This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet. Consumers are spending more on goods and services, but they aren’t the only ones feeling a pinch. Small-business owners are facing their own constraints: higher prices and delays for supplies they need to serve their customers.
Small businesses have fewer options than their bigger counterparts. When the going gets tough, they often lack the other revenue streams and resources of large corporations. And the potential loss of small businesses stands to hurt the people around them more because these operations are often built on the relationships they have with customers, the local jobs they provide and being an indelible part of the communities they serve. The share of these businesses experiencing notable price increases has grown considerably, according to data from the U.S. Census. And many are experiencing supply delays on goods purchased domestically and abroad. The U.S. Census has been deploying weekly surveys to small businesses across the country since 2020. The Small Business Pulse Survey intends to measure the effects of the pandemic and other recent events. Related: ‘People are still spending money’: Small-business owners worry about a recession, yet many feel confident they will survive one. Here’s whyStates and metros where small-business inflation is worst The week of Aug. 16, 2021, the agency began asking about prices small businesses were paying for goods and services, costs that would no doubt be passed on to consumers in large part. Then, 29% said they had seen large price increases since March 2020. As of April 2022, the last survey conducted at the time of this analysis, about 41% of small businesses said they were experiencing a large increase in prices over the past six months. And about 79% were experiencing at least a moderate increase. But some locations were experiencing these hikes at an even greater rate. States where small businesses are most likely to say they’ve seen a moderate or large increase in prices ove …