When grocery prices rise, we’re often left with little choice but to begrudgingly pay more for what we used to get for less. But many shoppers have just about reached their limit. If certain grocery staples go up in price just one more dollar – they’re off the shopping list for good.
A new survey by the financial services company Empower finds that 87% of respondents are “fed up” with rising prices. But being annoyed about higher prices, and putting your money where your mouth is, are two different things.
Notably, more than a quarter of respondents say enough is enough – they’re not willing to pay anything more for some items on their regular shopping list. Baby boomers are the least willing to pay more than products’ current prices, but the resistance to higher prices can be seen across generations.
Empower asked shoppers what they would do if prices for certain grocery favorites went up by just one dollar. And it turns out, for many shoppers, that single dollar represents their breaking point.
If the price of coffee goes up by a buck? More than a third of survey respondents said that will mean coffee is off their shopping list. Gen X shoppers were most likely to feel the same about bread, with one in five of them saying they won’t buy a loaf of bread if it costs a dollar more than it does now. The same proportion of Millennials say they won’t pay a single dollar more for snack foods, while 20% of Gen Z shoppers will cut fresh fruits and vegetables from their list if the price increases by more than a dollar.
What if prices stay the same, though, and shoppers end up getting less than what they’re paying for? Three out of four shoppers believe that the higher prices go, the less they’re getting in return. 79%, for example, have noticed fewer chips in the bag and less cereal in the box. And nearly half of shoppers say they’ve noticed a change in quality – chocolate, for example, “costs more, but doesn’t taste as good.”
So when they’re not taking items off their shopping lists, they’re looking for other ways to save. More than half have switched to store brands, while a third are looking for more coupons and deals.
Perhaps the most unlikely way some shoppers believe they can save money, is dynamic pricing. Stores like Walmart and Kroger have set off something of a firestorm, by installing digital shelf tags that will allow them to update prices without having to print and replace millions of paper tags. Critics say the cost- and labor-saving system is just a ruse, that would really allow retailers to raise prices at will, at the press of a button. If that’s true, prices could theoretically be reduced as well, to get slow-moving products off the shelves. That’s what a third of shoppers hope, at least, with 37% telling Empower that they like the concept of dynamic pricing at the grocery store.
Overall, a vast majority of shoppers say their money doesn’t go as far as it used to, they’re using more of their budget on essential items, and price increases tend to turn them off from once-favorite brands. And yet there’s room for optimism – more than a quarter of survey respondents think prices will come down before the end of this year.
Until then, coffee, bread, snacks, produce and other items may be scratched from grocery lists if prices go up by just a dollar apiece. It turns out that when every penny counts – those extra dollars can really add up.
Image source: Virginia Retail 
This happened with Goldfish. They used to be on sale for years for $.99. Then, after supposed ‘inflation’, they went to $1.29, then $1.49, then $1.99. I stopped buying them (and I used to buy a lot!). I highly doubt the cost to make them happened to go up an exact dollar. They’re likely rounding up. Seems like gouging to me. I’ve found other products to use.
that’s what I did prices became so exorbitantly high and the sales just don’t make sense anymore I’m not saving anything I’m spending double what I would to save a couple dollars and I’m not allowed to use coupons anymore to bring down my prices not to mention the fact that there really aren’t any coupons around to speak of. those digitals are annoying and take too much time they’re putting out new ones and they take away good digitals without saying anything to the consumer which is crooked the stores are taking such advantage of us now that it’s not even worth it to deal hunt I just buy one or two items instead and I tried more new products now then I ever have before because it’s just not worth it to buy stuff that I used to if it’s two or three times the price. I’m losing weight and so is my partner not because we’re buying the healthiest stuff which we should be cuz it’s crucial for our health but because we just can’t afford what we used to anymore. we just signed up for the food pantry. it’s so costly to just buy a loaf of bread that we stopped buying it a couple years ago. we go through a loaf in 3 days it’s $5 for a loaf even the cheap one is three bucks or more so it was the first thing to go if I’m going to be spending $30 a month on bread. we switched to tortillas that were more versatile. now we don’t even buy those very often unless we have a meal plan because those went out to almost $5 for an eight pack and often the store brand is sold out and that went up to almost $4 for a store brand package. what’s the point anymore I work overtime every week and coupon to save and still can’t make ends meet and end up putting food on a credit card. the only option I have left is to just stop eating unless it’s absolutely necessary.