Romantics shopping for Valentine’s Day sweets this year are being forced to pay a premium as high as 803% for candy decorated with holiday-themed hearts and cupids, according to a recent report.
As of February 2nd, heart-shaped 3.45-ounce containers are filled with black raspberry-flavored Sour Heart gummy candies, priced at a hefty $10.96. According to food and cooking website Pantry and Larder.
That’s a staggering 803% more expensive than a standard box of Sour Patch Kids’ popular sweets ($1.24), the website found.
Meanwhile, Sour Patch Kids’ watermelon-flavored heart box costs $3.96, more than twice the price of a regular box.
Meanwhile, Reese’s, made by Hershey, is charging $10.98 for a heart-shaped box of miniature “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups” with a Valentine’s Day theme. That’s 174% more than the regular price of $4.56 for chocolate in a resealable bag, according to Pantry and Larder.
Gummy bear maker Haribo has also increased the price of its Valentine’s Day products by more than 100%, while Ferraro Rocher is selling a standard 12-pack of milk chocolate truffles in the same package for a 251% increase in price.
Lindt also packaged its popular milk chocolate truffles in heart-shaped boxes, resulting in an additional 119% cost increase, Pantry and Larder found.
Edgar Dvorsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org, told the Post that the cause is “greedflation.”
“Greedflation is just building up knowing that prices are high and consumers are expecting higher prices because they keep hearing about inflation,” Dworky said in an interview with the Post. he said.
President Joe Biden has been talking about greedflation as inflation has remained high in recent months.
Earlier Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that prices for household goods and services rose 3.1% in January. The bigger-than-expected advance dampened expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would begin lowering interest rates this spring.
“Even if other companies haven’t raised their prices, they say, ‘Well, we might as well raise our prices,'” Dworski added of candy makers during the Valentine’s Day season. Ta.
“They’ve chosen a category where consumers just shrug their shoulders because they have to make these purchases. Today is Valentine’s Day – your sweetheart is expecting chocolate,” Dvorsky said. he said.
Pantry and Larder observed that if consumers choose Dove’s themed “Love Note” caramel-infused milk chocolate (with “LOVE” written in red and white foil), they will receive 7.29 on Valentine’s Day this year. The dollar is expected to rise.
The same non-February candy, wrapped in gold foil and labeled simply “Milk Chocolate & Caramel,” costs $4.98 for a nearly 8-ounce package, 77% cheaper.
Dworsky, who previously worked as an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, also told the Post that the themed packages could be connected to exorbitant fees.
Cardboard heart-shaped packaging is a prime example of “overpackaging and deception.” [and] “Slack fill” “makes consumers think they’re getting more than they actually are,” Dvorsky told the Post.
Additionally, “manufacturers will tell you it’s more expensive to ship a cardboard box than a small bag,” Dvorsky said, adding that because themed products are considered “specialty products,” companies also charge more. He pointed out that the price was too high.
“But does that necessarily justify a five-fold price increase? Probably not.”
Drugstore chain CVS, which sells many of these themed popular candies, told CNN that “Valentine’s Day candy prices may fluctuate based on cost and quantity.”
