Thanksgiving costs are ‘just a shell game’

As Americans become increasingly concerned about affordability, there’s scrutiny on the annual meal, writes Kevin Draper from Kansas City, Missouri, and Castro Valley, California

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A grocery store in Opelika, Alabama, on Nov 7. After years of inflation, grocery prices remain front-of-mind for shoppers this Thanksgiving. NYT

(NYT)

The cost of a Thanksgiving meal is down 2% to 3% from last year. Sorry, it is actually up 0.6%. And if you go to Walmart, its Thanksgiving meal costs $3 per person less than last year’s but includes different items and fewer of them.

Welcome to the Thanksgiving food cost wars, where retailers are competing for shoppers, economists are competing for attention and politicians are competing for narrative. Everyone is using different numbers, leaving Americans confused about a basket of specialised items purchased at a particular time of year.

“I really feel like it is such a shell game)” said G. Robert McDougall, the former chief executive of the Southern California grocery chain Gelson’s. “Every company is going to handle it a little different, but all are coming from the same premise: They want the customer to come in and do their big shop.”

Groceries are the most challenging thing for Americans to afford, according to a recent Politico poll. At the same time, consumer confidence is declining, and with both political parties talking about affordability, the cost of a Thanksgiving meal is taking on outsize importance this year.

Even the White House has seized on the Thanksgiving meal to show that the Trump administration has helped lower costs. It put out several news releases about Thanksgiving prices, celebrating meal deals at Walmart, Target, Aldi and Lidl that are cheaper than last year, and have pointed to Wells Fargo and Farm Bureau reports that found Thanksgiving costs are down.