I've written a few posts on the topic of inflation so far and TBH, it never ceases to amaze me how much prices have increased on basically everything this year!
I recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share some of the worst examples of inflation they have come across so far. Oof, buckle up for some of these.
1. "In 2020, I bought a pack of 100 bobby pins for $5. I went to replace them last week and they are now $10."
2. "Cat food was $16.99 a few months ago. It was $26.99 last week, more than 50% higher."
—Anonymous
3. "The cost of a small load of laundry at my nearby laundromat in NYC is $6!"
4. "Cuban bread! A loaf of Cuban bread in my area has literally been $1 for the last 12 years and it's now $1.50! I was so mad when I went to the store last week and saw the price. It may not seem much but I could always depend on that for when I didn't have a lot of money because one loaf can feed three people in my family and having to fork out an extra 50 cents is so irritating."
5. "Plane tickets. There is no reason on this green Earth why a BASIC economy plane ticket from Dallas to Chicago should cost $600. That’s bananas! When you look at the breakdown of the ticket you can even see that the fare itself is like $70 and the rest of it is 'taxes and fees.' It's. All. A. Scam."
6. "I went to buy a box of Froot Loops the other day and it was $9.49. I laughed out loud in the cereal aisle. $10 for a box of cereal. The gods must be crazy."
7. "We got a deck quote to install in our backyard. Nothing crazy or spectacular, just a pretty standard 12x21-foot deck. The quote was for $55,000. That's fifty-five thousand dollars. I typed it out so you know it wasn't a typo."
8. "I know everyone is going to say gas, but gas. When I started driving in 2017, it cost about $20 to fill up my tank when it was empty, now it's anywhere from $30–$40 a tank."
9. "For as far back as I can remember, bananas have cost $0.89/pound. That is (was) an unchangeable fact — until Walmart was selling them for $1.29/pound a few weeks ago. What the actual fork?!"
10. "The 24 pack of Cesar dog food from Target used to be $25 — it's now $30.49."
11. "My favorite brand of ice cream, Tillamook, has stayed the same in price in my area but has reduced their tubs from 52-ounce to 48-ounce. Super frustrating to watch it change over a week’s span."
12. "I bought an entry table at Target a few years ago for $80, and now the same table is listed for $170. (More than double!)"
13. "The dollar store is now the $1.25 store. Might not seem like much, but it is a 25% increase across the whole store. One that personally makes me mad is Goya beans going from $1 almost everywhere to $1.49 in my local stores. That's a f****** 50% increase overnight. Also, I work in a store, so I've seen the prices going up every day on everything."
14. "I went to Walmart to get those tasty little candy corn pumpkins with that iconic fall mix, and it's literally doubled in price. I think it was like $6.39 or something insane like that. I looked at my brother who was with me and we were both like 'Nope!' It's crazy to see it happen in real time and look at how much things used to be just a few years ago. It's absolutely insane looking for food and it is half your paycheck for a week's worth of groceries!"
15. "I knew things were going up, of course, it's hard not to see it. But I remember actually exclaiming out loud, "OH MY GOD" at some coffee. Peet's coffee has always been pricey in the store, like $9.99 a bag. It's my favorite and was a special treat once in a while. I go to grab some and at stores around me, it's now $13.99 per bag. Holy LORD Jesus. For a bag of pre-ground? Bummer."
16. "Every summer I would look forward to the $3.99 gladiolus flower bunches on sale at Shoprite in the middle of August. This year when I saw it was $16 I almost fainted. They’re my favorites and I would treat myself to three or four bunches. Goodbye to that!"
17. "I have to use distilled water in my sleep apnea CPAP machine. For six or most years, no matter where I bought it, a gallon was 99 cents. It’s now $1.29."
18. "Concert tickets! I was so excited to start going back to concerts this year after two years of no live music. I just spent almost $200 for Panic! at the Disco tickets for seats not on the floor. In the past, the section I'm in would be less than $100. I wanted to see others like Lizzo or Demi and just can't afford it."
19. "My favorite local bar and grill used to serve fries with any burger order, anywhere from $12–$16. Now fries are no longer included. The burger itself has gone up a dollar and fries are an extra $3."
20. "I always buy the cheapest butter, because I can't afford the good kind. I go shopping on the same day every week. One week it was $.98, the next, $1.98."
21. "I usually buy the gigantic boxes of Gold Fish and they last me and my husband about six weeks. They used to cost about $7, now they cost $13."
22. "I noticed today that Taco Bell is shrinking the size of their products."
23. "Thrift store prices. Places like Goodwill, and St. Vincent's have literally increased by dollars, not cents. I'm talking about used coffee mugs that used to be $0.98 are now $2.99. They get everything for free and Goodwill's CEO makes millions. Disgusting."
—Anonymous