by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
Are you ready to pay 80 percent more for a USB-C cord? Unfortunately, Walmart, Target and other major retailers have decided to start dramatically raising the prices of thousands of imported products. Of course our paychecks are not going up dramatically as well, and so our standard of living is going to go down. We live at a time when 70 percent of Americans are already more financially stressed than they have ever been before, and now big corporations are going to be hitting us with a tsunami of enormous price hikes.
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If prices of many imported goods go up by 5 or 10 percent, we can handle that.
But apparently Target is going nuts with their price hikes. For example, it is being reported that the price of one popular USB-C cord is being increased by 80 percent…
Now, thanks to insider information from Target workers, the extent of the raises are becoming apparent. Staff say it is just the beginning.
A $9.99 USB-C cord from the store’s in-house Heyday brand is now ringing up at $17.99, according to a self-identified employee on Reddit.
‘It’s happening,’ the worker wrote, sharing a photo of the price tag update. ‘All of Heyday is going up.’
Seriously?
Did Target really need to do this?
And Target CEO Brian Cornell has also warned that prices will be going up on many common grocery items…
The company’s CEO, Brian Cornell, started warning customers during a March earnings call, when the US was staring down potential 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products.
At the time, he warned that everyday grocery items that frequently cross borders before making their way to Target’s aisles — like strawberries, avocados, bananas, and coffee beans — were set to increase.
Of course Target is not the only major retailer that is raising prices.
Last week, Walmart CFO John David Rainey told CNBC that customers should expect price increases “towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June”…
In an interview with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said tariffs are “still too high” – even with the recently announced agreement to lower duties on imports from China to 30% for 90 days.
“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” he said. “It’s more than any supplier can absorb. And so I’m concerned that consumer is going to start seeing higher prices. You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June.”
When President Trump heard about this, he went ballistic.
On his Truth Social account, he insisted that Walmart should “EAT THE TARIFFS”…
After Walmart last week said it would have to jack up some prices because of high costs of the global trade war, Trump on Saturday responded forcefully in a Truth Social post, demanding Walmart reverse its decision.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump said. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Trump believes that Walmart should be able to absorb the tariffs since the company is making so much money. But it has also been pointed out that Walmart’s margins are very thin…
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