Supermarket excessive price increases not in line with inflation of 3or4%

I agree that Jack Monroe's comments are both pertinent and interesting. Some basic food stuffs have gone up quite dramatically percentage wise, others have kept the same prices but lowered the pack size.

Harmonypuss, please look at buying your Royal Canin dog food online. It’s a third cheaper than in shops and free delivery within a day or two.
Compared with much of the rest of the world our food prices have historically been much lower. The ‘essential’ basic ranges have less wriggle room to keep prices low.
Tin hat time I’m afraid.

It's greed on the part of the supermarket often. Years ago when inflation was soaring, I had a Saturday job with a very well known and old established high street chemist. I was instructed to put new products on the shelves that were priced higher than the existing stock. I was told to change all the labels to the higher price, and when I queried it and said that the existing goods had been bought at the lower price, I found myself most unpopular with the manager.

Kali Compared with the 1970s, 5% is low. However the target set for the Bank of England is 2%. Inflation is usually brought under control by increasing interest rates. Anyone for 10% interst rates on mortgages. That would bring house prices down!

Calendargirl

I suppose we have got used to low inflation. Can remember when inflation was really high, ( the 70’s or 80’s?) and groceries seemed to increase in price on a weekly basis.

What indications have you got that inflation will be 'low'?
This is not what experts are saying currently.

@lilypollen

Did some investigating and found that Aldi's Langhams premium dog meat tray is manufactured by the same company that sell Naturo and it's 25% cheaper. Not saying that it is exactly the same composition but still....

This applies to a great many products across all sectors.

I saw something the other day that said when you drill down into the actually recipe for Weetabix and Asda's version, there is 0.004g extra salt in the Asda one, otherwise the recipe is exactly the same.

Many big name tablets we buy over the counter have generics with exactly the same composition, you can tell because they both have a matching number on the back of the box.

The thing is, it's a case of trial and error to find a product that is similar enough to do a switch or contacting manufacturers to see whether they'll let you have sight of the exact composition of their products, which is usually unlikely because they don't want others 'exactly' copying their products.

I've been known to talk about chocolate and cakes on other threads where products are made for various supermarkets and luxury brands in the same factory, using the same ingredients.

So yes, in some cases, it's possible to find cheaper substitutes for things we normally buy but the issue is when the supermarkets' increase the prices on those 'cheaper' brands making it difficult to afford even those.

Casdon

Inferior quality pet food is not good for animals though Jaxjacky, that’s one thing most pet owners will be very loath to compromise on. At the moment, it seems to be specific items which are increasing in price, so I’ve been buying alternatives for us - but not trading down the dog food!

Did some investigating and found that Aldi's Langhams premium dog meat tray is manufactured by the same company that sell Naturo and it's 25% cheaper. Not saying that it is exactly the same composition but still....

The Cost of Living basket is not representative of what any single person buys, but is representative of what everybody buys in sufficient volume to be included in the basket. Each year new items are added and others removed. It includes also, furniture, white goods and doft furnishings, because over a year a lot of people buy these items.

Everybody's idea of what is a necessity will differ from others. To me pet food is irrelevant and is a luxury because we do not have pets, and, apart from once having hamsters, never have had them, others would exclude petrol and motoring costs because they do not run cars.

Items on the list are weighted by the proportion of total consumer spending they represent, so the basics you mention will be more heavily weighted than a leg of lamb.

@M0nica

Producer prices, what manufacturers pay for their goods, has gone up by nearly 10% in the last year and 20% since the start of the pandemic. So perhaps we should be glad that inflation is only 5%

I wouldn't be quite so worried if it was just 5% in our pockets but it's 5% in each and every stage of the process which ends up costing us more like 20-25% more.

The list of 700 items in the 'basket' that's used to calculate inflation includes such 'basics' as champagne, a leg of lamb and a mobile phone. How many of us but these things every week? Is this a reasonable list of items to use for such an important calculation? Surely, the list should be purely things like the true basics, bread, milk, eggs, toiletries, cleaning products, pet food, petrol, gas & electric etc.

The two items of pet food I started this thread with equated to an almost 37% price increase, so how exactly does that fit with 5% inflation?

Kate1949

Aldi and Lidl are still cheap. We are lucky enough to have both within walking distance.

I noticed the price of packets of pasta in Aldi today were half of what I paid in my Sainsbury's local on Wednesday. ( I got a couple of packs for the store cupboard)

Jack Monroe is very good at housekeeping and her recipes for those on a budget are excellent, she is an expert in not wasting anything.

Aldi and Lidl are still cheap. We are lucky enough to have both within walking distance.

