As a Kosher consumer, my principal loyalty has been to the store that stocks Kosher meat, though I rarely buy more than one or two items each trip. Their weekly ad arrives in the mail midweek. I take it to my desk where I create a list as I read each page of the colored print circular. On the front, I jot down the definite will gets, either because of discount or need. On the back, I note everything I might consider purchasing, again driven by a lower price than what I usually encounter there. Must list always short, Might list usually exceeds a full column on a rather long note sheet.
On Sundays, the coupons become downloadable on the store's web site. There being no penalty for downloading items I end up not purchasing, I designate anything attractive.
List available, pen in pocket, and about five reusable bags in car's trunk, I set out for the store one morning, usually mid-week when not very crowded and when I am not pressured for an upcoming appointment someplace else. Then department by department, aisle by aisle, matching wits with the various managers and psych majors who think they can entice me to fill my cart with items that bring the highest margins.
By the time I reach checkout, the contents of my basket will fill all the reusable bags that I put into my cart when I arrived. Ample food. Nutritious food. And some storage bags, household paper, and sunscreen.
While it's easy to tabulate what I purchased, as the register tape does that with each scan, what I declined to buy may be more telling. It likely will have indirect political implications at the highest levels, as my experience gets replicated by nearly every other American voter of every region and financial circumstance with often distressing regularity. Due to cumulative good fortune and deferred gratification, I enter my retirement years with ample pension income and considerable wealth. I need not deny myself any supermarket product based on price. But I do. And in every aisle. It makes no difference if one brand of pickle captures the essence of dill better than another, the less desirable discounted that week goes into the cart. Same with cookies. Kosher meat is expensive, but subject to economizing. Parsley or potatoes, more than I want to pay, I can create satisfying menus with something else. However, there are some staples. Flour, sugar, coffee, bread, some form of cheese cannot be avoided. Many items are rejected by price. I buy only the discounted cereal, pasta, peanut butter even though I might find a competing form more satisfying to eat. And that's from the perspective of somebody who when analyzed rationally has enough income to buy the preferred items.
The perspective of somebody with serious budget constraints will differ, defaulting to not buying irrespective of desire, or making the purchase and assigning blame for the high price. And as all Presidents from Truman onward well know, The Buck Stops Here. The ability to use earnings for the things you most want drives some blend of satisfaction and resentment. Wanting that cereal and not purchasing it, filling the gas tank to a fixed dollar amount instead of to the top, compromising on a preferred hotel room all generate some disappointment and for many an anger target, whether conspiracies of the wealthy or a political party that is insensitive to what is happening or beholden to the wrong groups.
There are also public rationalizations by our elected officials. Prices are high because of the need for higher wages driven by pandemic recovery, transportation supply chain glitches, bad weather someplace else in the world, siphoning my tax money to support the unworthy. All plausible, but not the consumer's concern. The response by those holding office would be something to the effect of look how many more people have jobs and how much your 401K has risen. With traditional unemployment figures of about 5%, the other 95% had jobs all along and will not be tapping into their retirement funds until they retire. The deprivation is new to them, and it is now. Communal prosperity data does not change anybody's supermarket, gas station, or housing payments this month.
Who will be left holding the bag politically? The person that can be blamed. Does not look good for the current White House occupant, or so my crystal ball hints.
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