what's the worst inflation you've seen?

Anything listed as "Prime" on Amazon is going to be more money, and prime isn't what it used to be. A prime benefit is 'free' shipping, but it really isn't. Here's pretty much the same item at Walmart, plus it comes with a spray, $3.97, great price right, well unless you're buying at least $35 worth of stuff the shipping brings it up to prime's price, minus 2 cents. So Amazon just puts the shipping cost in the base price instead of as an add on.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/NOCO-NCP2-MC101-Battery-Terminal-...

Used to be I'd shop on Amazon and really not give it much thought for most things. Now I always try a few other places too.

So Amazon is where i've seen the most inflation on stuff I buy on a regular basis. That, and the price of gasoline has gone up about $.40 in the past week or so.

My biggest issue with amazon is all the fake products and product commingling. You never really know what you're getting until the product is in your hands.

I do not buy any storage media (flash memory) as this is the worst. Hard drives are also a no no. Not because of fakes but because amz doesn't know how to package them properly.

Re Prime, I think there's different grades of it. We used to get prime products delivery 11am-3pm. Now it's more like 8-10pm, at least with the trial prime.

Simple, I've a,tire that had a slow leak.

Every time I'd inflate it, it would still go flat!

Totally in agreement here! I would not buy any cards from Amazon, counterfeit cards are common. I have written this before and I’ll quote it again.

“Actually just because they are filled and shipped by Amazon doesn't give you a good guarantee they are genuine.

It is my understanding by a neighbor (a Best Buy Manager) that Amazon sells the same product from many vendors, and the ordering system handles the sale. So let's say I give Amazon 100 counterfeit copies of a brand XYZ 32 GB SD card to sell for me. Amazon also buys direct from the importer 100 copies of the genuine brand XYZ 32 GB SD card for sell under the conditions filled and shipped by Amazon. All the cards labeled as brand XYZ are placed in the same stock bin and the computer simply handles who made the purchase and a robot (most likely) draws the card from the bin. But in this example you have 50/50 chance of getting a counterfeit card.

Amazon regards the products as fungible, meaning that an SD card made by brand xyz is the same regardless of who is selling it. Further, if a warehouse in Brooklyn runs out of stock of the brand xyz 32 GB cards, the order may be filled from a warehouse in Harrisburg PA regardless of who has supplied the cards in any given bin.

So buyer beware on these small commodity type of items; you may not know what you get, until you get it!

Now my same neighbor tells me that Best Buy at the Corporate level purchases thousands of cards every year, and they purchase them direct from the importer. They are then disseminated downward to the individual stores based on the BB inventory system. There isn't any unknown middle person, the card is supplied from importer >> Best Buy Corporate >> local Best Buy store. The odds are much higher in this scenario to get the genuine article.

Also, Amazon I think has recently changed some return procedures. I recently purchased something ($8) that was made of fabric with the some grommets. The fabric was ripped around the grommets. I had to return the item to a local Whole Foods before they would issue a credit.

I haven't bought and microsd cards recently but plenty of 32/64GB flash drives, either sandisk or sandung from newegg. That is, sold and shipped by newegg. Those seem to be legit too.

I would not buy memory cards from Newegg and for the same reasons I’ve outlined about not buying from Amazon. Sold and shipped by Newegg means little, all the cards are likely in the same bin and grabbed, packaged and shipped.

For a $15 card on Amazon, you’ll like pay $17 at Best Buy or one of the big online camera stores like Adorama or B&H.

I bought a bunch of rechargeable NiMH batteries from Amazon on sale. I specifically chose, and paid more for, the ones listed as "Made in Japan". 5 boxes of them arrived - all "Made in China".

I talked to Customer Support - first they didn't even recognize the problem, even though their own site was full of reviews saying the Chinese ones were hopeless compared to the Japanese, and secondly they said they couldn't ship me replacement ones listed as "Made in Japan" and guarantee that that was what I would receive. They did offer to cancel the sale and let me keep the Chinese ones, which I did.

Even for free the reviews were right, the Chinese ones are crap - TV remote has to be recharged every two days. In future I'm going to look for Eneloops - and they won't be bought on Amazon.

