[fluoridation]

You're treating what the consumer believes and what is the case as if they were synonymous. How able is a consumer on the street to judge whether a price increase is legitimate or arbitrary? "Feeling ripped off" sounds more like a post hoc rationalization that's applied when a price is pushed just past the threshold.

[autoexec]

"Feeling ripped off" is the immediate reaction to sticker shock. It takes active messaging from companies to get ahead of that reaction and plant in the mind of the consumer a justification that they'll think is fair. Companies have gotten very good about pushing their narrative to the public via social media, news, and even retail signage. Some companies have just outright lied about the reasons behind their price hikes or about how much they were actually impacted by real events, so what consumers are tricked into believing isn't always the truth.

Consumers typically have an idea of what something is worth though, usually based on previous prices. This isn't a problem when prices increase slowly because for every old person who thinks "What a scam! This used to cost 65 cents and now they want $1!" there is a child who never knew any better and for them the cost was always around $1. When prices increase too much or too quickly however that's when people get upset and assume greed unless they are primed to accept it with some excuse. This is especially true when consumers are struggling with high prices while hearing that the companies raising prices, switching to lower quality ingredients, or charging more while giving less are also making record-breaking profits.

[senordevnyc]

When prices increase too much or too quickly however that's when people get upset and assume greed unless they are primed to accept it with some excuse.

Yeah, and then what do they do? I assume they don't stop buying groceries because they're pissed about the assumed greed. Do you really think people are switching grocery stores because they think Kroger is being greedy, but Safeway is altruistic and just raising their prices because of inflation?