Have you had much inflation with your photo staples?

100gb M-disc has gone from $241 to $298 per 25 discs.

 

My ink has gone from $52 - $54 per cartridge to $74 - $80. My printer uses 9 cartridges.

 

Blu-ray 25gb M-disc has gone from $52 to $80 per 25 disc spindle.

 

4.7gb M-disc was discontinued. eBay has some from scalpers at almost triple the price.

 

These are all recent jumps.

Edited August 4, 2021 by invisibleflash

I’ve got everything I need right now and haven’t made a photo purchase in some time. I just priced the cost of a sensor cleaning and was told it was fifty bucks, less than I paid a few years ago. In all of San Francisco, however, I found exactly one camera store that would do it. So, while I haven’t experienced photographic inflation, I’m saddened for all the businesses that didn’t survive to be able to raise their prices to keep going. Whatever inflated pricing I now spend on luxury or recreational activities and supplies I consider my contribution to keeping others afloat in these perilous times. I’m glad I can still afford a luxury or two.

Not with photo equipment. But my haircuts have gone up a third.

I bought a lot of 2TB external drives in the past. What i had to pay for 2TB when i first started buying those buys me a 5TB version today. So no, i do not share your experience, Invisible. Edited August 5, 2021 by q.g._de_bakker

According to eBay listings, some of my "old, crappy, never-be-worth more than they are now" cameras are actually worth more, but if I were selling, I'd wouldn't expect too much. Appreciated things do not always appreciate.

I bought a lot of 2TB external drives in the past. What i had to pay for 2TB when i first started buying those buys me a 5TB version today. So no, i do not share your experience, Invisible.

Electronics tend to go down in price. But the things you need to survive like food, shelter, gas, taxes, utilities, commodities, etc tend to go up. My house has gone up 45% in value according to Zillow in the last 8 years since we bought it. How do people find houses today to afford to buy? My haircuts went up 33% in the last year. And I'm bald. o_O A pound of coffee package seems to have shrink to 14 ounces at the same price.

My haircuts went up 33% in the last year.

Mine went completely down. Because of lockdown, I started cutting my own hair and decided I do a good enough job. I made a couple of mistakes at first, but they were in the back and no one got to see them since I was mostly indoors and alone at the time. No one could see the back of my head on a zoom call! I’m much better at it now. And it was good timing since the guy who’s cut my hair for the last 40 years decided this was a good time to retire.

How do people find houses today to afford to buy?

They buy in more transitional neighborhoods which often, in another 8 years, will have become desirable.

A pound of coffee package seems to have shrink to 14 ounces at the same price.

To compensate, make it a little weaker, drink a few sips less a day (smaller mug?), or offset the increase by cutting back on some other non-essential or luxury purchase.

A pound of coffee package seems to have shrink to 14 ounces at the same price.

 

That's been a common ploy for years, and it's really annoying when the size of the old package is relevant for a recipe.

 

Here's an interactive chart that shows the consumer price index for various categories of goods:

 

12-month percentage change, Consumer Price Index, selected categories

 

The last few months are hopefully anomalous because of pent-up demand and severe supply-chain problems.

 

Housing has been a problem for a long time. One factor now is low interest rates, which drop the cost of mortgages, making the monthly cost lower for a given mortgage amount. That in turn feeds inflation of prices.

That's been a common ploy for years, and it's really annoying when the size of the old package is relevant for a recipe.

 

Here's an interactive chart that shows the consumer price index for various categories of goods:

 

12-month percentage change, Consumer Price Index, selected categories

 

The last few months are hopefully anomalous because of pent-up demand and severe supply-chain problems.

 

Housing has been a problem for a long time. One factor now is low interest rates, which drop the cost of mortgages, making the monthly cost lower for a given mortgage amount. That in turn feeds inflation of prices.

The Fed is keeping prices artificially high with low interest rates. Once interest rates go up again, housing prices will tank. Also, the Fed's printing is causing inflation and subsequent higher prices. There wouldn't be pent up demand if the government wasn't giving everyone loads of cash to spend with a reduction in productivity due to out of work people and businesses that have shut down or are not producing as much.. That's inflation especially because it mainly printed, not from taxes. It's going to get worse with Congress passing even higher spending plans with the Fed printing more to pay for it.

 

I remember higher prices and stagflation of the 1970s and early 80s. It's going to be worse this time. The government's screwing up the economy again.

