Inflation snapshots: December 2009

[GRG55]

Re: Who could have known?

The Americans show the Brits how it's done...

Now Kraft makes an old Cadbury favourite 14% smaller (...but you'll still be paying the same)


By Jonathan Petre, Mail on Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 12:00 AM on 19th December 2010

US food giant Kraft has dealt anotheer blow to chocolate lovers by announcing it is to shrink the size of its Cadbury’s Dairy Milk bar – but the price will remain unchanged.

Cadbury was taken over by Kraft earlier this year. And from February, it will shave 20g off its 140g bar, a reduction of about 14 per cent.

Other bars in the Dairy Milk range are staying the same size – but their prices are going up by as much as seven per cent...

...A spokesman for Cadbury said last night: ‘We have taken the decision to increase prices because of economic factors such as ingredient costs.’

It is not the only sinner, however – boxes of Maltesers, made by Mars, shrank from 140g to 120g last year while Swiss food giant Nestlé trimmed its Yorkie and Aero bars – and also hiked up their price.

Nestlé has also increased the price of its Kit Kat and Kit Kat Chunky bars twice this year, according to The Grocer...

[jk]

Re: Who could have known?

cocoa is down a bit for the year, but sugar is up about 50%! and those candies are mostly sugar.

[Down Under]

Re: Who could have known?

As of July 24, 2009, minimum wage in the United States was $7.25/hour (before taxes). At the beginning of 2010, minimum wage barely bought you a pre-tax $6.79 ream (500 sheets) of paper at Office Depot. By the end of 2010, that cost had skyrocketed to $9.49 per ream, nearly a 40% increase. But printer paper isn't a necessity for those who need to feed and clothe their families...

Interesting about the cost of a ream of paper in the US. A ream here is typically AUD 6.49 and I still regularly buy it for AUD 5.00 per ream, on special.

But, we've experience big increases in the price of electricity/gas.

[jpatter666]

Re: Who could have known?

Interesting about the cost of a ream of paper in the US. A ream here is typically AUD 6.49 and I still regularly buy it for AUD 5.00 per ream, on special.

But, we've experience big increases in the price of electricity/gas.

I just looked at Office Depot and yes, the price is ~$10 for highest quality. They have 30% recycled on sale for $5.50.

Speaking for natural gas, I recently locked prices for my house in a two-year contract. Might still go lower but I doubt very much while I could easily see it going much higher.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Who could have known?

I just looked at Office Depot and yes, the price is ~$10 for highest quality. They have 30% recycled on sale for $5.50.

Sam's Club has 5000 sheets of 20 lb. copy paper for $29.77, which is $2.977 per ream if you buy 10 reams.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

is there any truth to this comment on Zero Hedge?

by MarketTruth
on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:36
#840148

Food inflation will be approximately 5% beginning January 4th. Producers have already priced this on to their wholesaler's sheets, so retailers may price it even higher to consumers.

[aaron]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

The price of food commodities have gone up quite a bit over the past year. For example, coffee, corn, and wheat are all up around 50%. Oil is close to $90 as well.

http://i51.tinypic.com/whaz2v.jpg

Eventually, these costs must be passed on to the end user. First quarter 2011 is the time I heard as well. .

[Serge_Tomiko]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
*

Oh my god, ethanol can cause nervous system disorders? I can't believe it!

[Serge_Tomiko]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

I mean no offense to you, KGW, but this list of hazards seems suspect. I don't use fabric softener myself, but there are a couple things about this list which ring warning bells.

Ethanol is, of course, what people drink in alcoholic beverages. Obviously, a lot of alcohol isn't good for you, but there is such a thing as a negligible dose. We get less exposure to ethanol from fabric softener than from intentionally imbibing alcoholic beverages, so it is odd to cite ethanol as a hazard in this case. The fact that ethanol is included in this list signals that the writer is disingenuous -- they are on a search for anything that sounds dangerous, without regard to any rational metric by which to assess the danger presented. Frankly, that makes me question the intent of the list, and the integrity of the rest of the information presented.

In my opinion, any list of "dangerous" chemicals which includes common drinking alcohol -- and which lists chemicals as being "dangerous" but does not say what levels of exposure are dangerous or what levels are present in the product being critiqued -- is a propaganda hit piece.

ASH always has reasonable, intelligent responses even in more extreme cases such as this. A true model of civility and inspiration to us jaded smart asses.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

Overpaying for years for grocery items not packaged for single people, so far, the main difference smaller packaging means to me is that I'm throwing out less food.

[LargoWinch]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

As FRED pointed out, MSM is late as usual.

Also they drop the ball near the end of the clip with "contact the company" to complain about inflation... doh! As if company these "greedy companies" engineered an increase of input costs... Never blame the banks, the Federal Reserve et al. on MSM, in fact don't even mention it.

[jneal3]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

For some reason I didn't really believe I would have a direct encounter with this phenomenon, that I would always just read about it, but this morning when having my daily instant oatmeal, it seemed really watery; thinking about this thread, I pulled the old box and compared to the new (purchased roughly 1 week apart), and voila - old box has 10 packets at 43g each (might have to click on to enlarge):

old.jpg

new box 10 packets at 34g each:
new.jpg

over 20% less at same price.

[LargoWinch]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

Cool (actually not, but anyway) jneal3. Thanks for posting.

[flintlock]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

I think it is very obvious inflation is higher than the COLA adjustments would have us believe. Smaller amounts of product in same size packaging shoes how stupid they think we are. (They are probably right!)

[cjppjc]

Re: Inflation snapshots: December 2009

What's up with soup lately. Not too tasty.