I wasn't planning to write this article.
I was looking for coffee.
For quite some time, I had been buying Master Chef ground coffee online from Walmart for about $9.52 a can.
Then it disappeared.
So I started looking around for another source.
I found the coffee.
What I didn't find was my old price.
Suddenly I was looking at prices considerably higher than what I had been paying.
That got my attention.
Then I started thinking about everything else I've been buying at the grocery store.
And I'll tell you something.
I got mad.
$2.48 FOR A HEAD OF LETTUCE?
I like a good BLT sandwich.
Bacon.
Lettuce.
Tomato.
Pretty simple.
But recently I saw lettuce at $2.48 a head.
I left it sitting there.
I can't tell you how long $2.48 lettuce lasts in my refrigerator because I've never brought one home.
If the grocery store wants that much for it, they can keep it.
I buy Roma tomatoes because they're still reasonable enough to get me by.
Onions haven't completely lost their minds yet.
But jalapeño peppers?
I remember paying around 75 cents a pound last year.
Now I'm seeing about $1.35 a pound.
Then there's beef.
I recently picked up a pound of hamburger meat.
$6.89 a pound.
Hamburger.
Not filet mignon.
Not prime rib.
Hamburger.
You can walk through a grocery store today, put what doesn't look like very much food into one sack, reach the register and wonder how in the world you just spent a hundred dollars.
Welcome to what I call:
THE $100 SACK OF GROCERIES
Now I'm sure somebody can explain all of this to me.
Inflation.
Drought.
Fuel.
Transportation.
Labor.
Tariffs.
Cattle shortages.
Supply chains.
Weather.
There's always an explanation.
And some of those explanations are legitimate.
The cattle supply really is tight.
Coffee really has experienced major worldwide price increases.
Transportation really does cost money.
I understand that.
But here's what I want somebody to explain:
WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING?
According to the USDA, farmers received only 18.5 cents of every dollar Americans spent on food at home in 2024.
The other 81.5 cents represented the marketing side of that food dollar—processing, transportation, wholesaling, retailing and the other steps between the farm and your grocery bag.
Think about that.
The farmer grows it.
The rancher raises it.
But by the time it reaches you and me, most of what we're paying represents what happened after it left the farm.
So when hamburger is $6.89 a pound, I have a question.
Who is making the money?
When lettuce is $2.48 a head:
Who is making the money?
When coffee jumps dramatically:
Who is making the money?
I'm not accusing any particular company of breaking the law.
I'm asking a question millions of Americans have every right to ask:
ARE WE EXPERIENCING INFLATION — OR ARE WE SOMETIMES BEING GOUGED?
Government statistics say grocery prices were 2.2 percent higher in August 2026 than one year earlier.
Coffee was up considerably more.
And beef prices have been under pressure while America's beef-cow inventory remains tight.
Those numbers help explain part of the problem.
But statistics don't buy groceries.
People do.
And there's another group of Americans I don't think gets enough attention in this conversation.
RETIRED PEOPLE
If you're 35 or 45 years old, earning a good salary and your grocery bill increases, you probably don't like it.
But perhaps you can absorb it.
Maybe you get a raise.
Maybe you work overtime.
Maybe you change jobs.
Now imagine being 70, 75, 80 or 85 years old.
You're retired.
You're living primarily on Social Security, a pension or savings.
There is no boss to ask for a raise.
There isn't any overtime.
You've got what you've got.
And when groceries go up, electricity goes up, insurance goes up, taxes go up and everything else goes up, something has to give.
That's when inflation stops being an economic statistic.
It becomes a decision.
Do I buy the hamburger?
Do I buy the medicine?
Do I turn the thermostat down?
Do I buy less food?
Do I leave something on the shelf?
There are retired Americans making those decisions every day.
And I'm one of those stubborn old fellows who has another solution.
I'LL LET IT ROT FIRST
Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.
But when I think a price has gotten ridiculous, I won't buy it.
I'll let it sit there.
If enough people refuse to pay an unreasonable price, eventually somebody gets the message.
That's one vote every American still has.
Your dollar.
You don't have to hold a demonstration.
You don't have to carry a sign.
You don't have to yell at the cashier, because the cashier didn't set the price anyway.
Just say:
No thank you. You keep it.
Next year I'm planning on planting a garden.
I'm also thinking about buying a mama cow and calf.
Will I save money?
Probably not.
By the time I buy the cow, maintain fences, buy feed, plant the garden, buy seed and fertilizer and do everything else that goes along with it, I may wind up growing the world's most expensive tomato and raising a hamburger worth $47.50.
I DON'T CARE.
There's something about paying too much that bothers me more than spending money doing something for myself.
I felt the same way when egg prices went through the roof.
I started raising chickens.
Maybe that's stubborn.
Maybe that's being 82 years old.
Or maybe I've simply lived long enough to know when something doesn't smell right.
NOW I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
This article isn't finished.
You are going to finish it.
Tell me what you're seeing where you live.
What did hamburger cost?
What are you paying for eggs?
Coffee?
Bread?
Milk?
Vegetables?
How much does $100 buy at your grocery store today?
And most importantly:
Do you believe we're simply experiencing inflation—or do you think consumers are being taken advantage of?
Go to the top of this page and click CONTACT.
You don't have to give me your name.
You don't have to give me your email address.
Just tell me what you think.
Tell me what grocery prices are doing to your household.
Tell me what you've stopped buying.
Tell me what you think needs to change.
Every response counts.
I plan to compile the responses and send the results to my representatives in Washington.
And if enough people respond, I'll publish the results right here.
One comment probably won't get anybody's attention.
A hundred might.
A thousand certainly ought to.
So don't just sit at the kitchen table complaining about grocery prices.
Tell me about it.
Let's find out whether I'm just an 82-year-old cranky man who doesn't want to pay $2.48 for lettuce—
or whether a whole lot of Americans have finally had enough.
— Michael Cunningham Sr.
Mike's Observations
mikesobservations.com
