So it was time for me to do the big monthly grocery shopping trip today.
That means I get to walk down most of the aisles at the supermarket, including the ones where I don't spend a lot of time because most trips to the store just means "grabbing the essentials" and getting on my way.
Real Estate...
Now, I have often talked about the trend in the housing market by which we see — for example here in our small town and in many towns around the United States and the rest of the world — how many older apartment buildings and older houses (that are generally fairly reasonable to rent), get bought up by some company and are transformed from being reasonable places to live into being million dollar luxury condominiums and top market houses.
I suppose we could argue that the capitalist system serves to effectively cater to supply and demand, but what happens in the longer term with these situations in which everything is upgraded and gentrified is that the people who are actually the service providers to a place that has a high quality of life can no longer afford to live in that town and so they move away. As a secondary result of which the interesting and unique shops, businesses and restaurants that gave the town it's high quality of life typically end up shuttering their doors because the help they need to keep going can no longer afford to live close enough for it to make sense for them to work there.
Then the town is suddenly a lot less attractive, and everyone stands around scratching their heads, asking "What happened to our town? It used to be so NICE here!"
Back to the Supermarket
So what does this have to do with a trip to the supermarket?
Because I am a keen follower of trends and changes in society, one of the things I've noticed as of late is the ongoing efforts by food manufacturers to "inflate" their products as a way to avoid raising their prices.
Today I noticed it in the condiments aisle when I was shopping for salad dressings.
Lo and behold, a couple of major brands seem to have recently introduced new "restaurant style" and "deluxe artisan" versions of their salad dressings. You might look at that and simply think "what's the problem? You have more choices!" Maybe so.
At the moment these are being introduced and are "on sale" at 25% off, in the same size container as the original, but this new "luxury item" is $7.49 instead of $4.49.
Okay, you might be saying, so what problem with that?
Supermarket Gentrification
If history is anything to go by, within a few months the supermarket itself — or the manufacturer — will discontinue their "economy" brand. There was never a price increase.
Nothing has really happened except the low price option has come off the shelf — the low price brand in many cases being the store "house brand" — and will no longer be an option and the space will have been filled by a $7.49 options. As I said, no prices were actually raised, but the consumer choices were changed so that there no longer IS a low price option."
And, in that sense, it's not all that different from taking the affordable apartments and turning them into luxury condos. Still the same number of apartments, likely in the same building. You simply remove the affordable option from the market altogether and replace it with a top end of the market option.
With the number of families being "food insecure" on the rise, it's hardly a situation that's going to end well. We're what you might call a "lower-middle" household by statistical measure... and we find ourselves increasingly "doing without."
But hey, we can still afford rice and beans!
=^..^=
Curator Cat, February 20th, 2024
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Beautiful looking 👍
Economic hypes is really chopping into our finances. As you said when affordability is erased from the market you are left choice less than to comply.