Love may not cost a thing, but Valentine’s Day 2024 does

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Consumers are expected to shell out big bucks on their valentines this year and to set some new records in the process.

Cocoa prices are at an all time high, breaking the record from 1977 which means prices on Valentine's Day candy and other goods are much higher than a few years ago.

National inflation rests at around 3.4%, according to experts from Idaho State University, which is a significant improvement from peak inflation in 2022 but nowhere near the prices of 2020.

While things are improving, they say you shouldn't expect prices to deflate anytime soon.

"Their (The Federal Reserve's) goal is not to get prices back to what they were a year or two years, four years ago," ISU Associate Professor of economics Karl Geisler said. "Overall, for goods and services, I think we should expect to pay a sticker price that's pretty close to what we're looking at right now."

Prices on cereal, coffee and other goods are going down. But Idahoans say they're still feeling the weight of inflation.

 "I don't know if it's a whole lot more," local shopper Becky told Local News 8. "...But it is more."

In other areas, prices are even higher. So much so, some shoppers from Jackson Hole, Wyo. would rather make the two hour drive to Idaho Falls.

"It's definitely not fun," said Kyler of Jackson. "Drove through snow today just to get quite a bit of groceries that will hopefully last a month. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a burden...it's not pleasant."

According to some economists, the only thing that would cause prices to deflate would be an increase in unemployment.

"What the Fed has been doing right now, It's been a pretty remarkable job of bringing price price growth down without causing a whole bunch of extra unemployment," Geisler said. "We expect there to be some unemployment, even in a healthy economy. I don't think we're at the point where it's so high that we're unhealthy right now."

According to Geisler, deflation in national prices on food, gas and housing could be a sign of a recession which is why the fed's national goal is to for inflation to fall to about 2%.