How bad is inflation in your area?

[Nymrohd]

Everything is cheap for men.

Not formal wear. Women can get away with murder when it comes to formal wear. The ceiling is probably much higher, I'll give you that.

[Witchblade77]

Not formal wear. Women can get away with murder when it comes to formal wear. The ceiling is probably much higher, I'll give you that.

oh I don't know... if we are comparing suit prices to formal dresses - they are more or less same.

that said, I feel like haircut prices also vary depending on your location and extent of the cut. I don't have my hair colored anymore and I get a very basic blow dry with an extremely basic trim. I like to keep my hair up, for comfort so there is no point in getting anything that is meant to be worn down AND could make it harder to wear it up. so I end up getting very subtle layers, but mostly just get my ends trimmed and that costs me about $50 including a tip at a local place. (and the only reason I started getting it done again is because just periodically chopping of part of my braid in a bathroom, which is what I did during pandemic was starting to affect my hair in a negative way)

but.. that very same cut used to be half the price for me pre-pandemic. so... /shrug

more concerned with my electric bills being stupidly high, while using less energy than last year AND switching over to discounted supplier. or that our property taxes doubled and so did insurance etc and don't even get me started on gas and grocery bills... prices have settled a bit, bit its still rough on everyone and a lot of local businesses even the ones that managed to survive through lockdowns, are starting to close :/ it sucks.

P.S. I pay $30 for both eyebrows and upper lip, 25% tip included in that - but again, local place, rents here are not as insane as in some of the other places.

[Rasulis]

From personal observations, the price of groceries and day to day items have pretty much returned to what they were before the pandemic. Supply does not seem to be an issue anymore. On the other hand, service cost is still up there and seems to be going up even more. By service cost I was referring to the cost for items such as plumbing, car mechanic, electrician, and obviously haircut and nailcare.

[hellhamster]

From personal observations, the price of groceries and day to day items have pretty much returned to what they were before the pandemic. Supply does not seem to be an issue anymore. On the other hand, service cost is still up there and seems to be going up even more. By service cost I was referring to the cost for items such as plumbing, car mechanic, electrician, and obviously haircut and nailcare.

That's because the prices of supplies and commodities are still sky high.

In Greece, a lot of cheap restaurants have closed down due to increased costs of supplies and energy, they cannot increase their prices anymore.

[The Stormbringer]

My haircut is typically around $30 with tip. Military style buzz cut by an old Chinese barber. It includes razor shave and trim the eyebrows. Not a single English language magazine in the shop.

I saw my wife's beauty saloon's pre-pandemic bill once. It was a little over $300. Probably around 400ish today.

Zero dollars*, because I have a razor at home and I shave my head and groom my beard/moustache myself.

*Not including cost of electricity and purchasing the razor and oil to maintain the razor.

[Fencers]

Not formal wear. Women can get away with murder when it comes to formal wear. The ceiling is probably much higher, I'll give you that.

What does a tuxedo cost? I have no idea.

But I bought two dresses for our trip to Maui at Nordstrom. One was $450 and the other $400.

Aren't Tuexedos like $500 and you basically wear them a bunch of times?

I have no idea what men's clothing costs. My son is still a kid.

[Rasulis]

What does a tuxedo cost? I have no idea.

But I bought two dresses for our trip to Maui at Nordstrom. One was $450 and the other $400.

Aren't Tuexedos like $500 and you basically wear them a bunch of times?

I have no idea what men's clothing costs. My son is still a kid.

Custom made three-piece suits vary widely in price. I would say low end around $400 - $500. Mid tier around $1,500 - $1,600. High end the sky is the limit. Most of my custom suits were done by a tailor in Singapore. He made all of my father's suits also.

Dunno about tux. I wore one once when I got married. It was rented.

[Fencers]

Custom made three-piece suits vary widely in price. I would say low end around $400 - $500. Mid tier around $1,500 - $1,600. High end the sky is the limit. Most of my custom suits were done by a tailor in Singapore. He made all of my father's suits also.

Sure, but is comparing bespoke men's wear the same as an off-the-rack dress from Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom?

Custom dressed would be more than 2 grand in many cases. 1-1.2k are like off-the-rack upper quality dresses at Krista Kat and Cara Cara.

Dunno about tux. I wore one once when I got married. It was rented.

I looked it up. Non-bespoke Men's wear is cheap AF. And it's a whole package. Like the jacket, trousers, vest, etc. Looks like only ties and undershirts are not included?

It seems only the really pricey stuff from like Tom Ford is +3k and RTW. I don't know what I am looking for though.

