Record price hikes at vending machines and restaurants as supply chain issues and labour shortages bite

Vending machine prices jumped higher than ever as cost of dining out up most in 40 years

Oliver O'Connell
New York
Wednesday 14 July 2021 17:40 BST
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<p>Supply chain issues and other increased costs have led to a big jump in the price of snacks from vending machines</p>

Supply chain issues and other increased costs have led to a big jump in the price of snacks from vending machines

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The price of getting a snack from a vending machine in the US has jumped as manufacturers pass increased costs onto consumers.

Axios reports that the increase of 2.3 per cent between May and June, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the biggest single-month price hike on record.

An increase of 0.7 per cent was also recorded in the cost of eating out at restaurants in the US, also suffering from similar problems as well as wage hikes stemming from a pronounced difficulty in hiring and retaining staff.

This is the largest increase in the cost of dining out since 1981, according to inflation data released on Tuesday.

Manufacturers of popular vending machine products including Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle, are blaming food shortages, workforce shortfalls, and supply chain issues.

The Independent has contacted each company for further comment.

In April, Nestle CEO Mark Schneider told analysts on a call that the company was seeing broad-based inflation across various commodities, packaging materials, and transportation costs.

“Not all of these items can be hedged,” he said, “and our hedging cover for a number of commodities will run out over time. We are raising prices where appropriate.”

PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston commented on Tuesday: “Is there somewhat more inflationary out there? There is. Are we going to be pricing to deal with it? We certainly are.”

The world continues to be gripped by a shipping crisis that began when the pandemic disrupted supply chains in 2020 from which transportation and logistics companies have still not recovered.

The culmination of cancelled sailings in the early days of the pandemic, port traffic jams as commerce began to pick up again, and empty containers sitting idle in ports when they are needed in others has wreaked havoc on international trade.

All of this has forced up prices on a wide variety of products, with foodstuffs no exception.

These price hikes are therefore expected to continue well into 2022.

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