Paper Towels Cost How Much?

It’s not your imagination: Prices for everything from diapers to bleach have been going up, and some makers plan to raise prices on various other products again this year. Manufacturers cite higher costs for transportation and raw materials like pulp, fiber and resin. To see just how much prices have gone up, analysts from Bernstein Research looked at increases from January 2018 to January 2019 for the top selling items in their categories, using the national average prices in stores tracked by Nielsen. Here’s a look at the price bumps for eight popular items, and some of the reasons for them. —Aisha Al-Muslim