With more tariffs set to take effect this Wednesday, we’re taking a look at the impact it has on shopping for big-ticket items like furniture and cars. Should you buy them now?
With more tariffs set to take effect this Wednesday, we’re taking a look at the impact it has on shopping for big-ticket items like furniture and cars. Should you buy them now?
“I’m actually happy that I ended up buying some stuff today,” Ramon Garcia, of Waterbury, said.
“I just bought a PlayStation recently just because I know the tariffs are going to go up,” Patrick Thomsen, of New Britain, said.
These shoppers are buying their electronics early in anticipation of price increases due to tariffs set to take effect Wednesday.
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Sellers of big-ticket items like furniture are noticing the behavior.
At Raymour and Flanigan, they’re telling customers to buy now for pre-tariff pricing on online orders. Carmaker Ford is also enticing customers looking for a deal, offering employee pricing on some vehicles.
“It makes sense to entice customers to come in before prices are going to go up,” Patrick Gourley, an economics professor at the University of New Haven, said.
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He said it’s no surprise businesses are adjusting to current consumer behavior.
“Money now is always better than money later, especially when money later might be money never,” Gourley said.
He said many big-ticket items will see price hikes no matter what, including American car companies like Ford, as the components to create them all come from overseas.
“A lot of Fords are made in Mexico and even for the Fords that are made in Michigan, the component parts are almost all made around the globe,” Gourley said.
He said if you’re planning on making any large purchases, do them as soon as possible before the prices go up.
“You might have a few weeks, you might even have a month or two, but prices are going to go up,” Gourley said.
