Is That a Higher Price Tag?
Companies gingerly start to charge more as their own costs rise
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U.S. companies have spent the last few years trying every strategy possible to avoid jacking up prices. With unemployment high and consumers pinched, price hikes looked like a quick way to lose market share.
Yet one research firm says midsize retailer and restaurant chains are finally raising consumer prices. According to a quarterly survey by Barlow Research Associates, 53 percent of companies with annual sales of $10 million to $500 million have lifted prices during the last 12 months. This comes as U.S. inflation, excluding food and energy costs, accelerated at an annual pace of 1.8 percent in July, the biggest such gain in more than a year, according to Labor Dept. data released on Aug. 18.