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Has anyone noticed that basic commodities have gotten really expensive over the course of the year? Seems like my usual brick of cheese is $3-4 more expensive then the start of the year and milk/bread has all gone up around here as well. Any one else noticing it?
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
Can't say too much about the increase, ramen is always cheap. Light help us when the powers that be make that stuff expensive.
Also, regarding the picture, It's really a matter of convenience. I mean which is easier to carry around for the average person? A 2 liter or a 20 oz? Getting a 2 liter is obviously cheaper, but people ignore that for convenience.
“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.”
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It's convenience but there also is a cost. Per ounce it actually takes more plastic for a 20 ounce bottle then for a 2 liter.
The soda itself is sooooo freakin cheap its mind boggling. Places that sell fountain drinks have the bulk of the cost tied up in the cup. The soda's cost is so tiny. Thats why they can afford to have free refills.
Fountain Soda is a huge money maker for businesses. And places that charge for refills make even more.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
There's actually a very simple reason: I bet you wanted to buy the larger one when you saw that price, didn't you? Now consider the situation if they'd offered the smaller one at the same per-volume price. Would you feel so strongly that you should buy the biggest product anymore? Probably not. So, to get you to buy the larger one they increase the price on the smaller one so it looks like the big one is saving you money.
(Obviously you wouldn't do this with a perishable item that you have to throw away if it doesn't sell immediately, but I bet there's enough turnover on the smaller ones despite the higher per-unit price that they still sell most of them in time.)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/10/02 03:30:55
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
And a perfect balance is reached. People will buy the small one when they don't want the whole 2 liters, and people will buy the 2 liter when they want more.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Grey Templar wrote: And a perfect balance is reached. People will buy the small one when they don't want the whole 2 liters, and people will buy the 2 liter when they want more.
Which pretty nicely demolishes the myth of the "rational customer" that free market worshipers depend on. Even if you didn't think you'd want the larger one the rational thing to do would be to buy it anyway and then throw away the part you don't want since the additional cost is so small compared to the probability that you will drink enough extra to make up for it.
(Plus, it's a 1-liter bottle, not a 2-liter, so it's not as difficult to transport.)
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Well a rational customer will have different reasons for wanting the different sizes.
Someone may not want to waste anything, so they purchase the smaller size. Another will purchase the larger when it makes more sense(such as for drinking at home)
The Rational Customer exists. Whats rational for one is not rational for the other of course, thats why we have target customers.
The 20 oz soda targets the customer that wants something fast, such as to go with their lunch. The 2 liter targets the customer that wants soda to drink at home or is having a party.
Both target groups will behave like similer customers.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Grey Templar wrote: Someone may not want to waste anything, so they purchase the smaller size. Another will purchase the larger when it makes more sense(such as for drinking at home)
Except it's only waste if you don't use it. The difference in price is $0.10, so if you drink even a small bit over the volume of the cheaper one you come out ahead even if you dump the rest of it down the sink.
The 20 oz soda targets the customer that wants something fast, such as to go with their lunch. The 2 liter targets the customer that wants soda to drink at home or is having a party.
Read the picture again. 1 liter, not 2 liter. The larger one is still small enough to be reasonable as a lunch beverage and is by far the better deal. The only reason you'd ever buy the smaller one is if you're not paying attention when you grab it off the shelf.
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
Grey Templar wrote: Someone may not want to waste anything, so they purchase the smaller size. Another will purchase the larger when it makes more sense(such as for drinking at home)
Except it's only waste if you don't use it. The difference in price is $0.10, so if you drink even a small bit over the volume of the cheaper one you come out ahead even if you dump the rest of it down the sink.
True enough, although you will not have been as ahead as you would have been if you used the entire bottle. A rational person will not toss away the extra like that.
The 20 oz soda targets the customer that wants something fast, such as to go with their lunch. The 2 liter targets the customer that wants soda to drink at home or is having a party.
Read the picture again. 1 liter, not 2 liter. The larger one is still small enough to be reasonable as a lunch beverage and is by far the better deal. The only reason you'd ever buy the smaller one is if you're not paying attention when you grab it off the shelf.
Ahhh, someone else said 2 liter in the thread so I assumed the larger was a 2 liter.