The one good thing about "filled and shipped by Amazon" is total no questions asked returns, and a lot of the time for the less expensive items they'll give you credit and tell you to keep the item.

Also, about returns, I've noticed a lot more choices now, I've never run into a situation where I "had" to return via a specific place. I can simply take it to a couple places not boxed hand it off let them scan a code, they box and ship it and my refund is in my Amazon account by the end of the day, or returned to my payment source in a few days. I can also box it myself and print a free return label, normally for UPS.

My only gripe, as I mentioned before, is the word PRIME today doesn't mean what it used to mean as far as shipping goes, no longer a two day guarantee. Sometimes it's two days from when it's processed, which can add a few days to it, on the flip side I've placed an order in the morning had the item before dinner time.

I purchased a few 8 TB Hard drives from them. One came, or rather the heat sealed package arrived but there was no drive inside. There was a large gap in one of the heat sealed seams where the drive came out. Fortunately for me, the postmaster stamped the envelope "Arrived open" and signed it in two places. After submitting a claim with pictures and waiting a month, I finally got a refund. Luckily for me, the drive price increased $50 in that time frame.

the price creep on Amazon has been terrible. I now always check Walmart & Target before pulling the trigger on Amazon.

I thought this was gonna be about inflation, not buying from Amazon.

Anyone that lived through the late 70s and mid 80s just shakes their head at what's now called high inflation. I well remember buying my first house, actually condo, in 1985 with a 12 or 13% fixed mortgage. And it had dropped several percentage points to get down to that. I also remember refinancing down to about 9.5% a few years later and thinking that it couldn't drop much lower than that.

I am afraid you haven't seen anything yet and will be worse than the Jimmy Carter days of the 18% prime rate. Interest rates are being kept artificially low right now, which you can do in the short term. The bills for the pandemic are coming due and for every dollar printed, all dollars in circulation are de-valued. I really feel for the next several generations that will be paying the most for reckless spending, there is a limit that an economy can absorb.

Batteries are a good example of a fungible good. A laymen's definition of fungible is "Fungible goods are items that are interchangeable because they are identical to each other for practical purposes."

So a bin can have a 100 of brand xyz made in Japan AA batteries and 100 brand xyz made in China and as far as Amazon is concerned they are the same. A robot pulled from stock and as smart as the robot is, it could care less about China or Japan.

This is likely to only happen with relatively low priced items.

amazon has many bad prices, and many good ones.

disclaimer: I own the stock, I am a prime member

It is not wise to order from amazon without googling the item to do a reality check. that isn't supposed to be conducive to becoming a successful business, but they are.

On Dewalt tools? I have gotten killer prices from amazon themselves, and they are authorized. For example, the 20v car polisher was $158--HD was like $220, and some of the authorized etailers even more. Deal of the day.

I do think that I got the battery washers for 97 cents amazon prime, and they were $9.xx, is bordering on being unethical. But I don't want my stock to suffer hahahahahahahaha

Now, Costco. I own the stock, I am a member, and I am a fanboy. I do not need to price check them, if their item is on sale. Period. They're 20 bil shy of catching Walmart, who is terrible, BUT, I also trust their regular prices and I do shop there.

Stuff like the trailer hitch and bike rack? Walmart smacked amazon like no tomorrow (Allen locking 4 bike trailer hitch rack was $103 when amazon was $150 and went up to $200 lol).

my .02

I know what they're doing, but they shouldn't advertise them as different products - at different prices - if they're not going to fulfill them that way. As far as I'm concerned it's either lousy business practices or straightforward 'bait and switch'. Either way I'm done with batteries from Amazon.

You think the inflation is bad now, just wait until the bill comes due for all the stimulus money that 65% percent of the population didn't need.

I had a yen for Japanese rechargeable Eneloops. Bought them from Amazon and they came in tape-sealed boxes. The boxes and batteries say Made in Japan. Hopefully they're not counterfeit. Oh, and they came fully charged.

I know, not Amazon, but gas prices have risen a lot.

