Quite a few Makita tools just increased in price as of 4/1/22. They have also been reconfiguring certain tool kits with 4Ah batteries instead of 5Ah batteries.
Festool is very well known for annual or near-annual price adjustments and increases.
SawStop just issued a price increase notice on social media.
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A lot of tool users have been critical about Festool’s price increases, but many tool brands periodically increase their prices.
As you are probably aware, costs have gone up over the past two years. Raw materials cost more, parts cost more, shipping costs a lot more, and there are still quite a few shortages that are also affecting very many different industries.
Tariffs have also been responsible for past pricing increases.
I was (and still am) in the market for woodworking vise hardware. Last fall, I was thinking about finally making my purchase, and I kept looking at the same brand.
Overnight, the prices shot up by quite a bit. If that brand had issued a “price increase” notice, I would have placed my order. But, the price went up unexpectedly, and so I decided to hold off for a bit.
A lot of people think that Festool is playing games with their pricing, that they deliberately increase prices every year. But to me, it seems like it’s just an adjustment. Although rare, prices have decreased in the past. I remember looking at a price list before a Festool increase once, and I made it a point to buy some accessories afterwards to save some money.
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If you’re planning on buying a product, but aren’t in a rush, or maybe you’re sitting on the fence and just about to leap in the direction of a product, maybe a price increase notice will light a fire under you.
Retailers sometimes publicize these increases for that purposes, because they know it might push you to buy something.
Maybe brands and manufacturers share in this knowledge, but I don’t think it’s a motivation for them.
Here’s my point. Price increases suck. Who wants to pay more for the same thing? But, if costs have gone up, manufacturers are spending more, and so they need to pass that onto retailers and consumers.
Sometimes rising costs can be absorbed a bit, depending on the brand. Brands that heavily discount tools for holiday shopping seasons can usually handle small cost increases without passing it onto consumers every year.
But sometimes, there’s not much flexibility.
Grocery store margins tend to be very tight. Food suppliers are going to pass cost increases onto markets, and markets are going to pass the increases to customers in the form of higher prices.
The gas station isn’t going to eat cost increases, and neither are their suppliers. When gas prices go up, the cost at the pump goes up.
Tool prices aren’t going to change day to day, but year to year? It’s not unfathomable given what’s been happening to the global economy and supply chains right now.
Festool seems to adjust their prices every year, other brands might go a couple of years in between increases.
With some products, unit costs might decrease over time with sales volume, but there could still be factors that prompt an increase.
There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to pricing.
I’ve been reporting on the tool industry for more than 13 years now. I have purchased a lot of tools, advised many readers, and posted about a lot of tools in this time. There have been very many increases on everything from screws to power tools.
Maybe some tool brands and retailers are leveraging price increases to push sales. Your opinion is as good as mine here. But all of them? No. Price increases aren’t (usually) a marketing tactic, although some brands and marketers do try to make the best of it.
Again, price increases suck. Nobody likes them, but it’s an eventuality.
Wouldn’t you rather know an increase is coming? Or would you rather be surprised?
Personally, I really don’t like being surprised by price increases. If increases are pending, especially when they broadly affect a brand’s offerings, I’d rather know about it.
Most times, does it even make a difference to a brand? If 100 people plan to purchase a rather unique product from one particular brand, the net sales over time will likely be the same, increase or not. Maybe the increase hurries some customers along, but is it going to have a net positive effect for the brand over the span of several months or a year? I don’t think so.
Price increases are often inevitable. And, most of the time you’ll never know about an increase until you go to purchase a specific product you’ve been researching.
If and when broad increases are planned, I’d rather know about it.
Given how much I don’t like to be surprised by price increases, I’d rather know about them, especially when a lot of a brand’s SKUs are affected.
Do you agree or disagree?
Rog
I would rather know about the price increase. I appreciate the honesty and heads up.
Maybe I’m being a little cynical but I doubt these large companies “need” to increase prices, rather they want to. At this point post-Covid closures, most the inflated prices of goods feel like greed and “me too” changes.
MoogleMan3
Agree completely. It’s good ol greed.
Raycr
Here’s a 3:piece home owner quality pliers and 6 piece insulated screwdriver set from Amazon. BASICS that drops in price. I bought one set and 5 more sets as Easter presents.
Hinges on pliers are tight with no wobble With comfortable padded VDE handles.
Don’t know if the cutters are hardened enough for daily use.
