Economy

[maverick]

I run a school store a part of my Marketing/DECA program. I just received the following price increase for March and April. Kinda of scary!
March and April Price increases

Date Effective Supplier Name Supplier # Details / Comments

3/31/08 Pearson's Candy 696330 Up to14% increase on all items
4/7/08 Tootsie Roll Industries 850230 Up  to 10.5% on all items
3/31/08 Maruchan 548700 Up to 4% increase on Cup-o-noodles & 7% on Ramen
4/1/08 Mrs. Mays Naturals 587400 Up to 4% increase on the Crunch 24/2oz items only
3/31/08 Goetze's Candy Co. 318470 Approximately 10-15% increase
4/1/08 Superior Cup 822450 Increase of up to 5.5% in paper cups and 8.5% on plastic cups and lids
3/31/08 Chemifax 138400 Up to 4.5% increase, single item. Coffee Clean (KY only)
3/18/08 Just Born 477460 4.5-12.5% increase on all items
3/31/08 Sunny Delight 822000 Approximately 4.0% increase on 16ox Shelf Stable sku's
3/31/08 Nestle 603850 10% Increase on Hot Cocoa.
4/1/08 Nestle Waters 700050 Increase of $1.25/case on Perrier, San Pellegrino, and Acqua Panna.
4/1/08 Empire Coffee 236185 Approximately a 6 to 7% increase on coffee.
4/15/08 Procter & Gamble 719730 Increase on OCS Coffee and FS/Conv/Club Coffee
4/1/08 Sara Lee 822440 Increase on all grindstone and Java Port coffees, Grindstone Cocoa's, and All Grindstone freeze dried products.
4/1/08 Conagra 319360 Increase of approximately 5.5% on Swiss Miss.
5/5/08 Bigelow Tea 95500 At least 4.2% Increase on the retail product line.
4/1/08 Sconza Candy Co. 774860 4.5% increase on item #SCO10516
4/1/08 Palmer Candy 689120 increase on PAL10200 & on PAL10210
4/1/08 Haas Baking Co. 350004 Approximately a 3 - 4% increase on all items
4/1/08 Burry/CSI Foodservice 69130 Approximately 3% increase on Burry New York Style Bagels
3/15/08 Diamond Crystal 771000 Approximatley 4-7% increase on Sugar.
4/1/08 Storck 818110 5% increase on all items
4/1/08 Promotion In Motion 719860 Increase is 13% on All 1.75oz - 2oz Single Count Good Bags, 2.25oz WELCH'S Fruit Snacks 48ct, and 1.9oz WELCH'S Fruit 
4/1/08 Snyder's Of Hanover 803000 & 288910 6.5% to 7% increase on pretzels & LSS chips
3/20/08 Java Trading 455085 Increase of approximately 10+% on Coffee and Tea.
4/1/08 Le Bleu 518157 Increase.
4/1/08 Pierre Foods 705159 The increase is about 5% on all items
3/31/08 Don Miguel 32092 5-8% on all
3/1/08 Colonial Coffee 151750 Approximately 5% increase on coffee for FL, FLM, SF, and TAM.
4/1/08 Great Northern Baking 8141 BV Only
4/1/08 Sara Lee Meat/Baking 464500 about 3.5% on sandwhiches
4/1/08 General Mills POPCORn 307460 only NG and TX carry the item.
4/1/08 Conagra 319360 7-4 - increase on selected items
4/1/08 Select Bakery 775913 Approx 6% increase on all items,
4/1/08 Sunburst Inc. 822240 increase per unit all items,
4/7/08 Brownie Baker 112121 Approximately 8.5% increase on all items
4/1/08 General Mills Large Sz 307460 Approximately 6% to 9% depending on item
4/1/07 Promotion In Motion 719860 6% Concession Items
4/15/08 Diamond Crystal 771000 Increase on non sugar products of 2-12%. 
3/31/08 Kraft- retail Nuts 307440 11% mostly on nuts carried by Paradies and Canteen
3/31/08 Alpha Baking 8339   9% to 16% on 001500 6" Bun

 

[red]

I know that decaf coffee took a huge jump in price. don't buy it often but it was like WOW!!!

Thanks for the info!

Red

 

[knabe]

see if you can find out when the last in increase was.  at some point, transportation has to have a cost that redirects assets, rather than transferring them to the middle east and chavez.  although canada is our number 1 source of oil.

i wonder what the markup on packaging is?

more and more, i am trying to purchase unpacked foods, though of course they are shipped in packages.

 

[jason]

scary

 

[cowz]

For you smart shoppers out there, eggs and milk in the retail stores have taken a 30-40% increase in price when not on sale.  Fuel prices have finally caught up with everything.

When things get tough, eating out usually is the first thing (or at least it should be!) to go.  We have had 2 restaurants in our county close in the last week.  This put approximately 10 people out of work.

 

[knabe]

free range chicken eggs out here are about $5/dozen.  it's why i raise my own.  plus, they eat grubs at a pretty good clip.

