Walmart customers upset about inflation

Photo by@itsqueenelizabeth.to.you/TikTok Iryna Inshyna/ShutterStock

"Everything has went up crazy prices". A Walmart employee went viral on TikTok after calling out the retail store for increasing the price of its meat.

Elizabeth (@itsqueenelizabeth.to.you) highlighted the rumored increase in prices to her audience in a recent video. By Saturday afternoon, her video had received over 659,100 views. "I'm completely baffled," she expressed in the video's caption.

The worker filmed her video while at Walmart; she was positioned near the meat section of the store while inquiring about the price of lean ground beef.

“I’m at Walmart right now and I’m very confused at these prices,” she repeated.

Elizabeth then showed viewers a 16 ounce pack of ground beef. “This used to be $3.94 and I know that because I work here,” she said. “You want to know how much it is now?” The worker panned her camera over to the price. To her surprise, the meat now cost nearly $8.

“I’m barely able to survive,” Elizabeth said.

She doubled down on her frustration in the accompanying text overlay. “Can I please have an explanation for this BS? I don’t even know who to blame anymore,” the worker wrote.

Are Walmart’s meat prices rising?

It's not only Walmart. If you've noticed that your grocery store visits are increasingly taking a toll on your finances recently, you're not just in your head. The cost of food in the U.S. has spiked significantly in recent years because of rising inflation.

Shoppers are becoming aware of this trend. A survey conducted in May by Intuit Credit Karma revealed that 80% of Americans have experienced a significant rise in the cost of food. Furthermore, the same survey indicated that the cost of groceries has increased by 25% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase in prices may not be exclusive to Walmart. According to Bloomberg and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the cost of chicken breasts has gone up from $3 per pound in March 2020 to $4.75 per pound by September 2022.

However, Elizabeth is not the first Walmart customer to observe that ground beef, in particular, is becoming more expensive. Six months prior, a user on Reddit provided proof that the price of the store's lean ground beef chuck had increased by $1 in just one month. More recently, a customer at Walmart claimed that the store was lying the weight of some meats, including bacon.

Commenters are feeling the squeeze

Even though inflation isn't a problem exclusive to Walmart, several commenters mentioned that they've observed the increase in prices.

“Pretty much everything at the store is 50% more than 2-3 years ago,” one shopper said.

“I actually think Walmart is higher than other grocery stores,” another suggested. “I think they are taking advantage of people.”

“It’s just price gouging,” a third person added.

Others, meanwhile, pointed out that it isn’t just meat that’s rising in cost.

“Everything has went up crazy prices,” one viewer wrote.

“It’s everyone and everything,” another said. “Car insurance, gas prices, food, RENT, mortgage, everything. We’re all just trying to survive.”