Month: December 2025

• Business Insider asked readers to tell us about price changes.
• Many said the cost of groceries and dining out has increased.
• High costs have affected spending habits; some people mentioned they aren’t dining out.

Official inflation reports have been in chaos since the government shutdown, so we took matters into our own hands.

Business Insider turned to its readers to gauge whether grocery hauls, shopping sprees, and fuel were more expensive while official data reporting was in question.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks roughly 80,000 prices a month and uses that to compile a monthly report about food, apparel, and other expenditures. However, the agency couldn’t collect survey data for the October consumer price index report due to the government shutdown, leading to the report’s cancellation. The November data release has been pushed back from December 10 to December 18.

Given that uncertainty, Business Insider was curious what kind of price changes US consumers were seeing. We asked Americans to answer our survey between November 10 and November 13. Naturally, this unscientific survey is a far cry from BLS’ usual heroic efforts to gather price data, but it can at least give a sense of how everyday shoppers are feeling about their wallets.

We asked about whether people saw price changes in the last month or two for 10 categories, and about 200 readers filled out the survey at least in part. This chart shows how many said they saw a price hike in each category.

Some responded with observations about how prices have shifted over a longer period, so the chart below reflects any mention of a rise. We excluded responses that were unclear or were not applicable, with some exceptions. For each category, that resulted in between 90 and around 200 usable responses.

Most respondents said they’ve noticed a rise in grocery and dining out prices, with one person calling dining out a luxury and another saying it’s nearly impossible to do so. Some respondents specifically called out the cost of meat. A higher share of applicable respondents noticed an increase in coffee prices than in alcoholic beverages. Some said gas prices fluctuate, so less than half said they’ve noticed a rise. Not many Americans noticed a rise in their rent.

Survey respondent Jeni Garcin said she and her husband have noticed price increases for tires, coffee, and many other items.

“It’s so frustrating that people like us who are financially responsible, who are doing everything right, are still just feeling like we’re stretched every step of the way,” Garcin told Business Insider.

Garcin is cost-conscious, but she’s not willing to cut out all expenses; she views coffee as a luxury “self-care item,” so she’s willing to pay the higher price. However, she’s willing to opt for a cheaper burger option when dining out or cut back on chips.

“Even though sometimes I want the sour cream and onion, I look at the price, and I just, I’m not going to do that,” she said.

Almost all survey respondents mentioned a price change in groceries. One person said they’re forgoing treats because things are too expensive, while another said they look for buy-one-get-one offers. One survey respondent said coupons aren’t helping and that their standard list of groceries has more than doubled in price.

Survey respondent Sarah DeVellis Adams said grocery prices have crept up. She thinks the cost of vegetables has been pretty stable, but thinks the cost of meat and processed foods has increased.

“It’s absolutely affected our bottom line because the other things that are going through increases, we’re forced to pay — utilities and things like that,” she said. “There’s no way out of it. And so the only thing we can manipulate is our grocery budget, and it gets harder and harder the more things cost.”

DeVellis Adams said her family doesn’t dine out often because it has become unaffordable, adding that one outing can add up to an entire week of food, so she would rather use the money for groceries.

Some survey takers were so put off by prices that they would rather not dine out anymore. Year-over-year consumer price index data up to September showed prices have been rising faster for food away from home than for food at home.

Pet owners are also finding they’re spending more to feed their furry friends. Some respondents said there’s been double-digit growth. Consumer price index data showed prices for pet food and treats increased 0.5% in September from a year ago, much smaller than the increases in 2022 when inflation was sky high.

About two-thirds of people said they have seen a change in toiletries and personal care products. Some of them said paper products have increased.

A few survey respondents called out or alluded to shrinkflation, where items have shrunk but not the price, or felt like prices have jumped, but quality has worsened, such as for clothing.

We asked survey takers if they had experienced any other notable price changes. Several people mentioned the cost of entertainment, repairs, and insurance. CPI data showed that the year-over-year increase in motor vehicle maintenance and repair remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic rates.

If there’s a Gen Zer on your holiday gift list this year, it may be best to forego one of the quintessential young adult presents: a wallet.

