The Grocery Store is getting painful

I paid $4.59 for one dozen eggs today! Are we in crazy-land or what?!?

Vote appropriately and voice your opinions regularly.
Lord knows the other side is doing their fair share of whining…

mark-bruzek wrote:

Vote appropriately and voice your opinions regularly.

yes yes yes when republicans win back the white house in 2024 eggs will immediately go down to pre-covid prices.

to the OP yes its getting very painful. Well has been for some time really. To help with the costs i signed up for an AMEX card where i get 6% off all groceries and 3% off gas station purchases. It helps. I also have 3 freezers and take advantage of sales. Just bought some ribs at cub yesterday for $2 a lb and stuck em in the freezer

Lol. Voting is the least effective form of civic engagement. As if voting for “your guy” is going to solve all the problems. Even if “your guy” wins, he needs to be held accountable. If “your guy” doesn’t win, you still need to make your voice heard by contacting them directly and regularly.

By all means we all need to vote, but don’t think for one seconds that’s the answer to our problems.

$3/dz for superior farm fresh eggs from a local gal. Pretty easy to find similar prices in most locations. Something to consider if $5 grinds your gears.

Specifically related to eggs, the effects of avian influenza are still occurring. Its not as active as it was in the spring, but it takes a long time for the supply chain to catch back up. Additionally, the price of chicken feed is sky high because the price of the ingredients like corn and soybean meal is very high.

I’ve been paying $2.99/dozen for a while now. For a long time I can remember them being $1.99/dozen and even down to $0.99/dozen when they were on sale.

mark-bruzek wrote:

Vote appropriately and voice your opinions regularly.
Lord knows the other side is doing their fair share of whining…

To not turn this political and not get another post shut down all I will say is this. I don’t care who you Vote for, but make sure you GET OUT AND VOTE. It is one of the only ways you can make a difference. Even though there are some here who don’t believe that any political party has any control over inflation or almost anything that goes on around them in this country.

My kids sell their backyard eggs for $2 a dozen. They may have to rethink their business strategy.

biggill wrote:

Lol. Voting is the least effective form of civic engagement. As if voting for “your guy” is going to solve all the problems. Even if “your guy” wins, he needs to be held accountable. If “your guy” doesn’t win, you still need to make your voice heard by contacting them directly and regularly.

By all means we all need to vote, but don’t think for one seconds that’s the answer to our problems.

Biggill – If you feel that voting ( and who you vote for ) does not make a difference, Why would you then also say ” By all means we all need to vote ” If it really doesn’t matter then why bother.
Also, who do you mean when you say contact them directly? Have you done so, and has it helped the cost of anything by doing so?

I also find it interesting that some of the higher end foods like organic chicken and pasture raised eggs I’ve been buying in past years is about the same price and sometimes cheaper than the regular stuff now.

There are things in play other than overall inflation, such as the consumer price index, which looks more specifically at things like groceries, which have a whole lot of other variables of their own independent of inflation. The economy can be doing great and inflation down but groceries could still go up if we have things such as avian flu, or something that wipes out a lot of cattle.

Things like OPEC, the Saudis, and the Russians affect our gas prices.

Animal health and populations (avian flu as mentioned) affect groceries.

Supply & demand, building materials, etc. affect home prices, with mortgage interest rates potentially being their own category.

It’s a lot more complicated than the “blame that guy in office that I don’t like” take.

fishthumper wrote:

Biggill – If you feel that voting ( and who you vote for ) does not make a difference, Why would you then also say ” By all means we all need to vote ” If it really doesn’t matter then why bother.
Also, who do you mean when you say contact them directly? Have you done so, and has it helped the cost of anything by doing so?

First of all read and try and comprehend what I wrote and don’t inject that I said it doesn’t make a difference. I said it was the least effective form of civic engagement.

Second of all, has voting ever helped the cost of anything? What do you do when your guy doesn’t win? Seems like these days the norm is to become crybabies and threaten violence.

Have you ever heard of contacting your representative? Your city council members? School board members? Contacting them matters. I’ve sent emails to my representatives even though I didn’t vote for them and they have on several occasions called me back asking me quite directly what matters to me. Have you ever done so? I didn’t vote for this person but they at least took the time to ask me what I want them to do. All because I reached out.

I gave up budgeting lol, My grocery bill is around $800 to $1000 for a family of 4.

Dan wrote:

There are things in play other than overall inflation, such as the consumer price index, which looks more specifically at things like groceries, which have a whole lot of other variables of their own independent of inflation. The economy can be doing great and inflation down but groceries could still go up if we have things such as avian flu, or something that wipes out a lot of cattle.

Things like OPEC, the Saudis, and the Russians affect our gas prices.

Animal health and populations (avian flu as mentioned) affect groceries.

Supply & demand, building materials, etc. affect home prices, with mortgage interest rates potentially being their own category.

