Was my app glitching when the price shown on the screen was just over $12? It wasn’t unfortunately, as a McDonald’s 10 chicken nuggets meal does indeed cost that much, effectively what two burger meals would have cost a few years ago. Or how about my shock when a chicken sandwich combo for my son at Chick-fil-A cost me close to $17! Yes, he did upgrade his drink to a milkshake, but even without that, it would have cost close to $14. Holy! What in the world is going on?
These are just two of thousands of examples out there where people are feeling the sticker shock on a daily basis. In some cases, you can almost sense that the price was arbitrarily set higher to keep up with others who are raising their prices. Like a mechanic shop I frequent from time to time for some general work: his seasonal tire swap and oil change was around $100 for last few years. This year? Oh let us set it at $140. A 40% markup!
So I have had it. Prices have gotten so frustratingly high for some items and services, I just gave up and decided to not only cut down, but in most cases forego buying what I want altogether. This has ended up saving me a lot of money as well as calories, fats and sugars: result is a healthier and wealthier me! Can’t beat it, win-win. This doesn’t stop me from living or enjoying my life, but I am more careful with my money and choices. As a consumer, and going back to my university economic education, price elasticity guides me and there are a few things in my life that are price inelastic. In other words, if prices go up by more than a few percentage points, I will respond by buying less and less. And if they go too high up (say 30% or more) then I may stop buying altogether or find alternatives. And in fact, smart retailers and other businesses will thrive and gain new business if they can keep their prices lower or at least not raise them as much as what the going trend is.
For me, every time I choose not to buy something due to its sticker shock – especially food – it just means that money will stay in my pocket and I can save it for something else. Cutting on buying outside food also means a healthier me and that is a great win-win proposition.
Unfortunately, this is hurting the economy, at a time when the economy needs every bit of a helping hand to get it back up. Here in Canada, the government is not helping things by keeping its unpopular carbon tax, which adds a whole layer of pressure on the price of almost everything in the economy.
We can’t hold off from buying forever. After all, this will make the economic worse, and that will impact everyone of us. We still need to spend to keep the economic engine going. But while things are looking dire, let us be more careful with our purchasing decisions. One thing we can do, is to refuse to just pay whatever price the retailer sets, even if we know it is significantly higher than we used to pay just a few months ago. As they say, price is a signal, but this can always work the other way.