How has Brazil situation impacted your life here

02/07/24 Paradoxically, our life in Manaus would have been much more negatively affected by the current inflation if not for the covid pandemic.  The changes we made then adjusted our lifestyle in ways that serendipitously made it much more inflation resistant now.

Some examples.  Pre-covid, we went out to a nice restaurant for Date Night every Saturday without fail, and often went out to eat one or two other nights a week as well.  The pandemic broke those habits, and we've just never started them up again.  Also, we've been Amazon Prime customers since they introduced it in Brazil, but used it sparingly until covid.  Then we began using it a lot, as many other people did, and Amazon improved their logistics in response.  Since the pandemic, product selection in Manaus -- which is effectively an island to which everything comes in by water or air -- has decreased and become even less dependable, but we've kept selection up and many of the price increases at bay by buying more of our package goods from Amazon, and spacing out the orders.  For instance, the whole-bean coffee we use is now costing upwards of R$100 at the supermarkets here, but we're still paying R$67, with free shipping and Amazon's "Programe e Poupe" regularly scheduled deliveries.  Same thing for breakfast cereals, and anything else that won't spoil in transit.

Those pandemic-prompted changes have served us well in responding to the cost increases that we can't evade, let us continue giving to the charities we care about and to help family members out when they're in a fix, and kept us from needing to make deeper cutbacks, at least so far.

@abthree

Exactly the same here, ecept we use Mercado Livre, which I have to say is outstanding in every aspect... eBay would not get a look-in here!

   02/07/24 @abthree
Exactly the same here, ecept we use Mercado Livre, which I have to say is outstanding in every aspect... eBay would not get a look-in here!
   

    -@Peter Itamaraca

We like Mercado Livre too, except that their "frete grátis" usually becomes "frete discontado" when they ship here, so the choice becomes very price-sensitive.

Well, we live in a major city, so, pretty much everything has been quite manageable due to the competition inherent in a market of 15MM consumers.

@abthree

Yes, I can quite understand that freight will be a problem in Manaus, as I imgaine most items have to fly there as there is no road access?

Some items we can get with free delivery, others not, but often bulk buying removes this charge...

Last time l was there l was really shocked at the price of food.

  02/07/24  Well, we live in a major city, so, pretty much everything has been quite manageable due to the competition inherent in a market of 15MM consumers.        -@Gasparzinho 777

Manaus is by any measure a "major city" -- over 2 million people and most of Brazil's electronics assembled here -- but it's also effectively an island, with no land connection to anywhere in Brazil south of here.

    02/07/24 @abthreeYes, I can quite understand that freight will be a problem in Manaus, as I imgaine most items have to fly there as there is no road access?Some items we can get with free delivery, others not, but often bulk buying removes this charge...        -@Peter Itamaraca

Very true.  Amazon has an arrangement with Azul Freight that gets things here fast.  in comparison, I just got a package from the Customs Center in Curitiba that came by surface post, and it's been in transit since December.

      02/07/24  Well, we live in a major city, so, pretty much everything has been quite manageable due to the competition inherent in a market of 15MM consumers.        -@Gasparzinho 777Manaus is by any measure a "major city"         -@abthree

My barrio in Rio has 2MM people. When your football teams gets out of Serie "D" and into Serie "A" we can revisit the definition of the term "any measure" kkkkkkkkkkkkk

Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, here. What "situation? Masks are gone, prices are up like so much of the rest of the world. I am in Oregon and/or Washington too frequently, things there seem to be much worse than what I see in Brazil.

   
      02/07/24  Well, we live in a major city, so, pretty much everything has been quite manageable due to the competition inherent in a market of 15MM consumers.        -@Gasparzinho 777Manaus is by any measure a "major city"         -@abthree

My barrio in Rio has 2MM people. When your football teams gets out of Serie "D" and into Serie "A" we can revisit the definition of the term "any measure" kkkkkkkkkkkkk
   

    -@Gasparzinho 777

Cool story, Bro.

Kkkkkkkkkkk