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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We'll spend our last 15 minutes today on an inflation check-in, specifically, a call in on the moment that rising prices made you stop buying something that you have bought in the past. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Let's say, stop buying something or stop doing something that you paid for in the past, 212-433-WNYC. Did the price of, say, cherries make you decide to take a pass this season? Someone told me the other day about $12 a pound cherries that they saw, and their eyes bugged out. They couldn't believe it, and they didn't buy them.

With small kids in the house, maybe you're still shelling out for milk whatever the price, but you've taken organic off your list because it's more expensive. Did your 4th of July barbecue feature cheaper cuts of meat, smaller burgers, whatever? 212-433-WNYC. 8-inch instead of foot-long dogs, whatever it was, how is inflation changing your shopping habits? Besides gasoline for car owners, was there one item whose price brought home the reality of inflation for you in a way that has actually made you change your behavior or your buying habits? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Maybe, you were in the grocery store one day and shocked to see that your favorite brand name cereal had jumped in price? What have you stopped buying at the grocery store that you once always kept on your shelf? 212-433-WNYC. Did a vacation that you were hoping to take and have taken in the past suddenly become unaffordable for you just because the price of it went up? 212-433-9692. Staycationers tell us that story.

A little more context, in June, Forbes Magazine reported that within the last year, the prices of meat and eggs have increased by over 14% while fruit and vegetables have increased by nearly 12%, and the price of household items like cleaning supplies have risen nearly 10%. That's all above the high single digits rate of inflation that were already making people say, "Oh, my God, that's such high inflation." What product made you, not only take notice of price hikes but actually change what you're buying or change what you're doing? Where have you drawn the line? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We'll take your inflation reports right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your reports from the front lines of inflation. What has gone up so much that it's actually made you stop buying it or change your behavior in some way? 212-433-WNYC, or tweet your example, @BrianLehrer. We'll read some that come in on Twitter. Bryce in Glen Cove, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bryce.

Bryce: Hi there. Thanks for taking my call. I'm a principal at an elementary school. Around this time of year, we start putting together our supply lists. We had to cut a lot of things this year. We found that glue sticks in particular were exorbitantly expensive. Our students are going to be coming back with mini glue sticks next year and a couple of other things that we had to excess from the lists because the cost just went up so much.

Brian Lehrer: Glue sticks? I haven't heard that one mentioned before.

Bryce: I think you'll hear it more and more as people start doing their back-to-school shopping, but that was a big surprise to us.

Brian Lehrer: Bryce, thank you for checking in. Wow, glue sticks of all things, and back to school is a whole other category that I didn't even mention. Alexander in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Alexander.

Alexander: Hi, Brian. You actually called this out at the top of the segment. The other day for the 4th of July, my girlfriend and I were at the store getting stuff for a barbecue. We were going to make a fruit salad. The cashier who was ringing us up kindly was like, "Hey, these cherries are going to be $25. Are you sure you want them?" We decided, "Yes, you know what? Fruit salad will be just fine without $25 worth of cherries."

Brian Lehrer: The cashier actually picked that item out of what was on the conveyor belt, or wherever you were, and said, "Look at this, do you know how expensive this thing you're buying is?" The cashier said that to you?

Alexander: She did indeed. I was grateful she did because I hadn't noticed when I picked them up.

Brian Lehrer: Alexander, thanks for checking in. Eric in The Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Eric.

Eric: Hey, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Love your show. I'm a sommelier in Greenwich Village. I live in North Brooklyn, so I get a front row to all the rising prices. One thing, for example, I've definitely seen, which is a pretty generic answer for North Brooklyn is the $4 a pop avocados. I just can't. I've got to leave them out of my breakfast now. Everything else, I've seen gone up at a small rate, even just trying to buy cereal to eat in the morning. I'm trying to make a note at the percentage to which everything is going up and crossing my fingers, crossing my toes that my employers will be able to increase my pay accordingly.

I want to figure out exactly how bad what I'm dealing with is in terms of increases in my living expenses with food. Wouldn't it be nice?

Brian Lehrer: Have you asked yet? Have you gone to your employer yet and say, "Look, inflation is running 8%, 10%. Can I have that much of a raise?"

Eric: I'm going to wait a month or two. I recently moved into the sommelier position. I want to at least go to them feeling like I've done a decent job yet. I don't want to jump the gun after having just been promoted. I will do that. I haven't yet. I'm just hoping for the best. I'm hoping that all of us can somehow get some increase in pay to match inflation, but that's how inflation wouldn't be inflation.

