An investigation into egg prices • Hacker News Board

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#91

Post by genewitch » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:07 AM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #67

genewitch wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Us cull numbers in 2024 were between 130mm and 180mm depending on who is saying the numbers. But I heard our flock numbers in that period were 10 times that. So I'm not sure what to think. I do know it was easy to get chicks this year, so that confused me even more. Perhaps the lack of grocery eggs was because they were incubated instead? I don't know.

> Perhaps the lack of grocery eggs was because they were incubated instead? Grocery eggs aren't even fertilized.

where do chickens come from? eggs! If one needs more chickens, one could let the eggs be fertilized and then incubate those eggs. all you need is a rooster in good health. Eggs that are incubated in this way won't be in the grocery store in cartons, because they will be chickens instead.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#92

Post by genewitch » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:08 AM UTC

Dban1 wrote: post #72

genewitch wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have my own and I don't even like eggs that much. I do however like their noises, and for pest control, so I keep getting new birds. $33 for 6 birds, last month. They're not fully feathered yet.

noise control?

yes, i forgot a comma, your sibling is right, i like the noises they make, especially at night when they're sleeping.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#93

Post by t-3 » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:13 AM UTC

gnufied wrote: post #79

gerdesj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The big suppliers can ratchet up prices with zero consequences. What are you gonna do about it?" If I was that bothered about eggs, I'd simply grow my own. Americans on average have way more space to mess around in than say most Europeans - the place is fucking huge. Chickens are very easy to "grow your own". I'm not an American and clearly you have managed to get your collective knickers in a twist over a non issue…

A lot of Americans live in houses and neighborhoods where keeping chickens is simply not allowed. Source: just got done cutting some pine trees on a hill behind my house because we got a notice. They will absolutely throw a fit, if we kept chickens

Every state has right-to-farm laws. Most only protect commercial farming, but not all and sometimes the definition of commercial is rather loose, so it might be worth looking into.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#94

Post by araes » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:15 AM UTC

mech975 wrote: post #52

I went to the trouble of finding monthly egg production totals for the US based on "NASS quick stats." https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/results/80AF9DAE-99AE-31D0-... Hopefully yall can make heads or tails of the data. The querying tool is also linked at https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/#80AF9DAE-99AE-31D0-8F1C-EC...

Here's a chart of the egg production from the data you found (Jan 2013 to Jan 2025). [1]

Added 2nd, 3rd, and 4th order curve fits to give an idea of the general trends in production.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/OikRTHL.png

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#95

Post by samlinnfer » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:17 AM UTC

rekabis wrote: post #49

almosthere wrote: post #15

It's like with anything else. You can SAY monopolies are illegal, but if you allow them to exist, then owning and controlling the market is, legal. Any small competition that eventually gets large enough will just be bought out by the next one up in the food chain (literally).

And yet, this is the inevitable end-game of unfettered capitalism: to monopolize a market and prevent new entrants so as to eliminate competition and lock-in customers to a single producer that can set prices to whatever they want. If the orange Cheeto was truly interested in combatting corruption, he would break apart this entire industry clear down to individual factories and processing plants, and implement laws t…

> and implement laws to prevent anyone from ever buying out anyone else. Consolidation would be impossible, only organic growth would still be legal.

Game theoretically, these groups would still collude to maximise profits.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#96

Post by t-3 » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:22 AM UTC

crummy wrote: post #40

undersuit wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK so the Dems successfully brought GOP influence into the party and beat Donald Trump in 2024. What's that... Oh they lost in normal Democratic strongholds?

Did it work in 2020?

Anything would have worked in 2020 as long as it had a pulse and wasn't named Trump. We got Trump policies with Democrat faces - there's no need to wonder why Democrats and left-leaning independents didn't rush out to vote in '24.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#97

Post by villedespommes » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:23 AM UTC

fwip wrote: post #19

> In other words, the current egg crisis is what the Sovietization of American business looks like. On the contrary - there's nothing more American than corporations abusing their oligopoly status for financial gain.

I also think it's a very poor choice of words. If Sovietization meant introducing inefficiencies and bureaucracy in the egg supply chain, this is not even remotely what the article claims is going on here: the eggs producers are very intentionally (rather than incompetently or bureaucratically) throttling the egg production because it's more profitable to produce less If the authors meant monopolization of the egg supply, well, that's also pretty far from being uniquely a Soviet phenomenon.

It was a really dumb thing to bring up and it chips away at the authors' credibility.

Edits: grammar

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#98

Post by chii » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:26 AM UTC

dm03514 wrote: post #20

First of all I think this article was put together quite well, it was succinct had a great flow and was very easy to follow. The data was laid out to support the case; overall it was great to read. Understanding a problem requires a holistic view of the larger system. An egg producer may say prices are higher Because supply is lower due to culling. Part of that statement is true. The author then zooms out to better u…

> This isn’t like pure scientific pursuit of knowledge but a more practical day to day ability to question, understand and gather new information with the purpose of developing an objective understanding of the world.

you've just described scientific persuit.

Just because the object of said persuit pertains to everyday life, doesn't mean it isn't scientific. The goal of science is to understand truth, and discern it from falsehoods (which might appear true intuitively).

Science isn't about researching niche, or cutting edge things. It's about the method, rigor and ability to change one's mind based on evidence regardless of priors.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#99

Post by thephyber » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:31 AM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #71

rekabis wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, this is the inevitable end-game of unfettered capitalism: to monopolize a market and prevent new entrants so as to eliminate competition and lock-in customers to a single producer that can set prices to whatever they want. If the orange Cheeto was truly interested in combatting corruption, he would break apart this entire industry clear down to individual factories and processing plants, and implement laws t…

Do you work in tech? Do you hope your startup is acquired? I think a lot of people here would not favor the idea of companies not being able to buy other companies.

It’s not a Boolean.

Traditionally in the US, monopolies are managed by either forcing breakup/divestiture (the the company is already a monopoly) or regulating the maximum market share consolidation (preventing mergers which consolidate beyond that threshold).

And tech is different from agriculture. Governments will go overboard to prevent famine or hyperinflation of food prices because both with cause massive political and social instability. Tech doesn’t (currently) plan an equivalent role in our lives, so people could tolerate monopolistic behavior in tech longer than in core agriculture.

Re: An investigation into egg prices

#100

Post by chii » Mon, Mar 10, 2025, 2:32 AM UTC

jongjong wrote: post #25

It sounds like it may be the result of standard corporate business practices. Lower prices, take on debt if necessary, until smaller players cannot compete, buy them all up for cheap, then once most of the smaller competitors are out of business (bought out or bankrupt), start pumping up the prices again and use the proceeds to pay off debts. Insiders can dump stocks based on record profit valuations.

> start pumping up the prices again

what stops new entrants from reaping this price rise? Your monopoly would have to prevent new entrants from even starting. That would be where monopoly laws come into effect.