The problem is that the 'basic' ranges have been priced right down with narrow margins, so that when price rises come through they have no capacity to absorb any of the costs, so every rise in cost has to be immediately reflected in the cost.

Higher price ranges have more profit written into the price so that some extra costs can be absorbed, in the short run, although they too will creep up slowly but less noticeably.

I would echo what a couple of others have said about Jack Monroe's piece on Twitter. It is definitely worth a read. Jack is very good at demonstrating in real terms what the rises actually mean to people. It's scary just how much some prices has shot up - I think in one example Jack quoted, there had been a rise of more than 300% on one item alone! And the worst increases were at the lower end of the price bracket - the 'basic' ranges which many people on a tight budget rely on. No wonder the use of foodbanks is also increasing all the time.
I do the shopping for my housebound in-laws every week and just this morning I noticed a few of the things I buy regularly for them had gone up by quite a bit. Even what seems like a small increase on one item can all add up when you get to the till.

I was just about to post what I realise now Calendargirl has already said.

Producer prices, what manufacturers pay for their goods, has gone up by nearly 10% in the last year and 20% since the start of the pandemic. So perhaps we should be glad that inflation is only 5% www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/producerpriceinflation/december2021includingservicesoctobertodecember2021

I've noticed price rises in my weekly shopping not just by pennies buy 50p at a time I always buy a bag of ready cooked chicken for stirfry's etc and this week it went up from £3 to £3.50p staple foods such as free range eggs gone up 30p for my usual buy and many others across the board.I am lucky to be able to afford these price rises but worry about people on basic pensions and families on minimum wage and how they will manage when energy prices rise again in April.

I don't notice many special offer deals in supermarkets these days either. There used to be loads of BOGOF offers but not now. I needed a new tyre last week. That was £20 more than usual. Can't get the stock apparently so the price goes up.

It was interesting what Jack Monroe posted yesterday regarding inflation for the hoi polloi in real terms. Maybe worth a google? (I have to go to work)

Sorry, Calendargirl not Casdon.

Yes I remember Casdon. So many factors feed into price rises - transport (fuel costs, increase in drivers’ wages, shortage of shipping containers), shops’ and manufacturers’ overheads (wage rises, energy prices, rent and business rates rises), shortages of products to mention just a few. Add up the increases at each point in the supply chain and it’s easy to see how prices in shops rise by more than one might expect.

I suppose we have got used to low inflation. Can remember when inflation was really high, ( the 70’s or 80’s?) and groceries seemed to increase in price on a weekly basis.

Because I don't work, I do have time to visit 2 or 3 different stores to attempt to get the best value for my money but then I also have to factor in my travel costs which, with fuel costs rising, is also becoming more expensive.
Fortunately, my dog isn't too fussy about his food but ever since I had him as a puppy, he's been on a Royal Canin breed specific food which doesn't come cheap but I believe he deserves it and I try to bulk it out a little with Harrington's and now that he's middle-aged he has Glucosamine tablets for his joints which he refuses to take unless they're hidden in some wet food, so supermarket own-label does a good enough job for that.
After I'd paid the inflated prices in Asda I did pop into Sainsbury's for a few bits and saw that their tinned dog food was £3.00 and Harrington's was £8.50, so I was kicking myself for not waiting and buying there, but if I'd not been physically up to going to another store I wouldn't have had the food for his tablets.
Some people have said, and will say that I could buy cheaper alternatives but I'm on my own with him, I don't have any vices, so give the dog the best I can and I know he is getting the best because my vet comments on his fantastic condition every time we see her.
But no, this wasn't only about dog food, that was just the biggest price hike I saw on this trip to the store, its ludicrous how anyone will be able to live with all these price hikes when salaries/benefits etc either aren't increasing at all or by such tiny percentages that any extra cash in our pockets gets swallowed whole (and much more on top) by the most essential things like food and basic utilities.
The way things are going, I'll soon not be able to put the lights on or cook food for fear of not being able to pay for the electricity, I've already gone through what we've had of a winter so far without turning any heating on because it's so blooming expensive, it's just a good job I've got plenty of jumpers, blankets and the dog to keep me warm.

The little packs of shortbread fingers in Morrison's have gone from 49p to 60p - not an essential but I like them, and it's still cheaper than making shortbread, but it's a big jump. I work in a different supermarket and everything across the board seems to be rocketing.

Being discussed now on Question Time

What - gin or price increases in general?

I couldn't face any more tonight (QT etc, not gin).

LOL, I was talking about in general- not just gin ;)

Plenty of juniper berries where I live- I foraged quite a lot- prickly work.

Being discussed now on Question Time.

Kali2

What do you think is the principal cause of those rises?

There is a world shortage of juniper berries because there has been a decline in the European juniper berry production couple with an increased demand.