Still, the point stands. Someone may not want that much soda(health concious people)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/10/02 04:02:03
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
I only eat cheap food that I can pay for with the change my dad leaves in the communal money dump.
Er... But yes. I notice it. You can't even get a good box of cookies for a good price, let alone international things, like hummus, matzos and other delicious things.
Everything is inflated right now. Guns, ammo, food, office supplies, clothing, warhammer, houses, F-35Cs....
Grey Templar wrote: True enough, although you will not have been as ahead as you would have been if you used the entire bottle. A rational person will not toss away the extra like that.
Except you only have to drink a very small amount extra to make it the better deal. After that you can do whatever you want, throw it away, drink it, save it for later, whatever. Even if you're only ahead by a small amount you're still ahead. Therefore the rational choice is to always buy the larger one.
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
Well a lot of the reason that the price of pretty much all foodstuffs is going up is because of the price of corn, which is pretty much at an all time high. Ergo, anything that uses corn or corn byproducts, ie pretty much everything a typical american eats, is becoming more expensive. For the last two years or so people have been predicting that America will physically run out of corn. It hasn't happened yet, but if it did, well, the consequences would be gastronomic.
The reason that the price of corn is going up is twofold, one; the US congress legislating a certain percentage of all gas has to be ethanol, creating an artificial corn bubble, and two; the midwest and parts of Canada have been in drought conditions for about two years or so, the average bushels per acre is down quite a bit across the board.
TL;DR, Corn has tripled in price meaning everything else that americans eat also increases.
Tonight I spent $10 on two boxes of Girl Guide cookies. That is highway robbery, Goddammit. And yet, I cannot resist the draw of thin mints.
jokes aside, though: across the US there have been massive droughts, leading to an increase in corn prices which are already inflated due to the extremely inefficient need to produce ethanol from corn so as to appease whiny hippies. Anyway, the corn prices cause just about everything other price to hike up so severely because the bulk of all American-produced foods are dangerously dependent on corn.
Grey Templar wrote: Well a rational customer will have different reasons for wanting the different sizes.
.
Possibly.
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We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
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I am part owner in a small bakery business. The price of commodities such as eggs, wheat, etc have tripled in the last 8 years.
However, it is not uncommon for the "essentials" such as basic foods to see staggering cost increases in a bad economy, while hi-tech gadgets and such go down in price.
Think about it. The basic foods are the things people "will" spend money on no matter how bad things get, because you need them to live. Therefore, they become ripe for speculation/manipulation/investment. There has also been a boom in agricultural land speculation recently, for a similar reason.
Now, factor in scarcity due to drought and such and you can see this issue being magnified. Welcome to the new Boom/Bust bubble.
On a side note, I have heard a lot of buzz about food proces being one of the main motivators of the Arab Spring. it these trends continue, expect more unrest ahead.
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Has anyone noticed that basic commodities have gotten really expensive over the course of the year? Seems like my usual brick of cheese is $3-4 more expensive then the start of the year and milk/bread has all gone up around here as well. Any one else noticing it?
Inflation. We are in a Carter style "Malaise" of stagnant growth and inflation.
Note the CPI doesn't include fuel costs or food, the big items on a lot of people's monthly bills.
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azazel the cat wrote: Tonight I spent $10 on two boxes of Girl Guide cookies. That is highway robbery, Goddammit. And yet, I cannot resist the draw of thin mints.
jokes aside, though: across the US there have been massive droughts, leading to an increase in corn prices which are already inflated due to the extremely inefficient need to produce ethanol from corn so as to appease whiny hippies. Anyway, the corn prices cause just about everything other price to hike up so severely because the bulk of all American-produced foods are dangerously dependent on corn.
All true statements.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/10/02 13:27:28
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I don't know about there, but 2-litres are usually not in the fridge and are not cold, whereas the 20oz is in the fridge. The option typically is between room temperature soda that is awkward is for drinking while driving or walking but is good for having at the house and one that is cold and easy to carry and drink while driving or walking. You pay extra for immediate use and portability; it is a traveling drink. In this instance the actual comparison isn't the per oz cost, but what the utility of the item is.