[Witchblade77]

From personal observations, the price of groceries and day to day items have pretty much returned to what they were before the pandemic. Supply does not seem to be an issue anymore. On the other hand, service cost is still up there and seems to be going up even more. By service cost I was referring to the cost for items such as plumbing, car mechanic, electrician, and obviously haircut and nailcare.

lucky you. because from my personal observation in my area, prices have stopped going up, but they have NOT dropped to pre-pandemic levels. depending on what items you are buying, supply can still be an issue. now, I primarily shop at Aldi and supplement with one of the regular supermarkets, and Aldi seems to have more issues there, but even reg supermarkets are having their own set of issues...

[Fencers]

lucky you. because from my personal observation in my area, prices have stopped going up, but they have NOT dropped to pre-pandemic levels. depending on what items you are buying, supply can still be an issue. now, I primarily shop at Aldi and supplement with one of the regular supermarkets, and Aldi seems to have more issues there, but even reg supermarkets are having their own set of issues...

I don't know if you use Instacart, but they added Aldi recently. Maybe it was always there but I got an email about like a month ago. The price is not too dissimilar from in-store in my area. I did a comparison and I was only paying on average ~7-9% more.

Though the nice thing is they only show what is in stock. So you don't waste time given Aldi's unpredictable availability. YMMV, but Aldi is quite a travel distance for me. So it works out cheaper and far more convenient to buy stuff off instacart from Aldi. I just do one big order from time to time.

Maybe that information is helpful or not. But there it is anyway.

[Nymrohd]

Sure, but is comparing bespoke men's wear the same as an off-the-rack dress from Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom?

Honestly if you are even somewhat overweight, nothing off the rack will fit you when it comes to a three-piece suit. But just because it is tailored doesn't make it expensive. You can get things made on the cheap, it is all in the fabric. Won't say prices cause the price difference between our countries is massive.

- - - Updated - - -

That's because the prices of supplies and commodities are still sky high.

In Greece, a lot of cheap restaurants have closed down due to increased costs of supplies and energy, they cannot increase their prices anymore.

I don't really think you can make comparisons across the pond. The situation with the food supply in Europe is critical because of a vast array of reasons. Yes, inflation because of monetary policy is one of them. Greedflation by wholesalers is another. For Greece I can tell you imported supplies are still very expensive and more importantly purchasing discounts by wholesalers have been steadily getting shaved the past few years. But you also have to account that Spain and Portugal are experiencing unprecedented drought which has affected prices in the entire region and ofc there is the effect of Ukraine. The US has very much a separate food supply that is far less affected.

[PosPosPos]

People are weird when they pay 30 usd per visit just to have a haircut that is easily achievable at home with a 15 usd shaver.

I do my own buzzcuts at home with a decade-old cheap shaver that I bought off ecommerce in under 5 minutes each time. And eyebrow trimming is done with some 1 dollar nasal hair scissors with a mirror.

But hey, I guess to each their own.

- - - Updated - - -

Zero dollars*, because I have a razor at home and I shave my head and groom my beard/moustache myself.

*Not including cost of electricity and purchasing the razor and oil to maintain the razor.

Oh this is exactly my setup, I am too lazy to buy mineral oil so I just use olive instead, works perfectly well.

[hellhamster]

People are weird when they pay 30 usd per visit just to have a haircut that is easily achievable at home with a 15 usd shaver.

I do my own buzzcuts at home with a decade-old cheap shaver that I bought off ecommerce in under 5 minutes each time. And eyebrow trimming is done with some 1 dollar nasal hair scissors with a mirror.

But hey, I guess to each their own.

Some of us prefer to not to look like the sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.

[PosPosPos]

Some of us prefer to not to look like the sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.

Naturally, I was referring to people who said they paid 30 dollars for buzzcuts.

It's right there in my post too.

[hellhamster]

US Congress approves raising the debt ceiling, preventing a default by next week.

As a first direct result, OPEC will raise oil prices immediately. They also said they would cut production by 20%, starting from this month.

All according to obvious predictions. To people who were celebrating a return to normal prices: I'm sorry.

Now we wait for the FED hike correction in 2 weeks. Just watch bond yields.

- - - Updated - - -

Naturally, I was referring to people who said they paid 30 dollars for buzzcuts.

It's right there in my post too.

You didn't mention 30 dollar buzzcuts, but haircuts in general.

[PosPosPos]

You didn't mention 30 dollar buzzcuts, but haircuts in general.

"I do my own buzzcuts at home with a decade-old cheap shaver that I bought off ecommerce in under 5 minutes each time. And eyebrow trimming is done with some 1 dollar nasal hair scissors with a mirror."

This really isn't hard if you were paying attention to more than just the first sentence. Headline skimming is bad, who knew.

[czarek]

Over 25% now goin to 40% late this year or early 2024... Best thing is that wage not even tick a bit up. And my eployer give a fuck about it. Yes im gonna look for new one probably after this year.

