5 Things We Buy That Are Way More Expensive Today

Used Cars and Trucks

12-month increase: 35.3 percent

March decrease: -3.8 percent

As if shopping for a used car wasn’t difficult enough, it’s even harder to find a bargain these days. Normally, new cars lose about 20 percent of their value when you drive them off the lot. In April used cars, from Hyundais to Mercedes, were selling for more than new ones, according to iSeeCars.

Blame the pandemic. Normally, there’s a plentiful supply of used cars, as drivers exchange their old cars for new ones. During the lockdown, people were either working from home and not driving much, or they were too worried about keeping their job and therefore holding on to their old cars.

Supply chain shortages, which still plague car manufacturers, meant that fewer new cars were being built, and those that were being built were more expensive. (New car prices jumped 12.5 percent over the 12 months ended in March.)

Fortunately, some of the conditions that sent used car prices soaring are beginning to ease. Pandemic restrictions have been falling, and new car sales are booming: Both Ford and General Motors say that the global computer-chip shortage, which stalled new-car production, is easing. More Americans are returning to workplaces, which means a need for working wheels. And the U.S. consumer is in good condition to go shopping: The personal savings rate stood at a robust 6.3 percent in February, according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Airline Fares

12-month increase: 23.6 percent

March increase: 10.7 percent

Are you planning a trip this summer? Congratulations! So is everyone else, because so many people have had to postpone vacations during the pandemic. Now they are not only itching to get away but have the money for it, too.

Unfortunately, airlines have been hit with a triple whammy: higher fuel prices, fewer flights and higher labor costs. Let’s start with fuel costs. On May 1, 2020, a gallon of kerosene-type jet fuel cost $1.96 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration; it costs about $4.23 a gallon now.

Air travel plunged 40 percent in 2020, the lowest on record. While it has been rising slowly, it remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2021. War in Ukraine is also making travel to some areas more difficult. Because so many people in the travel industry were laid off during the pandemic, the industry has had to offer higher wages and, in some cases, bonuses to lure workers back.

As a result, you’re paying more to get to Disneyland or the South Seas. You’re paying more when you get there, too: Hotel prices have jumped 29 percent over the past 12 months, and car rentals — when you can get them — are up 23 percent.

Beef

12-month increase: 20.4 percent

March increase: 0.2 percent

You’re going to pay more for slapping that steak on the grill this summer, and it’s not because of a shortage of cattle. Instead, a shortage of processing capacity is at the heart of the problem. Meat packing is a tough job, and it doesn’t pay much. (Meat packing companies, however, are doing quite well: Tyson reported that first-quarter 2022 earnings rose 48 percent year over year.)

Furthermore, cows eat corn and corn prices have gone up, in part because of the cost of fertilizer, which is based largely on energy prices. Natural gas, an important component for making fertilizer, has risen 21.6 percent over the past 12 months.

If steak is taking too much of a bite out of your budget, consider throwing hamburger on the grill instead: It’s up a more palatable 13.8 percent over the past 12 months. And ham, while up 14.6 percent over the past 12 months, actually fell 1.2 percent in March.

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Furniture

12-month increase: 16.8 percent

March increase: 0.3 percent

Supposedly, Oscar Wilde’s last words were “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.” Many people confined to home during the pandemic can probably understand why demand for living room, kitchen and dining room furniture, along with other household items, is soaring.

Unfortunately, supply for those items is tight. If you’re thumbing through a furniture catalog, be aware that the divan of your dreams may well be on a container ship off the California coast, waiting to be unloaded. The Global Container Freight Index, which measures the cost of shipping, has soared to 8,152 in March 2022, from 4,872 a year earlier. Since the start of the pandemic, the shipping industry has had to struggle with port closures and congestion, labor shortages and difficulties with capacity utilization, as well as a lack of new shipping containers, according to Statista.

It’s not just shipping: It’s also demand. People who have been staying home the past two years have decided that those window shades or that sofa just has to go. Window coverings are up 18.4 percent; bedroom furniture is up 14.7 percent; clocks, lamps and decorator items are up 12.2 percent.