Donut Inflation
Tim Hortons recently played a sneaky trick in their donut pricing. They used to offer regular donuts for $1.05 including tax. They also had limited-run special donuts (like Nanaimo donuts or pumpkin spice donuts) for more. Now they have introduced a third category: "specialty donuts". Many of the donuts that used to be $1.05 are now $1.25 because they have been reclassified.
I noticed this because the two donuts I usually buy are Boston Cream and Canadian Maple. Both are filled with some kind of custard. They are both now specialty donuts, while their unfilled cousins Chocolate Dip and Maple Dip are still classified as regular. This sucks because Boston Creme and Canadian Maple are (surprisingly) classified as having fewer calories than other Tim Hortons options, so they were my go-to choices.
Does $0.20 make a difference? To me it does. More importantly, this move illustrates that Tim Horton's wants to increase its prices without making people think they are increasing their prices. This is inflation in action. Expect fewer and fewer donuts to be $1.05 as time passes. With the minimum wage increases maybe all donuts will be $2.00 or more within a few years.