I always check Walmart & Target before pulling the trigger with Amazon.

common sense said the extra $600/wk unemployment had ill effects. Why should someone work for $35k when they get $50k unemployed? Not to mention it was unfair. I truly say hats off to people at Walmart, Trader Joes, etc., who went to work Mar 2020 and the rest of the year for that matter.

Even U Chicago who is liberal stated that has a damaging effect on people returning to work.

There's an aspect of society that's gamesmanship. Our parents were so different in mindset, they worked hard without any guarantees.

I did get a Seiko automatic watch for $175. I recognized it as a good price, made in Japan. It went up to $400 the next day, $500 a few days later. Someone who works at amazon knows why, I'm sure.

In 1981 I was served with divorce papers as my wife wanted to marry another man. I came away from the divorce proceeding with the judge awarding me the home and custody of my two children, age 10 & 12 at the time. I was paying 8.75% interest on my home that I had purchased two-plus years earlier but as part of the settlement, I bought out my ex-wife's 50% equity of my house.

Home interest rates is 1981 were sky high and I took out a 10-year second mortgage at 17.26% interest to pay off both my divorce lawyer and the 50% home equity stake to my ex-wife. My house payment was effectively doubled after my divorce. It was tough sledding for a few years.

Looking at today's interest rates in the range of 3% doesn't seem anywhere near inflationary as back in 1981. Were I paying today's home interest rate in 1981, I would have been ahead by tens of thousands of dollars by comparison.

credit cards while a junior in college, Citi and AMEX. What made things funny is that as recently as 10 years ago, I was a member of AMEX for longer than its CEO lol

Anyway AMEX was not a revolving credit card, but what was stupid was for me at 20 to pay an annual membership. Citi was a credit card so I maxed it out in a matter of months--$1,200.

I told my mom I don't know what to do the interest is 18%, I'll never be able to pay it off. She said you need to transfer it to a lower interest rate. I said how do I do that? She said look in the newspaper for an offer, and mail it in. hahahahahaha pre-internet

I was able to get it to like 6.9%. But imagine, $1,200 and my world was crashing down.

As a mature adult, I learned the silliness of 0%. I took a 0% card when my son was born in 2013. The plan was to pay the monthly to myself, collect interest, and then pay it off 18 mos later. You guessed it. I found myself with a $14,000 balance and began the 0% balance transfer dance (only now usually there's a 2-3% fee). My wife had a 0% NO FEE offer 2 years ago so we moved it there. Only now am I within striking distance of paying it off. So as old as I am, I understand the fallacy of 0% purchases.

A surprise today was that I noticed my VMW stock was down maybe $30+ since a couple weeks ago. I saw there was a special dividend of $27.40 so now I have some unexpected cash. Nothing I can do about it, wasn't my choice, and taxable. So I'm planning on paying off the 0% debt.

Here's an interesting, and disturbing, YouTube video about how Newegg does business, at least on this one occasion. I don't know if it's endemic within Newegg but it happened at least to Gamers Nexus.

Phil

GAS!!

Wow. Surprised the newegg drama made it all the way in here.

I saw Steve Burke's video interview with newegg. Typical corporate PR nonesense. I doubt any real changes will come about from this or remain once it blows over.

We got 2 microcenters in town so that's the prime source for parts. Amazon second. About the only things I buy from newegg these days are digital software downloads (when on sale), and some flash drives.

With boards at MC, I'll open them to inspect the socket before paying.

I got a VA loan at 8.5%. That was cheap. If I remember correctly, conventional rates at that time were 14-15%. We haven't hit that rate yet, but we still have another 2 and a half years to the next election. Anything can happen in that period of time.

$1.899 a year ago.

$3.599 today. YIKES!

--

it's the dog's fault

A year ago no one was going anywhere, so there was a surplus of fuel.

We have seen it higher and lower.

We have seen the market manipulated for greater profits.

No reason one cannot get emotional about it, of course!

What's sad is that two years ago the U.S. was energy independent and gas here by me was $1.99. BTW, this is not meant to be a political discussion.

Phil

Kim Kardashian's buttocks.

