So everybody remembers learning in school about Hitler's Canadian GF, but you can't actually find any references to her in any of the history books. It's some serious Mandela Effect shit.
Washing machine prices have been going down since at least 1977, which is as far back as I can find data while I'm on mobile. From the US bureau of labor statistics you can see that laundry equipment priced at $500 in 1977 is now priced at $768. And, due to inflation, $500 in 1977 has the same buying power as $2647 today. In other words, washing machines have gone down in price about 70% in the last 50 years.
Maybe my example wasn't clear; I don't mean that you would buy a microwave if you already have one, I mean that you will spend your money on something else if you can't afford the washing machine. Some goods are tightly correlated with each other such that if the price of one goes up (e.g. due to tariff), the price of the other will go up as well because it's a partial alternative.
The type of market you’re describing...only happens in small, locally focused markets
This is not true; supply and demand applies in any open market, with the exception of monopolies and collusion which I already pointed out. Yes, WalMart/Home Depot/etc engage in anti-competitive business practices, but they still can't arbitrarily charge whatever they want, which is what it sounds like the Axios article is saying. If they could, then why did they wait for the looming threat of tariffs to raise their prices? Why haven't they been charging exorbitant prices all along?
You don't directly haggle with retailers, but if $1200 is more than you want to spend, then you simply don't buy the washing machine, and you look for an alternative like jerry rigging the one you already own, using the laundromat, or looking for a better deal from another seller. Not buying something is effectively haggling.
This is not how supply and demand works. Businesses can't just arbitrarily raise prices unless consumers are willing to pay them. Do you think they were artificially keeping prices low until now? Obviously not. They are always trying to charge as much as they can, and consumers are always trying to pay as little as they can. The final sale price is whatever both parties think is fair.
Of course there are exceptions such as when businesses engage in price fixing or achieve monopolies, but that's not what's going on here. What's happening is that everything in the economy is connected. Even goods that aren't directly tariffed are still affected by tariffs. If you planned to buy a new washing machine, but now they're too expensive because of a tarrif, then maybe you buy a microwave instead. If a lot of people do this, then the increased demand for microwaves will cause their price to go up.
So everybody remembers learning in school about Hitler's Canadian GF, but you can't actually find any references to her in any of the history books. It's some serious Mandela Effect shit.