This is pretty Surprising (NOT REALLY) during a pandemic Isn't it? You can keep your costs down though.

 

Todays post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas. Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available.

Additionally, according to the BLS, this index is up +1.4% since January of 2020. I think most of the consumer community must think why prices are going up during a pandemic. Why are companies not trying to take care of their customers and keep cost reasonable?

Unfortunately, many companies site the pandemic as a primary reason for raising their prices. In a nutshell, their prices are going up because their supplier’s prices are going up, because commodity prices are going up while in many cases demand is going down. For one, this author does not buy it, and neither should you whether you are a consumer or a company. There are ways to mitigate cost increases. For the most part, they ALWAYS work, during a pandemic or any other crisis.

For every commodity that rises there are also commodities that fall. For every company that raises their prices to their end user be it consumer or company, there are others that want your business bad enough to keep prices stable if not lower them. The issue is that companies must be willing to put the work in if they want to keep prices down. Too many companies continue to operate in a business-as-usual manner. It is easy to spot when individuals or companies operate from the “this is how I learned it, and this is how I do it” point of view. Some clues are.

1. They buy from the same suppliers repeatedly.
2. They do not have a clear view of their existing contracts.
3. They do not have a view of their performance against those contracts.
4. They do not have a view of additional sources of supply and rely too much on single source.
5. They do not put their products and services out to bid on a regular basis.
6. They do not have current specifications for their products or services.

Unfortunately, smaller companies do get to the point where they cannot absorb higher costs. If they try to pass it on to their customers, their customers go elsewhere as customer loyalty is not as high in this decile of consumers or during challenging times like we faced during 2020 and today.

Here is a promise. If you cannot figure out how to keep your costs down, contact us at SafeSourcing because we can. As a matter of fact, call me personally 480-773-7524 or email me at ronsouthard@safesourcing.com.

Here is to better times and better prices.

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