Will there be a limit to Walmart's price increases?

[Miramonti]

For a number of years, I've been selling my soul by shopping at Walmart in order to save money. However with their sharp and consistent food price increases this year, it's barely saving money and just isn't worth it anymore.

Kroger (Smith's around here) is getting most of my business now.

 

[Anonemous]

Aren't food prices supposed to sky rocket soon? (due to the drought)

 

[zerocool84]

Well food in general is going up in price so we have to deal with it.

 

[Miramonti]

Aren't food prices supposed to sky rocket soon? (due to the drought)

It's been happening at walmart much of this year. Like most people, there are certain products I buy repetitively, and overnight they add 20%, sometimes more. Frustrating.

 

[lxskllr]

The Walmart near me is expensive as shit, and half the time their prices are mismarked. About the only thing I get from them anymore is day old bread, and El Yucateco hot sauce.

 

[mmntech]

Aren't food prices supposed to sky rocket soon? (due to the drought)

That's what they keep saying. Apples will be expensive due to early frost that killed blossoms. Though if they're too much, I'll let them rot on the shelf.

The price of just about everything is going up. The necessities anyway. Food, fuel, shelter. Guess we'll just have to cut back. :\

 

[waggy]

For a number of years, I've been selling my soul by shopping at Walmart in order to save money. However with their sharp and consistent food price increases this year, it's barely saving money and just isn't worth it anymore.

Kroger (Smith's around here) is getting most of my business now.

And you think its just walmart? the walmart i go to is still the cheapest but the prices are getting higher. Hi-vee is my 2nd favorite place and its far higher then walmart.

oh and prices for everything is going to shoot up soon. the crops this year have not been good.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't care. Food prices are a small part of my expenses. I can still eat for a whole day on a 2 dollar box of zatarains jambalaya mix. Of course I don't eat that every day, but then we get into the fact that we are complaining about not having the luxury to eat something different every day for cheap. We can do that by the way, even with current prices. How about we start looking at the massive amounts of money we spend on other useless shit before we complain about food prices. I bet I could buy another bass boat if milk were a dollar cheaper right?

 

[Miramonti]

The Walmart near me is expensive as shit, and half the time their prices are mismarked. About the only thing I get from them anymore is day old bread, and El Yucateco hot sauce.

Price mismarkings at walmart are frustrating as well. Any time you have to stand in their customer service lines for a correction, it's a bad day. That's if you catch the errors. Last time I didn't and didn't want to go back.

That sauce looks good, no vinegar.

 

[waggy]

I don't care. Food prices are a small part of my expenses. I can still eat for a whole day on a 2 dollar box of zatarains jambalaya mix. Of course I don't eat that every day, but then we get into the fact that we are complaining about not having the luxury to eat something different every day for cheap. We can do that by the way, even with current prices. How about we start looking at the massive amounts of money we spend on other useless shit before we complain about food prices. I bet I could buy another bass boat if milk were a dollar cheaper right?

high five for knowing what everyone does!


really if you can eat for a day on a box of zatarains (yummy stuff) you are single. come talk to us when its a family of 4 with 2 kids.

to be honest your post was idiotic. IF you can't understand that the cost of food is going to be and is a major issue for families.

oh and guess what? its going to get worse over the next year.

 

[Svnla]

WalMart meat prices are higher than other places such as Kroger's and Albertsons around here.

 

[Miramonti]

That's what they keep saying. Apples will be expensive due to early frost that killed blossoms. Though if they're too much, I'll let them rot on the shelf.

The price of just about everything is going up. The necessities anyway. Food, fuel, shelter. Guess we'll just have to cut back. :\

It's getting harder and harder to cut back, as I've been doing it for a while. Fortunately there are a lot of grocer chains around here to pick and choose and get the best deals between them.

And you think its just walmart? the walmart i go to is still the cheapest but the prices are getting higher. Hi-vee is my 2nd favorite place and its far higher then walmart.

oh and prices for everything is going to shoot up soon. the crops this year have not been good.

I have to assume it's wide spread. But I really dislike their method of jacking something up hard overnight. Apparently Target is overall cheaper than walmart now, but their food selection around here is small and not products I normally buy.

