Is it inflation or a rip off?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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The Sticks, Northeast PA.
A beer in Newark airport costs $27. A beer at a PGA event costs $18. I recently had to get a new car; the dealer claimed a $5,000 "dealer fee". Yeah, we've just come through a pandemic, which caused all kinds of economic upheavals. Some things are in short supply and prices will rise. But, are some taking advantage of the situation? Justin Thomas, the golf guy, has rattled off about the $18 beers. And the car dealer, who claimed there was a shortasge of new cars has a parking lot full of them. Is it inflation or a rip off?
 

fuzzybuddy said:
I recently had to get a new car; the dealer claimed a $5,000 "dealer fee". ... And the car dealer, who claimed there was a shortasge of new cars has a parking lot full of them. Is it inflation or a rip off?
Click to expand...
Did you pay the dealer fee?
 

We're locked into a battle of Supply vs. Demand for many items. This Covid mess has reduced production in many items, and the huge amount of ships waiting to be unloaded at the ports, etc., etc., has created many shortages at the retail level. The lack of new cars, due to the supposed "chip" shortage, has given unscrupulous car dealers a golden opportunity to fleece car buyers.

About the Only huge jump in prices that makes sense is the recent doubling and tripling of egg prices....due to millions of chickens being killed because of the recent outbreak of Avian Flu on the chicken farms. Other than that, "greed" seems to be an increasing epidemic.
 
Prices are determined by the ratio of supply versus demand. Your airport could be intentionally limiting the sale of alcoholic beverages on its premises for obvious airport reasons, thus encouraging prices to rise in response to demand exceeding supply. Cars, new and used, are in short supply largely because of a shortage of computer chips -- thus ... "Intel to build $20 billion chip factory in Ohio: ‘Largest on the planet’"
https://nypost.com/2022/01/21/intel-to-build-20b-ohio-chip-factory-largest-on-the-planet/

Or, it could just be inflation.
"Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering American consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-inflation-hit-40-year-high-january-82790392
 
Don M. said:
We're locked into a battle of Supply vs. Demand for many items. This Covid mess has reduced production in many items, and the huge amount of ships waiting to be unloaded at the ports, etc., etc., has created many shortages at the retail level. The lack of new cars, due to the supposed "chip" shortage, has given unscrupulous car dealers a golden opportunity to fleece car buyers.

About the Only huge jump in prices that makes sense is the recent doubling and tripling of egg prices....due to millions of chickens being killed because of the recent outbreak of Avian Flu on the chicken farms. Other than that, "greed" seems to be an increasing epidemic.
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Well said!

Here's a segment on why cars are either in short supply or more expensive, for any car nerds out there. This guy is pretty respected within the car community.

 
fuzzybuddy said:
A beer in Newark airport costs $27. A beer at a PGA event costs $18. I recently had to get a new car; the dealer claimed a $5,000 "dealer fee". Yeah, we've just come through a pandemic, which caused all kinds of economic upheavals. Some things are in short supply and prices will rise. But, are some taking advantage of the situation? Justin Thomas, the golf guy, has rattled off about the $18 beers. And the car dealer, who claimed there was a shortasge of new cars has a parking lot full of them. Is it inflation or a rip off?
Click to expand...
The stuff you're talking about is price-gouging.
 
I think it's both also, with maybe a couple of other factors tossed in, but business is so greedy and taking advantage of the situation.
 
Loaves of bread have shrunk. When I made toast this morning, the slices were loose in the toaster. Normally it's a squeeze to get them in.
 
I've heard recently that frugal consumers are starting to have an effect on retail. I've personally been trying to get by with only things I really need for the last year. We as consumers have the ultimate power if we choose to use it. And yes, greed while it has always been around, seems to have hit new highs, or lows depending on how you look at it.
 
WoW...are you sure ?.. $27 dollars for a pint of beer ( or is it more than a pint)?

I thought our airports were expensive...well they are, but good lord $27 dollars?>. Ours is £7 ( approx $8.75 US ) for a pint of Ale on average at the airports... and around £4.. in the bars
 
First, why do you have to drink beer at the airport. There are too many stores about drunks fighting in airplanes at 36,000 feet.

Second, it "takes 2 to tango."
1. The idiot that tries to rip you off
2. The idiot that allows himself to be ripped-off.

Many years ago, I have learned a powerful word all by myself. That word was NO! Also, remember, A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE QUICKLY PARTED.
 

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Just the other day I remembered something I learned back in the 1970s. I learned there was gas in Colorado that could be pumped up and refined. The catch was that the cost of pumping it up and refining it was too much because it was cheaper to buy the oil from the mid-east and refine that oil. I think the same is true today and the oil suppliers abroad keep the price of oil just under what it would cost us to use our own oil.
 
what about this...?... Hackney despite being called 'fashionable' in the article is a notoriously crime ridden downtrodden area of East London


...so would you even consider buying this for the price they want.. ?.. personally unless I was going to rent it out at some extortionate rate I wouldn't even consider it for 20 % of the price

It measures less than three metres wide, meaning it takes just a few steps to cross from one side of the house to the other.

And yet it is accompanied by quite a lengthy price tag, as it is on the market for £1.3million - a massive four times the average value of a home in Britain.

The property in London is an end of terrace family abode that extends across four levels, with a bedroom on each of the top two levels.

(it's laughingly descibed as an 'end of terrace'' despite only having 2 feet of space between it and the next property

58060919-10836621-This_end_of_terrace_property_in_London_s_Hackney_is_for_sale_for-a-43_1653043236070.jpg


58060909-10836621-There_are_two_double_bedrooms_with_this_one_including_wooden_flo-a-49_1653043236121.jpg


The outside space..

58060933-10836621-The_garden_space_has_a_narrow_lawn_area_and_some_planting_with_m-a-53_1653043236125.jpg

In the picture below the estate agents have photographed the house in such a way that it looks like it has a wider garden... instead the only outside space is on the other side of the wall...
58060925-10836621-The_house_has_been_extended_at_the_rear_to_include_a_living_room-a-55_1653043236127.jpg



Inflation or a downright Rip-off?...yet someone will snap it up... just unbelievable
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-10836621/Tiny-home-Hackney-sale-1-3m.html
 
dseag2 said:
Well said!

Here's a segment on why cars are either in short supply or more expensive, for any car nerds out there. This guy is pretty respected within the car community.

Click to expand...
I watched about 1/2 of this film. It's OK, but the guy makes my ears hurt with his machine gun talk. He runs one sentence into the next. Way too fast and just too painful for me to watch. The content was good though.
 

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