Observation at 7-11 today..

[Mule Meat]

Stopped in to grab a gallon of washer fluid today. While standing in line I noticed that every candy bar on the shelves were priced at $3.89 each, up from $1.69 last week... It did not matter what brand, flavor or size all had the same price..
West Virginia passed a law that junk food and drinks can not be bought using SNAP or welfare cards.. So losing those sales. My only guess is that the junk food people decided to gouge everyone else to make up for the lost revenue from the SNAP people.

The price will not effect me much. I would rather have some type of jerky, hard boiled eggs or even a whole boiled cold medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes with a little salt to snack on than a candy bar any day of the week.

 

[Frank(Mi.)]

Yep, I used to treat myself to a candy bar every two weeks when I was working construction but at that price they would become an ex-habit right quick!

 

[Hobo,NC]

As I drive into town on the poor side of town at a local Circle K I noticed two butter fingers for $4 :SHOCK: is $4 the new quarter for a kid. Why I say that when my mom gave me a quarter, I could buy me and a bud a drink and a honey bun. That is if we drank the drink there and turned the bottle back in.

I will say those Butter Fingers are massive.

 

[showcrop]

When I was around ten years old one neighbor, who was a logger, for halloween was giving out full sized nickel candy bars!! No one else was so generous.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I don't like the prices but I do approve of restricting people on SNAP from buying junk food with it.

 

[Rich'sToys]

I can remember when a small cone at the Dairy Queen was a nickel, a large one was a dime, and for a quarter you could get one so big that a kid couldn't eat it all!

 

[oldsarge]

Ain't no cone that big!!!!!!

 

[Brian G. NY]

Stopped in to grab a gallon of washer fluid today. While standing in line I noticed that every candy bar on the shelves were priced at $3.89 each, up from $1.69 last week... It did not matter what brand, flavor or size all had the same price..
West Virginia passed a law that junk food and drinks can not be bought using SNAP or welfare cards.. So losing those sales. My only guess is that the junk food people decided to gouge everyone else to make up for the lost revenue from the SNAP people.

The price will not effect me much. I would rather have some type of jerky, hard boiled eggs or even a whole boiled cold medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes with a little salt to snack on than a candy bar any day of the week.

When I was in High school I would walk down to the local drug store pretty regular and get me a hot fudge sundae for 25 cents.
Most candy bars were a nickel but once in a while I would "splurge" and get me an Almond Joy or a Peter Paul Mounds which cost 10 cents.
'course a dollar was worth a whole heck of a lot more back in the late 50s. LOL

 

[GChief]

course a dollar was worth a whole heck of a lot more back in the late 50s. LOL

 

[Jack345]

I remember when a dollar (all we had in Mt was silver dollars) was a lot of money... well it still is today that old silver dollar is going for about $75.00. apply those prices to scale prices today are about the same .I would go back to those days when a new pickup would cost couple thousand but they are gone! Wages are no longer 6k a year you're making 60 to 100k

 

[redtom]

Yah but those candy bar prices dont stop anyone from buying. I used to stop at 7-11 regularly on my way to work a few years ago before I retired. I would see a dozen or so people lined up with candy bars, single drinks ("power" type), cookies etc. Usually with a $25 to $30 total...EVERY DAY.

 

[Hobo,NC]

I remember when they started sales tax when mom gave me a dime I told her I needed a penny for sales tax.

 

[MarkB_MI]

My only guess is that the junk food people decided to gouge everyone else to make up for the lost revenue from the SNAP people.

Sorry, but that doesn't jive with basic economic theory. Prices go down when demand goes down or supply increases, and they go up when demand rises or supply decreases. Also, suppliers will ALWAYS try to increase their prices to maximize profits. In other words, they keep jacking up prices until the marginal increase in profit per sale gets cancelled out by the marginal decrease in sales.

I'm pretty certain that if someone is in the habit of buying a candy bar every day, they're not going to stop simply because they can't use their bridge card to buy it. Just as increased cigarette taxes have never had much of an impact on cigarette sales.

So what's going on with the candy bars? Either the store management realized folks would pay a lot more for them, or the store's cost has gone up significantly. My guess is it's both. First, inflation is running at around four percent annually, which explains a small portion of the price increase. The other thing that's going on is that wholesale cocoa prices went through the roof in 2024 and 2025. They've since dropped, but I suspect it's taken a year or two for that increase to ripple through the supply chain. If you bought any sort of chocolate product in the past few months, you've probably noticed noticed it's a lot more expensive than it was a couple of years ago.

 

[moresmoke]

Sorry, but that doesn't jive with basic economic theory. Prices go down when demand goes down or supply increases, and they go up when demand rises or supply decreases. Also, suppliers will ALWAYS try to increase their prices to maximize profits. In other words, they keep jacking up prices until the marginal increase in profit per sale gets cancelled out by the marginal decrease in sales.

I'm pretty certain that if someone is in the habit of buying a candy bar every day, they're not going to stop simply because they can't use their bridge card to buy it. Just as increased cigarette taxes have never had much of an impact on cigarette sales.

So what's going on with the candy bars? Either the store management realized folks would pay a lot more for them, or the store's cost has gone up significantly. My guess is it's both. First, inflation is running at around four percent annually, which explains a small portion of the price increase. The other thing that's going on is that wholesale cocoa prices went through the roof in 2024 and 2025. They've since dropped, but I suspect it's taken a year or two for that increase to ripple through the supply chain. If you bought any sort of chocolate product in the past few months, you've probably noticed noticed it's a lot more expensive than it was a couple of years ago.

Basic economic theory doesn’t hold up in a monopolized market. Frito Lay just had the experience of what happens when you raise your prices too much. Seems people were not willing to pay $7 for a bag of Doritos. And they can’t blame the cost of inputs either.

 

[Jack345]

Let's say in 1960 a candy bar cost 5 cents a dollar was worth a dollar. In 2026 a silver dollar is worth $75 . That candy bar that costs 5cents in 1960is now $3.75 even though its smaller...it looks to be costing you more but its about the same.USA left GOLD STANDARD in 1964 and they print a lot of $ making each dollar you have worth less and you will continue seeing this trend until the USD is backed by real money rather than paper.

 

[GChief]

even though its smaller

Actually they a way bigger for the most part. I never buy any but looked at some in the check out line this morning because of this thread. Most are Jumbos, we never had those

Oh and $2.89 seemed to be the price for most.

 

[chvet73]

One of my first economic lessons came as a child with 5 cent candy bars. In my area instead of raising the price the 5 cent bar it got smaller.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Basic economic theory doesn’t hold up in a monopolized market.

Actually it does. Any introductory course in economics will cover monopolies and how the laws of supply and demand apply to them.

Of course, the candy bar industry is not a monopoly. Neither is the tortilla chip business.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Let's say in 1960 a candy bar cost 5 cents a dollar was worth a dollar. In 2026 a silver dollar is worth $75 . That candy bar that costs 5cents in 1960is now $3.75 even though its smaller...it looks to be costing you more but its about the same.USA left GOLD STANDARD in 1964 and they print a lot of $ making each dollar you have worth less and you will continue seeing this trend until the USD is backed by real money rather than paper.

So the price of candy bars went up last week because the US dollar went off the gold standard many decades ago. Got it.

For that to hold water, there should have been a corresponding increase in the price of gold and silver when the price of candy bars went up. But gold and silver have been fairly steady over the past couple of months. On the other hand, I can think of a number of events that have happened in the past few months that did cause prices to rise.