Joseph De Avila and Joseph Pisani of The Wall Street Journal report that prices for candy and gum jumped 7.5% in September, compared with the same month last year. They write:
Scary-high candy costs are giving consumers a fright this Halloween.
Gretchen Alvarez of Sacramento, Calif., said she passed on purchasing a $24 bag of organic, allergy-friendly candy. She bought a few bags of cheaper traditional candy instead.
Because of the rising cost of sweets, Alvarez is limiting each trick-or-treater to one piece of candy. Last year, she let them take as much as they liked.
“It is making me think about if I have enough to get through the night,” said Alvarez, 43 years old. “I bought a couple of bags, and I don’t want to have to go buy more.”
Some people are rethinking their candy quotas as costs rise. Prices for candy and gum jumped 7.5% in September compared with the same month last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. People have been navigating higher prices on many goods and services as the Federal Reserve struggles to tame inflation.
Americans are expected to spend a record $12.2 billion this Halloween on candy, costumes and other expenses, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade association. That is a 15% increase over last year. Consumers are expected to shell out $3.6 billion on candy alone, a 16% increase from 2022. […]
Johnson said her rent this year went up by $300 a month, and she is paying more at the supermarket for chicken, ground beef and bacon. “We’re just having to cut back in places like Halloween candy,” she said.
Caroline Kennedy, a 27-year-old in Cleveland, said she hunts for candy bargains and coupons to make shopping more affordable. Mixed bags of candy are going for about $15 in her area, up from about $11 last year, she said.
“I’m going to be focused on the deals,” said Kennedy, who works as a brand marketer. “I don’t want to cut back if I can. If it gets to be like $20 a bag, that’s probably going to be where I stop.”
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