Produce costs going up with fuel

Many are franchises…but they keep popping up like dandelions in the spring…so lack of training and insufficient good help are going to be perpetual problems at many stores.
Some of them only have one employee in the building. Usually not more than three at the most…on days a delivery truck arrives.

But, they’ve expanded at the expense of grocery stores and the big store from Bentonville Arkansas.

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A word to the wise. Why do you buy produce? for some nutrients to balance out what is unbalanced in meat (there are no nutrients in fats). All vegetables give you a 90%+ absorption of potassium. But the absorption of Ca and Mg doubles when fermenting them (mixed sauerkrauts). The vitamin C content goes up by a factor of 10, and it is a complex of molecules, called ascorbigen, which is better at scavenging radicals. Vitamin B increases, and there is even sufficient vitamin K2. Because of the nature of the ferment, you can use in the mix vegetables you would not normally use, such as turnip greens and radish greens. You need salt of course.

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At least for me I buy produce from the store because I don’t have the space to grow fruit or vegetables to the point I can feed myself year around. I hope one day I can but I for now it is tough. I do have around 20 trees and plants like strawberries, blackberry, asparagus and raspberries I can grow as a understory ordered. The trees and understory should ripen all season being that I bought everything I knew could grow here. Like I said it may take a few years and more space to get to that point though.

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@elivings1

20 trees will produce an enormous amount of fruit eventually. Your time and money in fruit trees is paid back many times over. I’m glad to hear you have a great plan and your making it happen. Everything takes a little time.

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Over time that is what I figured that out. It tools years. I started with annuals and then went to bushes. I then realized trees are the way to go because it produces a lot, produces shade for energy bills and you can under crop it. Lots of ways to maximize crop with trees. I do realize I may be waiting 3-10 years for food though.

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These three stores are the poster children of the Anitwork movement. They are cronicly understaffed and ask their employees to go beyond the line of duty without fairly compensating them.

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All basic retail stores may as well be summarized as get in and get your experience and then get out. No retail store will compensate you well in wages or benefits. Shipping places will pay well but not basic retail. Even stores you expect would be a specialty store like Home Depot or Lowes don’t pay well.

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Even the cost of going down the drain is going up!

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Here’s a one-hour documentary that explores cost-cutting in the distribution network:

Though distribution historically has paid well, the people in charge regret the necessity and busily work to undermine the job security of their employees.

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I am seeing price increases on everything from soil and seeds, to lumber and fencing. We, as the end consumers, are going to be paying for the increased costs of fuel and wages. The best hedge against increased costs is going to be increased supplies on our end. I can still buy a flat of tomato plants for about $30, and that will produce hundreds of dollars of product, if I so chose to sell them.
I was blessed in that I purchased my current home and farm in 2015, when mortgage rates were low, and I was able to capitalize on that. We raise out own beef, pork and chicken, and I hunt and fish to supplement our protein stash. However, we don’t grown a lot of our own vegetables. We have fruits and herbs, but vegetables are still purchased. That will be changing a little this year, with planting in new raised beds, as our soil is a heavy clay, and not suitable to many plants.
Chicken feed is up about 25% from January, which is bad, but not terrible. Where we will see this truly hit our wallets is if oil prices stay up for the entire year, and farmers have to deal with high fuel costs for planting and harvest. I would imagine seeing another 25% increase on many farmed goods.

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I actually think the most alarming thing is the price of O.S.B. and 2x4s, the most elemental construction materials in the country. Basic O.S.B. is $44 a sheet! I’ve seen 8 ft 2x4s recently for $8.49! This is essentially a 400% increase. These prices have been this high for over a year, which actually predates the increase in fuel prices. I understand that it was initially pandemic related, but I think the gov’t needs to prioritize this. Everyone’s insurance premiums will go up because of it. Normally in my area, which is one of the cheapest real estate markets in the nation, used home prices were always kept low because you had the option to build a basic new house for around $150,000 to $175,000. Now you’re looking at $300k and existing home prices have adjusted accordingly. My house theoretically gained $100k in value over the past 12 months, but what good does it really do me?

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When you ar ready to go into a senior apartment or condo you will be able to afford it with the sail of your new home prices

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That is what I always said with the home prices going up. Home prices going up only help me if I want to sell or if I want to rent. To do either I would need a second house or be moving to a new house. Meanwhile if my value stays the same I pay the same in taxes and if my. house goes up I pay more in taxes.

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I bought a couple sheets of 3/4 treated plywood a few weeks ago. Two sheets were 165 bucks, including tax. That was a shocker.

That’s kind of the way it is here, except that housing values always go up. It’s annoying because the county commissioners brag they never increase the mill rate, as if they’ve never increased taxes. But since housing appraisals increase every year, the property taxes go up every year. Btw, I’m not necessarily against increased property taxes, but I’d like the commissioners to be honest about it, instead of cloaking behind the mill rate, which a lot of people don’t understand.

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We fight to get the amount our house is supposed to be at every two years when we can. It generally goes down a bit. Like I said it is advantageous for those who can rent around here but not us. We had someone renting across the street from us for nearly 4000 I think.

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