Some 4.4 billion people, or about half of people worldwide, are using digital wallets, with that number expected to grow 35% by 2030, according to tech strategist firm Juniper Research. Adults 24 and younger are most likely to pay with their phones, using them to make 45% of their purchases, according to a 2025 report from the Federal Reserve (across age groups, mobile phones were used for 23% of payments). Cash now accounts for just 14% of all purchases, and is more likely to be used by people older than 55 or in households that made less than $25,000 a year. A McKinsey survey in 2024 found that one in five people in the US and Europe who use digital wallets often go out without bringing a physical one, and in the UK, only 38% of people ages 18 to 24 own a wallet or purse that they see as essential in their daily lives, according to Link Scheme, a nonprofit that works to provide cash access in the UK. People are increasingly ditching cash, with 30% of Americans saying they haven’t taken cash out of an ATM in the past month, and 17% saying it’s been longer than six months, according to a LendingTree survey.

That shift is changing how they think about the money they spend. For older generations, cash feels real; for younger people, it might as well be Monopoly money. Hailey Moore, a 26-year-old in Los Angeles, tells me she hasn’t had a wallet in more than a decade, and rarely carries cash. If she does get some, maybe in a birthday card, it feels like fun money: “If I have cash on me, it’s money that doesn’t exist,” she says. And it disappears quickly. “I can just use this to get myself a little treat.”

To younger shoppers, cash has lost its cachet.

Apple Pay arrived 11 years ago, but people were slow to put their credit cards on their phone; tapping a phone didn’t seem any better use case than swiping a credit card. That changed largely when contactless payments were favored in the pandemic and Apple Pay became easy to use when online shopping. Now, digital payments and cards are becoming increasingly prioritized. Pennies, which each cost about two pennies to make, went out of print in November. Digital IDs are now accepted at more than 250 US airports for domestic flights. More and more daily activities can be done with just a phone. Oura is even looking into ways to make its smart rings work as wallets and keys.

If I have cash on me, it’s money that doesn’t exist. I can just use this to get myself a little treat.Hailey Moore, 26

And as digital wallets are used more frequently, people “trust the digital wallet more than they trust cash,” says Adam Gray, chief transformation officer at payments tech firm Stax Payments. They’re more secure than carrying a physical wallet stuffed with cash and cards. “We’re trying to enable as many merchants and places to take it because it’s better for everyone.”

Historically, people tend to spend more when paying with credit cards than cash. But that might be shifting among Gen Z — a Cash App survey published last month found that 54% of Gen Zers say they’re more likely to spend cash thoughtlessly. The money that has already left your bank account or came in a card from your aunt might feel inconsequential, compared to growing numbers on a credit card statement that you’ll have to face at the end of the month. Moore also tells me that she mostly uses her debit card, only tapping a credit card for large purchases or those where she knows she’ll earn points, like at gas stations and grocery stores. She mostly wants to build credit, and pays off the card early to avoid overspending what’s in her bank account.

Shoppers have different feelings about using cash over cards. A 2023 study from the University of Notre Dame found that people prefer to use cash on purchases they feel guilty about. But cards can also lead to quick-dopamine hit spending — researchers at MIT found that using credit cards can activate a reward pleasure sensor in the brain, driving people to become addicted to spending or at least lower the restraints to spending. (The researchers behind this 2021 study did not look at contactless mobile payments, but did say that the ping that followers a purchase made on a phone could serve as a reminder of money spent, and disincentivize tapping with abandon).

Being the first to throw your card onto the check at dinner and max out rewards has become appealing to travelers, but more young people are rapidly adopting buy now, pay later companies like Klarna and Affirm. Last holiday season, Gen Z used BNPL services more than credit cards, according to research from J.D. Power. To the people who use these services, “the payment terms are just much more reasonable and transparent than credit card payment terms,” says Sean Gelles, senior director of payment intelligence at J.D. Power. Frances Boyle, a 29-year-old in Seattle, says has used buy-now, pay-later services on clothes. “It’s almost a way of justifying the purchase, because I’m like, ‘I can’t spend over $100 right now. But $20 a month, that doesn’t sound that bad.”

