Dear readers, it has been some time since I last shared my insights and experiences on Market Pulse.
Well, not the stock market pulse but rather the pulse, the barometer on prices of daily things and services, especially given high inflation these days.
Yes, the general market of goods and services.
In recent weeks, I patronised two good stalls. The first was a famous carrot cake stall.
When I went to order takeaway on a particular weekend, I was surprised to see that the carrot cake dished out to me for $4 was just 60% of the usual size. There was no change to the price though and hence this is an instance of shrinkflation.
On another instance, when I went to patronise an outlet from a famous prata chain in Singapore, I was shocked to discover that the Murtabak meal at $9 contained far less chicken than before. The $9 price tag was a revised higher price already and rightfully, the chicken fillings in the Murtabak should not be reduced. The quality has also dropped as I felt like most of the time I was eating fried flour. This to me is an instance of inflation and shrinkflation.
I find it a pity that with rising costs of inflation here in Singapore, some good food stalls have closed, others turn to serving their customers with reduced portion and reduced quality. And some others have turned to using MSG to enhance their food taste as they reduced their quality natural enhancing ingredients in the food.
Restaurant level food is also not always good and one has to spend $18 (10% service charge and 8% GST) just on taxes alone with $100 net spent.