Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[worth1]

$2.55/dozen eggs aldi today. Had been way over $3/dozen. HEB dozen eggs $3.92.

3.92 here also.

[Paulf]

A local lady has chickens and sells the XXL eggs for $3/dozen unless she has poults laying smaller eggs…still in medium to large size…and those she gives away because everybody is used to the huge eggs. I still pay for the smaller ones if she will take the money. Have not bought a store egg in a couple of years.

[Tormahto]

You have some weird walmarts up there I think.

Between the potatoes and the chicken and the firings for dereliction of duty.

The potatoes go on sale, then back up to about $3.68/5 pounds, back down to $1.50, back up, etc..over and over. I think that they were at .99, a few times last year.

Years ago, there would be 1-2 pallets on the floor, and aisle bins filled. Many of the shelf stockers have become customer pickers. Since Covid, the store manager (or corporate in Benton?) has been overstocking many items, other than highly perishable meat and produce. Right now, there are 6 pallets of 5 lb bags of russet potatoes. The bins only get the specialty potatoes in 1-3 pound bags, with not enough stockers.

The chicken was from a different store, but not a WalMart. Out of about a half dozen WalMart stores in the area, that I visit, only one has had 5 pound bags of chicken drumsticks for $2, and prices go up to the same as at the other stores, $4.96 a bag, then back down to $2, back up, back down, etc...

Summer clothing is on sale. I picked up every Wrangler heavyweight pocket t-shirt, in my size, marked down from $11.99 to $1 each. I did leave the one with no price tag, for someone that wants to deal with the hassle at the register. I also picked up a few Hawaiian shirts, a few cargo shorts and cargo pants, all at $4 to $5, marked down from about $20 each. Also, 2 pairs of hiking shoes (Ozark Trail, which is of marginal quality) at a total of $25, marked down from a $90 total. To me, they're worth $25, but not much more. Next spring is when I'll look at winter clothing, if on sale.

[Sue_CT]

Ok, gas way down 3 1/2 years ago because people weren’t leaving their houses, Covid was at its worst, and you Couldn’t give away oil. You really want to duplicate the situation that caused oil prices to tank again? I pay 2.84/gal at Costco. At one time it was 4.00. You really think we can duplicate and maintain the prices during a worldwide pandemic when the country was mostly shut down? Getting supply chains going again has taken a long time, longer than it took for demand to ramp up again. What you want is not inflation under control, you want DEflation, and prices to go back 4 years? Does that seem like a realistic expectation?

[worth1]

Well hoot I just bought over 5 pounds of huge softball sized white onions and yellow onions at the Mexican market for 2.99.
Some of the white onions were bigger than a softball.

[Seven Bends]

For anyone who would like to see gas price history over the last 30 years: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/leafh ... us_dpg&f=m

There's a graph at the top and a chart by year and month below. Peaks were $4.11 in July 2008 (during the Great Recession but a few months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the stock market crash) and $5.03 in June 2022. Current price (August 2024) is listed as $3.51.

Amounts are not adjusted for general inflation. $4.11 in July 2008 is equivalent to $5.88 in today's dollars, and $5.03 in June 2022 is equivalent to $5.34 in today's dollars.

The price in August 2019 (the last August before Covid) was $2.71. Adjusted for inflation, this is $3.33 in current dollars. So, the current price of gas in constant dollars is about 5.4% higher than it was at the end of the summer before Covid. (I picked the end of summer because gas prices fluctuate quite a bit seasonally most years.)

[Seven Bends]

This July article from The Guardian examined inflation, "shrinkflation" and "skimpflation" in food products since 2019: https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-profit One of the things they mention is that the profits of the US's largest egg producer jumped 950% in the last few years. During that time they raised prices 280% even though their birds never caught avian flu.

Excerpt:
In 2021, supply chain snags caused prices for basics to shoot up, dramatically increasing costs for restaurants, grocers and packaged food producers. Restaurants and processors could raise prices without fear of competitors undercutting them, presenting a “golden opportunity”, said Dube, of the University of Chicago.

