#FreeBreakfast #hotels #eggs #PriceofEggs #HowPeopleFeel
Free hot breakfast.
Many hotels offer that as a perk to their guests.
Most of them are buffet style, as guests come down to the lobby to serve themselves.
But some hotel chains, like Hyatt Place, are considering charging, say, $7 a head for breakfast.
That probably still beats what you would pay if you went out to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. But, will guests object to that idea?
It’s not a big deal to charge for breakfast. But, the psychology here is different. You don’t give people something, then take it away and expect them not to complain.
Perhaps, when the hotels try this, there will be some initial blowback from guests. Still, it’s imprudent to bet that the blowback eventually will subside and things will be normal again, albeit at a higher price for hotel guests.
The overall trend of raising prices on just about everything is having a real effect on people. In fact, it’s been said that the price of eggs, among other things, influenced whom people voted for in the recent election.
It’s not that the candidates(s) can really do much about the price of eggs. It was the feeling people had about whom they thought would be more likely to make their lives better.
Apparently, they were willing to overlook the bad things about a candidate, if that candidate gave them a good feeling that things were going to improve.
Let’s hope these gut feelings were not misplaced.
As political analyst Matthew Dowd put it: “You can’t tell people how to feel.”
These feelings may have little to do with a candidate’s policies or ideas. They are not data points.
In fact, when candidates try to tell people that their feelings don’t match the data, the people really don’t care about the data.
They are worried more about how they are going to pay, say, $6 for a dozen eggs, when they probably paid $2 a few years ago.
You can talk to them about supply-chain issues, bird flu outbreaks and other things that may have affected egg prices. But that doesn’t solve THEIR problem.
In fact, it’s very likely that those egg prices are spurring hotel chains to consider charging for their “free” hot breakfasts.
Of course, the cost of almost all necessities has gone up. Most salaries have, too, but people are still hurting.
Is this really the time for hotel chains to, in relative terms, nickel and dime their guests?
In most cases, hotel stays are a luxury, unless people are homeless because of storms or other reasons.
Travelers will vote with their feet on free breakfasts. Those chains that keep their free hot breakfasts are likely to fare better than those who try to charge for them
On the other hand, some chains never went the free-breakfast route, and they don’t appear to be suffering for it.
Still, psychologically, it would have been better not to have offered free breakfast at all, than to offer it and later charge for it.
Peter
freedom #FreedomTo #FreedomFrom #progress
Everyone loves freedom.
But, people view the concept differently.
Some want to have the freedom to do something.
Others want freedom from something.
Those who want freedom to do something generally are looking ahead, searching for the freedom to do something new.
Those who want freedom from something generally are looking back to a time when things that exist now either were not there, or were kept under wraps.
Generally, progress brings more freedom. It allows people to explore who they are, to interact with people who are different from them and to check out new things.
That progress can interfere with the freedoms others thought they had, and those folks want to stop progress in its tracks and go back to the way things were.
Since toothpaste cannot be put back into a tube, once progress has evolved, one cannot un-evolve it.
Those who want freedom from such progress may have to adjust how they live with it. The world generally doesn’t move backward, regardless of some people’s desires.
As individuals, we have to realize that things will change. In this world. They often change rapidly and often.
The security of the past can be shattered in an instant.
We may want to hold on to that security for as long as we live, but, chances are, something will happen to diminish or even obliterate it.
Such progress can upend what was a good life for some.
It’s not only progress that can be upending. Tragedy can do the same.
Some tragedy can be prevented or minimized. Other tragedy will come whether we are ready or not.
In decades past, progress was much slower. Tragedy was more infrequent.
People could grow and mature in a bubble that was unlikely to burst for a long time. That bred a contentment that may no longer be here for some.
What to do? If you sincerely seek freedom from progress and tragedy, and feel powerless to do anything to mitigate those things, you may want to concentrate on what you will do when the unthinkable hits.
It’s not what happens to people that is most significant. It is how they react when it happens, and how they recover from upending life circumstances.
It may take work to do so. From some things, one may never fully recover. Adaptability can be learned. Difficult change might even open doors one may never have seen.
Such events, perhaps, can turn a person who wants freedom from something into someone who wants freedom to do something.
Peter
#economy #wages #prices #PerceptionOfEconomy #EconomicData
The data show the economy is good, even robust.
But people don’t always see it that way. They see prices that are higher than a few years ago on almost everything.
So why the difference between data and perception?
First, almost everything costs more than a few years ago for a few reasons. First, some companies are trying to make up for their losses during the pandemic. Some may call that price gouging, but it becomes that only when prices stay up AFTER the losses have been made up.
Secondly, almost everyone is getting paid more than they were a few years ago. If you are not in this category, look around for other opportunities. They are out there, in many places.
To help pay for those higher wages, companies raise the price of what they sell or make.
There are certain categories of prices that have unique issues. Housing (rents and purchases) prices are up. There are lots of entities out there competing with individual families for housing. They buy properties for cash and rent them out at rents that are often unaffordable for many.
That takes many houses off the market for individuals, and raises rents for renters.
Auto insurance and repairs are another unique category. Today’s cars are a lot more complex than those from the past. What may look like a simple repair gets complicated because systems in the cars may have to be recalibrated. That could double or triple the cost of a simple repair.
The same could be said for home repairs. That may be why repair insurance companies have a market, and why auto and homeowner’s insurance in general have risen in price.
No matter who serves in the U.S. government, he or she can only do so much to bring prices down.
The good news here is that if you are making more money in your job, most data show that your higher pay is outpacing inflation.
That begs the question: would you prefer lower pay and lower prices, or the current situation? Before answering that, know that the data again shows price inflation coming down.
We may never see $1 a gallon gasoline again. Those pandemic prices, when no one was going anywhere, may not return unless there is another pandemic. No one wants that.
Food prices are also affected by distributors, who are raising their prices. Also, one has to consider climate issues that affect the growth of what we eat. If food can’t grow as well, or gets destroyed in storms, what is not affected is going to be more expensive.
Therefore, be skeptical of anyone who runs for public office who says he or she will lower prices.
There may be things they can do to mitigate inflation, but the government can’t subsidize everything, and it has limited ability to force producers and sellers to lower prices on what they make or sell. The main thing that will affect pricing is whether people buy things at the price charged. Some necessities have to be bought, but we may want to try to use less of those if we can.
The government can lower your taxes on certain things as one mitigation. But, the government can’t control pricing, nor do we necessarily want it to.
Certainly, your parents or grandparents paid less to live in their younger years than you do now. But, in that time, much progress has been made. Society, as a whole, has seen much improvement.
The betterment of society comes at a price. Most of us do not want to go back to the “good old days.”
Peter
