8.29.2008
It's just getting a little too painful tightening our belts today. Everyone knows that our country and the world is dealing with high energy costs that have hiked up the price of everything we buy from fruit and cereal at the supermarket to those darn mini pretzel bags on flights that last just 3 hours. How pitiful is that?
I want to let you all in on the next level of cost cutting that I have just seen that is just a great testament of how terrible our economy is and how little our dollar is worth even in our own country.
So let me tell you, you definitely know that our economy is bad when the dollar store starts shrinking what you get for a dollar. I just couldn't believe it. We all have seen the prices at regular supermarkets shoot up the last few months by crazy amounts for products we all enjoy and in some cases “need.” That crazyness has just hit the dollar store as well. There's a chain called “Dollar Tree,” if you've never been to one, they have just about the best selection I have ever seen for a dollar store and you can really save a lot of money there if you choose to, great products too. I used to get my snacks there, bags of chips, Hawaiian punch, cookies, juice, what have you, but also house hold items like bathroom cleaners, soaps, shampoos, hair gel, and toothbrushes. It definitely wasn't bad for a dollar compared with the 3.29 price or higher for these items even at Walmart and Target but they just took a turn for the worse.
So, I walked into the dollar store the other day and I headed over to my snacks section where I pick up those things that I enjoy while relaxing in front of the tv or watching movies. I have to repeat, I couldn't believe it, the sizes of all the chips, snacks, and drinks all have shrunk! Where once we had 12 ounzes of snacks, they've all shrunk down to 10 or some 8 now! When it comes to drinks, 2 liters don't exist any longer, now only 1 liter or those stupid single or dual serving bottles remain. Who's going to be able to keep their family fed on sizes like that or even want to pay for sizes that small? It's not even convenient any longer, I saw a mother, instead of buying 2 liter boxes of juice that they used to have, trying to pay for around 6 or 8 small boxes of juice, all a dollar each now of course! Maybe she just doesn't realize how much that “deal” was cheating her. When you add it all up so you buy the amounts that you used to be able to get, it's just about the same price as the normal supermarket. I couldn't take it, I dropped my basket in the isle and went to the car and drove over to the supermarket. It's been a while since I thought of buying these items anywhere other than the dollar store but I might have even saved more by buying at the local Jewel if not for the gas I wasted going to the dollar store in the first place.
I dunno, maybe I am just fed up with the little bit that we all get now for our hard earned dollar and it literally makes me mad the amount less we get in just these last few months thanks to the addition of inflation. There must be a solution to this, if not a true solution then I'd be happy with a psychological one, any trick will do. I'm just tired of seeing all these baby sized packages of stuff that we are all forced to buy because instead of giving us higher prices, which we would complain about anyway, companies choose to shrink the amounts and packaging which is even more annoying. I don't know about you but I don't want to buy any half sized juice boxes or “one line” of Oreos instead of 2 AND give you the same amount of money as before. You gotta be kidding me.
I never liked going to the market in the first place, I used to go at midnight so I could do my shopping in peace and quiet but now I hate it even more! All I get is quiet and no peace at all because I know I'll have to be back twice as fast for double the cost. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way. Is there anything we can do about it? I guess not. Is there anything that will be done about it? I don't think so. Anyone who makes the rules or makes the laws can afford to buy anything they want. They probably could care less.
I can see what might happen in the future actually, don't quote me but I can imagine it, I've seen the news report tie-ins that may point to this. All we'll have in the future are small sizes of food and drink that we'll be forced to buy in the name of better nutrition and controlling the waist line of America but you know what? In the end, the prices will be exactly the same. Here's to you George Washington, you can't afford anything yourself any longer, it was great while it lasted.
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