On the other hand, I bought chicken breasts at kroger for $1.67/lb, tied for the lowest I've ever seen here. So I bought 30lbs, cut them up, and froze them in ziplocks.

 

[mshan]

Few tidbits about food inflation because of drought I've seen:


http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000111832&play=1

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000110778&play=1

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-us-drought-hitting-harder-most-realize



Whole Foods CEO was on NBR recently. IIRC, he said he expected 2% inflation for rest of this year, 3 - 4% inflation next year.

Beef prices might come down temporarily now because instead of feeding them with more expensive corn feed, they are apparently sending them for slaughter now.

I think I remember reading there should be 6 - 9 month lag between input costs going up and seeing it at market.

 

[waggy]

It's getting harder and harder to cut back, as I've been doing it for a while. Fortunately there are a lot of grocer chains around here to pick and choose and get the best deals between them.



I have to assume it's wide spread. But I really dislike their method of jacking something up hard overnight. Apparently Target is overall cheaper than walmart now, but their food selection around here is small and not products I normally buy.

On the other hand, I bought chicken breasts at kroger for $1.67/lb, tied for the lowest I've ever seen here. So I bought 30lbs, cut them up, and froze them in ziplocks.

beef RIGHT now was cheap too. we got..err not sure how many lbs but bought $800 worth. we couldn't find a deal on a half a cow like i was hoping.

yeah and chicken is fucking dirt cheap. we have 20 lbs (baught all the store had).

 

[Anonemous]

I used to eat Zatarains but damn high sodium diets (2K+) are not good at all...

 

[lxskllr]

Price mismarkings at walmart are frustrating as well. Any time you have to stand in their customer service lines for a correction, it's a bad day. That's if you catch the errors. Last time I didn't and didn't want to go back.

That sauce looks good, no vinegar.

The sauce is tasty. It's very "dry", and fairly hot for supermarket sauce. I hot turned on to it by a local Mexican food place. They serve fresh tortilla chips, homemade salsa, and a ranch type dressing to dip them in. I like using the ranch with a healthy dollop of El Yucateco on it. It's a nice blend of cool and hot. The only thing I don't like is the artificial color. It's completely unnecessary, and kind of lame. They make an extra hot(I think that's the difference, but it tastes about the same to me) sauce that doesn't have artificial color, but it's hard to find around here. It doesn't even look bad. It's kind of brown. About what you'd expect from a pepper mash.

The food prices being mismarked are especially irritating, because it's usually only tens of cents. Not worth the hassle when you're standing at the register, and you may be misremembering anyway, but if they get you for a buck every time you go, it gets into real money. Anyway, I try to patronize smaller stores, and buy products made in MD as much as possible. The 5 stores I go to most are...

Harvest Fair - locally owned, and has old school charm. Prices tend to the higher side, but they have a unique mix of dollar store stuff, and ultra premium goods.

Redners - Employee owned, and a good amount of MD made goods. Prices are lowish to moderate, and they have an excellent selection of just about everything in the sub-premium category.

Giant - Union shop. Moderately high priced, but a nice selection of premium groceries. Produce is first rate.

Aldi - This goes against my buying local thing, but the prices are cheap as hell. I like their efficient setup, and the food quality is as good as national brands, but at (sometimes sub)dollar store prices. Kind of far, and I combine it with my BigLots trip.

BigLots - Quirky ultra premium food on occasion, and sometimes routine, but very cheap typical stuff. It's always changing, so it's fun to shop there. I also have one of their tracking cards, and get 20% off my tenth order. I load up the cart when I get 20% off :^D

 

[MrColin]

I do not shop at wal mart. In the last 5 years I only purchased 1 thing there (rat poison), they can't possibly fuck that up can they?

I've been a hater of wal mart since I took a seasonal job there after high school in 1991. Back then there was a lot of "made in America" marketing hype. I remember unloading truck after truck of boxes with Chinese labels. The clothing inside all bore "Made in America" labels. There's a lot more to complain about but the bottom line is that Americans will get what they deserve by shopping there. You can save a few bucks today but you're not going to like the consequences. Blaming Obama wont help.

