![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithChristmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update
Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.
In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/
Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.
In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/
By design
Date: 2026-01-12 11:22 pm (UTC)Unofficially, it's more complicated.
- Fabric prices far exceed the cost of a similar off the rack item.
- Yarn is largely cheap acrylic, with natural fibers, even cotton, rapidly being priced out of middle class pocketbooks.
- Other crafts, particularly, face the same problems, but I'm not familiar enough with the market this year to speak knowledgeably about specifics.
This all means that the crafter who needs to make something, like a jacket for a job interview because they can't find anything off the rack at affordable prices, even in secondhand shops, is really up the creek.
This turns crafting into an option of last resort OR a once-in-a-lifetime project, like making a quilt for someone's high school graduation. The cost for such a project must be spread out over six months or more, as is the work in making it.
But that cuts out most people who work sixty hours a week. If it takes half an hour to set up and remember where the project stopped, then only having an hour to spare to work on something seems entirely NOT worth the time to setup and put away the project.
Wood prices are jacking up everywhere, in every aisle, and real wood, compared to plywood and MDF or other fiberboards, is a showoff luxury detail-- think of the room trim, while the floor is now laminate fake wood.
All of these costs affect the people who want to do things for themselves.
What about repurposing and modifying? You can cut a sweatshirt to make a casual jacket, BUT that's not usually attire suitable for work. People are already scouring thrift shops to resell on Etsy, which cuts THAT pool of resources down tremendously. That used to be reserved for designer labels, very specific collectibles, etc., but it's now tennis shoes and mid-price jeans (labeled "vintage") and almost anything else that I could think of.
At the lowest end, "Dollar" stores--now priced over a dollar for each item, have become such a mix of their base price items and higher-cost goods that it's impossible to tell what a trip will cost. Worse, they have faced multiple lawsuits for these overcharges and "register errors," without any significant change in their behavior.
https://prospect.org/2024/01/19/2024-01-19-dollar-general-overcharges-customers-lawsuit/#:~:text=A%20class%20action%20lawsuit%20is%20alleging%20that,state%20law%20*%20Damages%20for%20the%20class
So, Dollar General and its compadres swarm and wipe out mom and pop stores, whether groceries or craft stores, hardware stores, etc., then leave locals with no other options without increasingly long drives to shop elsewhere.
Which means that customers are now being attacked on two fronts.
The situation is MUCH worse than the official news will report.
Re: By design
Date: 2026-01-12 11:52 pm (UTC)Yeah. The problem is, you can't get interested if the supplies are out of reach or unaffordable. It's very disempowering. And let's not forget that art was one of the things that defined humanity -- the difference between "anatomically modern" bodies and people who drew their dreams on cave walls. Losing that is dangerous.
Another very serious problem is that businesses are no longer about meeting people's needs, only about making money; and even profitable businesses can be closed with no care for the customers, if the investors feel they're not making enough money. It leaves everything in a very precarious position.
>> - Fabric prices far exceed the cost of a similar off the rack item. <<
Yeah, I noticed when it got more expensive to make things than buy them. That's fast fashion, largely. Which is useless for people with different body shapes or tastes.
>> - Yarn is largely cheap acrylic, with natural fibers, even cotton, rapidly being priced out of middle class pocketbooks. <<
Also a problem due to microplastics.
>> This turns crafting into an option of last resort <<
I confess that I've started looking at old clothes, both at home and in thrift stores, as potential materials not just whole garments.
But that cuts out most people who work sixty hours a week. >>If it takes half an hour to set up and remember where the project stopped, then only having an hour to spare to work on something seems entirely NOT worth the time to setup and put away the project.<<
Painfully true.
>>Wood prices are jacking up everywhere, in every aisle, and real wood, compared to plywood and MDF or other fiberboards, is a showoff luxury detail-- think of the room trim, while the floor is now laminate fake wood.<<
Yeah, and that's a problem because those flimsy things don't last. They're almost impossible to upcycle. So the supply of older products that can be upcycled is slowly shrinking because it's not being refreshed.
>>People are already scouring thrift shops to resell on Etsy, which cuts THAT pool of resources down tremendously. <<
Agreed, that's a problem. Meanwhile people are dumping used clothes in deserts because "nobody wants them." I guarantee poor people would take them for free, even if all they did was use them to make rugs or stuffing for toys. There are Amish folks cutting down old cloths to braid rugs. One of these days I'll spot a color pattern I love and buy it.
>>So, Dollar General and its compadres swarm and wipe out mom and pop stores, whether groceries or craft stores, hardware stores, etc., then leave locals with no other options without increasingly long drives to shop elsewhere.<<
It's the same as with grocery stores and food deserts.
>>The situation is MUCH worse than the official news will report.<<
Sadly so. They can't afford for people to realize how bad a job they're doing.