It's going to be worse this time. The government's screwing up the economy again.

When your prognostications turn out to be wrong, what lies will you tell to justify these statements? I can hear them now.

the government wasn't giving everyone loads of cash to spend

One exaggerator’s “loads of cash” is another’s food for the month.

Once interest rates go up again, housing prices will tank.

Yes, and photography is dead. Right?

As measured by the Consumer Price Index, inflation has been running below average for 30 years. In recent months it's trending closer to average, which now seems "high" in comparison. The average annual inflation rate since 1913 (when the U.S. government first began tracking inflation) is about 3.2%.

 

We heard the same warnings about out-of-control inflation when the Recovery Act passed in 2009 after the Crash of 2008. Mainstream economics predicted otherwise, and indeed the inflation didn't happen. Although conditions are different now, I still expect inflation to stay near the historical average.

 

Of course, there are always exceptions. I agree that low interest rates are inflating real-estate prices -- and stock prices. Bitcoin mining is inflating GPU prices. Chia mining is beginning to inflate the prices of large-capacity disk drives. Chip shortages are inflating automobile prices.

 

Cameras and lenses seem to be getting more expensive as smartphones destroy the snapshooter market, forcing manufacturers to focus on enthusiasts like us. Consumables like printer paper and printer ink are poor markers for inflation because they have never been priced relative to their actual manufacturing cost. When b&w darkroom paper got more expensive, it was blamed on silver prices. Then they removed all the silver to make inkjet paper and it got even more expensive. Several years ago someone calculated that Epson ink costs $15,000 a gallon. Sometimes inflation happens for reasons having nothing to do with macroeconomics.

Just convince yourself you don't need another new camera. The one you have is more than sufficient.

As measured by the Consumer Price Index, inflation has been running below average for 30 years. In recent months it's trending closer to average, which now seems "high" in comparison. The average annual inflation rate since 1913 (when the U.S. government first began tracking inflation) is about 3.2%.

 

We heard the same warnings about out-of-control inflation when the Recovery Act passed in 2009 after the Crash of 2008. Mainstream economics predicted otherwise, and indeed the inflation didn't happen. Although conditions are different now, I still expect inflation to stay near the historical average.

 

Of course, there are always exceptions. I agree that low interest rates are inflating real-estate prices -- and stock prices. Bitcoin mining is inflating GPU prices. Chia mining is beginning to inflate the prices of large-capacity disk drives. Chip shortages are inflating automobile prices.

 

Cameras and lenses seem to be getting more expensive as smartphones destroy the snapshooter market, forcing manufacturers to focus on enthusiasts like us. Consumables like printer paper and printer ink are poor markers for inflation because they have never been priced relative to their actual manufacturing cost. When b&w darkroom paper got more expensive, it was blamed on silver prices. Then they removed all the silver to make inkjet paper and it got even more expensive. Several years ago someone calculated that Epson ink costs $15,000 a gallon. Sometimes inflation happens for reasons having nothing to do with macroeconomics.

Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon. Sure, economic issues like temporary supply problems due to Covid may increase prices temporarily. But inflation, the increase in the money supply, will raise prices as an average, if production doesn't increase to sop up the extra money. With an increase in money, it bids up the price of products as you have more money chasing the same or less amount of goods. Certainly, with Covid and the vast layoffs, we're producing much less goods.

 

Also, the money the government is printing and going to non-working people bids up the price of foreign goods as well as domestic product, homes, cars, etc. A lot of that money is just enriching Chinese manufacturers.

Once interest rates go up again, housing prices will tank.

 

One can expect rising rates to have some negative effect on the rate of increase in housing prices, but historically, it's hardly as simple as what you wrote. Check out the graph at this site:

Do Rising Mortgage Rates Trigger Lower House Prices? | Bankrate.com. It shows that prices haven't gone down (let alone "tank") for most of the last 20 years, regardless of rates. And the only period when prices went down was when rates were middling and dropping, not rising.

Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon.

 

Not always. I already cited examples of inflation having nothing to do with money supply.

 

Printing money is inflationary but doesn't always cause inflation. It sounds paradoxical, but you cited one example (higher production). Here are others:

 

1. If deflationary forces in the economy offset the inflationary effects of increasing the money supply, there's no net inflation.

