It's nothing to do with pandemic anymore, that's just an excuse. I only buy what I need these days. It's the opposite of the panic buying we used to do. "Terrified Into Being Consumers" only works so long and then the entire system takes a break from reality. Every job now pays the same wage, and they have no benefits and they all suck... but hey There's tons of jobs out there.. (paying the same) wow. sounds like the American Dream. I just want to "get by", don't all of the rest of you just want to "get by" and never live your life? Make money for someone else. Wage slavery. Cool stuff.
I've been living that way for ages, long before the pandemic. Buy only what I need. If there are sales, stock up on what I know I'll use so I never have to pay full price for those items. And lately, when things hit a certain price point which I deem excessive, just stop buying them. Either find cheaper substitutes, or do without. I'm starting to just pass the snack aisle for that reason. Even the sales prices are now more than the regular prices were two years ago.
Lots of people are raising prices just because they're getting away with it (so far). When I was in business for myself, I knew all about rising prices. However, if the price of the parts for a board I was making rose 50 cents, then I charged the customer exactly 50 cents more. My profit was the same. I never used rising prices as an excuse to boost my profits. That's how I know most of these price increases are bogus. If they were just in line with cost increases then the profits of the companies selling this stuff would be the same. In actuality, many companies, including oil companies, are raking in record profits. They're using the pandemic, or supply line problems, as an excuse to raise prices far more than needed to cover their actual cost increases.
