I know someone who recently bought a dark chocolate bar that cost $7.99.
And the purchase was made right here in Houston, Missouri.
It was one of those fancy, organic kinds of bars made with ingredients that must have included gold, silver and diamonds. It wasn’t huge, but rather about the same size as your standard Hersey or Cadbury bar.
The only thing huge about it was the expenditure required to eat it.
But while the price seemed to me to be pretty outrageous and sort of ridiculous, it also got me to thinking about two things it represents.
First, that chocolate bar’s enormous cost is certainly a sign of the times. No longer can a name-brand candy bar be obtained for less than a dollar, and the days of that kind of thing are permanently over.
Yep, we’ve collectively gone beyond the days when most things could truly be called affordable and are now navigating a path where everything is pricy and decisions regarding how to spend “discretional money” must be given much more attention than in the not-too-distant past. And there’s no going back; prices of anything and everything will never drop, but rest assured, they will continue to increase.
With that in mind, I think the second thing that lavishly priced chunk of confectionery represents is what could be called a dying genre, if you will. Basically, I don’t believe such a purchase will even be possible in the not-too-distant future.
What I mean is that as the cost of necessities like utilities and food staples continue to rise, people simply won’t have the means to blow eight bucks on a chocolate bar, so such extravagant, nonessential types of foods will cease to exist.
Yep, when we have to cover far higher prices of electricity, we won’t be buying $6.99 cups of coffee or $9 loaves of organic bread.
When the price of a single pair of socks reaches double-digits, we probably won’t be spending that much on a package of organic crackers.
The bottom line is that certain things that can be bought now won’t be available for much longer. To coin an often-used term, the current situation simply isn’t sustainable.
Sure, doctors, lawyers and CEOs of big oil companies will still be able to afford high-priced discretionary purchases, but there aren’t enough of those types of people to keep the pricey-extras train rolling. When the average person can no longer justify buying a package of honey roasted pecans for $17.95, or a six-ounce tub of organic garlic dip for $8.99, manufacturers of such products will be forced to stop production.
And niche-specific foods aren’t the only thing that I believe will disappear. Concert tickets for $150, half-day ski lift passes for $140 or $130 fees for nine holes of golf? Forget about it. Paying for gasoline and a can of soup or beans will take precedence.
I don’t know when the train will stop leaving the station, but I’m quite sure it will at some point, sooner than later. Maybe I won’t be alive to see the full manifestation of what I’m talking about here, but it’s coming, and I believe many people who are alive now will see it.
It’s too bad, but it’s inevitable.
So goodbye $9.99 jar of organic Dijon mustard, $6.99 bottle of cane sugar soda and $5.99 gluten-free muffin, it’s been nice knowing you. And hello $11 container of a dozen eggs, $9 block of cheddar cheese and $8 quart of milk. I guess it’s about time to get more acquainted.