The good folks at General Mills have shared an unfortunate announcement with their customers. According to CNN, it turns out that the company is being forced to raise the prices on some of their most beloved snacks and cereals.

The prices will be raised as of January 2022. CNN reports that the price change will take place across the board, affecting “hundreds of items across dozens of brands.”

Photo: Mike Mozart

“Annie’s, Progresso, Yoplait, Fruit Roll-Ups, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charm’s, Wheaties, Reese’s Puffs, Trix and more” are among the brands that are going to be affected. CNN’s report might be scary to some but we will do our best not to lose our composure. Grocery store and convenience store customers are among those who are going to be most affected. Prices may rise by up to 20 percent in the coming year.

It’s something that we are all going to have to prepare for. General Mills is not the first company to announce a price hike that will take effect soon enough. Consumer packaging goods companies are all being forced into these decisions. Kraft, Heinz, Mondelez, Procter & Gamble are chief among them. The pandemic is being blamed for the price raising, understandably so.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

These companies were all placed in an awful position by the current realities and now customers are being asked to be understanding. From September to October, prices have already increased by 1%. The increases continued from October to November as well. Overall, prices have risen by over 5% since this same time last year. Companies have been having to raise their prices because of a variety of factors.

Food inflation is one of the primary factors, as it places companies in a position where they have no choice but to raise their prices. Otherwise, the quality of the foods that we enjoy each day may start to taper off. In addition to the food inflation concerns, the pandemic has led to higher costs of labor and transportation.

Photo: PXHERE

All of these issues contribute to rising costs, causing people to believe that the companies are trying to make up for lost time by overcharging their customers. On the contrary, they are trying their best to keep prices at a level that will not cause too many issues for their customer base.

Hopefully the prices won’t continue to climb! We love our morning cereal, after all.