Brian Lehrer: I think it raises a question of profit transparency. There are some companies that I think are being hit hard by inflation too. Their profit margins might be going down as a result, but there are other companies that are making more money because of inflation. Maybe they're baking in a little bit more of a margin because people are expecting things to be more expensive, and they're riding the back of that. I think the more employers are forced to reveal what their profits are really compared to the recent inflation spike, the more we'll be able to see who can actually afford to give the workers the wages, the cost of living increases to keep up with the inflation.

Eric: Oh, wouldn't that be amazing?

Brian Lehrer: How do we do it? Maybe, that's a future segment with some labor people. Thank you for your call, Eric. Good luck out there. Jen in Keansburg, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jen.

Jen: Hi, Brian. How are you? This is so close to my heart. The price of butter even has gone up from, let's say, it was maybe $2.49 a pound. Now, it's over $3.99 a pound. I know that's not a specialty item, but it's pretty much all I use besides olive oil.

Brian Lehrer: That's a basic for so many people.

Jen: Everything is going up. Everything, I can't even name one thing that hasn't gone up.

Brian Lehrer: What have you stopped buying? Have you gone from one kind of butter to another?

Jen: I've stopped buying meat.

Brian Lehrer: What, Jen?

Jen: Yes, I'm buying the smaller sizes of the whipped butter, and I have stopped buying any kind of steak or London broil. Any kind of meat has gone up, maybe at least double.

Brian Lehrer: Jen, thank you very much. She may be better off for eating less meat and less butter, but that's a positive side effect for some people. Scott in Forest Hills, you're on WNYC. Hi, Scott.

Scott: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking the call. It's an indicator of things in general, but specifically, I've stopped buying from auction sites like eBay and others just because the cost of the shipping is now often more expensive than the item I'm buying in the first place. I know that's hidden in other sites like Amazon, where they bake free shipping that you pay inside the objects, but it's really apparent on auction sites, which I've stopped using for the moment.

Brian Lehrer: Really interesting because the gasoline and other things are going up for the truckers. Interesting to note the cost of shipping, leading Scott to stop ordering as much off eBay and sites like that. Robin in Yonkers, you're on WNYC. Hi, Robin.

Robin: Hi there. The one thing I've stopped doing is I'm not buying animal proteins anymore for the barbecue or the grills. I've actually been grilling vegetables, and I'm going fishing a lot more. I can pick up trout or bass out in the rivers, and I'll grill that. That's where I get that.

Brian Lehrer: Just curious, you live in Yonkers, where do you go fishing?

Robin: Well, actually, I was calling you from route 87 in Yonkers, but I'm actually up in New Paltz. I'm actually up in New Paltz, New York. I'm blessed in the fact that I have chicken, so eggs are not hitting me that hard. When I go to the market and I look at the price of steaks or lamb, it's just not worth that piece of my budget. If I can grill up summer vegetables and make do around and supplement with I'll go fishing, and where do I go fishing? I'm right near a bunch of rivers and lakes.

Brian Lehrer: Robin, thanks.

Robin: I know people in the city that are doing it also out at the beach.

Brian Lehrer: Sure. People who walk around the riverfronts in New York City, sometimes surprised to see people actually fishing in the Hudson River or the East River, things like that, even in the city. Thanks for checking in from the throughway on your way back to New Paltz. Let's see. Who's next? How about Hugh in Sussex County? You're on WNYC. Hi, Hugh. For those of the people who are too stuck in the city, Suffolk County is on Long Island. Sussex County is in New Jersey. Hi, Hugh.

Hugh: Hi. Chickens sound like a great idea, but I'm not sure if my township allows it, [chuckles] the ordinance against poultry in the suburbs. Anyway, I do photography mostly for pleasure. I would think nothing of jumping in the car and driving up to the Catskills or down to the Jersey Pineland, not to shoot landscapes and stuff, but no more. I've got less mileage on my car because the price of gas makes it--

Brian Lehrer: The pleasure trips in the car is where you drew the line because of the price of gasoline. Hugh, thank you very much. One more. Kathleen in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi, Kathleen?

Kathleen: Hi. How are you? My issue is that, well, I'm a bit of a dark chocolate addict, but I'm containing my addiction now because of the prices, and cream as well, and whipped cream. Dark chocolate has tripled in price, good or grabbing dark chocolate. Whipped cream, I'll say the brand, Reddi-Wip. It was 299 six weeks ago, same size five ounces is now 399. It's just, so I remember my mother talking about how hard it was and people were-- Well, the women were hiding their dark chocolate during the depression, and cream was--Everything was--

Brian Lehrer: Kathleen, that has to be the last word because we're out of time, but even recalling the depression and saying how dark chocolate, of all things, has gone up. Thanks, everybody, for your reports from the front lines of inflation.

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