Rant #2,408: Rise

I just read that supermarket prices have risen at unprecedented levels since this pandemic struck us, and thus, supermarket sales are going through the roof, too.

This doesn't surprise me at all.

I have found that my weekly grocery bill has risen at least $50 since this thing began.

Now, on my part, a lot of it can be attributed to where I am now doing my shopping.

I used to do my shopping at a discount grocer, which was further away from my house than the local grocers, but I more than made up for the drive with the prices I was paying for goods.

I could still shop at that particular grocer if I wanted to, but like most people, I have cut down my driving considerably--85 percent might be a fair number--and I have stayed local for my shopping in recent weeks--

Which means, since I supposedly live in a "high rent" district, an area greatly made up of upper middle class and wealthier residents, I am paying through the nose for my groceries right now by shopping the local supermarkets.

For instance, let's look at TV dinners.

When I shopped the discount supermarket, I paid about $2.50 for one of these dinners.

Now, these dinners are costing me upwards of $5 or so.

I don't often buy them, but that is really the tip of the iceberg, and we are not just talking about lettuce.

Everything has gone up sky high. Even chicken, which I buy for my wife and son, has shot up as processing plants cope with the coronavirus.

I am paying at least $2-$3 more for each package of chicken, and I can say the same thing for beef.

The one place we can't stay away from is the supermarket, so we just have to grin and bear it, and pay the prices because we really do not have any alternative.

And I also heard that staying home means other areas are booming, and some aren't.

For instance, I read that online grocery shopping is predicted to rise nearly 50 percent by the end of the year, and we are talking about dollars here.

Yes, people need the supermarket, but they don't actually have to go into one to do their shopping.

Me, I could never shop that way. I need to see what I am buying, not just a picture of it, so online grocery shopping is not for me.

But for real shut-ins, or people who feel they do not have the time to shop, or for people who are so paranoid right now that they don't trust going out anywhere, I surmise that online shopping is perfect for them.

And then we have other areas that aren't doing very well, and they are directly linked with people staying home, and namely, women staying home.

I read that purchases of makeup are going down the tubes, simply because many women are either out of work or working from home, so why should they gussy themselves up if they aren't being seen by anyone other than who they live with?

It makes sense, I guess. Unless a woman is so attached to their makeup that they can't even proceed during the say without wearing any, why would a woman put on makeup if all the people she is seeing are her husband and her kids?

And along the same lines, we have bra sales, which are also drooping.

Again, along the same lines, women don't have to dress for success if they are home, and even if they are working from home, they want to be comfortable.

I guess wearing a bra constricts them, so if they just want to put on a T-shirt and some pajama bottoms while at home, that is fine with them, and who am I to argue?

Plop, plop ... .