Distribute it from the jump – it is always preferable to avoid the purchase of panic and to be strategic during purchases.
But to get an idea of how people weigh their expenses at the moment, we have asked journalists and publishers of the BI editorial room to tell us what they choose to buy right now – or why they are holding – before the last series of prices from Donald Trump.
For some, the potential price increases on consumer electronics outside China were the tilting point to press the trigger on a gadget. Others bought additional daily consumables or said they were considering a similar decision. And some have said that their expenditure habits remain unchanged.
Let us dive:
Chief correspondent Peter Kafka: Thursday, instead of consulting my 401 (K), I bought a new MacBook Air in Apple, on their website. I have an Apple card, so I was able to finance it 0% after.
Tim Cook may find how to bring Donald Trump to exempt Apple from prices as he did the first time. Maybe he won’t do it. But anyway, my child will need a new computer in the coming months, so I thought I have one now.
I don’t know when I’m going to look at my 401 (K), however.
Editor Conz Preti: My husband and I also store on stable foods. With three children who tear the food each week, we keep our pantry filled with pasta, canned food and cooking supplies. For vegetables, we plant as much as possible (tomatoes, kale, lettuce, cucumber, peas, carrots) in our garden to compensate for certain costs of things that we cannot cultivate, like the berries and bananas that our children love.
Ana Altchek trendy journalist: I will adopt a waiting approach. I do not think that it is possible to fully predict the market and prepare possible price increases – who knows how soset companies will be affected and how they will choose to answer? I certainly do not want to spend too much in preparation for something that can happen or not. In addition, I prefer to pay a little more for some items I need in six months than spending too much at the moment on the items that I can need.
Immobile reporter Alcynna Lloyd: I wear hair extensions and I ordered some in case the prices increase prices or items cease to ship as they did during COVID-19. The wig and popularization industry is based strongly on China suppliers and other countries based in Asia, and during the pandemic, it was a nightmare to obtain products.
Editor Steven Tweedie: I order greater bags of cat food than usual because I know that I will cross all of this, and it will continue. Otherwise, I do my best to resist using it as an excuse to spend on something I don’t need, like a new Nvidia graphics card for my PC – even if I suppose that I will end up spending more or two from now on when I finally upgrade.
The main retail journalist Alex Bitter: I bought a new trench shovel (made in China) on Thursday and I will probably collect another this weekend. I use them for metal detection and I want a spare part or two in case of rupture.
In general, however, I am not doing a lot of time. These prices cover so many products that it seems that avoiding them will be impossible, especially in the long term.
Andy Kiersz publisher: I bought a new game laptop in December. I had planned to upgrade at some point, but I initially planned to do so later in 2025. The elections and the later threat of prices stimulated the move. In fact, I regret a little replacement either my still functional iPhone 11 which shows at age.
Main correspondent Katie Notopoulos: Tuesday evening, I did a last -minute shop for things that I thought was most obviously sensitive to prices – quick fashion clothes cheap made abroad. I hit the H&M near the BI office for three polyester shirts and a packet of socks. I placed the old command of the navy that I had in my basket for two weeks for children’s swimwear and summer clothes.
Finally, in a last moment of panic and extreme low dopamine, I went to TEMU and I ordered some cheap toys for the coming birthday of a child.
Wednesday, chatting with colleagues about the way they bought new laptops and televisions, a flash of bad ideas crossed my mind. Did I need a new phone? (No, my iPhone 14 works very well.) Computer? (No, mine works well.) Surely, electronics will increase in price-maybe it may be the time to get a new Kindle? (No. Stop!)
Editor Brad Davis: I don’t buy anything special – and I won’t! Will my header come back to bite me, like when I refused to fill up on masks in March 2020? (I Really I would have liked to have bought these masks by April of the same year.)
Editor Ashley Rodriguez: I am thinking of filling up with diapers and wipes. My costco hiding places on both are low. It is a difficult decision because my 7 month old child grew up so quickly that I worry that she exceeds the diapers before I have the chance to use them all.
Journalist Alice Tecotzky: As a dedicated baker, I bought an additional vanilla bottle Thursday despite still having my pantry. A large part of our vanilla comes from Madagascar, which was struck by a price of 47%, and I expect the already expensive product to become expensive (and derail my long -awaited summer cooking plans).
Apart from that, I am not too in storage, both because the economic future seems impossible to predict and because I have no space in my little Brooklyn apartment.
Editor Monica Melton: When my HP 2020 laptop abandoned the ghost in February, I quickly gave it to an electronic waste recycling program. Since then, I have borrowed my husband’s MacBook Pro, telling myself that I would do some research on specifications and the best offer for my next personal computer. Although it took me for months to go, given how the prices will have an impact on the price of consumer electronics, I feel a renewed emergency to obtain this laptop this weekend.
I will probably choose a renovated MacBook, who, I think, would keep better than another HP. The electronics resale market seems much more attractive these days!
The main correspondent Emily Stewart: I am… don’t buy anything. Not because I’m not worried about prices! But honestly, I don’t need anything at the moment, and I’m trying to fight my consumption: “What should I buy on this subject?” Trends. Obviously, price increases are bad. But I do not think it is bad to take a beat and to think about if I really have to drown in even more things, especially by looking at the robot vacuum cleaner that I bought in panic during the pandemic that I used a handle of times and is now broken.
Difiore publisher: Earlier this week, we replaced our dying air fryer – it could have lasted us a few more months, but we prefer to buy a new one now before prices can increase.
Now, I am booming on essential elements of households that will not exhaust, such as hygienic paper, dishwasher pods and detergent at BJ’s. My fiancé and I am large coffee drinkers, so we just ordered espresso bags to our favorite Italian brand – but we cannot buy too much because its shelf life is only a few months. I am very concerned about the cost of coffee, because it is not something that the United States produces on a large scale.
We are getting married this year, so I’m relieved that most of my guests bought bridal shower gifts before the prices were announced. I would feel bad if the articles on the list, like the small household appliances, cost even more than they already do.
Editor Leena Rao: Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the prices announced, my husband went to the Apple Store and bought a new iPhone 16 Pro and a MacBook Pro. These are not time -sensitive purchases, but given the potential increase in equipment costs, we wanted to preempt any price increase.
We are renting a new car (a Volvo) and has one on order that should arrive in the next two weeks. I don’t think the model of our car is made in the United States. I hope that we do not engage any additional cost for our monthly rental price, but we will not discover it before the arrival of the car and that we officially sign the documents for the lease.
Editor Debbie Strong: I replaced my dishwasher last week and I made follies on a slightly more chic model. The engine had broken on our old one, so it was less a purchase of “pricing panic” and more of an emergency purchase “I refuse to wash another dish”. However, I am relieved of the timing, because the dishwashers have been reported several times as an article about to become much more expensive. I have no other plans to fill up with goods, mainly because I do not have the head space for this for the moment. We will see if it changes the next time I will be at the grocery store.
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