 

2. If the economy destroys money as fast as it's created, there's no net inflation.

 

3. If the new money doesn't reach general circulation, it can't cause inflation.

 

After the Crash of 2008, all three of those cases were true. That's why I was confident in 2009 that the dire warnings of inflation or hyperinflation were dead wrong. It didn't take a genius to be right. It's just basic macroeconomics.

 

Although economic conditions are different now, other factors weigh against sustained high inflation. The pandemic moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures are expiring, which is potentially very disruptive. The supplemental unemployment benefits expire in early September, which some people predict will drain the economy of surplus spending money and abruptly end the low-wage labor shortage. (I doubt the latter.) Gasoline prices tend to decline in the fall. Some supply shortages will ease. And the surging pandemic among the unvaccinated will impede both the national and global recoveries.

 

TV commentators often fly into hysterics over short-term blips in employment statistics, inflation rates, interest rates, stock prices, and just about everything else. I think they are emotionally challenged to handle the usual fluctuations of capitalist economies.

I already cited examples of inflation having nothing to do with money supply.

I would take the “argument” Alan’s putting forth as more of a political than an economic one. [i can almost hear Fox News playing in the background.]

One can expect rising rates to have some negative effect on the rate of increase in housing prices, but historically, it's hardly as simple as what you wrote. Check out the graph at this site:

Do Rising Mortgage Rates Trigger Lower House Prices? | Bankrate.com. It shows that prices haven't gone down (let alone "tank") for most of the last 20 years, regardless of rates. And the only period when prices went down was when rates were middling and dropping, not rising.

Generally, home prices reflect the value of earnings. Traditionally, a certain percentage of people's wages go to homes because people can't afford higher housing costs. When they get too high above those traditional percentages of income, like back in 2008, prices will drop to reflect reality. I believe we're in a similar situation as then when prices exceeded traditional percentages. Demand will drop which will bring prices down. Of course, it will be even worse and drop even more if the Fed increase mortgage rates.

Not always. I already cited examples of inflation having nothing to do with money supply.

 

Printing money is inflationary but doesn't always cause inflation. It sounds paradoxical, but you cited one example (higher production). Here are others:

 

1. If deflationary forces in the economy offset the inflationary effects of increasing the money supply, there's no net inflation.

 

2. If the economy destroys money as fast as it's created, there's no net inflation.

 

3. If the new money doesn't reach general circulation, it can't cause inflation.

 

After the Crash of 2008, all three of those cases were true. That's why I was confident in 2009 that the dire warnings of inflation or hyperinflation were dead wrong. It didn't take a genius to be right. It's just basic macroeconomics.

 

Although economic conditions are different now, other factors weigh against sustained high inflation. The pandemic moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures are expiring, which is potentially very disruptive. The supplemental unemployment benefits expire in early September, which some people predict will drain the economy of surplus spending money and abruptly end the low-wage labor shortage. (I doubt the latter.) Gasoline prices tend to decline in the fall. Some supply shortages will ease. And the surging pandemic among the unvaccinated will impede both the national and global recoveries.

 

TV commentators often fly into hysterics over short-term blips in employment statistics, inflation rates, interest rates, stock prices, and just about everything else. I think they are emotionally challenged to handle the usual fluctuations of capitalist economies.

You're using the word inflation to mean an increase in prices. That's a rather recent definition of the word. The actual definition for inflation is an increase in the money supply. From that, prices often go up which people call inflation or price inflation. Unfortunately, the public, media and economists often conflate the two.

 

Unfortunately, the recent round of printing has reached the consumer and the velocity of money is now finally catching up to us with PPP, unemployment payments, and other government deficit spending from printing. With more money being spent on infrastructure and more trillions planned, all that printing already created with lots more planned, is winding up in the general economy and will continue to raise prices. It's not 2008.

 

I wish you were right. As a retired person with fixed income, higher prices are the last things I need. I'm afraid we're in for another round of 1970's stagflation that I lived through. $100 in 1970 was only worth $45 in purchasing power in 1982. Of course, back then, you could get a double digit interest bank CD to recoup some of the devaluation. Not so today.

You're using the word inflation to mean an increase in prices. That's a rather recent definition of the word. The actual definition for inflation is an increase in the money supply. From that, prices often go up which people call inflation or price inflation. Unfortunately, the public, media and economists often conflate the two.

 

So-called Austrian-school economists argue that "inflation" means a growing money supply and that price inflation is merely the inevitable consequence. But "inflation" meaning price inflation is the historical norm and remains the most popular usage.