Amazon Basics 1000 Volt VDE Insulated Tool Set, Pliers and Screwdriver Industrial Tool Set, 9-Piece. Was $24 now $18.50
Raycr
If you study history prices for most items were the same in the year 1900:as they were in the year 1800.
Inflation was 20th century invention.
It was aided greatly by General Motors who first started the model year designation for cars. Ford just would produce more cars every year without such a designation. Ford,lowered,prices,every year as,scale in manufacturing lowered,the cost to produce a model,T.
Ford followed suit behind GM because it allowed a price increase for the latest and the” improved version.”
Companies before the pandemic were being run lean and mean and were somewhat adverse to raising prices too much except for Tesla.
Tesla had staggering price increases because they much more demand than supply and lithium was going up.
Now everybody is raising prices to see what the market will bear because they have have a half dozen fig leave excuses to do so.
With that “ healthy “increaseMakita, won’t have to raise prices, 6 percent for the next 4 or 5 years and their profit margins will be fatter until the next round of inflation of raw materials
Some companies will have to back off somewhat off these prices hikes as demand significantly drops.in response.
Of cource if the war in Europe gets out of hand all bets are off.
Raycr
I should have really said the price of staples did not rise during the 1800’s . I couldn’t really talk about the price of locomotives
Birdog357
Every. Single. Input. Has increased in cost. The cost of the steel has quintupled in price in 2 years. Oil has doubled. That means transporting every thing has increased in cost. The plastics are made from oil. This is not greed, this is a completely foreseeable outcome of certain politic choices…
Richard Schneeman
> Every. Single. Input. Has increased in cost.
Yes, and these announcements come out even when there’s not a major pandemic.
We are seeing real inflation and supply crunches AND we are seeing companies raise prices in places because they can. Exxon and friends having record profits doesn’t sound like a “just trying to stay alive” cost of business increase.
> certain politic choices
Yes, this is only affecting one nation controlled entirely by one person who has a dial to stop this at any point but chooses not to /s
Supply line problems are caused both by Covid mitigation measures AND (much more so imho) by impacts of people getting Covid. We just built a house and the biggest delays were from crews suddenly not able to do work when one or more of them got sick or they had to stay home to take care of a critically sick family member. There is no “or” when it comes to Covid and the economy there is only “and”.
Marco
Prior to covid there was already a labor shortage and many sectors in logistics were already near 100% capacity. Covid hit and exacerbated these issues.
People in charge should have done a better job to address these issues and instead ignored them for to long. Ignoring inflation and increasing spending at the same time is unrelated but extremely stupid as well.
I think these tool companies are going to get creative in their price increases.
Aaron SD
I don’t think companies raise prices en mass unless they have to. It looks bad and no consumer would get excited by it. In my company we do everything to keep prices down but now with transportation costs, plus taxes or tariffs in some cases, we’re not left with much choice. Companies can only absorb so much if they want to stay in business. If they have have a great product people will buy, not as happily, but they still see the value in the product.
John
Large companies have no problem raising prices. Look at the figures of any fortune 500 company that sells consumer products, almost universally profits for the last year are way up. Not just a little, but a lot. They aren’t ‘being squeezed’ or reluctantly raising prices.
Gerald
Unfortunately I think the choices that haunt us now were made during the Reagan era.
When profits fall, somebody gotta pony up and pay these CEO’s wages and keep investors happy.
Davethetool
No of course it wouldn’t have anything to do with killing our domestic energy production, spending trillions of dollars that never made it to the average Joe but got pocketed by crony political donors and paying people to stay home from work and allowing millions to enter our country illegally now! It must have been Reagan’s fault over 35 years ago when everything was humming along great just 1 1/2 years ago! Crazy talk!
Mark
As a manufacturer it is obvious you have no idea what is going on in the raw material, transportation, oversea logistics.
JoeM
“Festool is very well known for annual or near-annual price adjustments and increases.” Typo alert.
But my opinion on price increases are simple… The very day I go to buy something, I check the price. If it’s in my bank account, it’s bought, because I’ve already spent ages debating which thing will be best. I don’t need, or care, if they’re raising prices. If the thing I wanted has been suddenly priced out of my range, they lose a sale that day. What they lose it to, I dunno. Sometimes it’s a nice dinner in, sometimes it’s literally my inner child from the 80’s and 90’s screaming at me “You’re 40 now! I Wanna Play! And they’ve made huge strides in technology to make even better versions of the toys and stuff you always wanted! I know you’re a wall of Logic with an Ego the size of a Planetoid, but look! The tool you wanted is out of your price range! But that Robot Toy that is light years ahead of the one you wanted as a kid is actually in your price range! And you can still afford something nice for dinner!”
