If you wanted a piece of hardware in January and thought it was necessary, would you be thrilled that it now costs only one third of the price at the beginning of the year? Of course, you would be. And perhaps, if the ‘Geek Force’ is strong, you might buy two of whatever it is.
It is desperate time for some retailers. Krispy Kreme in Seattle is selling coffee for a nickle to maintain traffic flow:
“…The “New Deal” promotion began Oct. 14 and has no end date, but it can’t go on forever — five cents doesn’t even cover the cost of the 12-ounce cup and lid, let alone the arabica coffee inside. “It is a much better deal today than it was in 1937,” Centioli said. “Drink sizes for coffee and otherwise were much smaller back then.”"
link: Coffee gets cheaper as money gets tighter
Hopefully, the customers will not be there just for the coffee. As essentials such as fuel and basic groceries limit people’s spending, the competition will be intense for those remaining dollars. For some businesses, it has become a matter of survival. Taking a risk on a ‘loss leader’ is far preferable than just watching customer traffic fade away.
Catherine Forsythe
It’s just a small economic indicator. A local grocery store, which is part of a national chain, sells whole wheat bread buns in bulk. There’s no packaging and the buns are tossed in a bin. In January of this year, a bun sold for nineteen cents ($0.19) each. Today, the cost of that item is forty two cents ($0.42).
That increase is more than two times just the cost in January, seven months ago. Very few people’s salary doubled in the last seven months.
Regardless of one’s ideological persuasions, I wonder if the politicians really understand the troubles faced by a majority of the people. Not only are people having trouble fuelling up the car to go to the grocery store, many cannot afford the basics at this rate of increase.
Catherine Forsythe
With the downturn in the economy and competition from other venues like McDonald’s, Starbucks has launched ‘nutritional’ beverages:
“…The “Vivanno Nourishing Blends” will be on sale at Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada. The flavors are orange-mango-banana and banana-chocolate. At 270 calories, the drinks contain one serving of fruit, 16 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.”
link: Starbucks ‘nutritional’ drinks begin Tuesday
Starbucks is not a name that comes to mind when one thinks of health and nutrition. However, the advertising for Starbucks may take a decided shift to promote this new product line. The price is in line with the caffeine beverages. A large ‘nutritional’ drink still falls above three dollars.
Catherine Forsythe
The Associates for International Research released some data on Wednesday - July 9, 2008. It is a comparison of gasoline prices. Here is a sample of the data on what a gallon of gas costs:
So the price that you are paying may not seem so bad. That’s until you look at figures like these:
As the real estate people say… ‘location, location, location’.
Catherine Forsythe
