Manufacturer price increases feel like weather to most owners — something that happens to you, that you notice at reorder, that you absorb and grumble about. But injectable price increases aren't random acts of nature. They follow patterns, respond to market conditions, and leave footprints, and the owners who pay attention can often see them coming well enough to act. The difference is consequential: a price increase you anticipated is an inventory opportunity and a planned pricing adjustment; a price increase that surprises you is a margin hit you simply eat, followed by a patient-pricing conversation you're having on the back foot.

Increases are patterned, not random