June at 3%
 

Inflation was as high as 9.1% nationwide a year ago. We were still recovering from global shut-downs post-pandemic, restoring jobs lost, getting manufacturers back on track, and a bunch of other stuff that's political so I won't detail it here but - politics certainly played some part.

The good news, is that the inflation rate has been in decline for the past 12 months, consecutively, and hit 3% as of the end of June.

Have you been to the gas station or the food store recently ?

3% drop for June is good news going forward but what about all the prices that were raised
in the past to the present, will those prices drop........I think not.

That would be up to the sellers of whatever you're asking about.

Yep, good to see gas prices are down over the past year and similar to 2021 prices.

Yup. Gas was $2.94 this morning at BJ's, which is where I get my gas. That's 4 cents lower than it was a week ago. It was $2.98 for around a month. It was consistently over $3.00 before that.

As I posted in response to MichaelG, the *price* that you pay as a customer, when inflation rates drop, is up to the seller. They're getting things cheaper, it's up to them to decide whether or not to reduce their retail price keep the higher margins.

I am a little confused. Prices didn't drop. So there is no price reduction to be passed on. They only went up 3% instead of 6% or 9%.

Interesting article in the WSJ today that provides a calculator that lets you pick products that are most important to you, to create a "personalized" inflation number. Not perfect, but good insight.

For me, it shows it shooting up like a rocket in 2021, and slowly coming down over the most recent months.

The biggest component of inflation that I see is energy prices. Everything uses energy to be created, mined, grown, transported, keep hot/cold, etc. When gasoline/diesel/NG is expensive, it gets baked into everything.

Want to keep inflation low? Keep energy prices low.

Yesterday on 466 all the Circle K stations were $3.49 for regular...

Based on how we tend to spend our money do not believe inflation is slowing down at all.

Restaurants and groceries keep going up by considerably more than 3%.

At the end of the day overall inflation is 10% or so.

Go out on 466, yesterday most stations were $3.49 for regular, I don't see prices coming down, but quite the opposite.

So - here's how it works:

Widgets were invented 10 years ago, and were $1 each.

Last year, you needed a widget. Last year, widgets cost $9 each.

This year, the same widget is $3.

Yes - it's up from when it first came out on the market. But it's much less than it was last year.

Don't you think that is gouging people in TV? I think prices in TV are higher than in some other areas of the country. I am with family in NH for the summer and Market Basket prices are excellent. Lobsters $7,99 yesterday, fresh and they boil them for you. Swordfish $13,99 lb. Fresh haddock $8.99 lb. I even found a piece of Halibut at 18.99 lb. They had two Lobster rolls, fresh made while you waited for $8.99 for two - real lobster, none of that pink faux stuff. Yes, we are fish people, deep cold water fish, no steak in this house.

Food prices are definitely coming down around us. What surprises me is this area of NH is very affluent, and yet food prices are very affordable. It makes no sense to me, but I am not an economist.

I don't live near 466. I live near 441, and all along 441, the prices are in the $3.30's.

The price of gas is based on - whatever the oil company wants to charge. If you don't like paying $3.49/gallon, drive a mile out of your way and pay $3.37/gallon. Or drive three miles out of your way and get it for $2.94/gallon.

People are willing to pay $3.49/gallon, and so - that's what they'll be charged. Such is the nature of free enterprise and a free market.

You can't compare lobster prices in New Hampshire to gas prices in Florida. You also can't get Maine lobster in Florida without paying an enormous premium, and it is likely to come in pre-cooked and frozen, not live in a tank.

Lobsters ALWAYS sell for market price. If they're in season /and/ local, you'll pay less than when they're out of season or shipped from somewhere else. If it's out of season AND shipped from somewhere else, you'll pay even more than that. When I lived in Connecticut I couldn't get a lobster roll for under $18 (including fries). But that'd be around 4 ounces (1/4 lb) of hot Maine lobster meat, no mayo or sauce but kept hot in a crockpot of butter, so you'd get maybe a tablespoon of butter in that 1/4 pound of meat. The Market Basket lobster roll is less than 4 ounces of cold lobster meat and mayonnaise. So maybe around 2 ounces of just lobster meat. The Market Basket lobster rolls are referred to as "finger sandwiches."