It’s a tale as old as time.
You pull into your local fast-food establishment of choice and place an order.
Only to be shocked at the price on the receipt when you finally check out. Suddenly, you might not feel so hungry anymore.
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It happens to the best of us, and if you ever get your meals — or beverages — on the go, you can probably relate.
In fact, it’s probably happened to you more in the last several years, as the price of everything from food to fuel to apparel is now pricier than ever before.
Food prices are rising
The most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) found that the cost of many goods and services rose more than expected for the month of January.
For the month of January, the CPI found that prices overall rose by 0.5%.
This places the annual rate of inflation at 3%. Most analysts expected the monthly rate to come in at 0.3% and the annual rate to come in at 2.9%.
Here’s a look at how some core goods and services changed over the past month:
Food: increase 0.5%Energy: increase 1.1%Fuel oil: increase 6.2%New vehicles: unchangedUsed vehicles: increase 2.2%Apparel: decrease 1.4%Shelter: increase 0.4%Transportation services: increase 1.8%Medical care commodities: increase 1.2%
“The food at home index rose 0.5 percent over the month as four of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased,” the CPI found.
And the cost of food away from outpaced our overall inflation rate.
“The food away from home index rose 3.4 percent over the last year. The index for limited service meals and the index for full service meals both rose 3.3 percent over the same period,” the CPI found.
Dunkin’ makes a menu change
As a trend, food is largely getting more expensive to buy out at a restaurant.
Whether it’s at McDonald’s or a Michelin-starred establishment, people are being more careful with their dollars. How often we dine out — and what we order when we actually do — is a top of mind issue for many of us nowadays.
But Dunkin’ is moving in a different direction. The New England based coffee chain announced this week that it will actually remove a key surcharge that many customers complained about, hopefully reducing the price of many of our orders.
Beginning on March 5, Dunkin’ will no longer charge customers extra for non-dairy milk alternatives.
Previously, many coffee chains like Dunkin’ charged customers anywhere between $0.50 to over $2 for non dairy alternatives, like oat milk, almond milk or soy milk.
The decision was “guided by guest feedback,” per a Dunkin’ spokesperson.
Other chains, like Starbucks and Tim Hortons, have also eliminated up-charges for the non-dairy substitutions.
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