It's not exactly news that most things are more expensive than they used to be. Inflation hit a record-high peak of 9.1 percent in 2022, and while it has fallen since then, consumers are still feeling the heat of higher costs. But do you know exactly how high prices have climbed at some stores? A Walmart shopper decided to set the record straight, taking to TikTok to show how much prices have gone up at the mega-retailer over the last two years.
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On June 25, musician and TikTok creator @sewerlidd posted a video to his account after looking through his Walmart order history on the retailer's app. In the video, the creator shows a delivery order that he placed two years ago where he got a total of 53 items for $126.67.
"A whole month of groceries, just for me basically," he recalls.
While looking at that order, he says he noticed a "reorder all" button on Walmart's app.
"And I wanted to see how much it would cost now," @sewerlidd tells viewers.
@sewerlidd #greenscreen #groceries #economy #inflation
The results were shocking, to say the least. The app indicated that the same order he placed two years ago for $126.67 would now cost a total of $414.39.
"That is four times more," he says. "How? I feel like I'm going to be sick."
@sewerlidd's video has already caused quite the storm on TikTok, garnering nearly 2 million views in just a few days—and it seems like a lot of other shoppers feel as queasy as he does about the staggering increase.
"Life isn't affordable anymore," one user commented. "I'm not sure how my family of four is even eating these days!"
Another person replied, "I knew it was going to be bad. I didn't know it was gonna be this bad."
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Some commenters accused Walmart of "price gouging," noting that the retailer has been seeing record profits while raising prices. And they're not the first to do so. Back in March, Robert Reich—who previously served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton and now works as a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley—took to social media to call out the retailer.
"Walmart hiked prices on its Great Value food brands. The result? Its net income spiked 93% to $10.5 billion towards the end of 2023," Reich wrote in a March 23 X post. "When I say price gouging is driving inflation, this is what I mean."
Still, a few users questioned the validity of @sewerlidd's original TikTok, noting that he didn't show the full detailed list of either order to include the quantity of each item ordered.
"Or did you accidentally ’reorder all' three times? If you divide $414 by three, it’s $138, which makes it about $12 more than 2 years ago," one user pointed out. "But if it’s legit, that’s insane."
Best Life reached out to Walmart about the viral TikTok, and we will update this story with the company's response.
For its part, the retailer says it has been making moves to bring consumer costs down. In May, Walmart said that it had recently rolled back prices on nearly 7,000 items in its stores, CNN reported.
"Our combination of everyday low prices plus a large number of rollbacks is resonating [with consumers]," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said at the time during a call with analysts.