But many economists and some federal agencies say commodity companies used supply chain problems as cover to raise prices much higher than needed – or price gouge.

As egg prices spiked in early 2022, Cal-Maine, the nation’s largest egg producer, blamed a 280% price increase on the “highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak [in early 2022]” and higher input costs. But Cal-Maine birds never caught the flu in 2022. Thanks in part to its price hikes, Cal-Maine’s profits jumped around 950% around this time, the Guardian’s analysis found. The issue drew scrutiny and criticism from members of Congress, as well as the Biden administration.

Similarly, beef producers for several years justified high prices with a 2019 fire at a cattle slaughterhouse, even though the USDA found cattle production actually increased in the weeks following the fire.

“In all of these cases they’re using a convenient excuse to price gouge,” Huffman said. “The reason they are able to do that is because there are so few companies in each of these sectors.”

Cal-Maine controls about 20% of the egg market, and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleged egg prices stayed high in 2022 when major producers intentionally delayed boosting production. Meanwhile, four meat packers control up to 85% of the markets, and were recently sued by the justice department over alleged price fixing.

Five large grain producers control up to 90% of the market, including Archer-Daniels – its profits have spiked by 170% since 2019, the Guardian found. Fears over grain shortages that never fully materialized at the Ukraine war’s outset provided the opportunity for grain companies to raise prices higher than costs.

[slugworth]

O.J. bottles are getting smaller.

[Tormahto]

Well hoot I just bought over 5 pounds of huge softball sized white onions and yellow onions at the Mexican market for 2.99.
Some of the white onions were bigger than a softball.

I don't do much with white onions, other than a once a year Julia Child mock cream-of soup base recipe (sort of). I lost my 40+ year old recipe card, so I just wing it, having 4 ingredients: water, white onions, white rice, and a few dabs of butter, cooked and all blended smooth.

Large yellow ones? If they have large necks, they likely aren't going to store very long.

I no longer buy the Vidalias for the year, as the last three pound bag looked and felt good on the outside, but the onions started rotting in their middle.

[JRinPA]

I don't understand what this Price Gouging is...the wholesale supplier can charge whatever it wants. The store can mark up however much it wants from wholesale to retail. A free market will determine if raising prices was a wise decision.

The problem is when the MONEY SUPPLY increases. Only the fiat issuing government controls that.

We haven't been able to exchange dollars for gold since Franklin Roosevelt put a stop to it.

I don't see how you can blame an egg producing company for charging whatever they can get away with charging. Govt keeps printing money, so people aren't going hungry from it. Just getting squeezed.

I can't blame the egg layers but I can blame the govt and politicians for allowing companies to control that much market share. To become that big, they got there on a real, dirty path. Lots of donations coming from those businesses into political coffers. Meanwhile the tax burden on small business and small farms is so high, it is hard to compete beyond the "$3 a dozen brown eggs" out front the farm in a refrigerator.

I might have seen a sale price of high $3 at redner's today for a dozen eggs. I like to buy at $1.20 or less. So it will be a while until I give my approval to price of eggs that supplier and retailer have decided on. It may well point me towards keeping a coop.

[Sue_CT]

There are laws about price gouging, At least in my state. gasoline stations are not allowed to jack prices up when a huge storm is coming or people are without electricity and relying on generators. oil companies Are not allowed to jack up oil prices because they hear a severe cold front is coming. Hospitals were not allowed to jack up their prices to see a doctor during Covid. Just a few examples.

[JRinPA]

Those aren't free market businesses. The govt has their hooks deeply embedded in them.

[worth1]

Well hoot I just bought over 5 pounds of huge softball sized white onions and yellow onions at the Mexican market for 2.99.
Some of the white onions were bigger than a softball.

