Major household goods companies raising prices on popular products due to inflation

03/02/2022 / By Arsenio Toledo

Many of America’s major household goods manufacturers are raising the prices of their products in response to rapid inflation, disastrous economic policies and ongoing international crises.

Colgate-Palmolive, known for its line of personal care products including toothpaste, recently said that it is releasing a line of $10 toothpaste.

CEO Noel Wallace said in an industry conference that the new Optic White Pro Series toothpaste and many other premium products like it will be vital for the company, as their higher price tags will help drive the company’s growth. (Related: Prepare for inflation-induced shortages by stocking up on these essentials.)

Major retailers like Walmart and Target are also in the process of figuring out how much to increase prices by. Target said on Tuesday, March 1, that bumping up its prices is its last option when faced with increased costs.

Other companies that are resisting increasing their prices are participating in a process known as “shrinkflation.” This essentially means reducing the size or quality of a packaged good but selling it for close to or exactly the same price. By practicing shrinkflation, companies can reduce costs while avoiding more noticeable price hikes.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report back in January, the consumer price index, which measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services, indicated that the price of goods became 7.5 percent more expensive compared to January 2021.

This was the largest year-on-year increase in the price of consumer goods since February 1982.

Grocery store prices have also risen by nearly six percent compared to a year ago. The price of meat has risen by more than 12 percent and gas prices are up by a whopping 40 percent.

Biden administration to go after corporate profits to tackle inflation

So far, retailers and consumers are still willing to purchase necessary household products despite the higher prices. But consumer advocates and legislators in the United States are arguing that companies are raising prices far beyond what is necessary to increase profits and return money to shareholders.

This is part of the strategy currently being employed by President Joe Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party to go after corporations and their hard-earned revenue rather than address the administration’s disastrous economic policies.

“We’re seeing significant price hikes on virtually every item consumers purchase,” said Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island. He is currently working on introducing antitrust legislation to the House of Representatives that seeks to bring down consumer prices.

“[Corporations are] imposing real hardships. People are taking things out of their grocery carts because it’s too expensive,” he said.

In an interview with Reuters, Cicilline used Colgate’s line of $10 toothpaste as an example of a company pushing for excessive price hikes and making basic goods too expensive at the expense of consumers and for the sole benefit of investors and company shareholders.

Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council, admitted that the Biden administration is targeting corporate profits, falsely believing that this will solve inflation.

“Corporations by design are trying to maximize the amount of profit that they’re making. I don’t think anything has changed on that front just because of the [Wuhan coronavirus] pandemic. They do that by raising prices in the face of higher demand,” said Ramamurti.

He cited the meatpacking industry, which has four companies that control about 80 percent of the industry, as being able to increase prices beyond climbing costs with few, if any, repercussions.

Jack Gillis, executive director of the non-profit consumer interest group the Consumer Federation of America, claimed that companies like Colgate are taking advantage of high demand to continue to raise prices unnecessarily. “As long as consumers are willing to pay those prices, there’s no incentive to lower them,” he said.

A spokesperson for Colgate said in a statement that the company has a wide portfolio of toothpaste products that consumers can choose from.

“There is incredible appetite for our products,” said Katie Denis, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Brands Association, a trade association for consumer goods corporations like Colgate. “We make essentials and there is no option of not delivering.”