 

The problem with the Austrian-school definition is that money supply isn't the sole inflationary factor, as my previous post explained. Indeed, prices (and wages) can deflate even while the money supply increases. For example, after the Crash of 2008, housing prices in most places deflated for years despite a sudden and massive increase in the money supply to avert another Great Depression. And many workers suffered pay cuts during that period. Even when price inflation returned, it ran below the historical average and wasn't proportional to the growth in money supply.

 

The U.S. government's new infrastructure spending will be spread over several future years, not splurged all at once. Also, it's money we should have been spending over the past decade or more. Now we're trying to catch up. The longer we postpone it, the more expensive it gets, because construction costs rise and borrowing costs are already at historic lows.

 

As I noted previously, other factors besides monetary policy affect the prices of cameras, lenses, and consumables (ink and paper). People aren't buying smartphones instead of digicams because of money supply or interest rates. Camera manufacturers are refocusing on enthusiasts like us who are willing to buy more-expensive equipment. Ink and paper have such large profit margins (especially ink) that they are priced at whatever the market will bear.

 

Brand pricing is yet another inflationary factor unrelated to money supply or government spending. Leica sells its M-mount 75mm f/1.25 lens for $14,295 whereas 7Artisans sells its M-mount 75mm f/1.25 lens for $449. China's production costs are lower than Germany's, but not that much lower. (And according to reviews, the quality difference isn't nearly as great as the price difference.) I don't expect those prices to change much, no matter how many potholes the government fills with new money.

 

P.S. Maybe the "fixed-income retirement" cliche itself needs retiring. Nowadays, workers (especially in service jobs) are more likely than retirees to be living on fixed incomes. Federal minimum wage hasn't risen for 13 years. Social Security recipients get automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs); few workers do. If your retirement income is truly fixed, maybe you're not taking advantage of the only inflation everyone seems to like: stock-price inflation. (Dare we say hyperinflation?)

Maybe the "fixed-income retirement" cliche itself needs retiring.

!!! +1

 

Next we can tackle who’s really getting most of the government welfare in this country …

If the price of fixing the infrastructure is slight increase in the price of potatoes, count me in.

Electronics tend to go down in price. But the things you need to survive like food, shelter, gas, taxes, utilities, commodities, etc tend to go up. My house has gone up 45% in value according to Zillow in the last 8 years since we bought it. How do people find houses today to afford to buy? My haircuts went up 33% in the last year. And I'm bald. o_O A pound of coffee package seems to have shrink to 14 ounces at the same price.

 

Can't say about houses. I've heard investment companies are bidding them up as rentals. Glad I don't have a family to provide for and need a 5 bedroom.

So-called Austrian-school economists argue that "inflation" means a growing money supply and that price inflation is merely the inevitable consequence. But "inflation" meaning price inflation is the historical norm and remains the most popular usage.

 

The problem with the Austrian-school definition is that money supply isn't the sole inflationary factor, as my previous post explained. Indeed, prices (and wages) can deflate even while the money supply increases. For example, after the Crash of 2008, housing prices in most places deflated for years despite a sudden and massive increase in the money supply to avert another Great Depression. And many workers suffered pay cuts during that period. Even when price inflation returned, it ran below the historical average and wasn't proportional to the growth in money supply.

 

The U.S. government's new infrastructure spending will be spread over several future years, not splurged all at once. Also, it's money we should have been spending over the past decade or more. Now we're trying to catch up. The longer we postpone it, the more expensive it gets, because construction costs rise and borrowing costs are already at historic lows.

 

As I noted previously, other factors besides monetary policy affect the prices of cameras, lenses, and consumables (ink and paper). People aren't buying smartphones instead of digicams because of money supply or interest rates. Camera manufacturers are refocusing on enthusiasts like us who are willing to buy more-expensive equipment. Ink and paper have such large profit margins (especially ink) that they are priced at whatever the market will bear.

 

Brand pricing is yet another inflationary factor unrelated to money supply or government spending. Leica sells its M-mount 75mm f/1.25 lens for $14,295 whereas 7Artisans sells its M-mount 75mm f/1.25 lens for $449. China's production costs are lower than Germany's, but not that much lower. (And according to reviews, the quality difference isn't nearly as great as the price difference.) I don't expect those prices to change much, no matter how many potholes the government fills with new money.

