With sharp increases to the price of goods and services, where’s all this extra money I’m spending going?

Question

Don’t try to tell me my wages are sharply increasing either, because they’re not! Nor are my friends, family, or neighbors.

In: 113

Answer 1

>Don’t try to tell me my wages are sharply increasing either, because they’re not! Nor are my friends, family, or neighbors.

* But they *are* increasing for other people and some of those people are inside the supply chain like at warehouses and trucking companies.
* Example:
* Lots of truckers sat at home in the beginning of the pandemic because people stopped buying so much shit right away.
* Some of those truckers had time to think and realized they didn’t want to be a trucker any more.
* When demand for goods started back up, there is now a shortage of drivers.
* So trucking company has pay more per driver to get drivers.
* That increases delivery costs for things like…food.
* Grocery stores operate on small margins so there isn’t much room to absorb that extra shipping costs, so the prices customers pay increase.
* Most of it, though is just going to the same people is always has.
* They charge you more because they are selling less stuff than usual.
* Example:
* Grocery store normally get a shipment of bananas and strawberries from a distributor and the delivery cost is $X.
* But right now that distributor can’t get bananas because the ports are clogged with 60″ TVs and exercise mats.
* But they can still deliver the strawberries.
* So the grocery store buys the strawberries and still has to the pay $X for the delivery.
* So now they can’t sell you bananas, but they can sell you marked up strawberries to help cover the cost.
* At the same time, rich people are getting richer, and it’s because the increased costs don’t effect them nearly as much and so they still have a ton of money to invest into goods and services that are in high demand during the pandemic.
* So yes there are some people taking advantage of shortages and grabbing profits simply because they can, but I think most of it is the rich folks just being better able to pivot and adapt because again…they are rich.
* Another example of the cost of being poor.