Inflation: Will County residents hunker down

Editor’s note: This is the first of several stories over the next couple weeks that will explore inflation in Will County.

From steep upward spirals in food, gas and rent to subtle increases in cell phone fees, Will County residents are facing rising prices almost everywhere they turn.

They are facing what the nation faces. Life costs more.

How did we all get here? According to the latest report from Pew Research detailing Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual inflation rate in May was 8.6%, its highest level since 1981, as measured by the consumer price index.

Other inflation metrics also have shown significant increases over the past year, although not quite to the extent as the CPI.

“Inflation is based on supply and demand,” Tammy Batson, director of the Center for Economic Education at Northern Illinois University, said. “At certain times we want more of things and certain times we want less of things. At certain times strawberries are a dollar and sometimes they are three dollars. Inflation is just tracking how all these prices are moving.”

Whatever the cause, inflation is virtually inescapable. As the researchers at Pew found, U.S. households are spending an additional $341 a month to purchase the same goods and services compared to a year ago.

Everyone’s encounter with inflation is slightly different. Here are eight Will County residents among many we contacted who share that experience and their advice.

These county residents reflect several common themes about how inflation has changed their lives: They’re getting by with spending less and being careful about financial choices; they are concerned, often irritated, but not panicked. Many have lived through inflationary surges before and, as one noted: “You just hunker down for now and hope things come back down.”

John Archambeault of Joliet

John Archambeault said he’s 70-plus, retired and trying to save money but is otherwise “basically OK” financially.

But he does try to “mind his Ps and Qs” by buying needed items on sale, he said.

And although “You’re never going to find gasoline on sale,” Archambeault tends to patronize Sam’s or Delta Sonic, where gas is cheaper, he said.

“I’m just looking at things, saying, ‘Oh my goodness, this country is going the wrong way; let’s face it,’ ” Archambeault said.

Ken Clymer of Joliet

On July 9, Ken Clymer, 72 and retired, walked up and down the aisles at Sam’s Club while his 2019 Highlander was getting new tires and noticed that “prices are up on just about everything,” he said.

“No matter what you buy, it’s going to be more money,” Clymer, a former owner of Certified Foods Warehouse in Joliet, said. “There’s not too much you can do except bite the bullet and try to cut back a little bit.”

But how? Clymer doesn’t drive much, and he can’t cut back on food.

“We don’t go out to eat as much, that’s for sure,” Clymer said.

Clymer doesn’t think the U.S. “is anywhere near” Richard Nixon’s wage and price control in 1971.

He recalled his father, a traveling salesman who also worked two part-time jobs to care for his wife and seven children, saying gas prices would fall when they hit $1 a gallon.

“When I bought my first car, gas prices were probably 50 cents a gallon,” Clymer said. “But then, I bought the car for $200.”

Clymer’s SUV tires cost $100 more for the four than they did five years ago, a reasonable increase, especially when four tires can cost $1,000, he said.

So it’s important to put inflation into perspective, he said.

“Everyone is in the same boat,” Clymer said. “All you can do is ride it out.”

Ramona Delrose of Shorewood

Inflation, overall, isn’t bothering Ramona Delrose, who is 64 and a retired medical receptionist — except for the cost of gas.

“Our usual summer activity is going to listen to outdoor music,” Delrose said. “Sometimes we’d go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; and we’d go every day of the weekend. I mean, it was all over: Bensenville, Countryside and Frankfort. We did go to Batavia [on Saturday], but we carpooled.”

This summer, Delrose is thinking twice about seeking live music. Maybe Orland Hills is too far to drive. Maybe she doesn’t need to see a band twice. Maybe she can wait until the band plays closer to home.

Delrose said someone on social media was upset at $5.22 a gallon for gas. Considering the times, Delrose didn’t think $5.22 “was too bad.”

Her daughter in California pays $7 a gallon for gas. Fortunately, Delrose’s daughter lives in an area where she can walk to many places, she said.

“She only fills up every two to three weeks,” Delrose said.

Scott Hopkins of New Lenox

Scott Hopkins, 71 and the owner of a printing supply business, said inflation isn’t impacting him a “tremendous amount.” Wife Nancy commutes to Chicago, so she tries to work at home a couple days a week.

“It’s a little more expensive at the grocery store,” Hopkins said, “but nothing that impairs our daily lives.”

Hopkins feels much of the price inflation is due to the supply chain issues from the pandemic. It’s not just that the products cost more but that “the reliability and availability has dropped significantly,” he said.

Jim Pasteris of Joliet

Food prices don’t bug Jim Pasteris, 79, and a retired electrical engineer for ComEd, as much as gas prices do, even though he is retired and doesn’t drive much.

Pasteris understands the supply chain shortages in food packaging but that’s not the reason for high gas prices. “We have the energy and have an administration that refuses to use it,” Pasteris said.

Kimberly Svec of Plainfield

Kimberly Svec, 61, of Plainfield owns a hybrid car that gets 40 miles to the gallon. Svec, who formerly worked for AT&T and is now retired, also owns a Ford Explorer, but she’s not driving it much these days, she said.

“We’re just being a little more cautious,” Svec said. “We do have an RV but we haven’t taken it camping this summer yet. I suspect filling it will be quite expensive … there’s nothing we can do. It’s a global issue, so you just hunker down for now and hope things come back down.

Svec, a vegetarian, also gardens and rarely eats out; so rising food prices aren’t burdening her budget, she said.

She does buy frozen vegetables from Costco and fresh fruits for her smoothies, but Svec hasn’t yet noticed a jump in those prices, she said.

Overall, Svec is not concerned.

“I’m old enough to have been through this,” Svec said of inflation. “It feels kind of cyclical.”

William Tarbell of Bolingbrook

Inflation isn’t affecting William Tarbell, 76, a retired nurse (unlike his daughter, who works in Chicago and pays more for gas) because he remained home more when COVID-19 hit.

Sure, grocery store prices are up and he’s paying more for items in his food delivery service – from $13.99 to $20.99 for a particular item – in the past year, he said.

“This year we started going out to restaurants once in a while and the prices there are a lot higher than they used to be,” Tarbell said. “But we’re not hurting in that sense with the inflation, where we’re having to decide between our medicine and our food and our gas, which, obviously, some people are having to do. You feel sorry for those people.”

Mark Turk of Joliet

Mark Turk said “everything” is going up – except people’s income – and to prove his point, he pointed to a fee increase on his cell phone, from $3.25 to $5.30.

So Turk called his cell phone provider and was told it was a federal compliance fee, he said. He can’t understand why the steep percentage increase is necessary.

Typically careful with spending, Turk is even more careful now, even donating less generously, he said.

But it’s low-income people and small businesses who are feeling inflation’s brunt because they can’t adjust, he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s going to end in a recession,” Turk said. “Either we’re in one now or we’re going into one. And I hate to say that. But I don’t see any way around it because we, as an economy, can’t seem to get a hold on our spending. You can’t give away everything the way we’ve been doing.

“I understand with the pandemic they had to make hard decisions that we had to do to try to control it. But they also need to understand that you can’t just keep throwing money at the situation because that only just makes it worse.”

Turk’s solution?

“I think we need to pray,” Turk said. “We need to pray for our country and for all the problems in our society we’re having. It’s very frustrating.”