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The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

newyorker.com

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Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#41

Post by richbell »

imgabe wrote: post #35
richbell wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It sounds like the restaurant was a side project that was barely solvent to begin with This is an incredibly bad take. Restaurants are a grueling business and many have low margins — 80% fail within 5 years. Since the beginning of the pandemic many incredible and beloved restaurants in my city have been forced to close due to lock downs, landlords raising rents, rising costs, etc. > They could try raising prices, b…

> Throughout most of R-BBQ’s existence, Rodriguez has worked other jobs as well, first at the health clinic in town, then at the school district. His heart was in the restaurant, but he was cognizant of his father’s railroad pension and the stability it provided. It says right in TFA article that the owner works other jobs to support himself. No doubt restaurants are a tough business. Lots of businesses fail. Should…

> It says right in TFA article that the owner works other jobs to support himself.

Both bee_rider and InefficientRed's comments were clearly about the general effect and not the specific restaurant mentioned in the article.

Regardless, the fact that Rodriguez has to work another job to support himself doesn't make it a 'side project'.

> Yes, I've heard of many of these. It's always a person who went to the place once 2 years ago and is sad now that it's closing. Guess what you can do to keep local restaurants open? Go to them and buy food

Are you really disregarding the content of my post because of a made up scenario that you're attributing to me?

In 2020 a beloved Syrian cheese and dessert shop, owned by a refugee, was forcibly evicted because their land lord tripled their rent. The lot remains vacant to this day. Was this personally my fault for not buying enough cheese?

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#43

Post by junofan »

Swizec wrote: post #31
imgabe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's misleading to talk about profits purely in absolute terms. The profit margin could stay the same while the absolute number doubles. If you make $10 profit on $100 revenue one year (a 10% margin) and $20 profit on $200 revenue the next year (still a 10% margin), profits "doubled" but the profit margin stayed the same. When you add in the inflation and the fact that the $20 this year is not worth as much as $20 wa…

I believe the implication is that if everyone collectively agreed to eat the inflation – go from 10% margin to 5% margin for the same $10 – there would be a lot less inflation because purchasing power would be the same regardless of what some number on a computer says. But if everyone raises prices “because inflation”, well that’s exactly what inflation is – things getting pricier. I know this sort of coordination ca…

It’s just cost-plus pricing. Tyson needs to tie up money in inputs, production, and distribution—money that could be put to work elsewhere.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#44

Post by MattGaiser »

bee_rider wrote: post #4

> This year, Tyson Foods, the country’s largest meat processor, saw its first-quarter profits nearly double. Meanwhile, all over Texas, barbecue places have shut their doors: Two Sawers BBQ, in Floresville; 1836 BBQ, in New Braunfels; Brisket Bar-BQ, in Bellaire. Kinda curious what the long term plan is here for Tyson -- just sell directly to customers after all the restaurants have closed, I guess?

Whittle down the customers who cannot pay a premium and sustain large margins. Brex did that with its small business accounts.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#45

Post by bluedino »

throwaway1777 wrote: post #17
InefficientRed wrote: post #6

> a box of a hundred and eighty eggs, which had cost around eight dollars when he opened the restaurant, in 2001, was nearly fifty. I don't think I've seen wholesale eggs even close to that high at any point. I think the only place I've seen unit prices that high is at a Whole Foods (which is organic, not wholesale, and has a "premium brand"/convenience markup). Are eggs just outrageously expensive in the Texas marke…

At my Costco the 180 box is just under 40 with tax, and thats for the medium eggs. If you want large its $60 for the box. So this seems believable…

How are they that much? I pay $1.49 for 18 eggs at Kroger

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#46

Post by bee_rider »

pj_mukh wrote: post #23

Generally, this really sucks for the restaurant and the town but, "the price of food, particularly meat, has risen more than the over-all consumer-price index" Unpopular opinion: But maybe this is fine? In fact after inflation is under control, maybe real meat needs a heavy carbon tax to keep the prices high. We can rebuild the supply chain around fake meats as we slowly switch away. I know this all seems implausible…

We could also add a healthcare system damage surcharge for red meat. But not for cheese... for... reasons...

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#47

Post by nostromo »

rafaelero wrote: post #42
unethical_ban wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you had a decent point to make, you seem to be intentionally heartless and incompetent in your rhetorical skills.

Quoted post unavailable.

> Do you feel for the coal workers that lost their job because the plant went offline?

Yes, obviously yes.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#48

Post by tomcam »

rafaelero wrote: post #42
unethical_ban wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you had a decent point to make, you seem to be intentionally heartless and incompetent in your rhetorical skills.

Quoted post unavailable.

> Do you feel for the coal workers that lost their job because the plant went offline?

Uh, I sure do.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#49

Post by richbell »

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #40
richbell wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It sounds like the restaurant was a side project that was barely solvent to begin with This is an incredibly bad take. Restaurants are a grueling business and many have low margins — 80% fail within 5 years. Since the beginning of the pandemic many incredible and beloved restaurants in my city have been forced to close due to lock downs, landlords raising rents, rising costs, etc. > They could try raising prices, b…

I mean I don't know if you'be been out eating any time in the previous 6 months, but fast food is no discount. Most mom-pop places comparable or cheaper than fast food.

I completely agree: in my neck of the woods, a breakfast combo at McDonalds now costs more than the incredible mom & pop places nearby. The problem is convenience and access.

Fast food chains are ubiquitous and designed to be a quick and predictable choice for people. Mom & pop places don't tend to have large parking lots, or drive-thrus that people can line up around the block for. They also can't afford the margins that UberEats or Doordash take — and food delivery has exploded in the past few years.

Lastly, many people are creatures of habit and few are probably looking to shake things up right now. The unfortunate truth is that the best value or quality seldom wins these days.

Re: The true costs of inflation in small-town Texas

#50

Post by ceeplusplus »

InefficientRed wrote: post #13
imgabe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's misleading to talk about profits purely in absolute terms. The profit margin could stay the same while the absolute number doubles. If you make $10 profit on $100 revenue one year (a 10% margin) and $20 profit on $200 revenue the next year (still a 10% margin), profits "doubled" but the profit margin stayed the same. When you add in the inflation and the fact that the $20 this year is not worth as much as $20 wa…

Sure, but someone loses, and in this case the loser is the local restaurant that doesn't appear to have much pricing power.

Just means the restaurant wasn't very good to begin with. Chipotle, McD's, etc. have all raised prices nationally, and they operate in what has to be the most price sensitive market possible. I know the good restaurants in my area have doubled prices and people keep coming because they're the best.

Rising prices differentiate the good businesses from the bad.

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