Old Chang Kee Is Making Money. Too Much Money?

I sent this to the press 4 days ago but they didn't publish it. 

"Recently, curry puff maker Old Chang Kee reported a 42% jump in profits for sales across the 6 months prior to 30 September. This is on the back of a 53% jump in the previous reporting cycle.

While this is great news for shareholders, we need to also factor in how price increases of their retail products have contributed to this extraordinary profitability. I recall their basic Curry O chicken curry puff cost $1.60 a couple of years ago and is now sold for $2 - a rise of 25%.

It is a tad incredulous that the company states that "inflationary pressures from the rising expenses of raw materials, labour and rental, and that manpower shortage remains challenging" when clearly the reported metrics show a different outcome.

Given the inflationary concerns Singapore residents have been going through post-Covid, it is concerning that local companies are riding on these price increases to help boost their profits at the expense of the tightened purse strings among ordinary folk."

Talking to friends, they've also expressed similar, seemingly ridiculous price hikes at Toast Box and Ya Kun, our favourite local places. A check online shows that the cheapest hot drink at Toast Box, a basic hot Kopi-O, is $3. A friend of mine told me his Ice Teh-O at Ya Kun cost him $4.20. 

At the same time, i also have friends who said there's nothing wrong with making a profit. They go "Buyer beware" as the customer has a choice in the matter. I agree but what happens to the overall retail environment is that the price hikes permeate. I would also classify coffee and tea a basic need in Singapore, maybe even on par with rice and cooking oil - items consumed at least once a day. 

When one vendor raises prices to "combat inflation and rising cost of goods", another will follow suit to create a new normal benchmark for similar goods sold in similar ways (local coffee in a mall setting for example). What this does then is cause a slow but steady rise in inflation across the board, which ultimately affects you and me. 

Not one company's problem but a country-level matter, how the small details ladder up to the big albeit gloomy picture. When basic needs become expensive, often consumers do not think of finding alternatives because that's how basic needs are ingrained in their purchase behaviour. Do the powers that be care?

Employers will face pressures to raise salaries as their staff start complaining their paychecks aren't enough to make ends meet the same way as before. I am wondering if Old Chang Kee, Ya Kun and Toast Box raised salaries alongside their price increases.

One friend said my photo would go up on the walls at Old Chang Kee outlets if the letter was published. I think I would be proud, curry puffs dismissed by principle.