Am I just stuck in the past or are price increases recently out of control?

[newire]

I am late 40’s and so there is some change my idea of prices are stuck in the past but my DH had a day off yesterday and we went up to town to go to a film and then dinner at very basic but nice Greek place, we got up to town early so went to a café for a cup of tea and a bit of cake to share. By the time we got home we had spent £100. In 2019 we could have done the exact same evening out for half of that. Which does leave me feeling like the goal posts have been moved quite a bit.

Obviously, I know prices go up, that hospitality is under a lot of pressure but prior to this it took more like 20 years for prices to double and now they have doubled in the past 4 or 5 years and it shows little sign of slowing down. Same with anything you buy, a new paperback book can be £15! It feels like Tea is more expensive every week.

Like I say I know prices go up but am I crazy to feel that things have gone up excessively? Even though inflation is supposed to be falling the price of products and services never seems to fall. Or am I just getting old and stuck in the past?

I don’t expect prices to drop. People might kick off about price rises, but once you get used to paying that price, they just put it up again.

I paid £3 for a cup of tea the other day which is ridiculous.
Yes prices are rising quicker and more noticeably than they were a few years ago.

@PersephoneParlormaid Sadly I agree. I think some retailers made record profits during covid times and that is their new bench mark.

@Danikm151 £3 is shocking but not that unusual these days. A cup of tea was half of that just a few years ago.

Not true in all cases. For some people they cease to buy the product or service anymore.

@EvangelicalAboutButteredToast Yes this is true, right now we mostly cling on to most of our preferred brands but we do buy less and go out less now, preferring to prioritise home comforts. Also I will try something cheaper to see if it is ok and switch to that. However if everything keeps on the way it is we will have to stop buying certain things.

Post financial crisis (2008) we all got used to (in recent history) abnormally low inflation.
Now inflation has returned (albeit not to the high levels that were experienced in, say, the 1970’s) we are not used to the erosion of our purchasing power that results.
So yes, you are stuck in the (recent past), but not unreasonably so, as it represents a significant part of your adult life where you were used to very low inflation. For many of our generation, earnings growth more than kept up with pre-financial crisis inflation. Now we are mid-late career, earnings growth (from promotions etc.) has likely slowed and therefore the inflation we experience feels more significant.
YABU that inflation now is excessive, but YANBU in experiencing greater inflation effects now than you probably have at any time before.

Aren't you just misremembering prices? I looked up a cinema receipt from 2019, it was £23.80 for two adults. That's just Cineworld on a 2D screen. It's now £15.99 each (the other day for Jaws), again still 2D, not 4DX.

That leaves you £75 ish for dinner and a café? I wouldn't have expected any change out of that in 2019 and now I'd expect to be under. Dinner 6 years ago was still easily £30 a head for a basic meal with no alcohol, and more like £40-50 with three courses.

@QwestSprout No the same place we went to previously was under £30 for both of us, cinema tickets were £6.50 or £5 each and two teas and a slice of cake to share was about £7. So no more than £50. It might vary on where you live but then so often to wages.

@macshoto Thanks for the info and yes it makes sense that we had a period of low inflation keeping prices low but then why are interest rates falling so that I can't even get a decent return on my savings? Also some careers often previously well paid professions like Engineers, some Doctors and others are earning anywhere from 20% - 30% less than they would have been 15 years ago, it's like wages in some sectors never recovered?

This isn't an attack by the way I am asking as you do seem to know your eggs!

I don’t bother with coffee shops anymore, our local one was £2.80 for a flat white 18 months ago and it’s £3.90 now. Even a babycinno in a tiny cup is £2.

No regional difference anymore in pubs. When I go to visit family in Norfolk I used to be pleased to get a cheaper glass of wine; now it’s only 10p less than in my South East London local.

My DH paid £7.50 for minced beef in Aldi today which really shocked me , as even last year it would have been around £4.

Maltesers used to be £1 for 100g. Now they're around £2.951. No maltesers for me anymore!

We went for a meal on Saturday to a Wetherspoons type pub but not a spoons and the food was lukewarm at best , the onion rings and chips were tasteless and had lost their crispiness due to being the wrong side of warm, and I was so underwhelmed . They wanted £3.49 for a cup of Yorkshire tea !!! I got a bottle of pop from the pound shop and drunk it after we left .. how can a teabag cost nearly the same as a pint of beer ?!!

You would think the food would be on point seeing as food places are struggling so much but I ain’t in a rush to return …

Even though inflation is supposed to be falling the price of products and services never seems to fall

Inflation falling doesn’t mean that prices are falling, it means they don’t go up as fast as when inflation was higher.

Yes - case in point, Heinz soup or beans. Anyone still buying those must be clinically insane!

We used to be able to go out for coffee - 2 coffees and 2 cakes - for a fiver. Then it crept up to about £8. Last week it was £13! Local coffee shop charging £4 for a cake and £3.50 for a scone that costs pence to make.

My pension hasn't gone up in proportion.

I've noticed this too. Worse food and service at a higher cost. We eat before we go out now, very often M&S 'dine in' type meals.

We had an absolutely appalling experience at a local Côte restaurant recently, so bad that they refunded the entire bill.

It wasn't just the substandard food quality and portions half thr size of what they used to be, the place was dirty and staff miserable.

Cut and cut - customers do notice and won't return.

That’s a compliment I’ve not had before. Thank you.

I really like our local cafes and restaurants, and completely understand that their prices have had to go up, but the cost is now a luxury level price point - and they're not that. I don't really know how hospitality carries on at this rate.

Sounds like that prices were quite low where you live before. Eating out has crept up but not by much more than inflation and we never could buy tea and cake for those prices here, well not for 15 years or more.

we do have a cheaper cinema chain here, £5.99 last time I went a few months ago, and midweek there’s deals to be had food wise, I use the first sitting? app for early dining deals

@newire
Austerity was a significant driver of wages falling behind inflation. While inflation was low post GFC, wage rises often lagged that low inflation, and certainly in most cases didn’t match the higher levels of inflation seen since the Russia:Ukraine war.

Interest rates were raised to combat the inflation that we experienced due to the Russia:Ukraine war, but now inflation is coming down towards target, the interest rates are coming back down again. Bank accounts are always unlikely to keep pace with inflation, unless you shop around regularly for the best rates on your savings, and even then it may not work. Hence, if you can afford it, it’s best to put some savings into growth assets - shares / index funds etc. over the long-term as that stands the best chance of keeping pace with inflation.

The current government has it right that we need growth in the economy if our living standards are to improve again. I’m just not sure they really know how to achieve it.

If you really want to worry, look up “stagflation”, and then imagine what Trump-ian uncertainty might do to the world if we do get further increases in commodity prices and unemployment increases due to lack of growth and (maybe) AI-led lay-offs. Not saying it will happen, but you could see scenarios where it might.

The thing is it's not just the tea that's gone up, it's also the wages, NI, utilities, insurances, everything, so of course places have to increase the cost otherwise there's no point being in business!

Surging energy prices, minimum wage growing a lot, shortage of people who want to work in hospitality, much more friction (paperwork) in the supply of food from abroad due to Brexit.

Remember falling inflation doesn’t mean prices will reduce, it just means they will increase at a lower rate.

I don't think you could do all of that for £50 in 2019 to be honest. Not that I don't agree that prices have uncreased, but I think you are exagerating.

Having said that, I think £100 is cheap for all you did! Everytime we go for a meal out we spend anything from £90-£130 just for the meal (bit we like a glass of wine or beer with our meal)