Inflation Up: Drivers and Dollar Store Shoppers Hardest Hit

 WaPo:

Even seemingly good economic news has a way of souring: Hourly wages are inching upward as employers scramble for workers, but inflation saps the benefits from the increase; in July, CNBC reported that “inflation essentially gave the average worker about a 2% pay cut.”

Now imagine being a low-wage worker who has to drive to that job: The price of gas has nearly doubled since April 2020 — a major factor in the Consumer Price Index increase announced on Wednesday.

The current inflation was brewing for some time. Federal spending during the pandemic pushed hundreds of billions of dollars out to many households where the cash wasn’t needed, and prolonged, overgenerous unemployment benefits incentivized millions of workers to stay on the sidelines. Households flush with cash drove demand, and the worker shortage contributed to supply-side disruptions. Raising wages drove up labor costs, and higher labor costs fed right into prices.

One dollar might not mean much to Washington policymakers who talk about spending trillions, but to many poor and working-class Americans, when you can’t even depend on a dollar store to cost you a dollar, that’s a big problem.

Also, at the dollar stores where everything isn't consistently a dollar, you have to check the prices and make sure that what they're charging is what is posted... More and more, at the grocery stores too, what the shelf sticker said is often not what the register rings.  And then, if you take the time at the customer service desk to get them to correct it, they act like they are doing you a favor, instead of thanking you for calling the pricing error to their attention and heading out on the floor immediately to fix the signage...

I don't think people using benefit cards much shop the sales or check the prices on the receipts though. If you are one of those households that came out ahead in the pandemic, working from home or getting a bonus check you really didn't need or weren't counting on, sadly your spending helped increase the costs of goods for others, not so lucky.  Sometimes I think the government hurts too many when it tries to target help, and disincentivizes making good long-term choices.

I like the greeting cards at the dollar stores.