I understand what I need to buy; I was merely trying to rein in your criticism of someone else making a buying decision. I do buy a smaller jar; Cain’s mayonnaise; the bestest stuff. But the store stopped carrying the small size and now I’m buying Dukes’ at another store in the smaller size. A 16oz jar lasts me about 6 months after the expiration date.
JimA
Which sentence of mine did you take as criticism of someone? I’d like to know so I can change my writing style to avoid others feeling criticized.
A few weeks ago at the supermarket, I saw someone buying a jar of mayonnaise for $7.99 or so. The helpful checkout clerk told them “this mayo is buy one get one free this week” and the person replied “I know, but I only need one”. Now we all know that mayonnaise has a relatively long shelf life, at least a few months, maybe even a year. But this person wasn’t interested in saving the $7.99 and putting the extra jar of mayo into their pantry until they need it in a month or two or three.
And again, I don’t see 6 months as being a long shelf life. But perhaps I over-reacted. But you were assuming the person didn’t know what they needed. And usually, when a store is offering BOGO it is because they are overstocked and the expiration dates are arriving shortly.
JimA
So, coming back from the mayonnaise excursion, does anybody have any ideas of why/how the price of eggs dropped by a third in one week?
DB2
I think T signed an executive order.
Ha! I was just coming here to ask you that question!
Perhaps imports? From 2/26:
We certainly have not had a massive increase in egg-laying chickens in February that would otherwise lead to greater supply.
Maybe there was some price-gouging in the initial price increase.
Did the media stop it’s daily hysteria about eggs? I have noticed that racket has been missing from the “news” I have been seeing.
Steve
The only explanation is that the threat of tariffs drove egg production back to the United States and now we will enjoy low egg prices forever. Hopefully tariffs on steel and aluminum will similarly result on lower consumer prices on all products.
Brooke Rollins (Trumps Ag Secretary) met with Cal-Maine, the largest and main egg producer in the country last month to encourage them to increase production:
But according to Cory Doctorow, Cal-Maine and a couple of European breeders block out competitors who could create competitive prices.
“The whole poultry supply-chain is an inbred mess. The entire realm of chicken genetics – that is, which chickens exist at all – is controlled by two European firms, the PE-backed Hendrix Genetics and the billionaire-owned Erich Wesjohann Group. These companies have bought or killed virtually every source of egg-laying hens in America over 20 years”
Interesting, thank you.
If you can’t attain monopoly, duopoly is second best.
I haven’t a clue. Unless…
Unless USAID had placed an order for millions of jars of mayonnaise to be shipped to the Ukraine. It was cancelled, and rather than be used for (now excess) mayo, the eggs were dumped on the market. In which case, the price will soon increase again.
DB2
I’ll stick with the simplest explanation, the media moved on to hyping something else.
Steve
Well, looks like the news is finally out on this - and it is classic Econ 101.
Econ 101. Something a lot of people still haven’t learned.
So, was it all media hysteria?
Steve
No, millions of chickens were actually destroyed.
DB2
Demand refused to pay high prices, so they stopped buying (as many). Supply is far short of demand, but maybe the egg-laying facilities can start to rebuild their flocks.
And more to come:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/h7n9-us-1.7485468
But the H7N9 bird flu virus has proved to have a far higher death rate, killing nearly 40 per cent of the humans infected since it was first detected in 2013, the World Health Organization said.
Thankfully, it doesn’t spread easily but a 40% mortality rate is no joke. Covid mortality rate is less than 1%.
Looks like Plague #3 is starting–in the South. May be the reason medical info about plagues and more was ordered. More important: How did they KNOW SO FAR IN ADVANCE ???