[hellhamster]

"I do my own buzzcuts at home with a decade-old cheap shaver that I bought off ecommerce in under 5 minutes each time. And eyebrow trimming is done with some 1 dollar nasal hair scissors with a mirror."

This really isn't hard if you were paying attention to more than just the first sentence. Headline skimming is bad, who knew.

Not to be that guy, but "People are weird when they pay 30 usd per visit just to have a haircut that is easily achievable at home with a 15 usd shaver." does not mention buzzcuts.

[Rasulis]

People are weird when they pay 30 usd per visit just to have a haircut that is easily achievable at home with a 15 usd shaver.

I do my own buzzcuts at home with a decade-old cheap shaver that I bought off ecommerce in under 5 minutes each time. And eyebrow trimming is done with some 1 dollar nasal hair scissors with a mirror.

But hey, I guess to each their own.

- - - Updated - - -



Oh this is exactly my setup, I am too lazy to buy mineral oil so I just use olive instead, works perfectly well.

There are buzz cuts and there are buzz cuts. Not all buzz cuts look like the one on a fresh recruit at a Marine depot.

- - - Updated - - -

US Congress approves raising the debt ceiling, preventing a default by next week.

As a first direct result, OPEC will raise oil prices immediately. They also said they would cut production by 20%, starting from this month.

All according to obvious predictions. To people who were celebrating a return to normal prices: I'm sorry.

Now we wait for the FED hike correction in 2 weeks. Just watch bond yields.

- - - Updated - - -



You didn't mention 30 dollar buzzcuts, but haircuts in general.

With the exception of the nut cases in the so called Freedom Caucus, no one on both sides of the aisles want to see the US defaulted. It is a given that they will lift the debt ceiling. I was not expecting that they would suspend the debt ceiling entirely for the remainder of Biden’s term. That was a surprise.

Prices depend on local circumstances. Greece is different from the US. Within the US there are regional differences also. The Bay Area is surrounded by the most productive farmlands in the US. Proximity cuts down on transportation cost which is a big chunk of grocery prices. Also, the most ubiquitous businesses along Irving, the main drag in Sunset, are Asian grocery stores. There is at least 1 per block. Sometimes 2 or 3. Which lead to stiff competition. Many of the stores also buy directly from the farms. Which cut down the middlemen. As long as you don’t mind the 60's vibe, the pungent smell, narrow aisles, the gruff butchers, the indifferent cashiers, minimal to no English, the prices for fresh produce, meat, egg and dairy products are about as low as you can find anywhere in the US.

- - - Updated - - -

From the May job report.

The US added 339k new jobs.

Unemployment went up from 3.4% to 3.7%. Mostly from people rejoining the work force.

Average hourly earnings rose 11 cents to $33.44, nudging down the yearly increase to 4.3% from 4.4%.

Professional and business services led the job gains with 64,000. Health care added 52,000; leisure and hospitality, the sector hit hardest by the pandemic, added 48,000, mostly in restaurants and bars; and construction, 25,000. Government added 56,000 jobs, mostly at state and local agencies.

Tech broke even.

Manufacturing cut 2,000 jobs. It continued the contraction trend for the last 6 months.

Employers posted 10.1 million job openings in April, up from 9.7 million in March.

[Witchblade77]

I don't know if you use Instacart, but they added Aldi recently. Maybe it was always there but I got an email about like a month ago. The price is not too dissimilar from in-store in my area. I did a comparison and I was only paying on average ~7-9% more.

Though the nice thing is they only show what is in stock. So you don't waste time given Aldi's unpredictable availability. YMMV, but Aldi is quite a travel distance for me. So it works out cheaper and far more convenient to buy stuff off instacart from Aldi. I just do one big order from time to time.

Maybe that information is helpful or not. But there it is anyway.

I don't, in part because I'm a control freak and like to pick out my own groceries, in part because I'm too cheap to pay delivery fees when its so close to my home. I wouldn't shop there if it wasn't another supermarket that I go to is a single traffic light away from Aldi, so I just do those stops for groceries, and pop by other stores on the strip as needed, or head back home. some prices are cheaper at local store AND they have certain staples that Aldi doesn't have (or rather most of the time I don't care about the brand, but in few cases, taste difference is significant enough that I will only buy a specific brand of a thing). most things are cheaper at Aldi, at least at my location. and as I said, being as they are literally within walking distance of each other (though I still drive it)... might as well. Majority of the things I buy at Aldi are their permanent staples, so I very rarely run into availability issues, but I appreciate the heads up

P.S. at least locally where I am (well general region), business is down. Anyone that is not strictly necessary - is doing less business, so while jobs might be growing overall, buying power still seems to be suffering.