Inflation surges 7.5% on an annual basis

[BlackLion]

Title: "Inflation surges 7.5% on an annual basis, even more than expected and highest since 1982"

Article Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/10/janua...-expected.html

[agent006140]

we are paying more for almost everything-auto/home insurance,grocery,gas,utilities,labor,AMZN.

[BlackLion]

Originally Posted by agent006140

we are paying more for almost everything-auto/home insurance,grocery,gas,utilities,labor,AMZN.

Is this affecting your daily life? Did you have to cut down on expenses, or are you doing well enough to continue as normal with higher the inflation rates?

[yankee]

That is a terrible measure of inflation. Real life living cost increases for most Americans if closer to 30% The average auto sale price now exceeds national average one year income as just one example. Fuel, food have tremendous increases in much of America(avocados are $4.50 where I am right now, grapes are $5.99 a pound, bananas are $1.49, etc) The list goes on and on. Fuel, HEATING OIL, electric, cell phone bills, etc..... all are 20-50% in most of America.

[agent006140]

1 avocado large is $1.50,small is 89 -69 cents.
AMZN prime is going up.

one head of lettuce is $1.49.

national chain stores handle price increase much better than local food store

[rsot]

Originally Posted by BlackLion

Is this affecting your daily life? Did you have to cut down on expenses, or are you doing well enough to continue as normal with higher the inflation rates?

Side hustles increasing

[agent006140]

US household is on average spending $250 more each month due to inflation.

[KlugePatrik]

A friend of mine from the eastern flank started complaining about inflation about 6 months ago, saying that prices have risen by 100% on some products compared to 1 Year ago... kinda his wage has risen but he can buy less for the money...

thats about when some eastern news chanels started talking about a possible energy crisis ...

Now I see american frends talking about the same ....

Is this the effect of an increase in M2 USD money supply ? How do you hedge ? Shall we increase prices on our ebay products as well ?

[SaiJin]

I'd definitely increase prices on ebay products to reflect inflation.

But only if you can compete still. And it also depends on the acquisition price.

So you can either increase price or increase volume of sales

[Steveo036940]

Everything has gone up in regards to my Ebay business.
Boxes have increased 20% and some sizes are always on backorder.
Tape is up 31%, labels 12%, bubble wrap has not increased at all though.
Shipping costs from overseas have doubled since the start of the pandemic.
USPS rates to ship products to my customers is up 8%.
Luckily I've been able to offset these increases by simply charging more. I do worry that once this red-hot economy ends and money and jobs get scarce, people won't be able or willing to buy my merchandise at inflated prices.
Only time will tell, so my advice is to work hard and make as much as you can now, because it's not going to last forever

[rsot]

Originally Posted by Steveo036940

Everything has gone up in regards to my Ebay business.
Boxes have increased 20% and some sizes are always on backorder.
Tape is up 31%, labels 12%, bubble wrap has not increased at all though.
Shipping costs from overseas have doubled since the start of the pandemic.
USPS rates to ship products to my customers is up 8%.
Luckily I've been able to offset these increases by simply charging more. I do worry that once this red-hot economy ends and money and jobs get scarce, people won't be able or willing to buy my merchandise at inflated prices.
Only time will tell, so my advice is to work hard and make as much as you can now, because it's not going to last forever

Nice to have the popular products to offset these costs. You have employees as well?

[aspkin]

Funny enough gold which was the traditional hedge against inflation hasn't moved as much last I checked.

While crypto on the other hand seems to be the new 'gold'.

I have both. I wish I held more crypto though.

[SaiJin]

what about Silver or Diamond?

[Steveo036940]

Originally Posted by rsot

Nice to have the popular products to offset these costs. You have employees as well?

No employees thankfully as wages are way up. I imagine each warehouse worker these days would cost a business about $25 an hour to start (factoring benefits and taxes).
Thinking back up to a few years ago, my wife used to help with the online sales business. She now works a full time job to take advantage of the benefits package (health insurance and 401k retirement)
I haven't done the math on what adding an employee or two plus paying for health insurance for our family plus saving for retirement without a company match would add up in costs, but pretty sure it would wipe out most profits.
Bottom line, running a small business isn't easy.

[Steveo036940]

Originally Posted by aspkin

Funny enough gold which was the traditional hedge against inflation hasn't moved as much last I checked.

While crypto on the other hand seems to be the new 'gold'.

I have both. I wish I held more crypto though.

Crypto for the short run....gold in the long run are my thoughts.
Gold is the "gold standard " hedge for inflation (pun intended)
The markets have priced inflation as if it is just temporary. If the feds don't get a handle on it, it'll keep going. That said, if the feds are too aggressive in combating inflation, the economy takes a nosedive. Rising interest rates, a falling stock market (due to a poorer economy) will make gold prices rise. It's not a matter of if it'll happen, but when. Timing is everything.

[agent006140]

not always,it has to be inflation and political unrest,with possible currency devaluation.
GOLD just meander for decades 1980s,90s and 2000s,why ,take a look at interest rate in this country ,30 years Treasury bond gave you a decent yield,bank jumbo CD paid you 10-12 % FDIC insured while gold pays you nothing.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by SaiJin

what about Silver or Diamond?

Silver has been kind of stagnant.

Diamond is more of buyer demand market - not really an inherent value

[BlackLion]

Diamonds Diamonds Diamonds...... Oh look at my diamonds, but they don't want you to know about the cheaper alternative that has more fire/beauty to it known as the "Moissanite" discovered & named after Chemist Henri Moissan.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by BlackLion

Diamonds Diamonds Diamonds...... Oh look at my diamonds, but they don't want you to know about the cheaper alternative that has more fire/beauty to it known as the "Moissanite" discovered & named after Chemist Henri Moissan.

A very interesting lab creation - no real value but looks nice with greenish hue

[Ando]

Or the lab-grown diamonds that have been proven to be superior in characteristics to that of a natural diamond!