August 3, 2023: Price Hikes （値上げ）

Everything is getting more and more expensive these days, and I am fed up with it. Mentally, it is much more arduous than the heatwave. So I am determined to stay out of the shops as much as possible and to leave the shopping to my wife. In fact, I have not been in a shop since I bought some beer about two weeks ago. The price rises seem to be here to stay. I understand that the rises are due to the weakening yen and the rising cost of materials. But I feel that some are jumping on the bandwagon of others. They seem to think that it is the best chance to raise their prices.
In this circumstance, I have a few things that I really need to buy. Among them is a legal pad, which I use to do journaling and maths. I used to buy them from Office Depot. But now I buy it online from Amazon. This is because it costs less at Amazon than at Office Depot. But it is even caught up in the price rises. The price has gone up and had some changes. This is mainly due to the weakening yen. But the quality has also declined, and it has fewer pages than before. It also has declined the quality in the paper. If this goes on, I may have to give up using the pads.

　昨今の値上げの嵐に参っています。精神的には、記録的な暑さよりつらいです。そのため、最近は買い物は妻に任せ、ボクはできるだけ店に立ち寄らないようにしています。数週間前にビールを買いにコンビニに入りましたが、それ以来、店に入っていません。この先、まだまだ値上げは続くようです。円安や原材料高である程度の値上げは仕方ないとは思います。このところに値上げを見ると、誰れも文句言わないだろうから、今がチャンスと言わんばかりに値上げをしていると強く感じています。
　そんな中、ボクがどうしても買わなければならないものがあります。それが、リーガルパッドです。今までは、オフィス・デポで買っていたですが、アマゾンのリーガルパッドのほうが安いことがわかったので、これを使い続けています。でも、このパッドさえも値上げの波を受けています。円安が最大の要因だとは思いますが、品質も下がっています。1冊のページ数が減りました。また、紙の質も落ちました。この調子では、リーガルパッドさえも使うのをあきらめざるを得ないかもしれません。