Inflation Basket: Coffee Pods in but Nightclub Fees out

The UK is becoming a nation in a hurry, as coffee pods and microwave rice pouches enter the basket of goods used to measure inflation.

Coffee pods were a "distinct and growing product", the Office for National Statistics (ONS) declared.

The pods are used to make a cup which tastes like real coffee, but can be made in a matter of seconds.

However, nightclub entry fees and re-writeable DVDs are among the costs removed from the calculations.

More chocolate

Microwave rice, in either a pouch or a tray, has been added as it reflects a long-term trend towards prepared foods.

Other items to be added include a large chocolate bar. Although the inflation basket already includes a small chocolate bar, the ONS said this was an underrepresented category.

Cream liqueur, meat-based party snacks, nail varnish and women's leggings have also been included for the first time.

"Women's clothing is an under-covered area of the basket," said the ONS.

 

Items being dropped from the list include rewriteable DVDs, which were " a declining technology", and CD-Roms.

Consumers tend to use them much less, as software can be downloaded directly.

The price of getting into a nightclub has also been removed from the list, as the number of clubs is declining, the ONS said.

New entries last year included e-cigarettes, music streaming subscriptions, and craft beer.

Among the items dropping out in 2015 were satellite navigation, as drivers switched to traffic apps on phones, or bought cars with sat navs already built in.

Some of the changes represent new consumer trends, but other changes have been made for technical reasons, to reflect price changes more accurately.