I recently noticed that a box of toothpicks contains 10% fewer than it used to for the same price. So, I started making my own.

What's going to happen when tariffs hit kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities on Oct 1? Will be only get 75% of the cabinet for the same price?

I'm so surprised that nobody on houzz is talking about the new cabinetry and upholstery tariff.

Not shrinkflation but inflation. I did a double take when seeing this box of crackers on the shelf today for $5.38.

" I recently noticed that a box of toothpicks contains 10% fewer than it used to for the same price "

You must make a lot of rumaki. I don't think we've purchased toothpicks more often than once every 10 years or so.

" In answer to why prices haven't increased as much despite inflation, this is one reason - companies reducing quantities to keep prices relatively low. "

Would you prefer the contents remain the same and prices went up instead? I think producers reduce quantities because more people prefer that.

I don't know how we're going to tell if/when companies are just passing along tariffs or taking the opportunity for profiteering so they can blame tariffs. I suppose there will be some of both, but I'd like to be able to know so I can refuse to buy products from companies just out to make a fast buck. Like what exactly could make saltines increase that much in price? Nabisco makes saltines in the US and Mexico. The packaging? Who knows. The salt? I would think the flour is from US, but when I googled it, we import a lot from the EU and Canada...so maybe that has something to do with it. I found an industry chart that said the price of Nabisco Saltines was $3.94 in 2024. $5.38 is quite a jump.

Cracker prices in 2024 (link).

" I don't know how we're going to tell if/when companies are just passing along tariffs or taking the opportunity for profiteering so they can blame tariffs. "

I doubt you or anyone else in the general public would have the ability or the time to answer such a question. Do you in general follow and analyze over time the effect of input price increases or decreases on ultimate retail prices?

Product markets are competitive. If one company can produce and sell products at lower prices than competitors and do so profitably, then they do.

Companies that lose money employ no one and produce no goods or services.

I think people are becoming desensitized, a year ago we were complaining about the price of eggs, but now it is everything from groceries to automobiles, home repairs to medications. Why worry about the cost of kitchen cabinets when you can't afford food to prepare in that lovely kitchen.

Last Friday I was at a roadside farmstand and saw that they were selling egg 2nds - I had to ask what that meant. They told me they were eggs with small cracks but still safe to eat. I've bought eggs from local farmers and farm stands for decades and never before saw this.

I can't imagine buying cracked eggs even if the membrane hasn't been broken - salmonella can easily pass through the membrane. I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that some people are poor enough that they will take the risk, but there are probably many things that we can't fathom that are happening.

" Many of us saw this coming. "

What did you see coming?

Here's credible information from an unbiased source that says the year over year inflation rate in the US during Forgetful Joe's administration was the highest in the preceding 40 years. Inflation usually doesn't have an affiliation component.

Inflation rates by admin

Why worry about the cost of kitchen cabinets when you can't afford food to prepare in that lovely kitchen.

I think there are plenty of people who budget for both but the ability to do the new kitchen might be axed if prices rise that much and break their budget. My friends who are on a tight budget rushed to order cabinets this last weekend upon hearing the October 1 news. Their kitchen is 27 years old. They have saved a long time for a new one.

@Jennifer Hogan I can't quite imagine it's legal to sell cracked eggs but if someone were planning to use them only in baked goods or otherwise cooked well enough to kill salmonella, that they would be safe to buy. With the cuts to Food Stamps/Snap and other benefits, there are going to be a LOT of people who might choose the cheapest option. I hope the seller warns them about thorough cooking those eggs.

Elmer, there are things that leaders have great control over like imposing tariffs, and things they are handed like Covid. Yes Joe's first two years in office saw crazy inflation, but every country in the world was dealing with the disruption and costs associated with Covid. He slowed the inflation rates over his last two years in office. Instead of the rates declining they are going back up and most experts agree that tariffs will hurt the consumers.

Overactive imaginations involved in some comments.

The point of my inflation comment was, inflation is not newly arrived on the scene in 2025, as some have insinuated. Retail price increases are not newly arrived in 2025 and aren't directly attributable to newly increased expenses for producers. Imposing tariffs will increase prices but these by in large haven't happened yet.

It was a long time ago I took several macroeconomic/public finance and policy classes. My recollection is that the executive branch has little control over inflation. Federal spending, budget surplus or deficit, affects inflation and growth, as does the Fed's interest rate policies. The Executive branch has no buttons to push or levers to pull that affect these.

Interesting - I quoted someone above who had said "Many of us saw this coming". I questioned it. The comment seems to have disappeared.

My comment didn't disappear. I can see it. The plan was to raise tariffs, and that spelled trouble for the economy.

Lily, someone probably flagged it, which disappears it for everyone but you. Some here don't want any allusion to criticism of you know who and flag posts they disagree with.

Olychick, KT is one strange place!

In one of the threads that I started, someone commented about farmer’s markets in California, and that comment was poofed. Weird 🤷‍♀️

I can’t imagine why anyone would flag it. Pretty darn childish!

This has been going on for way longer than most of us think.

Example- remember when it was standard thar coffee was sold in 16 oz cans? then 14.5, 13. 11. 10.5 etc? Same thing with cereal, and how about "half gallon of ice cream"??

I remember possibly 10 or so years ago, DH was so annoyed by this that he questioned whether this was factored into the "market basket" when statistics were measured. Well the answer was no.

