This long Easter Weekend the Affordability Crisis hit home. Again, another headline has affected prices, this time the Gulf War. As the conflict rages, the Inflation Ripples have rolled on to the Berlin Shores. On Good Friday the stores were closed. Saturday, a regular day, shops open, staff restocking, buyers getting supplies for Easter Sunday and Monday, however, changes were occurring.
Grabbing the basket, I walked into the local grocer to pick up a few items for the holiday dinner. To my surprise the store was running on full, the re-stockers were not only refilling the shelves but also changing the prices, upward of course. Companies were taking advantage of the long weekend by preparing a price ambush for shoppers on Tuesday.
Walking through the aisles the increases were noticeable. Vegetable prices to my favorite guilty snack cookies went up by 10%. A supermarket employee complained about the sticker shock, noting the new price of carrots and other vegetables.
Blaming the 35-day conflict in West Asia as another excuse for rising prices, once again shoppers are confronted by real inflation on goods. Over the past six years from COVID, to the Ukraine and Iran Wars excuses pile up for consumers to pay more.
Trekking over to my local mall, taking snap shots of price tags, I wondered how much longer can prices go up every other week? Visiting a local mall, shopping in Berlin is the same as living in a hyper inflationary South American Nation circa early 1980’s. How much does this or that cost, this week?
The global consumer is now a guessing contestant on a never ending episode of a Price is Right game show.