At best, ethanol isn't just to appease whiny hippies, but also Iowa caucus corn farmers. If Iowa wasn't such an important (by virtue of being so early) election stop, ethanol subsidies would be different.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/10/02 17:09:27
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Ratbarf wrote: Well a lot of the reason that the price of pretty much all foodstuffs is going up is because of the price of corn, which is pretty much at an all time high. Ergo, anything that uses corn or corn byproducts, ie pretty much everything a typical american eats, is becoming more expensive. For the last two years or so people have been predicting that America will physically run out of corn. It hasn't happened yet, but if it did, well, the consequences would be gastronomic.
The reason that the price of corn is going up is twofold, one; the US congress legislating a certain percentage of all gas has to be ethanol, creating an artificial corn bubble, and two; the midwest and parts of Canada have been in drought conditions for about two years or so, the average bushels per acre is down quite a bit across the board.
TL;DR, Corn has tripled in price meaning everything else that americans eat also increases.
And here the evil of Ethanol is revealed
Its so brutally inefficient and it drives the price of almost all food products up. Anything made with corn as well as all meat and dairy products goes up. IE: everything except bread(not including cornbread)
Corn itself is inefficient as a food source compared to things like Rice and Wheat, making it even more inefficient is insane.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
I know a lot of it has to do with the piss-poor crop yield from this summer due to the month long drought in the mid-west. I used to drive by dead/ruined corn fields all the time this summer
Its so brutally inefficient and it drives the price of almost all food products up. Anything made with corn as well as all meat and dairy products goes up. IE: everything except bread(not including cornbread)
Corn itself is inefficient as a food source compared to things like Rice and Wheat, making it even more inefficient is insane.
It's not actually the evil of Ethanol, it's just that they've mixed politics with reality again. Corn is actually a rather inefficient way to make ehtanol, sugar cane is actually the crop you want. The problem is that they don't grow that in large quantities in America, so throw the farmers a bone so to speak, they mandated that it has to be corn ethanol from the united states. Which pretty much doomed them to artificially high corn prices.
As to an inefficient food source in comparison to wheat or rice, that's actually a yes and no. You can do things with Corn that you can't do with Wheat do to the high level of liquid sugar found in corn that isn't present in wheat, and rice is incredibly labour and water intensive and as such isn't a realistic crop for the American North West. So pretty much Corn has wheat beaten on variety of uses, and rice beaten on labour/water costs and necessity. It really is an almost perfect crop for the North American climate and eating habits. The only thing dumb about it is that the farmer lobbyists have seduced the government into subsidizing corn in addition to mandating it's use in the production of ethanol.
I know a lot of it has to do with the piss-poor crop yield from this summer due to the month long drought in the mid-west. I used to drive by dead/ruined corn fields all the time this summer
They've had two years of low crop yields, and if they get a third it is quite possible that they will physically run out of corn next year, which would be pretty disastrous for pretty much everything food wise in the states. Pretty much if it has sugar in it, and it isn't honey, fructose, or granular sugar, it came from corn.
Since we want to talk about corn, how about the bioengineered seeds made to die so that the farmers have to buy new ones instead of getting seeds from that years crop.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
Ahtman wrote:Since we want to talk about corn, how about the bioengineered seeds made to die so that the farmers have to buy new ones instead of getting seeds from that years crop.
Now you're talking about Monsanto, and thus can use the word "evil" with impunity.
Since we want to talk about corn, how about the bioengineered seeds made to die so that the farmers have to buy new ones instead of getting seeds from that years crop.
You can buy non-terminator gene corn. The only real pre requisite for corn is that it's round up ready, Everything else pretty much pales in comparison. Also, a lot of the corn that you get nowadays doesn't have the terminator gene. They are instead coated in a chemical that makes the seeds offspring not viable for growth, this can be circumvented by use of a seed cleaner. Alas, Monsanto has been burying these fellows in legal fees simply because they have a seed cleaner and not specifically because they actually broke Monsantos patent on that corn. It's illegal to re-use the seed anyways. You sign away that right when you buy the seed.
rockerbikie wrote: You should see the cost of living in Australia... It is depressing...
My buddy and I talk about it, even once you factor in the difference between Aussie and US money and account for the differences in minimum wage down below... yeah it's brutal.
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
And if you're drinkin' well, you know that you're my friend and I say "I think I'll have myself a beer" 