Data from PayPal shows that BNPL can lead people to spend 91% more at large businesses and 62% more at small businesses. Half of shoppers say they’re more likely to complete a purchase when the split payment option is at the checkout. But a frictionless way to buy little things online now can turn into a pesky payment that lasts for months, and even barrel into a big debt down the road.

It might seem convenient to ditch cash, but a digital wallet can’t cover everything.

Tori Khutorna, a 28-year-old who lives in Prague, says she doesn’t own a wallet anymore — she uses a digital wallet and an app that houses her ID. It all started during the COVID-19 lockdowns with online purchases. “Moving on, I didn’t see any real need in having cash.” But her plan has hit snags when traveling. Khutorna also says she had to ask a stranger for cash to buy food and then transfer her the money when she was in Ukraine and a major power outage took out a neighborhood’s card payment options. Once, while in Italy, she couldn’t buy a bus ticket because a card machine was broken. She was fined for not having a ticket (the fare enforcer, conveniently, had a device that allowed her to use Apple Pay to settle up her fine instantly). “Sometimes, I feel really out of touch with reality” without cash, she tells me. When she sees a nice wallet for sale, she sometimes feels drawn to buy it. “Then I think, for what?”

For the young people saying goodbye to wallets, the world may soon have to catch up.

Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

• Kelluu, a Finnish startup, is developing low-cost hydrogen airships that can fly for up to 12 hours.
• They’ve recently attracted attention from NATO, securing a deal with a member for trials.
• The airships are built near Russia and designed to withstand jamming and icy conditions.

In less than 10 seconds, Kelluu’s silver airships can soar from the ground to high above eastern Finland’s treelines, their motors puttering and their noses pointed skyward.

Gas blimps were first invented in the 19th century, but the Scandinavian startup is betting on a modern version of the old concept to help the West guard its territory.

Kelluu, a Finnish company located about 50 miles from the Russian border, is launching small, propeller-driven airships filled with hydrogen, which it believes can fill a gap in battlefield and border surveillance.

The startup is already finding success with NATO, being the first to secure a deal with a Western nation through a new innovators’ program run by the alliance.

Militaries or law enforcement agencies could equip a fleet of such remotely piloted airships with cameras and sensors, rotating them to monitor regions around the clock. Kelluu said its airships can be automated, meaning a human operator only has to set a target destination.

Airships won’t be easily survivable on an immediate frontline, but can surveil rear areas or combat zones near the fighting for long periods.

Small drones, meanwhile, typically can only fly for a few hours, while spy planes are often expensive, scarce, and need an onboard crew. Satellites have to wait to pass over a specific region to gather intelligence.

Niko Kuikka, the startup’s head of engineering, told Business Insider at Kelluu’s workshop in Finland that its airships can fly for half a day.

“Our customers don’t care so much what we are flying with, but they pay us to stay up in the air for 12 hours. That’s our specialty,” said Kuikka.

About as long as a city bus and six-and-a-half feet wide, Kelluu’s airships are tiny compared to the Zeppelins of World War I. The ship carries fuel, a propeller, and an onboard computer, and can be configured to transport an additional payload of up to 11 pounds for other gear such as sensors. Altitude can allow high-definition cameras or radar to survey a wider area.

Kuikka said a smaller size can be an advantage for Kelluu’s airships, which are designed to fly at top speeds of 33 mph.

They’re cheaper and easier to mass-manufacture, so a customer wouldn’t have to worry that losing a few airships might disable an entire fleet, he said.

Kelluu declined to disclose its pricing, but said its airships are meant to be low-cost.

“Having a kind of sitting duck in the air that costs a vast amount of money isn’t going to make sense,” Kuikka said.

‘Free interference’ from Russia

At Kelluu’s workshop, employees perform the final assembly of the airship and fill it with hydrogen, a lighter-than-air gas that serves to both lift its frame and power its propeller. In the upstairs attic, a team of about 10 computer engineers finetunes in-house software and a user interface for monitoring the airships.

The main team is based in Joensuu, a small city of 78,000 people just west of Russian Karelia.

That location is a key advantage for the airship company, Kuikka said.

