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Eggspensive

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Re: Eggspensive

#271

Post by gruez »

98codes wrote: post #205
matthewdgreen wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since this comment is at the top of the thread, I’m going to attach a quick reminder that egg prices are high due to a major outbreak of bird flu. I know that won’t keep this thread from degenerating into political rants about inflation, but maybe it will help someone move on with their day.

> are high due to a major outbreak of bird flu Maybe at first, but now that providers are following the same path as oil companies and reporting record profits, I'm not buying it.

>and reporting record profits

1. Does that say much? Thanks to inflation, every year is basically guaranteed to have "record profits".

2. If we look at their margins, it has indeed gone up, but we also see that it has gone up in 2015 (when there was also a bird flu), then subsequently dropped back down afterwards. What explains this? Did the CEO get visited by the three ghosts of christmas and got less greedy? Or perhaps it's just the case that companies make record profits when supply is limited?

[1] https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CALM/cal-maine-foo...

Re: Eggspensive

#272

Post by gruez »

msm_ wrote: post #118
hombre_fatal wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s think critically for a moment. Coffee is cheap to brew at home and it’s usually at the office. You can even take caffeine pills if you wanted to liken it to narcotic addiction. You sure as hell don’t need to go to Starbucks to get your fix, which is the most expensive way to get coffee, so that can’t be the reason people buy from them.

I'm not sure the logic applies. People may be addicted to caffeine, and willing to pay through the nose to get it in a form they like. If they suddenly become poor, they would probably drink instant coffee at home. But they're not. It's similar to alcohol abuse. Many [0] people addicted to alcohol don't pick the cheapest option possible to get their fix, they go to pubs and bars with their friends if they can afford…

>Many [0] people addicted to alcohol don't pick the cheapest option possible to get their fix, they go to pubs and bars with their friends if they can afford it.

Are they "addicted" to alcohol or just to the social aspect? The way you describe it, it sounds like the latter.

Re: Eggspensive

#273

Post by gruez »

dymk wrote: post #197
Ccecil wrote: post #184

Like I said to my family members when this topic came up the other day. "Egg prices are barely a blip compared to paying an extra 2 months rent per year for no reason" If investigating collusion...I suggest starting with real estate.

Everything has gone up in price. Egg alone may be barely a blip, but people don't buy one dozen eggs per week to sustain themselves on. They buy a few bags of groceries, which have doubled (or more) in price in the last year where I live - that might be a few hundred per month extra.

>They buy a few bags of groceries, which have doubled (or more) in price in the last year where I live - that might be a few hundred per month extra.

That's entirely inconsistent with government data[1], which only report a 22% rise since pre-pandemic.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIUFDSL

Re: Eggspensive

#274

Post by jkestner »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #237
ProbablyRyaan wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're almost at 60 Million dead poultry in the US from H5N1 since Jan '22. Wouldn't we see an increase (equal or more) in chicken meat prices as well? If the info is correct... 2020-2023 chicken meat is ~22% higher: https://www.in2013dollars.com/Chicken/price-inflation/2020-t... 2020-2023 eggs are ~91% higher: https://www.in2013dollars.com/Eggs/price-inflation/2020-to-2...

Meat chickens and egg chickens are not the same. Egg chickens take longer to reach productive age, so the market finds it harder to react to supply shocks.

At best, layers take 10 more weeks to produce. The egg price spiked almost a year ago.

Focusing on meat vs egg chickens is beside the point. Cal-Maine’s profit has skyrocketed, even as prices on other things have come back down, so clearly they’re not merely passing their expenses on to the consumer. Read the link at top.

Re: Eggspensive

#275

Post by tristor »

mrguyorama wrote: post #141
matwood wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go through ~18 eggs/week. I already bought better eggs though, so the price increases have not been as noticeable. Something I will notice is when my local grocery stops selling chicken breasts for $1.99/pound. I'm surprised they haven't upped the price every time I'm in there.

I assume the price is low because they are culling herds

You cannot sell culled chickens as food.

Re: Eggspensive

#276

Post by fbdab103 »

bombcar wrote: post #194
0xcde4c3db wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt this is the main explanation, because liquid egg product prices don't necessarily track whole egg prices. I don't know where to look up the current prices for "breaker eggs", but the supply chains are remarkably bifurcated, and even if e.g. the same bird flu outbreak affected both, the effects might evolve differently across time and location.

30 pound pail of eggs is $82. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/frozen-whole-liquid-eggs-30... But no idea what they used to be - maybe somewhere someone has printed catalogs.

According to the Wayback Machine[0] in 2022-10-09, the price was $126.

[0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20221009125424/https://www.webst...

Re: Eggspensive

#277

Post by dcormier »

I wish it were more colorblind friendly. ~8% of males are colorblind. I’m one of them. The colors in the middle of the scale are hard to make out.

Re: Eggspensive

#278

Post by busterarm »

jkestner wrote: post #274
HDThoreaun wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meat chickens and egg chickens are not the same. Egg chickens take longer to reach productive age, so the market finds it harder to react to supply shocks.

At best, layers take 10 more weeks to produce. The egg price spiked almost a year ago. Focusing on meat vs egg chickens is beside the point. Cal-Maine’s profit has skyrocketed, even as prices on other things have come back down, so clearly they’re not merely passing their expenses on to the consumer. Read the link at top.

Cory Doctorow is no expert on the US egg/chicken industry. He's writing political opinion pieces here. Occasionally he writes science fiction. He also has big problems with hyperbole in his work.

The egg price spiked almost a year ago because we've been dealing with H5N1 since over a year ago and it has only gotten worse since.

Re: Eggspensive

#279

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

magila wrote: post #250
contingencies wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Australia they use the term "free-range" and additionally publish the number of animals per land area (density). There's some pretty vicious things being sold as "free-range". I think "cage-free" is a scam also. You want the hard numbers.

In the US "pasture raised" is the key phrase to look for. That means what most people think when they read "free range". Neither "cage free" nor "free range" means much in the US.

Cage free simply means they aren't in individual cages. ISTR that free range means there's an open door to the outdoors. But take any animal with flocking/herding behavior and if the group is inside, no more than one or two individuals will venture out for a few seconds before running back inside to the safety of the group.

I don't know of any large producers of pasture raised eggs. They all seem to be small, regional outfits, but then again, I haven't really looked hard.

Re: Eggspensive

#280

Post by p0pcult »

ThunderSizzle wrote: post #154
flyingcircus3 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Equate others' continued faith in said government with naivety To be fair, most people's trust/reliance in the Federal government is based out of naivity or lack of knowledge. Considering most news today is just regurgitating government press conference talking points, it's not surprising most people's knowledge stops at naivity.

To be faaaaaairrrr...
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