Stephanie Gonzalez 

SAN JOSE CA- Over the past few months, prices of food have risen across the United States. The effects could be devastating to families who already struggle. Some reasons can be due to shortage of suppliers and the timeliness of when products arrive at stores. Lately as people go grocery shopping, they’re starting to notice the prices are higher than normal. This can cause multiple issues for families and even the grocery stores.

When COVID-19 first hit, the community was faced with rising food prices and even daily necessities. Certain items in stores were being sold out and when restocked the prices were sometimes almost double the original price. This caused people to begin seeking help from the government through services like food stamps or EBT. 

The way that EBT cards work is, for each person in the household, you are granted a certain amount of money. One person equals 204 dollars, two people equals 374 dollars, three people equals 535 dollars and so on. This money and assistance along with assisting WIC cards come from an organization called SNAP. SNAP stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

With California, especially the Bay Area, raising these prices of food can affect so many people. Some might see it as no big deal, but there definitely are families out there that barely make ends meet. The smallest change can truly affect how consumers go about shopping, or how the seller will target their buyers.

Having COVID play a role in this is partially the problem, demand has grown and the supply isn’t being met. Companies are seeing this as a way they can raise their prices for travel following the actual product price. Companies that purchase products don’t want to lose out on money so the community is having to make up for some of it.

An example of a real life effect of the price raising is a brand of ice cream that is popular and sold in a pint. Their normal prices are around 4.99 and they have now increased to 6 dollars. This ice cream is already at a relatively high price and yet it is now higher. This was seen at a local grocery store on Aborn and White road in San Jose.