 

[Dusty]

scary

That's putting it lightly.  Right now the asset that everyone has that is depreciating the fastest is the "almighty dollar."  That is the biggest reason for the run-up in commodities.  Right now pretty much every tangible asset (eg. gold, silver, oil, land, corn, soybeans, wheat etc..)  is at record highs.  All those assets are priced in dollars so the further the dollar fall the more it takes to buy real assets.  
Right now the middle class and upper middle class is getting squeezed worse than they know.  There was a tremendous amount of money that poured into our economy the last 5 years due to people using their houses like ATM's and now a lot of the equity they had is gone.   And, every day that the dollar falls is an across board pay cut for anyone whose paycheck is priced in US dollars.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.  Everyone knows a few bib overall wearing, beat-up pickup driving farmers.  Ya know that old guy that has a cow when the price of a cup of coffee goes up a nickel.  Well that guy probably grew up w/out a pot to piss in or window to throw out of and now he's got some money because he didn't piss it away through the years on SUV's or boats or RV's or all those other things that people think are a necessity now a days.  Those old boys were tight because they know how bad things can get.  Like I said we spent ourselves into a hole that most people can't even fathom how deep it is.  It is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  I'm talking bread lines for people who thought they had the world by the balls a couple years ago...  I would like to offer my opinion on a solution, but I don't think there is one other than to just lick our wounds and try and get through it.  
Our government will try and solve it I'm sure.  And like the government does with all problems, they will just simply make it worse.
A side note on the housing market...a friend told me last weekend about a spec house that was being sold on auction.  This house was 3 bed 2 bath, brand new, nice, in a nice subdivision 45 min. from a major metro area.  They stopped the auction when they couldn't even get a bid at $75,000.  This house would have sold for over twice that 2 years ago.  So a lot of peoples' home equity that they think they have is pretty much gone as far as I'm concerned.  
Our economy has financial cancer right now and it's spreading. I think the next ten years will be a lot like the '70's possibly the '30's.  Either way it's gonna suck, get a helmet.  And buy some silver and bury it, or if you're the Hunt Brothers fly it to Zurich because dollar bills are going to be worth toilet paper price before too long.

 

[knabe]

i think i said this before, but my mom used to be the secretary at a church in the 60's.  people used to still give offerings in silver coins.  she exchanged all of them for non-silver coins and we still have them.  they are buried too.  i usually give away silver dollars for christmas.  since gold was about $400/oz, till today when it's approaching $1000, this is how much purchasing power america has lost on the world market.  if you have a home loan with an interest rate over 6.5%, think about refinancing.  on a $350,000 loan (i know, it's CA), that has a current payment of $2500, a refinance will drop that to about 2000.  that's a 20% drop and almost approaches rent in a 3bedroom house out here.  silver's gone from $13 to over $20 bucks today in about a year or LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  it wasnt' long ago when it was $8.  house loans should be about 6 times annual salary historically.  they won't stop dropping until they get reasonable close.  now about those salaries and golden parachutes of directors and above at financial institutions who were forced to give high risk loans to people who couldn't pay them back and the govt officials who mandated they do so.  anyone think they should go?  course not, it's tooooooooo complicated.

here's a page with the spot price on metals

http://www.gold-eagle.com/quotes.html

 

[Dusty]

house loans should be about 6 times annual salary historically.  they won't stop dropping until they get reasonable close. 

6 times salary....that's nuts...3 times salary is a little closer to reality on what you can pay back when you account for how much everything else costs.
$50,000 salary =$300,000 house

Thats a $1800 payment on take home pay of only about 2800 or so a month.  Thats only 1000 left to pay the light bill, the insurance, gas, food, beer, clothes and everything else.

 

[knabe]

the 6 times salary is based on high density areas where speculation has ruined things.  i agree that number is high.  if it goes below 6x in areas like silicon valley, dallas, new york, things are really going to get tough.

i noticed zillow doesn't work real well right now.  zillow is a property value site.  it's starting to post only assessed values right now.  that is scary.  in elk grove near sac, things are pretty tough.  same in san diego area.

check out this link.  notice that it only displays 10 of 2300 foreclosures.  elk grove is basically one of the poster childs for the housing boom and bust.  notice the level of 2500 square foot and beyond houses with 5 bedrooms.  think of  the energy savings alone that won't be heating these houses for a while.  what's really interesting, is that this is a low lying area with high humidity and there have been lots of mold claims on these houses.  plus, this is a relatively sparse area for high paying jobs.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/California/Elk_Grove/Homes_for_sale/result.html?p=Elk%20Grove%2C%20CA&type=foreclosure

as far as i'm concerned, this will be an opportunity just like in the depression for asset reallocation and for those with no debt and purchasing flexibility, it will be a good time.  for some, downright depressing.  start spending wisely yesterday.

