I was at the supermarket the other day, picking up assorted sundry things for our household.
Nothing unusual about that, except for the fact that I had a little more time than usual, and actually was able to "browse" the aisles for a longer while than my typical grab-it-and-go visits allow.
Seeking balance...
I think sometimes "They" (the evil overlords, the people who run everything, the exploiters or whatever you want to call them...) depend on the very fact that we so often have no time to pause and think as part of the overall strategy to keep people running blindly on the treadmill of life so they don't question the unfolding world around them...
But I digress.
Take Cream of Mushroom soup. That dirt cheap food in the red and white Campbell's tin.... that helped sustain me while I was in college... being one of the few things I could always afford, and I could use in a vast number of capacities from just plain soup to being a topping for noodles to gravy poured over a cheap hamburger meat and potato casserole. College food... hey, it kept me alive!
Mountain view, Montana
We used to be able to get four cans for a dollar when it was on sale; if we had a coupon, even five cans for a dollar. Even at regular price, it was only 35-40 cents.
Now it's $1.69 a can???
If we were to measure my income vs. the price of mushroom soup, 1985 vs. 2019, my graduating starting salary vs. today, I should be making $118,300!
Alas, I am not...
So then I was looking for sesame oil... it's good for high heat cooking, like stir-fry.
What I noticed there... is the ongoing trend of "fancification" of an ordinary product, as a means to charge a higher price for it. Now, there's nothing wrong with someone trying to make an extra buck or two by offering a "gourmet" version of some food product. Hey, I'm all for free enterprise!
A totally ORDINARY yellow flower...
That is, as long as I can still buy the "plain" and non fancified version of the product. But in this case, I couldn't. I now can only get the $13.99 a bottle organic "gourmet" sesame seed oil; the "regular" $6.99 a bottle version has been discontinued.
As I looked around some more, I realized this has happened to a lot of products. Things are higher quality and "reinvented," along with a stiff price hike.
And yes, I realize these are simply the gyrations of a so-called "free market economy," but it does make me wonder who these people are who are willing to pay $9.99/lb for a $5.99/roast merely because it is packaged in a 75-cent "oven ready" aluminum baking dish you can buy over on the packaging aisle for $3.50 for five?
Big Sur surf...
From where I am sitting, that can only "work" because people have been "sold" the idea that they don't have three minutes to move the roast from the styrofoam tray to the aluminum pan... even if it means they can save eight dollars for two minutes of effort for a two-pound roast.
WTF, mate???
Clearly, it's working, or the experiment of "oven-ready packaging" would long since have been scrapped due to lack of sales...
Meanwhile, you still have to wait a couple of hours for the roast to bake...
Maybe this is all just a reflection of the fact that nobody seems able to think for themselves anymore...
Thanks for reading my rant!
(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)
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Created at 191119 19:11 PDT
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