alt Hacker NewsWow! I wondered about this article - US centric. I wondered because eggs are not expensive here. I just looked [1] [2]. I can get a dozen free range for about US$4 at the current conversion rate. They are a supermarket own brand, but even the "fancy" ones are something like that for 6, but some are actually still close to $4 for 12.
The US chicken market (not necessarily eggs specifically) was in the Morgan Spurlock documentary follow up to "Supersize me", and it looked like the chicken "mafia" controlled the business.[3]
[1] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=eggs&inpu... [2] https://groceries.asda.com/search/eggs [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me_2:_Holy_Chicken!
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That is expensive.
Typically at Costco, 5 dozen eggs is under $12, sometimes as low as $8. Currently it is closer to $20, which is about your price.
Hmm. After Spurlock lied through his teeth in his first film, why would anyone trust him ever again?
The egg story in the US is so strange to me. I just checked my local "premium" (Pacific Northwest) grocery store, and free range eggs are $4/dozen. (https://townandcountrymarkets.com/shop#!/?id=156440568471307...) I guess US food desert type areas are paying much more from the media surrounding this, but even that price comes with a warning on the website that egg supplies are limited, and presumably therefore the price would be lower in times of higher supply.
I have chickens, and the cost including amortization of their real estate puts family eggs at something like $12/dozen.
Yeah, it's really hard for me to understand the thing with eggs. Do people really buy that many eggs? We're a family of 5, cook every day (never buy takeout) and consume, maybe, 6 eggs a month? when we bake cakes? which we do extremely rarely.
We only cook for diner as we don't eat breakfast and everyone's out of the house for lunch, so that may be a reason, but still. It seems a very minor and unimportant ingredient.
Yeah even in the US its somewhat regional and brand-specific. In my region, I just purchased a pack of 18 eggs for $5 USD at a typical well-known chain grocery store.
Some of these egg companies are absolutely using the bird flu as an excuse to raise prices. Right next to that 18 pack I bought was a shelf full of eggs that cost $9/dozen. No one was buying them. Just a weird situation.
Some data points from Lexington, KY, USA:
18 eggs today (February 20th, 2024): $8.19 [0]
18 eggs ~1 year ago (March 2nd, 2024): $3.34 [1]
18 eggs a tiny bit over a year ago (February 2nd, 2024): $2.74 [2]
18 eggs, oldest order I can find (April 9th, 2023): $2.33 [3]
A 2.5x increase in a years time. Just insane
[0] https://cs.joshstrange.com/05JYvxsf
[1] https://cs.joshstrange.com/lVlCFcRs
[2] https://cs.joshstrange.com/w5zQcZ2l
[3] https://cs.joshstrange.com/kZ8VjPxP