Price increases have been happening for many years, but lately everything feels almost too expensive.
The price of most goods is a reason for unreasonable levels. Items ranging from hygiene products, such as deodorant being $7 a stick, to even everyday food items, like eggs, sitting at around $6 for a dozen. These prices are only set to continue increasing, leading to many people, especially college students, struggling to make ends meet.
While walking around grocery stores in Murray, trying to justify certain items has become harder. Say goodbye to the idea of comfortably buying a bag of chips, because on-brand chips sit at around $5 a bag. Fresh items like meat and veggies are also increasing in price with four burger patties costing nearly $8, let alone buns, toppings or other condiment options. All these increases in prices have made college living even harder.
There are always options to cut back on spending in stores like buying frozen products or eliminating unnecessary junk, but why should you have to sacrifice good quality food? Even with these sacrifices, a simple trip to the grocery store for a few meals can cost you $50 to $70. The only thing that has stayed affordable for most people is ramen noodles, but you can’t expect people to only be happy with ramen noodles.
Outside of just grocery shopping, eating out has grown more expensive. Almost every place you eat out at requires you to have to use their app for good deals. A quarter-pounder at McDonald’s will set you back $5.59 for just the burger, let alone any sides or a drink. These prices are unreasonably high with most of the companies only wanting more and more money while the consumers suffer.
Nowadays, when someone brings up going for a quick bite to eat, many people now have to check their bank accounts to see if they can afford fast food, and this shouldn’t have to be the case for most people.
Many students now feel as if they can’t have certain hobbies because of price increases. If you’re a knitter, yarn prices have gone up. If you fish, the price of fishing gear, bait and gas to get to the fishing spot has all gone up. All these simple hobbies that used to be fun to have now put stress and strain on your wallet.
One of the major reasons these price increases have hit people so hard is a lack of raises. Murray State pays student workers $8 an hour, which was increased only a few years ago. When this wage is compared to actually buying food, a student worker couldn’t even buy an 18-pack of eggs for that much, and that’s before taxes.
Even outside of student work, the minimum wage in Kentucky is $7.25 an hour, which is less than what student workers make. Trying to live off of that single source of minimum wage income is nearly impossible. Maybe you could afford the food and other necessities, but then you also have to factor in rent, school payments, or both.
What this all comes to is that everything is getting more and more expensive and this is an issue that needs to be addressed. With the recent news of more tariffs being implemented on China, Mexico and Canada, you can expect that those countries won’t foot the bill, but instead the everyday consumer will.
Prices will continue to soar for all goods while the everyday consumer will suffer more until we can no longer afford to live with the basic necessities of life.
