You stand outside in the cruel, late winter chill. Your heart races. Your blood pressure boils. Sweaty hands clutch like death on the handle of the four-wheeled conveyance in front of you. The doors slide apart.
Open your wallet and prepare to bleed out. You’ve entered the field of battle.
Your neighborhood supermarket.
Like the Elvis song goes, they’re trying to run us all up a creek.
The other day the head of Kellogg’s came out with a helpful solution to greedflation, suggesting we all “eat cereal for dinner” to save money. I think maybe the guy is ingesting a little too much All Bran because his tone-deaf proclamation is a lot of B.S.
I can’t even begin to comment on the froot loops on his media relations team who thought spewing this roughage would be good PR, but the fact is, cereal has skyrocketed in price, so aside from being insulting, it’s far from cheap.
Myself, I draw the line at $7.00 for a box of processed wheat or corn. And nobody’s fooled, Mr. Grocer, by tricky “sales” that require you to buy two or three boxes to get a few cents off.
And it’s not just the supermarket. Check out what they’re saying about fast food. When it costs less to sit down at a mid-range restaurant than to take your family to McDonald’s, something is seriously out of whack. For a family of five, takeout can easily run you 60 or 70 bucks.
Demand pricing
Recently, Wendy’s ran into trouble–caught raising a trial balloon on “demand pricing.” In other words raising the price on burgers and fries depending on the time of day and the number of people lined up in the drive-thru lane. They backtracked on it the next day after a social media firestorm.
Here’s a demand pricing idea: How about we consumers demand that retailers and food service stores stop with the greed.
I don’t know how it is where you live, but at my local supermarket, it’s more than $5.00 for a tub of cream cheese. Living in Philadelphia apparently confers no discount!
Price increase, free of charge
Cable companies have been in on the greed game for years. Recently more aggressive with bait and switch schemes. “Free” offers to increase your internet speed and upgrade you to a new TV package which ultimately sunset your old discounts and cost you more on your monthly bill.
Have you planned a trip lately? Car rentals are as high as a mortgage payment. A Motel 6 can cost you $200 a night, let alone a Hilton or Marriott in the $300 or $400 range depending on the city. Airlines want you to pay ever more to check a bag and to choose your own seat. On top of which their domestic fares now rival the cost of an international flight.
It’s too much. Too much greed. Too much monkey business.