I don’t care about price increases. The last Business Class I took flat out stated an absolute truth about Business models. Goods and Services provided require a price increase a minimum of every 2 years, and a maximum of every 4. This combats inflation, and makes sure you’re adjusting for any kind of economic instability in the world. Any company that doesn’t do this, is doomed to be killed off by inflation and overhead loss. Eating some of the cost of inflation to keep customers happy can only take you so far. Using your personal profits to supplement what you had to adjust the price to due to the factors of providing your goods and services, will sink your company if not monitored regularly. Making your customer happy is ideal, but if you don’t have a company to provide goods and services, you also don’t have any customers to please. So make the adjustments on a regular basis to compensate for what is happening in the world.
So… Price increase or not… I don’t really care, unless I’m no longer able to afford what I am trying to buy. The three companies mentioned there? Makita, Festool, and SawStop? Are all companies I ignore anyways. There’s nothing from any of them that I have any use for, and there are not only sales increases over time on DeWALT and Dremel, there’s also huge Clearance sales by year’s end. So, some of that makes me prioritize the companies I love for certain times of year, when I’m hunting something specific. If it never prices down to my budget, then… I just don’t end up with it.
I sprained my Thumb while breaking down some boxes for recycling a couple days ago… It also threw out my back and my knees… I’m in no shape to particularly care about the increased prices of tools these days. If the company (Retail or Manufacturing Brand) is smart, they will keep the price increase within the same, or similar range, and won’t lose the sale. If they lose enough sales due to the price increases, as is how Business works… They will fold for pushing themselves out of their niche. I don’t like looking for replacement retailers, or brands. But if the company did something wrong to close down… then I’m not a customer anymore. Simple. Nothing to get excited about. It just is.
Stuart
Thanks, *fixed*.
When a price increase can mean $50, $100, $200, or greater sums, that can alter purchasing decisions and the timing of non-essential purchases.
JoeM
Agreed. Hence why my default solution is “Don’t buy it when it prices out of the price range.” Adding a little bit… $50 on a $200~ kit or tool? I can usually work around that. Adding $100+ to the same kit? Out of range, can’t buy it.
So, it stops upsetting me a great deal, when I always know I can back out. In my own little mental world, if it happens to be on sale, the day I want to buy it? Then that is extra money to spend. Maybe I’ll get another NiteIze Key Chain with the difference? Maybe I’ll get some material to work with? If it’s a really great deal that I happen to be buying, maybe I get something like a staple gun, or a bit kit, or some supplies? But otherwise… I did so much work to see if I actually “Needed” that thing I’m buying… I saved up, I knew where it had to be stored at home… I prepared myself to take it home… If it gets priced out of what I can pay… then I’m going home with lots of other stuff instead… all of which I will have needed, one way or another. All of which will come highly recommended (Yes, the Pentel Graphgear 1000 was bought as a result of one of these kinds of deals. I think I was going for some LED strip lighting, they were out of stock, so I went with the Pentel and several other drafting tools.) and all of which will go into immediate use. I plan every contingency out before I buy anything. Trust me when I say… This is a very ingrained behaviour, rooted in very odd circumstances, involving a Drag Queen, Feathers, and a whole lot of Glitter… It gives me nightmares to this day.
N. Berg
I greatly prefer a warning for price increases.
There are MANY tools out there I want, but I have a very limited budget to get them, so there are a ton of things I’ve thought about buying for ages but never pulled the trigger on. Knowing it will go up soon can definitely change my priorities and move me to buy something right away that I would have preferred to hold off on.
I actually just did this in January with Tekton and picked up some pliers and screwdrivers that I didn’t have an immediate need for but knew I wanted to have eventually, so I bought them while I still had the chance to save a tiny bit.
Ross
It doesn’t bother me. I think the prices have always been changing, but it is often disguised by changing the models.
I have noticed price increases in the past from Festool, and have browsed the listing to see if anything catches my eye, but I can’t recall actually buying anything based on that announcement. I have made impulse buys around Black Friday or similar, mostly for small things I don’t really need.
For the most part, if I need a tool and it makes sense to buy it at the current price, then I will purchase it. If I am waiting for something to maybe go down someday, I probably don’t need it to begin with.
