I think inflation is nothing more than price gouging from Governments, and large corporations. The Mom and Pop stores, (owner/operators), are the ones caught in the middle. They are forced to buy at the set price with not much chance of negotiating lower prices with the producers of goods.
In time it leads to over stocked items that people just can not afford to buy, then the big stores have to place the items on sale. During Covid early years in America Hot Air Fryers were a big sales item, everyone wanted one since they had to stay home and cook as all the restaurants were closed. Now those same fryers are sitting on the shelf and not moving even with the price reductions.
We as individuals and as corporations and governments are always chasing our own tails, it is hard to see running from something to running to something for me when all I see is a lot of tail chasing, and lemming style actions.
I read the other day that the largest ever profits were being made in oil, with the largest producer reaping 700 million a day.
And yes, the small stores suffer, making them less attractive and driving customers to the large conglomerates. It is a consolidation, a centralization of wealth generation.
Same here - I am waiting for the bottom before I buy one ;D
And this is the rat race isn't it? It isn't just work, it is the reason we work.