If you are becoming increasingly frustrated not only with the price tag on the rise as you approach the checkstand, the reason may be caused by something now being referred to as “excuseflation”. The term, believed first coined by a pair of Bloomberg journalists.
Excuseflation is every company that makes the same type of product announcing their prices are going up, or consumers just finding that rising price at the grocery store when they reach for another jar – from all manufacturers – of a basic pantry food. As the price of basic ingredients, goods and the things needed to produce items are going up – such as fuel – manufacturers these days are very often all raising their prices at the same time; sometimes in advance of maker’s cost hikes. Consumers have no other brands to turn too to save money, and wind up paying more.
Adding to the misery or impending increased misery, Red Sea ship attacks as the Middle East war persists and emboldens are another cause of rising prices – and likely to cause more price hikes ahead. Shipping industry risk insurance rate costs are as much as 70 times higher than they were before the war began, impacting non-hindered sailing through the Red Sea. American, British and Israeli-flagged vessels and those ships that make port stops in those nations are the most impacted right now. Currently, the biggest cost hikes caused by shipping industry disruptions are affecting consumers in Asia and Europe, but analysts warn North American consumers are likely to see even more price hikes as the war continues.