President Biden's Pennsylvania hometown feeling impact of inflation

SCRANTON, Pa. (WJAC) — The prices of food and gas are going up...

Some experts are sounding the alarm as they fear inflation will get worse.

Residents in President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania tell CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich they're already feeling the impact.

The price of just about everything is going up.

From used cars, to gas, to food.

"Boy, when things go up, it hits immediately," said Peter Ventura at Coney Island Lunch.

Consumer prices are up 5.4 percent since last June -- the biggest jump in annual inflation in nearly 13 years.

And in President Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania -- which he often uses to take the temperature -- they're feeling it firsthand.

"This is probably the worst it's been in a long time," said Mike Moletsky, owner of Moletsky’s Auto Sales.

Moletsky is at the Northeast Pennsylvania Auto Auction.

He's having to pay more per vehicle to replenish his used car lot.

"We have more guys at the auction, bidding against you and driving the prices up," Moletsky said.

The price of a used car will cost you 27 percent more.

"Are you seeing prices that you have never seen before for vehicles," asked Vanessa Yurkevich.

"Yes, they're outrageous," said Lisa Cohowicz, the General Manager of the Northeast Pennsylvania Auto Auction.

And that's because the economy's engine is roaring again.

But supply chains across industries are slower to start.

Add labor shortages - and it simply costs more to do business.

At the pump: gas is up about a dollar since last year.

"My car usually takes around $25 to fill up - it's just $10 more," Kevin Santiago said.

In the grocery store, the price of milk is up 5.6 percent. Fruits and vegetables are up 3.2 percent.

"We're seeing again, 10 to 15 percent increases, things like flour, mayonnaise, a lot of a lot of oils. Everything that we're experiencing now is unprecedented," said Gerrity’s Supermarkets co-owner Joe Fasula.

"I might not buy as much as something like for two weeks, I might just buy like a week at a time instead of buying in bulk," said Kathy Opshinsky.

And the price is beef rising to 4.5 percent in June.

That's a problem for Coney Island Lunch - known for its hot dogs in downtown Scranton for nearly 100 years.

“Hot dogs they've gone up,” said Coney Island Lunch co-owner Peter Ventura. “Our hamburgers, our chili sauce because that's made with ground beef."

Just about every single item on Ventura's menu costs him more to make.

But he hasn't raised prices just yet.

“Once I get an idea where they're gonna stop, then I’ll know where my baseline is,” said Ventura.

"So inevitably you will have to?” asked Yurkevich.

"Oh yeah,” Ventura responded. “I'm gonna have to raise prices. There's just no way to get around it."

President Biden has said his advisors don't expect current price increases to last as demand returns to normal levels.