Rising prices - Wow!

[hollydolly]

I'm still buying what I want and my Daughter's hens provide all my eggs but I have cut way back on resturant meals. There is simply not enough value received for money spent on eating out; plus tipping is totally out of control.

Fortunately we don't have that problem. Waiting staff here get paid a standard wage... so tips are extra... and so peoople don't feel obligated to leave a tip unless the service or food has been particualrly good

The drawback of that is tho' the waiting staff have no incetnive to be extra helpful to the customer

 

[katlupe]

@Pepper Eggs here are $2.75 a dozen.

 

[Llynn]

Hollydolly: The drawback of that is tho' the waiting staff have no incetnive to be extra helpful to the customer


Over here management is pushing high tips so aggressively that wait staffers expect to receive them resulting in little incentive as well.

 

[TeePee]

Eggs here can't be bought for under $6. I'm furious, @StarSong. I wish everyone in the stores would start SCREAMING at this Rip Off. I've sworn off buying eggs. Won't pay that price.

I paid $3.75 yesterday for 18 large (the size is questionable) eggs at a small town IGA.

 

[gruntlabor]

In addition to outta sight prices, many products are now of inferior quality. I just opened a new block of Tillamook cheese. Tasteless, or just tastes like salt, waxy, fibrous, inedible!
(It always was a cheap inferior brand but has now hit a new low.)

 

[Llynn]

In addition to outta sight prices, many products are now of inferior quality. I just opened a new block of Tillamook cheese. Tasteless, or just tastes like salt, waxy, fibrous, inedible!
(It always was a cheap inferior brand but has now hit a new low.)

I live about 50 miles from the Tillamook dairy and cheese factory. Out here it is considered a quality product and very popular. According to their website, 90% of their cheese comes from Oregon. I'm sure they would like to know about your experience. Perhaps problems with the shipping or storage on the way to your area. I've never had a problem with any Tillamook product. It's a farmer owned cooperative so they care about their reputation.

 

[Fritz]

Interesting. US middle class parameters are so wide that they're all but meaningless. The general definition is a 3 person household with an annual income between 67% and 200% of the national median income, so anywhere between $56K and $170K. A huge range. In most of the country, 3 people would be hard put to survive on $56K per annum.

In California, most if not all the couples I know in their 30s-40s have combined incomes over $170K, but would not consider themselves in the upper range of middle class, never mind upper class.

Blue or white collar jobs in the US are defined by job type rather than salaries. Blue collar work usually involves manual labor of some kind, though many require special skills (like welders, or electricians). White collar jobs tend to be clerical, office or managerial work. The "white collar" designation goes back 100 years ago when men wore (white) shirts and ties to office jobs.

In the US, "working class" is a rarely used descriptor.

I get 35 or 36K annually to live on. Not much when most of your check is out in the wind with expenses.