CPI basket updated as vaping gym gear sales rise, old tech dies

Cordless phone
Cordless phones are no longer in Stats NZ’s CPI basket.

Stats New Zealand is changing the makeup of the basket of goods it uses to determine the Consumers Price Index to reflect changing shopping habits of Kiwis. 

Out of the basket come products that are no longer trendy such as CDs, travel guides and cordless phones. And into the mix come vaping products and exercise equipment like treadmills and weights. 

The CPI basket, used to calculate inflation, is reviewed every three years to reflect New Zealand society and how tastes and spending patterns change over time, explains Stats NZ prices index development team manager Fiona Smillie.

“This time, e-cigarettes are among the additions to the CPI basket. This growing trend in vaping coincides with rising prices for tobacco cigarettes and declining rates of smoking,” she said.

“One in eight adults (close to 500,000 people) are regular cigarette smokers in New Zealand, but that has trended down over the last 40 years from a peak of one in three adults.”

Yet in 2018-19, 21.2 per cent of adult New Zealanders had tried an electronic cigarette, up from 18.5 per cent in 2017-18 and 16.2 per cent in 2015-16, according to Ministry of Health data. So in future, the changing costs of vaping will be incorporated in the overall measure of general inflation.

Exercise equipment is another retail growth category across the country, spiking significantly since the arrival of Covid-19 as people moved to exercise at home during lockdowns, unable or unwilling to use gyms. 

The category includes items ranging from exercise bikes and treadmills to weights and dumbells. 

Like CDs and cordless phones, homeline calls to smartphones or overseas and memory cards have all been removed from the list of goods used to calculate the CPI, because they aren’t really relevant any more. Free instant messaging services and video-call apps have taken the place of traditional toll calls.  

“While people are spending less on things like cordless phones and travel guides, you can still buy them – they are just no longer in the basket used to measure overall inflation,” Smillie said.

Another change was the removal of some apparel products.

“Several items of children’s clothing were also removed from the basket … due to low expenditure,” said Smillie. “Boys’ sweatshirts and underwear and girls’ summer nightwear are cheaper, meaning people spend less on these products.”

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