The Price of This Household Item Is Plunging

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Nov 16, 10:05AM EST

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The Price of This Household Item Is Plunging — © Elenathewise / iStock via Getty Images

Consumer prices rose a lower than expected 7.7% in October compared to the same month a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics recent consumer price index report. In the immediate previous months, that figure had been between 8% and 9%. The 7.7% figure was not uniform across all products and services. As a matter of fact, some prices fell, with the price of smartphones plunging.

Inflation has been the greatest enemy of the economy for the past year. It has resulted in a much higher cost of living for many Americans. Increases in gas and food prices have lowered discretionary spending. For the most part, wage increases have not kept track with inflation. (These are the states where inflation is causing the most stress.)

Another byproduct of rising prices is the Federal Reserve’s response in order to tame prices. The Fed has raised rates throughout the entire year. Its target for inflation is 2%, a small fraction of what it is today. The Fed’s rate increases have been passed to mortgage rates, car loans, and business lending, increasing the cost of borrowing. The theory is that increasing interest rates would slow the economy.

As businesses face a higher cost of capital, however, layoffs are often the result. Rising unemployment also tends to drive inflation down. As fewer people work, people’s household spending ability is undermined, leading to lower demand and eventually lower prices. (These are 36 jobs with wages rising faster than inflation.)

To determine the household items that have declined in price, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the BLS’ Consumer Price Index Summary October report. Prices are compared to October 2021. Only 13 items recorded an annual price drop in October.

Among the few items with falling prices are several consumer electronics products. Smartphone prices plunged 23% last month. Telephones and calculators dropped 16%. Television prices fell nearly as much. It is unclear why the prices of these items have fallen. Certainly the competition for 5G subscribers among AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon has caused something of a price war for smartphones

Perhaps, if prices across the economy start to fall, the number of items that are dropping in price will jump.

Click here to see price of this household item that is plunging.

13. Ship fare
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -0.6%

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12. Computer software and accessories
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -0.9%

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11. Wireless telephone services
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -1.4%

10. Women’s outerwear
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -1.4%

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9. Admissions
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -1.9%

8. Computers, peripherals, and smart home assistants
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -3.1%

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7. Car and truck rental
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -3.5%

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6. Uncooked beef roasts
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -5.3%

5. Uncooked beef steaks
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -6.9%

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4. Education and communication commodities
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -9.1%

3. Televisions
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -16.5%

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2. Telephone hardware, calculators, and other consumer information items
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -17.6%

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1. Smartphones
> Price decrease, October 2021 to October 2022: -22.9%

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.