"He slowed the inflation rates over his last two years in office"

Actually he didn't do this, the federal reserve did it. When C-19 hit the federal reserve pumped 5 TRILLION dollars into the economy from Mar 2020 to Mar 2022, AND dropped the the federal fund rate to 0.08%! this caused most of the inflation we had, and wages went up to match the inflation. Then in Mar 2022 the federal reserve reversed it's position and started pulling money out of the economy to the tune of of 2 TRILLION dollars as of today including raising the federal funds rate from the 0.08% to 5.33% as of Mar 2024. This tightened the money supply and slowed inflation.

The white house has no control over what the federal reserve does as a independent agency. "HE" did not cause the majority of the inflation AND "HE" didnot slow the inflation rate, this is the federal Reserve's Job to control inflation and prevent deflation. In 2020 they were spooked fearing deflation and over reacted, I mean throwing out 5 trillion in 2 years was overkill when the fed's only pumped in 2 trillion over 4 years to get us out of the financial meltdown of 2008.

Food prices are based on inputs throughout the supply chain with many CEO's stating the cost of labor is the driving force behind their price increases. From the farmer/rancher to the grocery store the cost of labor has increased 20% to 25% in the last 5 years with labor the biggest part of increased prices. All the data is published in black and white with all the numbers to show what's going on so I can't understand it's such a mystery to anyone.

If you want prices for everything to come down to before C-19 prices this would be deflationary and require wages and costs for everything and everyone to to drop across the board, including social security, taxes, home prices, you name it and it must come down. And what else would come down is the federal government along with all of America collapsing! We would now be paying high interest on our high national debt with a large reduction in tax revenue and BAMB! Default! Game over! We saw what deflation did in 1929 to 1933 and it wasn't pretty. The government had only 16 billion in national debt then and would only be 300 billion today, NOT 37 TRILLION we have now. And the federal tax rates during the depression increased 300% across all brackets. Be careful what you wish for and the price of some imported kitchen cabinets would be the least of your worries.

Sure, dude. Whatever. Make an ad hominum attack with no point whatsoever.

There are many factors at play in controlling inflation:

Monetary policy - Federal Reserve

Fiscal policy - Congress and the President

Taxes, Government Spending, Trade Policies

Outside influences - Wars, Pandemics, Oil prices . . .

The Federal Reserve makes their decisions independently, but they do not work in a vacuum.

Jennifer, your second and third points seem to be the same thing.

To say "oil prices" is a bit misleading. You might instead use a broader term "prices of inputs for goods and services" to encompass more. When farmers in Iowa are able to raise prices for whatever reasons for what they produce, that's as inflationary as price increases in the world oil market. As just one example. But mentioning the price of hog bellies or soybeans is less politically incendiary.

Speaking of soybeans, what a hoot that they're going unsold because China has decided to reduce it's annual purchase of them from us for political posturing reasons. Wow, who would have foresaw that other countries retaliate for our unilateral policy stupidities?

Elmer - you are correct. I meant taxes . . . as examples of fiscal policies not as a stand alone comment. I have been writing and running code for the past 9 hours - eyes are tired and I am a bit burned out.

As for oil prices I was again just providing a few examples and I am old enough to remember oil embargo back in the 70s.

I hope you can take a break and get some rest soon!

Not so much arrogant as ignorant. As perceived by very many (maybe all?) of our "friends" and allies abroad, too much of American foreign policy and conduct in the world over the last century or more has been mostly ham-fisted and ignorant. Comical - we're laughed at quietly or overtly. We're too big to ignore, too big to do without, but it's the reality.

Just one example if you're interested in geopolitics - Woodrow Wilson's conduct and influence at the Versailles peace negotiations at the end of WW1 were disastrous. European allies (most notably British and French) tired of trying to deal with him and educate him about the many things he didn't know or understand. They gave up. Many of the things he insisted on or agreed to led to instability and wars for the next 100 years (including arbitrary border divisions throughout Europe and the Middle East)

The US Congress rejected much of what he proposed and rejected our joining the League of Nations.

We're no better at diplomacy or understanding the world today than we were then.

I still remember conversations with my dad when he would watch the news after dinner and then ask us kids what we thought about different things our government was doing and after we spewed out whatever position the news commentator had presented my dad would ask us questions about why we thought what we had just let flow from our mouths. He would then explain what we were doing in a different light - he would ask if we should be involved, if it was our place and were we doing what was right for the people who lived in these countries or acting to benefit ourselves.

I am forever grateful that he pushed us to think for ourselves and not just follow the band wherever it led. I miss him, but I am kind of glad that he and my mother were spared living in today's world and seeing the things they believed were our greatest strengths be slowly erroded. (Having the greatest education system, health system, moving toward equality for all, helping one another and focusing on community rather than ourselves. . .) He was disappointed in our government in the 60s and 70s. I can only imagine how ashamed he would be that our citizens elected such horrible people to lead our country.

My childhold home was one more of readers than TV watchers. Our city had two daily newspapers and we got both plus several weekly news magazines. I think the bases of resources for developing awareness were covered.

There's nothing like getting submerged into the happenings, news coverage and daily life experienced when living in another country to get to know one's own country much, much better. The perspective seen as other see, from the outside looking in.

16oz Nabisco Saltines are $3.68 at Walmart