Steven L
If you are old enough to have been a buyer before 1985 you know annual price increases which were meaningful. Inflation has been low for the past 20-25 years and we haven’t had to consider meaningful annual price increases since then.
For a variety of reasons, inflation has returned and chances are good it will be with us for a while. Because of hydrocarbon and electricity price increases in Europe my guess is prices for European made products will increase faster than US made products going forward.
Have I bought something which was heavily discounted for Black Friday? Yes. So I might buy something to avoid a price increase. But, Black Friday deals offered greater savings so the rule for me is buy if I need it and will use it frequently. You don’t save money by purchasing what you will not use.
Tim
Most German companies go through this after the first of the year.
The company I sell for does it and we let people know.
Doesn’t necessarily drive sales to the deadline but people appreciate and understand the change better.
fred
I guess I’d rather know in advance than have it happen silently. Unlike groceries – where shrinkflation is a way to deal with “not increasing prices” – tools are mostly not amenable to many cost-maintaining moves. I recently saw a jar of red cabbage at the grocery store that was now 12oz. instead of 16oz. – being sold at the same old price. Imagine Festool trying to downsize a tracksaw by 25%. What would be needed to do that? It would probably be a lot more than just downsizing the blade from 160 to 120mm.
All this said, I suspect that some of the price increase announcements are designed to create increased sales demand ahead of the increase-date. That aspect of the announcements is a bit disingenuous.
Harrison
Oh, there are ways to shrink-flate tools…
There are a lot of tool/battery/charger kits for sale currently that would have traditionally included 2 batteries, but now only have 1. Or they update the SKU with 3ah batteries instead of 5ah for the same price.
Computerizing is also a great way to cut costs. The latest Festool cordless track saw eliminated the riving knife, for a kickback-sensing brake. Arguably an upgrade, but also cheaper to manufacture.
(Same as auto manufacturers replacing dashboard knobs and buttons with touch screen infotainment systems. Sure it’s fancy and futuristic, but also huge cost savings.)
Otherwise yeah, they have no choice but to raise the price, or introduce a new model every few years.
Dave P
When my trusted suppliers– companies that I purchase supplies from regularly–call me and ask me what I might need for jobs coming up/give me a chance to stock up as they have inside knowledge that a price increase is coming, I believe them and order up and am thankful that they valued my business enough to call me.
When I read an ad–sent out in public to maybe millions of potential customers–that say, “Buy before we have a price increase”, I don’t pay it any mind. Stuff is always going up. They’re most likely just trying to sell stuff. I ignore it.
MM
I feel this is one of those situations where no matter what a company does they will upset some subset of their customer base. If they hold off on notifying customers of an impending price increase then some customers will complain that they were “blindsided” by the sudden increase and will ask why they weren’t told sooner. But at the same time, if they do announce the price increase in advance other customers will accuse them of “just trying to make a quick buck” or “pressuring customers to buy now”. They honestly can’t win.
fred
Adding to the mix on any Festool/Sawstop price increase is that they set the price to the consumer (MSRP = Actual Selling Price) That prevents their authorized retailers from absorbing any portion of a price increase.
W00dy
So true!
Dennis Thurman
Marketing ploy while economy is unstable. MAKITA JUST Parted company
with WalMart over this very thing. Economists are running for cover with inflation at 40 year high. All companies are trying to prepare for worse scenario.. it should pass.
fred
Having lived over four score years – I’ve seen many economic cycles including inflation come and go. That is not exactly comfort if you are struggling to keep up.
During the darkest days of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was said to have told the story of a mid-eastern potentate who called in his wisemen to inquire about what expression that he might use that would be appropriate for all occasions. As the wisemen considered, the potentate reminded them of what fate (beheading) was in store for “false wisemen”. – So, they went away to ponder some more. When they returned – their answer was “And this too shall pass!”
Tinmender1963
I pay little attention to such things. When it comes to tools and equipment, I’m either going to make the purchase or I’m not. If your income depends on your tools, then you’ll understand my point of view
TomD
I actually would prefer NOT to have the warning, as it would incline me to “make the purchase just to be safe”when it may be that it’s something I don’t want at all.
All the price increases in the world haven’t come even close to the tools I’ve bought and ended up not needing (yet).
The more I deliberate about a purchase the more likely it is to be useful and necessary; so what if sometimes I end up paying more than I would have if I had gone a different route? The 10% coupons from HD cover much of that anyway, since they stack with sales.
Nathan
I like being told in advance but I don’t so much like the way it’s been presented. but maybe that’s just me.
