Shoppers Drug Mart customer spends $41 for 3 items

A user on TikTok sparked a discussion after claiming that buying just three items at Shoppers Drug Mart cost her over CAD$40, or about $30.73.

In a video with over 24,000 views, TikTok user Tara (@taraglennburnett) shows off the three items in question. This includes an RXBAR, a cleaner and a deodorant stick.

“What is happening to this world?” she asks at the end of the video. In the caption, she adds, “Like why is life expensive… #inflation.”

@taraglennburnett For example, why is life expensive.. #inflation ♬ Original sound – Tara Burnett

Initially, some users claimed that Shoppers is said to have higher prices than competing outlets. Others noted that items purchased from Tara tend to be more expensive, meaning an invoice of over CAD$40 isn’t out of the question.

In comments, Tara notes that these are some of the few products she can use and that being “a girl with a lot of sensitivity” doesn’t give her many skincare options[ities] doesn’t have much of a choice.” She also says that Shoppers is the “only place in town” that stocks the products she can use.

The Daily Dot contacted Tara and Shoppers Drug Mart via email.

Still, many users used the comments section as a space to vent their frustration at the rising prices of goods.

“I bought two perfumes in small tubes from my local shoppers and it cost me $60,” wrote one user.

“Dry shampoo at Walmart was on sale for $10 off 18, and last time I remember it was about $7-8 full price,” added another. “Things are getting ridiculous!”

“Went makeup for 3 things one day,” recalled a third. “End up up to $63 and not even good brands tried the cheapest I could find.”

As Tara’s caption suggests, many users were quick to blame “inflation” — which Investopedia says can be defined as “a rise in prices that can be translated as a decline in purchasing power over time.”

However, some claimed that some higher prices were not due to inflation but to price gouging.

“People out here are whining to stop buying the expensive stuff, how about we stop getting price gouging?” asked one user. “The deodorant was $13 to $15 last year.”

Numerous industries have recently been accused of price gouging.

Recently, an activist group made headlines after claiming that soaring egg prices were due not just to an outbreak of bird flu, but to an “arranged scheme between industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an outbreak of bird flu into an opportunity for tremendous… Achieve profits up to 40 percent.”

Early 2022 economist went viral on Twitter after claiming that companies “literally brag about rising prices while hiding behind ‘inflation'”.

At a September 2022 congressional hearing, former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said companies are “raising their prices in excess of the increase in their costs” — something they could do since they face “so little competition.”

“Since the 1980s, two-thirds of all American industries have become more concentrated,” Reich said.

The beauty industry is facing a similar concentration, with 7 manufacturers behind over 180 beauty brands, according to a 2017 Insider article.

Regardless of the reason, users are fed up with high prices.

“Yeah, so my grocery bill is now about 1,000 a month,” shared one commenter.

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