I don't do much with white onions, other than a once a year Julia Child mock cream-of soup base recipe (sort of). I lost my 40+ year old recipe card, so I just wing it, having 4 ingredients: water, white onions, white rice, and a few dabs of butter, cooked and all blended smooth.

Large yellow ones? If they have large necks, they likely aren't going to store very long.

I no longer buy the Vidalias for the year, as the last three pound bag looked and felt good on the outside, but the onions started rotting in their middle.

It was the white ones that were huge.
I don't have to worry about storage.

[worth1]

There are laws about price gouging, At least in my state. gasoline stations are not allowed to jack prices up when a huge storm is coming or people are without electricity and relying on generators. oil companies Are not allowed to jack up oil prices because they hear a severe cold front is coming. Hospitals were not allowed to jack up their prices to see a doctor during Covid. Just a few examples.

They were price gouging in several gas stations here in my area during storm events.
Small bag of ice 5 dollars.
Gas way over what others were charging.

I won't stop at these one owner gas stations if I can help it.

[GoDawgs]

More threat of strikes.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/us- ... ten-strike

So they want an 80% pay raise. Another article I read said many already make between $150k-200k a year.

[bower]

Those aren't free market businesses. The govt has their hooks deeply embedded in them.

I think eggs, dairy and gas/oil are the three business with govt controls in place here to regulate pricing.
'Free market' only works when you have the right amount of competition. When biggest corporations buy out all the little ones, they can price gouge however they like.
This is the problem we've had with phone and internet in my country. Not enough providers to call it 'competition'. The companies involved have seriously abused the opportunity to gouge.
I don't see anything wrong with price controls on basic needs.

WRT egg prices, supermarket eggs from big producers are still way less expensive than anything like a local neighborhood product. The price of local eggs has always been crazy high - doubtless because importing feed is way, way too expensive, and we don't produce chicken feed locally, or not enough.

[bower]

For anyone who would like to see gas price history over the last 30 years: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/leafh ... us_dpg&f=m

What I find really interesting is that price changes (up or down) were so muted before 2000, nothing like the extreme variations we've seen ever since. The degree of price instability is just crazy, and no wonder we get upset!

There's a huge kerfuffle here in Canada, over the consumer carbon tax, which is actually rebated to you if you pay your taxes. Everyone gets the same rebate, depending on the region you live in, family size, and whether rural or urban. But people are royally confused about how much tax they pay at the pump vs the ever changing unstable price of gas.
Anyway, the rebate is great. The less oil and gas you use, the more of it is bonus money in your pocket.
This rebate actually pays for all of my gas, since I don't commute or drive a lot! And don't home heat with oil. $600 a year is about 10 tanks of gas for the Toyota... even with the vicious ups and downs in price.

[zeuspaul]

Here we go again: Egg prices are spiking. Here’s why
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/agai ... 21977.html

[JRinPA]

Without the mega sized companies, all those eggs wouldn't be in one basket. Bird flu would have much lesser affect, and what is seen as "price gouging" (actually just a ride down the supply curve to a higher price) wouldn't occur.

But govt favors the mega size corporation in a hundred ways for every way that it encourages small business that would compete with those big donors.

[Tormahto]

Without the mega sized companies, all those eggs wouldn't be in one basket. Bird flu would have much lesser affect, and what is seen as "price gouging" (actually just a ride down the supply curve to a higher price) wouldn't occur.

But govt favors the mega size corporation in a hundred ways for every way that it encourages small business that would compete with those big donors.

Without the mega companies, eggs would be $2...

...each, in urban and suburban areas. The mega growers ship in feed on rail cars, long trains of rail cars. It's about economies of scale. Small-time egg producers cannot compete with large ones in large population areas. That feed is grown out in the rural areas on mega farms, trucked to silos, railed to processors, and finally railed to mega chicken corporations.

In rural areas, there might be enough home growers to supply a small local population. In urban and suburban areas, there isn't enough land, or enough people wanting to raise chickens, along with many local governments banning the raising of chickens.