Just checked a minute ago, they're marked $0.97 now.

a T6 driver and I am a Channellock fanboy. But the unfortunate thing is the Channellock lasts about 22x5 screws and is shot. Actually,after about 22x3, the tool has deteriorated and begins damaging the screws as well. Luckily, the tool is $2.95.

I read reviews of many T6 drivers and all the same result. Suddenly, I found one made by Wiha and people saying doesn't strip, worth it, etc.

Got one and wth, reviews were true. No damage at all to the T6 driver, and can torque up the T6 nicely.

Price was $9.50 delivered before tax.

Went online and Wiha themselves give it a $6.50 list price and even less on their portal, but not free shipping.

That price in my area will draw hundreds of cars lined up for miles.

$4.65 where I live. $70 is my new record high to fill up 15 gallon. It was only $60 back in January 2022.

Price goes as high as $6/gallon in some areas in Los Angeles.

All you can do is to go to Costco. The margin will be as fair as it can get (they don't make much on gas, it's to draw people in to shop). In NJ, people don't even have to be a member to get the savings on gas. Bet the same is true in OR.

In Calif. you don't even have 93 octane, to add insult to injury. You'd be unable to blend your way to 91 (hardly worth it imho but some do it).

That about sums it up.

We bought commercial property in St. Louis, MO in late 79 and the interest was 13%. We would have to pay rent anyway, so it was justifiable.

However !!!! We considered every dollar paid against that mortgage to be 13% interest earned, so we did without a lot and paid it off by 1985. We then, rented the property to our own commercial photo studio which was incorporated.

We still own that building, for 43 years, and it has turned out to be the best single investment, dollar for dollar, that we've ever made.

Soo.... "It's not what you make, it's what you keep" and paying interest ain't keepin' it. .....

$5 a gallon for gasoline and soon to be higher???? This is badddddddddd

Always been told if you don't own the building, good chance you should not start a business. There have to be exceptions but even in NYC? Many of the business owners that I know of own the building, and same thing, it was not as of late that they bought it, it was in the 1980's.

I always lament the poor real estate values where I live lol

I go to sites from work, and I'll hear, "Yeah, we bought it for $550 back in 2002, and now it's more than tripled. But we can't move anywhere because it'd be the same as what we sell it for."

Ain't gonna lie, you can buy a brand new home where I live for less than 3x $550k, brand new, as in 2022 construction. And it'll be like 5 bed/5.5 bath too. Although I don't get it a town house is $900 hahahahahahahahahahahaha

5 x 5 sheet if 18mm Baltic Birch plywood went from $37.10/sheet to $69.87/sheet in less than a year! All building products are out of sight!!

Before I pull the trigger on Amazon, I now always check Walmart and Target.

Inflation... Just stuff going up due to artificial supply and demand.

Imported stuff, and anything tied to climate change.

I like hamburgers, chili, tacos, casseroles, and other dishes with ground beef. How many of you make the traditional Tater Tot casserole (called a "hot dish" if you are form MN )?

Ground beef (well all fresh beef) has doubled in price and seldom goes on sale these days.

I like hamburgers, chili, tacos, casseroles, and other dishes with ground beef. How many of you make the traditional Tater Tot casserole (called a "hot dish" if you are form MN or the Dakotas )?

Ground beef (well, all fresh beef) has doubled in price and seldom goes on sale these days.

Lets see, we had a pandemic, people stayed home, lots of people continued to make money, and while they stayed home they bought more stuff. Then, by magic, demand was up, supply wasn't and we had (great surprise) inflation. I guess that it is a surprise if you don't believe in the relationship between supply and demand and it's consequences.

Inflation is a characteristic. It isn't good or bad. I don't know what "worst inflation" might mean. Frankly, characterizing inflation seems profoundly stupid to me.

During the Ronald Raygun administration I had accounts making 18% and more. Is that BAD inflation? Inflation isn't good or bad. Inflation is.

I think there are many ways to fight inflation. Last week, pork chops were $1.99/lb. That was a good price in 1999, 1985, etc. So for 2022? An excellent price. But I didn't want them, too dry. lol So if instead I buy a steak on sale $6.99/lb, that's on me. Or, said steak at Costco, $12.99. I ain't too proud to eat the sale.

