Workers at Walmart and Target have been sharing evidence of price hikes that they believe to be caused by Donald Trump's tariffs.
Since announcing his "Liberation Day" import taxes at the start of April, Trump has repeatedly raged at companies not to raise their prices — including Walmart, Ford, and Mattel.
"Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices," he posted last month. "Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!"
But on Reddit boards dedicated to the two U.S. retail giants, eagle-eyed workers have also been tracking the situation.
"I work in Toys and we had about 600 price changes in the last couple days... EVERYTHING went up," one user posted last week. "Most things went up $4, but the bigger toys like RCs and hover boards jumped a whole $40-50. It's f***ing crazy."
Another said: "I work apparel and we've had to start tearing off the parts on the price tags where they had the original price, 'cause majority went up $5-$10 more."
One photo posted by a Walmart worker early May showed a toddler's ring-stacking toy increasing from $5.88 to $19.97 — a 240 percent increase. The toy is currently listed online for $8.23.
Kevin Cook, a Virginia-based tech entrepreneur and Walmart customer, likewise said on TikTok that a doll he bought for his daughter had gone up 42 per cent from $59 to $84 since he bought it.
Meanwhile, a Target worker uploaded a snap of them replacing the $9.99 tag on a six-foot phone charging cable with a new tag for $17.99, jacking up its price by 80 per cent.
Other examples reported by Business Insider and Buzzfeed News, posted by both workers and customers, showed a dinosaur toy rising 38 percent from $39.92 to $55; a fishing reel jumping 45 percent from $57.37 to $83.26; a tablet computer climbing 23 percent from $79 to $97; and a roll of tape more than doubling from $4.24 to $9.94.
Both Walmart and Target executives have warned that they might soon have to raise prices due to Trump's tariffs on imported goods, which make it more expensive for companies to source products or components from other countries.
"We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb," Walmart's chief financial officer told CNBC last month.
It's not clear whether either retailer is raising prices systematically across the board, and inflation figures for April showed little impact from Trump's tariffs. The Independent has asked Walmart and Target for comment.
Retailers regularly change prices for all kinds of reasons, such as seasonal sales, temporary supply chain glitches, extreme weather due to global warming, or simple errors.
Nevertheless, many store workers on Reddit said they were seeing unusual numbers of price changes in their departments — a labor-intensive process for stores that have not implemented electronic price displays, since every label must be replaced by hand.
"Tons of price changes today," reported one Walmart worker in April. "It’s been like that since the tariff stuff started," another replied.
"Been doing price change everyday for the past four months or so, and seeing everything going up all at once is really making me sad," said a Target worker in late May. "I just feel terrible putting all these ridiculously high prices up."
Some shared screenshots purportedly from their companies' internal apps, or photos of the giant stacks of tags they were sorting through, claiming there had been thousands or even tens of thousands of changes at their store.
"What the actual F?" posted one Walmart worker in late April, alongside a screenshot showing 5,000 price changes that day alone.
Another worker responded wryly: "Slow day?"