MT_Noob
I think it is in the way it is presented. An open and honest heads up is one thing. Presenting this as the next best thing since black Friday sales is another. I feel as though the marketing teams have got their hooks in this concept and are turning it into just another round of on going specials.
I’ve been in brick and motor stores and have had employees mention that something I’m looking at might be going up in price, (or on sale) soon and I have always appreciated that, however in the digital world it still catches me off guard. And ultimately, I think it is about how it is presented.
That is just my 2 cents. Next week it will be my 4 cents.
Gription
It always annoyed me when Festool would make those annual announcements, as I work in the Automotive supply chain – where the expectation (until this last year) was that you would maintain the same pricing – or reduce prices – forever. If any supplier can continue this, they have either been screwing their customers for ages or are very bad at business. In hindsight, our industry should have been tolerant of modest annual increases.
But overall, we have been spoiled by ~20 years of low inflation and imports have driven consumer prices steadily downward over that time as well. Granted, we do pay a price for that in other ways, but over time this has given the consumer a ton of opportunity and buying power.
Direct labor costs are rising here as well as many other countries, so that will absolutely have an impact on prices, but OTOH, it does broaden the consumer base, so overall, that’s probably a good thing. It’s very much a good thing if you are on the bottom of the wage scale.
Commodities – Oil gets a lot of press because we see it in our face daily. Nobody likes paying more for gas or fuel, and the cost of shipping will have a direct impact on all consumer goods. I’m fortunate in that my commute is modest so the impact on me directly is minimal. Big oil has been controlling things for ages, so you either pay or don’t use their product.
Lumber – we all saw what happened with Lumber last year as demand outstripped supply.
Steel – prices spiked to ~ 4X recent history last October but have come down. Some of this was demand exceeding supply, a lot of it was due to greed and consolidation in the metals producing segment. Prices are currently about 2.5X of the low numbers we saw in August of 2020. I would expect steel prices to remain elevated. Many US-based steel mills purchased pig iron from Ukraine and Russia so that will have a direct effect on the input costs seen by mini-mills (Which use pig iron and scrap as primary inputs). Even those steel producers that do not use imported pig iron will see the price rise from other sources – simply due to supply and demand.
Copper – well, hold on to your hats – Goldman analysts expect that Copper may rise to $15k/ ton – which is roughly double what it is now. We may never see lower prices than we do now…
But back to Stuart’s question: If you NEED to have a certain tool, then you NEED to buy it almost regardless of the price. If the price feels too high for you, then maybe you don’t really need it. Let’s face it – some of us buy tools because we want them. Nothing wrong with that. of course…
MtnRanch
Two points:
Last year I “bit” on one of these “beat the price increase deals” and saved $50. A month or so later they were selling the same piece of hardware with free extras worth far more than the $50. Did I benefit myself by buying before the price increase? No – lesson learned. When SawStop did their “beat the price” increase deal recently I just left the deal on the table.
Festool has had their yearly “adjustments” long before the current inflation cycle and the prices always seem to adjust up regardless of changes in the exchange rates. I think their pricing must be based on two factors; continuous testing to see how much the consumer will pay and the “if it costs more, it must be better and more desirable” concept. They certainly have some unique tools well worth the money but others are just stupidly expensive when compared to the very capable competition.
I can’t argue with what either of these companies are doing, it’s just capitalism. We all are free to take our money elsewhere.
Lastly, for me, whenever someone says I have to buy now or miss the bandwagon, that’s a red flag. I just keep my money in my pocket and let someone else have that “deal”. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tool company or car dealer.
Jason
I was about to but a Laugna 20″ bandsaw a few months ago. I slept on it for a night and my jaw dropped the next day when the price went up 31%. I called the dealer I was going to but from and they told me they got the news the night before.
I’d much rather have a warning than be surprised.
Aaron SD
Ouch
Franco Calcagni
I understand that prices need to increase from time to time. Knowing in advance is very much appreciated also.
My Problem.
When companies have annual price increase, Festool being a notable, but not unique. Rolex has always had a yearly price increase. They use it in their sales strategy, telling customers in 10 years you can sell your watch for what you paid it because of the yearly increases.
