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Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

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Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#21

Post by [deleted] »

somenameforme wrote: post #14
hyperpape wrote: post #4

I appreciate this graph as a (very partial) rejoinder to the inflation truthers. I could believe that there is some modest measurement error in how we calculate inflation, but, picking relatively arbitrary dates that I happen to remember, the idea that 2000-2025 inflation was double the reported numbers doesn't pass the sniff test.

I don't have a horse in this race outside of general skepticism of official numbers (though inflation is particularly difficult to fake since you can literally just buy/assess the basket of goods the figures represent yourself), but I don't think this is the rejoinder you're looking for. Eggs went from 0.975 to 3.587, a 3.68x increase. CPI went from 1.69 to 3.23, a 1.9x increase. So the price of eggs increased 93% mo…

[deleted]

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#22

Post by bluedino »

chrisco255 wrote: post #19

This chart seems off, for some reason. It shows the average price for a dozen eggs as hitting $1.20 in 2019. I don't remember ever paying that little in my adult life for eggs, and I've lived in small towns during that time frame too. Also this should be noted: Large white, Grade A chicken eggs, sold in a carton of a dozen. Includes organic, non-organic, cage free, free range, and traditional. Egg options in grocery…

Before Covid it wasn't uncommon to see eggs under a dollar per dozen.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#23

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #15
CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> refrigerated shelf in the supermarket Wow, today I learned that in some countries, the supermarkets keep their eggs in the refrigerator! Apparently there is a protective coat on eggs that sometimes gets washed away, and when it is, you need to store the egg in a cold environment otherwise bacteria gets in. In other places, eggs aren't washed (that much at least) so the protective coat is still there, so we store ou…

No comment about refrigerated eggs goes unanswered.

One of us has to be the lucky 1 in 10,000, today it was my day :)

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#25

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

kbcool wrote: post #17
CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> refrigerated shelf in the supermarket Wow, today I learned that in some countries, the supermarkets keep their eggs in the refrigerator! Apparently there is a protective coat on eggs that sometimes gets washed away, and when it is, you need to store the egg in a cold environment otherwise bacteria gets in. In other places, eggs aren't washed (that much at least) so the protective coat is still there, so we store ou…

That much is the key. They're still washed, otherwise they would have all kinds of crap on them (literally, chickens only have one hole), they just aren't subjected to chemicals and scrubbing etc. Having very low salmonella rates in the flock makes it really unnecessary

> otherwise they would have all kinds of crap on them

The eggs I buy in my supermarket don't have literally crap on them, but it isn't uncommon that they have bit of dirt or hay/grass on them, and those are bought from a mainstream supermarket chain. I do realize they obviously do a quick cleaning pass regardless, just wanted to clarify that many eggs aren't pristine when bought :)

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#26

Post by bluedino »

rob wrote: post #13
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #6

$6.20 for a dozen eggs still sounds like a good deal. Think about the amount of work to get those onto a refrigerated shelf in the supermarket. It's amazing.

No it isn't. A dozen can fly by for a single person or a small family. You'll probably need at least two dozen a week. Hell, a lot of recipes ask for 2-3. So now you're looking at almost $50 a month just for eggs (2dozen/week @6.20.) That might be easy for you when you're working at Microsoft and making $500,000 a year, but that's a significant amount of money for a lot of people in the United States. And eggs aren't…

I work from home so I eat 3-4 each morning.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#27

Post by gruez »

rob wrote: post #13
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #6

$6.20 for a dozen eggs still sounds like a good deal. Think about the amount of work to get those onto a refrigerated shelf in the supermarket. It's amazing.

No it isn't. A dozen can fly by for a single person or a small family. You'll probably need at least two dozen a week. Hell, a lot of recipes ask for 2-3. So now you're looking at almost $50 a month just for eggs (2dozen/week @6.20.) That might be easy for you when you're working at Microsoft and making $500,000 a year, but that's a significant amount of money for a lot of people in the United States. And eggs aren't…

>And eggs aren't some fancy item. They're eggs.

>"It's one banana, Michael. What could it cost?"

It's funny you bring up that up, because bananas are tropical fruits shipped from thousands of miles away, but somehow cost less than domestic fruits like apples. You might not think bananas are "fancy" either, but it's a miracle it's as cheap as they are.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#28

Post by microtonal »

CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #8
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #6

$6.20 for a dozen eggs still sounds like a good deal. Think about the amount of work to get those onto a refrigerated shelf in the supermarket. It's amazing.

> refrigerated shelf in the supermarket Wow, today I learned that in some countries, the supermarkets keep their eggs in the refrigerator! Apparently there is a protective coat on eggs that sometimes gets washed away, and when it is, you need to store the egg in a cold environment otherwise bacteria gets in. In other places, eggs aren't washed (that much at least) so the protective coat is still there, so we store ou…

Yeah, I wondered for a long time why fridges have egg holders, since I had never seen eggs in a fridge in a supermarket (yeah, I’m not in the US).

They are probably washed, but only minimally - sometimes there is still a small feather or some dirt on an egg.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#29

Post by _heimdall »

okokwhatever wrote: post #10
_heimdall wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

166 million chickens were culled earlier this year [1] [1] https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-26/poultry...

[flagged]

They don't process and sell culled birds. At large scale when culling due to disease, they generally turn off the ventilation system and suffocate the birds en masse.

Re: Egg prices vs. Consumer Price Index since 1980

#30

Post by candiddevmike »

chrisco255 wrote: post #20
cjs_ac wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The retail price of eggs was a significant talking point in the campaign for the last US presidential election (which I'd forgotten until I saw this post).

That's because they slaughtered a huge amount of chickens due to bird flu. As you can see from the chart, the egg prices have plummeted as chicken populations have recovered.

That chart still shows the prices being higher than they were a year ago. People voted for cheaper eggs, right?
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