 

[JbarL]

I run a school store a part of my Marketing/DECA program. I just received the following price increase for March and April. Kinda of scary!
March and April Price increases

Date Effective Supplier Name Supplier # Details / Comments

3/31/08 Pearson's Candy 696330 Up to14% increase on all items
4/7/08 Tootsie Roll Industries 850230 Up  to 10.5% on all items
3/31/08 Maruchan 548700 Up to 4% increase on Cup-o-noodles & 7% on Ramen
4/1/08 Mrs. Mays Naturals 587400 Up to 4% increase on the Crunch 24/2oz items only
3/31/08 Goetze's Candy Co. 318470 Approximately 10-15% increase
4/1/08 Superior Cup 822450 Increase of up to 5.5% in paper cups and 8.5% on plastic cups and lids
3/31/08 Chemifax 138400 Up to 4.5% increase, single item. Coffee Clean (KY only)
3/18/08 Just Born 477460 4.5-12.5% increase on all items
3/31/08 Sunny Delight 822000 Approximately 4.0% increase on 16ox Shelf Stable sku's
3/31/08 Nestle 603850 10% Increase on Hot Cocoa.
4/1/08 Nestle Waters 700050 Increase of $1.25/case on Perrier, San Pellegrino, and Acqua Panna.
4/1/08 Empire Coffee 236185 Approximately a 6 to 7% increase on coffee.
4/15/08 Procter & Gamble 719730 Increase on OCS Coffee and FS/Conv/Club Coffee
4/1/08 Sara Lee 822440 Increase on all grindstone and Java Port coffees, Grindstone Cocoa's, and All Grindstone freeze dried products.
4/1/08 Conagra 319360 Increase of approximately 5.5% on Swiss Miss.
5/5/08 Bigelow Tea 95500 At least 4.2% Increase on the retail product line.
4/1/08 Sconza Candy Co. 774860 4.5% increase on item #SCO10516
4/1/08 Palmer Candy 689120 increase on PAL10200 & on PAL10210
4/1/08 Haas Baking Co. 350004 Approximately a 3 - 4% increase on all items
4/1/08 Burry/CSI Foodservice 69130 Approximately 3% increase on Burry New York Style Bagels
3/15/08 Diamond Crystal 771000 Approximatley 4-7% increase on Sugar.
4/1/08 Storck 818110 5% increase on all items
4/1/08 Promotion In Motion 719860 Increase is 13% on All 1.75oz - 2oz Single Count Good Bags, 2.25oz WELCH'S Fruit Snacks 48ct, and 1.9oz WELCH'S Fruit 
4/1/08 Snyder's Of Hanover 803000 & 288910 6.5% to 7% increase on pretzels & LSS chips
3/20/08 Java Trading 455085 Increase of approximately 10+% on Coffee and Tea.
4/1/08 Le Bleu 518157 Increase.
4/1/08 Pierre Foods 705159 The increase is about 5% on all items
3/31/08 Don Miguel 32092 5-8% on all
3/1/08 Colonial Coffee 151750 Approximately 5% increase on coffee for FL, FLM, SF, and TAM.
4/1/08 Great Northern Baking 8141 BV Only
4/1/08 Sara Lee Meat/Baking 464500 about 3.5% on sandwhiches
4/1/08 General Mills POPCORn 307460 only NG and TX carry the item.
4/1/08 Conagra 319360 7-4 - increase on selected items
4/1/08 Select Bakery 775913 Approx 6% increase on all items,
4/1/08 Sunburst Inc. 822240 increase per unit all items,
4/7/08 Brownie Baker 112121 Approximately 8.5% increase on all items
4/1/08 General Mills Large Sz 307460 Approximately 6% to 9% depending on item
4/1/07 Promotion In Motion 719860 6% Concession Items
4/15/08 Diamond Crystal 771000 Increase on non sugar products of 2-12%. 
3/31/08 Kraft- retail Nuts 307440 11% mostly on nuts carried by Paradies and Canteen
3/31/08 Alpha Baking 8339   9% to 16% on 001500 6" Bun

not sure how ling yoiu been in the grocery business....but did you/or anyone elsel notice/read that about 3 yrs ago there was a marketing  "blitz" aimed at "reducing the physical pacakage size of packaged products"...ie...boxes of cereal/oatmeal/ect....bags  of powered sugar/flour/ .....nuts/coffee/ect...same way...... simply physically  smaller....hence more room on the shelf....less stocking replacment/longer lasting inventory  ...yada yada  yadda......and the big retailers simply ate it up......but the physical size is not the only thing that changed... in reality the products were also 2/4% lighter...and the price stayed the same......jbarl

 

[knabe]

i noticed that,particularly with cereal.  i also noticed it's harder to get non-national brand cereal at the grocery store as well, especially granola.  i pretty much only buy the store brand crispy wheat thingies and grape nuts and mix with yogurt and dried fruit and nuts from trader joes.  brown sugar to taste.  kehr is pretty good too.

 

[maverick]

see if you can find out when the last in increase was.  at some point, transportation has to have a cost that redirects assets, rather than transferring them to the middle east and chavez.  although canada is our number 1 source of oil.

i wonder what the markup on packaging is?

more and more, i am trying to purchase unpacked foods, though of course they are shipped in packages.

Knabe,

The e-mail from the company stated the increase was due to commodity prices. I believe the last price increase was in September - and it was only about a 1% or 2% increase.

Maverick

 

[garybob]

Even  down here, in "hillbilly country", a home (new) is priced at about 5 or 6 times the 45K salary. trouble is most buyers a hurting, because, they are in the $9.50/hour wage-range.

GB