 

[Miramonti]

WalMart meat prices are higher than other places such as Kroger's and Albertsons around here.

That's a shocker, seriously never seen that before aside from meat specials at the chains. But this is the first place I've really shopped at walmarts. The kroger-based store around me has always been my favorite, and with walmarts high prices, and my wifes 10% discount on all kroger items, it's converted us.

Few tidbits about food inflation because of drought I've seen:


http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000111832&play=1

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000110778&play=1

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-us-drought-hitting-harder-most-realize



Whole Foods CEO was on NBR recently. IIRC, he said he expected 2% inflation for rest of this year, 3 - 4% inflation next year.

Beef prices might come down temporarily now because instead of feeding them with more expensive corn feed, they are apparently sending them for slaughter now.

I think I remember reading there should be 6 - 9 month lag between input costs going up and seeing it at market.

Interesting. Will have to take a look at the vids, thanks.

beef RIGHT now was cheap too. we got..err not sure how many lbs but bought $800 worth. we couldn't find a deal on a half a cow like i was hoping.

yeah and chicken is fucking dirt cheap. we have 20 lbs (baught all the store had).

D@mn that's a lot of beef. But when you're feeding a family I'd bet it doesn't go as far as one would think, particularly if the kids are grown.

This might be the time for us to consider a storage freezer. Sometimes you have to spend more to save more, and we just don't have enough freezer space to buy that kind of size and also freeze our extra fruit/produce from the back yard.

 

[OverVolt]

Futures contracts, ugh. Artificially low prices now, 50-80% higher prices later!!!

That means $6 milk in December :/

I'm stocking up on non-perishable food this week. They'd prefer you don't, since the prices are artificially low. I already have cabinet full of like 20lbs of pasta :X

 

[theevilsharpie]

The Walmart near me is expensive as shit, and half the time their prices are mismarked.

This. Wal-Mart's advertising about low prices is like North Korea claiming that they're a democratic republic. I've never seen their prices lower than local stores, and the quality of the food sucks.

 

[OverVolt]

Do you guys read your own articles?

Right now, physical grain traders are saying that prices are too low and that unless they rise, we're going to run out of grain before the next harvest. Obviously, that's not truly going to happen – increasing scarcity will cause prices to rise until current demand levels are reduced.

I'm stocking now which is the exact opposite of what they want you to do. Since Wal-Mart sells a higher volume of food, I'm betting they already ran out of the futures-contract negotiated food prices and are now having to use real market prices. The food sucks in quality and is expensive, sounds about right.

Opportunities like this shouldn't exist, food prices should already be higher. It boggles my mind.

 

[dawp]

This. Wal-Mart's advertising about low prices is like North Korea claiming that they're a democratic republic. I've never seen their prices lower than local stores, and the quality of the food sucks.

Yup, lousy quality, no locally sourced products, limited produce selection, and generally prices are higher for what they do carry. And don't even get me started on their meats.

 

[OverVolt]

Yup, lousy quality, no locally sourced products, limited produce selection, and generally prices are higher for what they do carry. And don't even get me started on their meats.

Oh yea their produce sucks. I only get long-shelf life food at walmart.

 

[Vdubchaos]

VERY few people have it right.

Some things are cheaper but in general their quality is complete shit and prices higher.

People LOVE the illusion of "savings" associated with the name though.

 

[theevilsharpie]

I only get long-shelf life food at walmart.

I don't normally shop at Wal-Mart, partly because because they don't have a store close by, and partly because the stores always seem to look disheveled. However, I got a $25 Wal-Mart gift card as a gift a few months ago, so I figured what the hell. I swung by a local Wal-Mart and picked up some cereal, body wash, and a case of bottled iced tea. Wal-Mart couldn't possibly screw up non-perishable food from national brands, right?

Wrong.

The cereal was stale, the body wash left me feeling "greasy" (for lack of a better term), and the tea was so nasty I threw out the entire $10 case after trying to drink two bottles. And again, these were national brands.

I strongly suspect that manufacturers retaliate against Wal-Mart's pricing pressure by supplying them with the lowest-quality batches that pass through inspection. I can't think of any other explanation why the quality of Wal-Mart's products are so much lower than other stores.