Getting back to tools, I believe that Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee and the rest all have tool increases…BUT not necessarily yearly (the past 2 years being an exception with inflation out of control). Also, when they have increases, I believe it is on certain tools, not necessarily across the board. I do not have the figures to back this up, but I know for instance, I had been looking for cordless track saws a few years ago. Took my time and waited a couple of years before I made the purchase. In that time, there were the occasional sales or bonus item like the track or battery, but the selling price was the same outside of these promotion periods. I remember Festool always had their price increase.
Some companies can get away with it if they have a loyal following. Festool may not necessarily be the Rolex of power tools but they both have very loyal followings. There are those that poo poo all over Rolex and Festool, but no matter how much the naysayers, nay…the followers will follow them no matter.
I do not know about where you guys live, but here, Montreal, Canada, gas goes up, then goes down, then goes up, then goes down; recently just going up. Anyway, sometimes in the news they say that a barrel of oil recently went down, expect the price to go down, or the opposite, a barrel of oil has gone up and price hikes should be expected. What really irks people is when the price is supposed to go down, it can take many days as the mouthpieces for the petroleum companies spew BS about they had to pay higher prices for what they have in stock and the price will go down once they get the latest deliveries. Yet, when there is talk about the price going up, next day it is raised at the pump.
So tools, watches, gasoline and pretty much everything we buy, we the consumer are often hostage to the games played by the companies.
Being told in advance of a price increase is nice, but even nicer would be increasing when they really have to or decreasing when they can rather than pocketing the savings themselves.
John
Preach. Everyone thinks it’s some big conspiracy except for the obvious one… Corporations and greed combined with the impacts of this virus allowing to drag on by enough people not taking it seriously. I do believe that smaller or mid sized companies such as this do get impacted as they don’t have the scale to absorb as much price changes but that’s not what’s driving up prices for so many things.
Potato
Some of those images give a late night infomercial “Act now because this offer won’t last long!” kind of feeling. I’d much rather companies just give a yearly press release with a list of price changes than act as if they are doing us some big favor to us that they haven’t yet increased the prices.
Jbongo
Yep, I’d agree with this!
JGonzo
Benchcrafted hardware, I assume?
Joe W.
If prices are set to go up regardless, I think this is how manufacturers can make the best of a crappy situation. I’m sure they negotiate contracts with suppliers far enough in advance that they make projections and plan adjustments ahead of time. They don’t want pissed off customers, and giving customers a heads up is the best way to maintain goodwill.
Whether they *have* to increase prices, or to what degree, is another question and I am not well-versed enough on the supply-side of this industry to make a judgement about that. I know on the whole, many companies are reporting record profits while crying poor over inflation. That’s pretty simple to determine by looking at financial statement filings for any companies that are publicly traded. What I would like to see is some context behind price increase announcements. Is it because they’re paying more to factories in China? Shipping costs for their products made overseas have increased? I’ll much more happily swallow a prive increase if the reason is “We’re investing in US production” or “We’ve increased wages for US workers.”
Ben
Seems like the retailers are getting panic buys on both sides of this – they will scare you into a price increase and get sales, then a few months later they will have an “unprecedented sale” and people will lose their minds and buy since OMG the prices only go up not down, can you believe it?! Then the cycle repeats. Only difference lately is they can blame everything on “supply chain” and “COVID”, and people just assume they are telling the truth. Just look at shareholder reports for the real truth – record profits. Enough said. We need to form a consumer’s union – mass boycotting of companies and products that play these games until they straighten up.
fred
You have a point.
Some economists will say that inflation happens when there is more money chasing after fewer goods and services. The recent period has been a bit unprecedented in modern times. Government stepped in to help buoy up the economy when folks were out of work because of Covid. That pumped more money into the economy at the same time that fewer manufactured goods were being produced because of Covid. Meanwhile the stock market was doing well – pumping even more money into the economy. Another artifact of Covid seems to have been what folks are calling the “great resignation” with people leaving the job market or seeking different higher paying jobs. That coupled with inflation push wages up – translates into higher prices for many sectors. As long as there are enough consumers willing and able to pay ever-increasing prices – there doesn’t seem to be a natural end for the inflationary spiral. Perhaps a major (rather that minor) increase in the interest rate will slow things down. But usually those that are most impacted by inflation are those folks who are at the low end of our economic strata – and their discretionary spending (if any at all) is not contributing to inflation. If it were simple it would be easy to fix. The Fed probably wants to curb inflation but not push the economy into a recession. Campany profits, translating into stock market results has been what helped also push the real estate market and home renovation boom that we were seeing. It also helps a retired guy like me (living on my investments) complain about the high price of tools – rather than worry about buying food and medicine.