock, as everything (and I mean everything) costs money on a college campus.

But!!! There actually appears to be some relief in sight. It seems that inflation has been going down (is that “deflation”? I don’t know… I barely scraped by in the two college economics classes I had to take).

And not just trickling down like it has been for the past two years or so, but at a much faster rate than expected. The experts are saying it’s most likely do to simple consumer pressure.

“Americans have simply said ‘no’ to paying more,” said one analyst I saw online. It turns out that there actually is a limit to what we are willing to spend on things. Sure, we all have to eat but we don’t have to buy expensive items or fancy beverages. You really can just make a pot of coffee at home instead of buying a mocha-froaka haffy-caffee or whatever.

Gas prices have begun dropping because many motorists are electing to just stay at home, carpool or use mass transit. Desinger clothing and high-end electronics are sitting on the shelves instead of being bought up with credit cards by people who can’t really afford them.

And as someone who was cheap (I mean frugal) before it was cool, I think it’s awesome. We might actually have shown our corporate overlords that we actually can just do without, or at least do with less, if they are going to overcharge us. McDonald’s has begun lowering prices.

Their sales figures took a big McHit last year and into this year, so they are bringing back lower-costing menu items. We’ve seemingly set a price cap on what we’re willing to pay for a vehicle and car companies are being forced to listen. The same can be said for groceries, appliances, airline tickets (still not houses yet, unfortunately).

Not everywhere and not fast enough for many still struggling to make ends meet, but it’s a start.

I still think everything costs too much. One time not too long ago, I went to the grocery store and as I was going down the soft drink aisle. A mother asked her son to grab a 2-liter Coke off the shelf.

As he was doing so, he said, “$2.59 for a Coke?

That’s the expensivest it’s ever been!”

Now, I don’t think “expensivest” is a real word, but maybe it should be, because I do know one thing … that kid is right.