 

P.S. Maybe the "fixed-income retirement" cliche itself needs retiring. Nowadays, workers (especially in service jobs) are more likely than retirees to be living on fixed incomes. Federal minimum wage hasn't risen for 13 years. Social Security recipients get automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs); few workers do. If your retirement income is truly fixed, maybe you're not taking advantage of the only inflation everyone seems to like: stock-price inflation. (Dare we say hyperinflation?)

Inlfation meaning price increases in not the traditional meaning. It's been change to that.

 

Quote: ...Inflation, always and everywhere, is primarily caused by an increase in the supply of money and credit. In fact, inflation is the increase in the supply of money and credit. If you turn to the American College Dictionary, for example, you will find the first definition of inflation given as follows: "Undue expansion or increase of the currency of a country, esp. by the issuing of paper money not redeemable in specie." In recent years, however, the term has come to be used in a radically different sense. This is recognized in the second definition given by the American College Dictionary: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT INFLATION "A substantial rise of prices caused by an undue expansion in paper money or bank credit." Now obviously a rise of prices caused by an expansion of the money supply is not the same thing as the expansion of the money supply itself. A cause or condition is clearly not identical with one of its consequences. The use of the word "inflation" with these two quite different meanings leads to endless confusion. The word "inflation" originally applied solely to the quantity of money. It meant that the volume of money was inflated, blown up, overextended. It is not mere pedantry to insist that the word should be used only in its original meaning. To use it to mean "a rise in prices" is to deflect attention away from the real cause of inflation and the real cure for it....

What You Should Know About Inflation (mises.org)

 

Regarding the price of housing going down after 2008 despite an increase in money supply, the prices would have gone down even more if there was less printing. Printing has recreated the housing bubble and high prices again, even worse then 2008. Individual price differences and effects have little to due with the money supply. Those things happen in all economies. However, if the money supply is constrained and in relation to productivity, if more money is spent on certain products, then less money is available for other products reducing their prices. Supply and demand is in effect. So overall it balances out. However, if there is more printing than productivity warrants, such as we have now, then you have more money bidding up the price of everything. Of course there will be differences from one product to the next since there are many variables. But the overall average, as we're now facing, means prices are going up. The main driver is inflation - additional money added to the money supply.

As measured by the Consumer Price Index, inflation has been running below average for 30 years. In recent months it's trending closer to average, which now seems "high" in comparison. The average annual inflation rate since 1913 (when the U.S. government first began tracking inflation) is about 3.2%.

 

We heard the same warnings about out-of-control inflation when the Recovery Act passed in 2009 after the Crash of 2008. Mainstream economics predicted otherwise, and indeed the inflation didn't happen. Although conditions are different now, I still expect inflation to stay near the historical average.

 

Of course, there are always exceptions. I agree that low interest rates are inflating real-estate prices -- and stock prices. Bitcoin mining is inflating GPU prices. Chia mining is beginning to inflate the prices of large-capacity disk drives. Chip shortages are inflating automobile prices.

 

Cameras and lenses seem to be getting more expensive as smartphones destroy the snapshooter market, forcing manufacturers to focus on enthusiasts like us. Consumables like printer paper and printer ink are poor markers for inflation because they have never been priced relative to their actual manufacturing cost. When b&w darkroom paper got more expensive, it was blamed on silver prices. Then they removed all the silver to make inkjet paper and it got even more expensive. Several years ago someone calculated that Epson ink costs $15,000 a gallon. Sometimes inflation happens for reasons having nothing to do with macroeconomics.

 

Someone gave the excuse each ink cartridge has a gold plated computer chip.

The Fed is keeping prices artificially high with low interest rates. Once interest rates go up again, housing prices will tank. Also, the Fed's printing is causing inflation and subsequent higher prices. There wouldn't be pent up demand if the government wasn't giving everyone loads of cash to spend with a reduction in productivity due to out of work people and businesses that have shut down or are not producing as much.. That's inflation especially because it mainly printed, not from taxes. It's going to get worse with Congress passing even higher spending plans with the Fed printing more to pay for it.

 

I remember higher prices and stagflation of the 1970s and early 80s. It's going to be worse this time. The government's screwing up the economy again.

 

Don't know if the gov will ever voluntarily raise rates much. If rates skyrocket, the gov can't even pay the interest on their debt.

 

In the old days gov sold war bonds to fund a war. Now all they need to do to create $Trillions is to punch a few extra keys on the keyboard.

Edited August 12, 2021 by invisibleflash