Have you noticed that prices are rising?
It seems as if the media willingly reminds us at least once a day that the economy is still a mess. Today, President Obama had to shuffle around some stimulus plans to offset the increasing unemployment numbers. Tomorrow? Well, who knows. Let’s wait until then to worry about it.
One thing is for sure; we are paying more today for certain items that we did just a year ago. The one thing that we are not paying more for is gasoline. The price of gas has risen recently (at least in our area), but it is still less now than last year. SmartMoney.com has a list of 7 things we are paying more for this year than we did last year.
At number 7: Postage Stamps – last year’s price was $0.42, today $0.44. A lot of people don’t use many stamps because of email, texting and online purchases.
At number 6: College Tuition – average price for 2008-2009 was $6,585; that number is up from $6,189 for 2007-20008. This is obviously for public in-state schools. The good thing here is that there are a lot of good in-state schools. You don’t have to run up $40,000 in student loan debt to get a diploma.
At number 5: Ice Cream – The cost for a half-gallon of ice cream in June 2008 was $4.06. In April 2009 the same half-gallon cost $4.36. That is a 7% increase.
At number 4: A Pack of Marlboro Lights in Florida – Beginning next month Florida residents will pay on average $6.69 for a pack of cigarettes. Today, that same pack will only cost you $5.69. That $1 translates into more than a 17% increase.
At number 3: Bank Fees – specifically ATM fees. Last year the average ATM fee was $2. Now the average hit for getting your own money from a teller-free machine is $3. That is a 50% increase, just to have access to your own money. For some reason, that just doesn’t seem right.
At number 2: Tolls – the cost for a round-trip commute to downtown Boston using the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority will climb 60% if pending legislation is passed in Massachusetts. The current price tag of $5 will jump to $8.
And the number 1 thing we are paying more for now than just a few months ago is Gasoline. Even though gas is cheaper now that it was last year ($4.11 nationwide a year ago), over the last few months the average cost of a gallon of Unleaded gasoline in Minneapolis rose from $1.63 to $2.62. That is an increase of over 60%. Some of the increase is due to summer driving. You can be sure that the cost of a barrel of crude is being closely watched right now. Let’s hope that we don’t see $3.00 a gallon anytime soon.
There you have it. Seven things you are paying more for today. What about your observations? What prices have you noticed going up?
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