At work, we have a batch of 200 printers coming in, that were ordered June 2021. Our retail was just under $800. They now sell for $1,700+. Businesses are about pennies. So, if it can be passed on to the client, such as in a cost plus environment, so be it. If not, we need to look at going beyond the 5 year life on what we have.

Our raise is supposed to be 3X what it was 2021, through the grapevine. I'll believe it when I see it, but I haven't gotten a raise that % since about 1999. I'm not talking about switching jobs, I mean the standard across the board merit increase.

I agree. It seems that every time I want to order, the item is not eligible for prime shipping. I am not sure it is really worth it. Not only that, I pay annually for Prime, yet I was being billed monthly. Thank goodness my credit card refunded the money and is now blocking the charge.

I have used Walmart but find that days after you order something, they say it is no longer available. this has happened on many occasions and is very disappointing.

I kind of think all of this is what made Costco a titan. Many have a problem with a membership fee, but I say, how many $'s has the average person wasted on auto insurance or AAA over the years? I wasted 7 years of AAA Plus, before I finally came to my senses and canceled it. Then they say, how about if we give you $30 off? I said if you give me $120x7 off, you have a deal. Costco does not gouge and margins are low, and they supposedly vet the products, and have an easy return policy, gasoline, and tires. I calculated that if all you did was to buy gasoline, a single driver can break even on the membership in 4.3 months.

Anyway, yesterday, I was going to buy a Char Broil premium 5+ burner grill cover, amazon was showing a discount at $28.67. I price checked and sure enough, Lowe's $39, so legit. But I never got around to ordering it, and so it was $15.99 when I checked again lol So I got 2.

Again, someone who works for amazon knows why they do that.

Then, my wife got some moisturizer a couple weeks ago, it was $5 off when you buy 2. They are $20 each, some French stuff.

Sunday, a 3rd item came. I bet one of those 3PLs that amazon uses messed up, like an IT issue. I envision a system crashing, then a restore, and that restore showed orders still needing to be fulfilled, that were already fulfilled. Not to worry, amazon will penalize the 3PL.

p.s. Walmart spanked amazon on the Allen bike rack, and Draw Tite hitch, in early 2021. Walmart can't be counted out.

you probably have seen, I ain't too proud to save.

Saw some serious reverse inflation yesterday.

Shop Rite had limit 4, $1.99 for 12 oz lol Jimmy Dean bacon. Well sure we grabbed 4, that's really 3 lbs @ $2.65/lb. This is not only pre-inflation but pre covid pricing. I woulda expected it to be sold out.

Their corned beef was $1.99/lb., 32 cents more than two other stores but we're already there, bought the largest they had (last week at ACME, due to $1.67/lb., when i was there, only 4 literally were left, and all tiny, 2 to 2.5 lbs. After cooking it's a single serving).

Pork chops $1.99/lb. This is late 90's pricing, not my favorite but bought one pack and froze it.

My parents were savers. In HS, it was embarrassing, our car was 15 years old.

Look at me today? I have a 1998, a 2006, a 2007, and a 2011. The newest car will be 11. My daily driver is 16 (mfg 9/05) going on 17 (unlike my parents' cars, no rust, came from FLA and I got it in '16).

Have not gotten our increases yet but rumor was 7% for avg, 7%+ for exceeding performance. Not sure about bonus but the co had its best year in its history.

My point is if we "look" and are willing to "adjust," we can survive. But all I hear sometimes among my "rich" friends is complaining (don't worry I don't tell them about sale prices, they buy $25.99/lb choice steaks, which I think is stupid, even Costco sells prime for less).

my .02

was in the early years of the Reagan presidency. Home mortgage interest rates were running 18%, and I thanked my lucky stars that I had a 5.25% interest rate on the house that we had bought a few years earlier.

The causes of price increases are sometimes hard to identify. Gasoline prices at the moment are 50% higher than they were 15 years ago when oil prices were 20% lower than they are now.

On the other hand, sometimes it's easy to spot what is going on. I have a vivid memory of driving past gas stations in November 2004 less than an hour after the polls had closed for the election and watching the posted prices take a BIG hike. It turned me into a real cynic.

- Tom -