12-01-2023, 09:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-02-2023, 12:33 AM by HereOnThePrimalEdge.)
about your point on the grocery stores jacking up the prices because of the excess EBT holders
I’m not sure if there’s a study that can prove the point. But there are personal observations. If the cause was inflation, the prices would be equally higher everywhere. But they’re not. Prices in Pahoa are demonstrably higher on an item to item comparison with Hilo stores. From overhearing EBT buyers talking about their purchases, I would say they are less cautious about their spending their free food money than people who pay with cash or credit card, who presumably work for their food money.
Here’s an effect from EBT that we’ve all probably noticed. I shopped for groceries the other day, the end of the month and the store was deserted. EBT food buyers had run out of funds. From the first of the month through the fifth, grocery stores are packed, checkout lines wind into the aisles.
None of my examples above can prove a correlation between EBT use and pricing, but they do show there’s an effect. And store managers or owners can see it too, they can read the room. Let’s assume profit is a motive, and the store can raise prices to a certain extent without losing customers or sales…
I’m not sure if there’s a study that can prove the point. But there are personal observations. If the cause was inflation, the prices would be equally higher everywhere. But they’re not. Prices in Pahoa are demonstrably higher on an item to item comparison with Hilo stores. From overhearing EBT buyers talking about their purchases, I would say they are less cautious about their spending their free food money than people who pay with cash or credit card, who presumably work for their food money.
Here’s an effect from EBT that we’ve all probably noticed. I shopped for groceries the other day, the end of the month and the store was deserted. EBT food buyers had run out of funds. From the first of the month through the fifth, grocery stores are packed, checkout lines wind into the aisles.
None of my examples above can prove a correlation between EBT use and pricing, but they do show there’s an effect. And store managers or owners can see it too, they can read the room. Let’s assume profit is a motive, and the store can raise prices to a certain extent without losing customers or sales…