6 days ago
Walmart warns consumers of incoming price increases
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Walmart employees say prices are quietly surging on everyday essentials — and they're posting pictures as they swap out price tags. In a string of posts across Reddit, self-identified staffers say they've seen prices jump as much as 80 percent on popular items.
One photo shows Hasbro's My Real Baby doll's price surged from $34.97 to $49.97 — a nearly 43 percent increase. Another reported that an eight-ounce canister of Great Value cocoa powder nearly doubled in price — from $3.44 to $6.18. Walmart hasn't responded to request for comment.
But the employee posts are likely a peek behind the curtain as companies mount their response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. For months, Walmart has been warning that its consumer prices would likely rise. The giant retailer sources millions of goods from abroad — including importing 60 percent of its goods from China.
Right now, President Trump's tariffs are slapping 10 to 30 percent duties on key imports, including food items, toys, and electronics. The current tariffs are lower than the President once predicted: on April 2, Trump said he would impose levies products coming from dozens of countries.
Those tariffs ranged anywhere from 10 to 49 percent. China's tariffs eventually ballooned to 145 percent. All of the higher-than-expected tariffs have been temporarily paused while the White House negotiates with major countries around the world.
But in American store shelves, owners are starting to tick up prices. 'We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,' the company's CEO, Doug McMillon (pictured), said on the company's most recent earnings call. 'But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.'
Trump has vocally opposed the company's price hikes, posting on Truth Social that Walmart should 'eat the tariffs' and threatening that he'll 'be watching.' But Walmart has already been steadily raising some of its prices as suppliers pass on their own higher costs. Rainey said bananas now cost 54 cents a pound, up from 50 cents — an eight percent jump. Retail analysts say that may not sound like much, but if similar increases hit other imported essentials — from produce to clothing, electronics, and home goods — shoppers will feel the pinch fast. Neil Saunders, from Global Data, told 'all categories will be affected by tariffs'. He explained: 'Produce from overseas will be impacted heavily because margins are low and costs need to be passed across.'
Meanwhile, Walmart is not alone. revealed two weeks ago that employees at Target had seen big increases in store prices. A Target employee shared a photo as they swapped out a $9.99 price tag on a Heyday brand USB-C cord. The updated price was $17.99, an 80 percent increase. 'It's happening,' the worker wrote, sharing a photo of the price tag update. 'All of Heyday is going up.'
In several comments, customers are pointing the finger both at the Trump administration, and at corporate executives for the price hikes. 'I think regardless of tariffs Walmart is capitalizing on the idea that things will be more expensive to pad their profit margins,' one Redditor commented. 'I feel like they did the same thing with the whole COVID thing too.'
Before the tariff regime was announced, Walmart said it was already expecting profits to take a hit. In its first quarter earnings call, the company said its customers were starting to show the strain of years of inflation . McMillon reported that the company only expected growth between three and four percent. Last year, Walmart reached above 9 percent growth.
