this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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Meanwhile in Sweden (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by M137 to c/[email protected]
 

That's $3 for 15 eggs. Sadly not free-range, only cage-free.

Not sure if this is the best community for this post, does anyone have a better suggestion?

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[–] FlyingSquid 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You'd have to ask them. I really believe Trump said he was going to lower the price of eggs. How's that working out?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

To be fair, that's one campaign promise he'll make good on, because eventually the egg supply will return. He doesn't even need to do anything!

[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Doesn't mean it will come back cheaper though. Who's going to punish companies for price gouging now?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

They did the last several times this happened (plus regular inflation), what makes this time different?

I'm guessing $2.50-3/dz at Costco, because they were ~$2.50/dz before the flu and inflation keeps trucking along.

I give it 6-ish months, and I'll be surprised if prices aren't below $3/dz at my local Costco by EOY.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Republicans controlling all three branches of government and looking the other way while businesses charge whatever the hell they feel like charging and collude to keep the prices artificially high.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Chickens go from egg to laying in about 6 months. So maybe I'll believe you if prices are still high ($4+/dz) at EOY. I'm guessing we'll be <$3/dz by then (at my local Costco, that is).

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

This literally already happened. And under Biden.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/kroger-egg-prices

But sure, it can't possibly happen again under Trump.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The U.S. grocery sector—dominated by Kroger, Walmart, and a handful of other major companies—profited hugely during the Covid-19 pandemic as corporate giants exploited supply chain disruptions to aggressively jack up prices.

The underlying problem here was limited supply, and when supply drops, prices go up. When supply returned to normal, prices returned to normal (plus inflation). People were mad because Kroger (and others, but especially Kroger) acted exactly as you'd expect by making as much as they could from their limited supply. Look at Kroger's revenue, which grew pretty naturally, which means they offset reduced volume with higher margins.

So I absolutely expect the same thing to happen again, because it's a very similar situation. Prices will return to normal once supply returns to normal. The first companies to create supply get the most profit, and then prices stabilize.

This isn't some AG conspiracy or anything, just individual companies making greedy decisions, an which eventually will even out to the previous status quo. Kroger does not (yet) have a monopoly, so their prices are capped at whatever is the tipping point at which people will go to a competitor or go without. It's not nice, but it's also not surprising.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The guy admitted to price fixing and you're just pretending he didn't. Baffling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

I don't see anything about price fixing in that article, I just see "price gouging." My increment understanding is that companies can set their prices however they choose, unless they're a monopoly (obviously varies by jurisdiction).

Price fixing (colluding with other companies on setting prices) is illegal, price gouging (increasing prices unnecessarily) isn't.

I'm not making a value statement here, in fact I'm trying very hard to keep personal opinions out of it. I'm merely saying that this looks just like every other time supply has been disrupted, and like every other time, prices will come back down.