Because Joensuu is so close to the border, it has to deal with frequent jamming from both Russia and Finland, or as Kuikka and his team call it: “free interference.”

While other firms may have to pay for tests, Kelluu’s airships must be resistant to electronic warfare to work in the first place, he said.

“We get all sorts of jamming and spoofing from the other side of the border, and also from this side of the border, so we have been proven to be pretty resilient against this sort of GSS denial,” he said.

Kelluu is also about 340 miles south of the Arctic Circle, so its team had to build its airships to withstand icy winds and temperatures that dropped in January to -15°F.

As such, the startup is positioning its airship as a particularly useful means of monitoring future Arctic bases or territories. The theory goes that the longer its fleet can stay aloft in rough conditions, the fewer people are needed on the ground to maintain and operate the airships.

“We are hoping to soon have an asset that can run multi-day missions, so you need even fewer persons working out there,” Kuikka said.

Catching NATO’s eye

Joensuu once heavily relied on Russian tourism, an income flow sapped dry in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. The following year, Finnish authorities closed the country’s 833-mile land border with Russia.

Helsinki, like much of European NATO, is now grappling with the question of how to guard its eastern borders. The Finnish government is already raising concerns about illegal immigration, which it says Moscow is intentionally orchestrating as a gray warfare tactic.

Kelluu was founded in 2018, well before these issues drew public concern. It began by building airships for civilian use, such as monitoring power lines.

Now, the war is turning it into a rising star in Europe’s defense industry.

Kelluu was one of 14 firms picked by NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA, to enter the second phase of the alliance’s 2025 program.

The accelerator program is trying to connect allies with startups and defense contractors, pushing governments to adopt new tech into their militaries within two years. Roughly 2,600 companies or parties initially submitted proposals to DIANA this year.

After several showcases, Kelluu was the program’s first company to land a deal with an allied country under a new “Rapid Adoption Service” to conduct national trials, a program spokesperson told Business Insider.

Neither NATO nor Kelluu named the member state, but Fabrizio Berizzi, challenge manager at DIANA, praised Kelluu’s airships as “strongly versatile in terms of maneuvering and endurance” and useful for 24/7 surveillance.

“The airship solution proposed by Kelluu fills the gaps on aerial platforms operating in altitudes in between the typical UAS and aircraft airspaces,” he told Business Insider in a statement, referring to uncrewed aerial systems.

Berizzi highlighted the airships’ jamming-resistant capabilities, saying that they can operate in “electromagnetic contested and congested environments.”

Each airship is also “difficult to detect from radar due to its low radar cross section, or radar reflectivity,” he said.

Building thousands of airships

The material of the airship’s metallic, mirror-like skin is a company secret, the firm said. When asked if it helps avoid radar detection, the company declined to answer.

But Kuikka said the core feature of Kelluu airships is that their structure allows them to be filled safely with hydrogen, which is flammable and more dangerous than helium but provides better lift; it is also lower cost than helium.

These airships are built with a semi-rigid frame, meaning they have some structural integrity but primarily derive their shape from the gas within. Zeppelins, by contrast, had fully rigid frames, while other airships like the $21 million Goodyear blimp would collapse if they were deflated.

Janne Hietala, Kelluu’s CEO, said that lighter-than-air technology is often overlooked in the defense industry, especially with disaster stories like the Hindenburg marring its history.

NATO evaluators were surprised, he said, when they assessed the company’s airships during trials, which included naval showcases in the Atlantic.

“Nobody kind of believed us,” Hietala said. “When they looked at the specs, they were like: ‘Well, the wind is going to blow it away.’ But when we actually deploy, they’re like: ‘Oh, it actually works and makes sense.'”

Kelluu now maintains a small active fleet of just under 20 airships, but Hietala said it’s focused in the near future on scaling up mass production capacity.

Some of its airships are already being deployed in other countries, such as Latvia, for testing or client use. Kelluu now manages and operates the fleet for its clients, but is discussing the possibility that some militaries may want to operate their own airships.

“Our intention in Europe is to manufacture more than 500 for the Western world, and we expect to eventually have 3,500,” Hietala said.