quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
Speaking of inflation and restaurants.

My neighbors 19 year-old daughter just started working at the local pizzeria/bar. Basic counter work and some prep. $17 hour + tips. Tips are averaging $6 hour. This same job was paying $11 hour pre-plandemic. The restaurants have to pass this cost on to someone. (you/me)

And this is why you can't find good help at an auto parts store. It takes an ASC in Auto Tech to even understand what the part is - and experience working on cars, even if it's DIY. The chain I worked for is only raising pay because the state mandated minimum wage increases yearly. In 2025, and not one second sooner, they will get to $15 an hour. I retired, took SS, and considering less expenses working etc Im breaking even. I hear a few million guys my age have done in the last ten years. Like, 25 million.

Kansas is even further behind, minimum is still $7.25 or so and they can't find anyone who will work. Wonder why? On the other hand prices are still going up - which means with lower employee costs the owners make more profit. The corporate policy to hire untrained and unqualified customer service representatives and place them in the face to face jobs while one experienced manager and his apprentice keep it all working out is beyond ridiculous. We couldn't get the assistant manager position filled when they only pay 50c more - doing all the managers grunt work PLUS making sales goals.

Nope, not hanging around watching incompetent salaried who ignore an employee with 12 years in and a BA Business Asc Auto Tech. "But I race a dirt car, too, so you arent ever right old man" isn't a good working atmosphere.

As the older managers retire, store manager longevity went from 15-25 years to 6-12. All those guys retired rather than put up with Corporate - which is, in extension, "minimum wages" weren't good enough to even keep management in. It was their long term stocks which finally matured - buying at $40 and now seeing $145 didn't hurt. When your "manager's minimum wages" are too low, the corporation is committing hari kiri.

There are about 4-5 chains in the industry right now and the least ably managed will be the one that suffers consolidation - just like Remington and look where they are now. I expect either the 2d or 3rd place chain to go under in the next 7 years.

Minimum wages are a toxic killer. You can't just raise them, you have to get the qualified help who make your company a better place to shop.

Not a huge surprise as these things change frequently anyway, but I've been wearing the same make/model of shoes as my daily wear for a few years now and have gone through three of four pairs of them. The last time I went to buy it turned out that there had been a 'new version' released, and all the reviews were noting that the fit and quality were very different. I managed to find a new-old-stock pair of the original style, but they are about done and I'm not sure what I will do to replace them. Probably just try something different, but I would have gladly paid 10% more for the original models.

One of the more idiotic downsizing efforts that I've seen were some air filters we bought for our office last year. Same vendor we had been using for several years, but this time around several of the filters were a full 3/4" less than the nominal size. Now, air filters are almost always smaller than the nominal size since you want them to slide in and out easily. These things, however, were so small that they didn't provide any sort of seal and actually fell over because they were too short to engage the guide rails when we put them into the ductwork! The part that really pissed me off was that the filters were all stamped 'proudly made in the USA'. For some reason that pissed me off a whole lot more than if it was no-name overseas brand off of Amazon.

I've noticed the downsizing thing happen in restaurants basically forever, so that is nothing new. It still annoys me when it happens though. One place I went to recently I decided to have dessert, which I don't often do, and ordered the creme brulee. Well, the dish was smaller than it used to be, it wasn't filled up as much, and there wasn't even a piece of fruit or something as a garnish. It was over-cooked as well, but that could have been an honest mistake. The rest of the issues were clear down-sizing.

- Bret

The neighborhood grocery store bakery has recently reduced the size of their mouth-watering blueberry muffins by about a third, I would estimate. They still cost $1.99. I have sad.

I can remember when you put a roll of toilet paper on the roller it would almost touch both sides. Now there is 1/4"+ clearance on each side and don't even get me started on the quality.

That's because Americans now have smaller hands than 10 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by 610:
I can remember when you put a roll of toilet paper on the roller it would almost touch both sides. Now there is 1/4"+ clearance on each side and don't even get me started on the quality.

You should see how narrow Aldi TP has gotten, it’s like 2 inches of air on each side of the roll on the holder, it’s ridiculous

I liked the Hormel turkey chili without beans. Thick with meat, less liquid and not too spicy when my stomach is acting up. Sometime during covid the stuff got soupy, thinner with a lot less meat.

Now it’s like eating soup. No thanks.

Pop Tarts, grew up on them in the 70's, a staple. Have not eaten any since then. Bought a pack out of the vending machine at work because I got stuck working over. Literally I think half the size they used to be.

It's tough to get a handle on the inflation adjusted value of an item. Most of us have a number in our head that we consider a "reasonable" price for a item. Often, the inflation adjusted price should be 5X what it was 30 or 40 years ago but we still think it should still be what the price was back then.

Accurately determining what's under or over valued, relative to the actual inflation rate, is very, very tough.

V.

My electricity supplier charge just went up 20% here in NH. I guess all the solar and wind power is subject to inflation too.

I was reading recently about the inflation of the 1970’s and didn’t know that generic brands that are common today were born during that era. Until then all you had were national brands and store brands but the bad inflation of that era caused people to flock to the new niche of generics.

I recall in the early 80’s going to the supermarket; at that time one of the big chains in our area was called Shop-Rite and they had a large section of foods with labels that were literally white with black letters. “BAKED BEANS” “CORN” “PICKLES”.

When that TV series Lost came out and they started showing the Dharma food with the black and white labels, I had to laugh because that was exactly what we were buying back then as a family of 9 with a father out of work for a while during the ugly early 80’s.

Does anyone remember that packaging who grew up in that era?

Yes, I remember generic Corn Flakes at Market Basket. They sucked. Parents didn't buy Captain Crunch or Frosted Flakes for the better part of a year.

A lot of the "funny stuff" going on right now is people trying to make up for lost income/profits during the pandemic.

V.

My wife and I have been patrons of a local pizza/sub restaurant for longer than we've been married (26 years). We have always been very pleased with their food. Unfortunately, it recently changed ownership. The first thing the new owner did was change all the ingredients and recipes. Now their stuff tastes worse than the usual chain places. We learned of the ownership change from a long-time delivery driver, a guy who has been bringing orders to our home for at least a decade. He wasn't exactly critical of the new ownership, but subtly indicated that he was not happy with the change. So I don't think we are the only long-time customers they have lost.

The other thing is beer. I favor rich malty brews, like those originating in the North of England. Most of these are dark beers. They were widely available in the US through the 70's until bars and retailers began favoring IPA's and the like. I know there are plenty of folks that like the over-hopped stuff, but please, why did they have to completely abandon what I like? Don't get me started on major commercial brewers buying up small brewers, and killing or de-marketing any of their newly-acquired products that taste better than their usual swill! Yes, AB InBev, I am talking to you.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
That's because Americans now have smaller hands than 10 years ago.

At least that makes me feel better about myself when I take a piss.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
My grandma used to buy us Entenmann's Rich Frosted donuts...

FWIW, todays news item.. Charles Entenmann, who helped franchise Long Island family bakery, dead at 92

Beefeater Gin. Went from 47 proof to 44. The conglomerate that owns the brand stated it did that to make the “global experience” more consistent across boundaries…… or borders….. or some such nonsense. Still drink it but it struggles to be more than average. I was hoping they’d go back after the pandemic.