It’s a lot more complicated than the “blame that guy in office that I don’t like” take.

So are you saying that political parties have no control or effect on Inflation???

mark-bruzek wrote:

Vote appropriately and voice your opinions regularly.
Lord knows the other side is doing their fair share of whining…

well that didn’t take long for this thread to go political

Everything on this site doesn’t have to become a political argument does it?

Even a comment about the price of eggs?

Come on guys.

fishthumper wrote:

So are you saying that political parties have no control or effect on Inflation???

Nope, not at all what I said, if you want you can quote what part of my post gave you that indication.

Agreed. That’s why I have to go pheasant hunting this weekend, to provide food for the family. Just don’t do the math on that…

fishthumper wrote:

So are you saying that political parties have no control or effect on Inflation???

They absolutely do but not in ways you might think.

Taking things like a bird flu pandemic seriously and being prepared to put resources in place to mitigate the effects. Policies and programs are important here and removing them can have huge consequences.

Our dependence on oil is another. Regardless of how much we can produce, world markets control the price of oil. Less dependence on oil means we will be less affected by global prices.

Supply chain issues were caused in part by over dependence on a single source. Baby formula, China, microchips, etc. Bringing some of this stuff home is only part of the solution. Having multiple sources is far more important. Some of people running for office want to bring all of this home, because jobs. As if we need more jobs.

biggill wrote:

Have you ever heard of contacting your representative? Your city council members? School board members? Contacting them matters. I’ve sent emails to my representatives even though I didn’t vote for them and they have on several occasions called me back asking me quite directly what matters to me. Have you ever done so? I didn’t vote for this person but they at least took the time to ask me what I want them to do. All because I reached out.

Yes I have on many occasions. They have often told me that if they are not the party in control, there is little they or their party can do to change things. So I’m saying it has far more to do with doing what you can to get the right people in place ( Voting ) than to contact the wrong people after they are in place. This is my take, If you feel different then that is fine.
I’m sorry if I misunderstood your comment about voting not making a difference or having a effect. When you said ” As if voting for “your guy” is going to solve all the problems. I took that as you saying that who gets voted in doesn’t matter.

Dan wrote:

It’s a lot more complicated than the “blame that guy in office that I don’t like” take.

Exactly.

It’s also interesting to me that on one hand there are constant complaints that the country is “turning socialist/communist”. And then the same people say prices are too high and the President/congress/governor/insert political party they don’t like, should step in and interfere with free markets to lower prices. Ummm…isn’t that…

Inflation is part of a natural economic cycle regardless of which party is in charge. The problem is that historically inflation rarely comes out to be the healthy 2-4% a year rise over the long term, it moves in swings. We’ve had low inflation by historical standards for decades now and yet the swing comes and it’s all down to [insert politician/party I don’t like here].

I suppose taking you fight to PM’s or starting another thread is out of the question?

Dutchboy wrote:

I suppose taking you fight to PM’s or starting another thread is out of the question?

Are you jealous it’s not yours?

The hardest part to stomach is that most of the inflationary action is likely to set permanent price floors. Labor costs rarely go down in history and it’s looking like energy costs will likely never plummet again either.

To combat crazy prices we buy our beef in bulk from a local farmer for a fraction of what grocery costs are. I get eggs for free from a coworker who I advise and watch out for when they are gone. Our family will also eat venison and fish that we harvest. We don’t ever buy water or ice as our well water is great and we have freezers. We grow tons of our own sweet corn (freeze enough to last all year) and have a nice patch of grapes, along with rhubarb. We also get buckets of black caps by the house in mid summer and a few apples in the fall from our 2 lonely apple trees.

Dan wrote:

There are things in play other than overall inflation, such as the consumer price index, which looks more specifically at things like groceries, which have a whole lot of other variables of their own independent of inflation. The economy can be doing great and inflation down but groceries could still go up if we have things such as avian flu, or something that wipes out a lot of cattle.

Things like OPEC, the Saudis, and the Russians affect our gas prices.

Animal health and populations (avian flu as mentioned) affect groceries.

Supply & demand, building materials, etc. affect home prices, with mortgage interest rates potentially being their own category.

It’s a lot more complicated than the “blame that guy in office that I don’t like” take.

Good response Dan. Well stated and thought out.

The current drought is causing a big cattle sell off at this time. Beef prices will be stable for a while because of it, but in a year they will going up because there is less supply.

Following up on Biggill’s comment ” Regardless of how much we can produce, world markets control the price of oil.” – absolutely true. If oil pumped in Texas, California, Alaska, North Dakota, etc., can be sold off shore for a greater profit it’s in a tanker and moving immediately. Production on shore adds jobs and revenue streams to the U.S. economy, all to the good, but does not save Americans a dime at the pump.

Reef W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
I suppose taking you fight to PM’s or starting another thread is out of the question?

Are you jealous it’s not yours?

You and Crappie both need to pay better attention.
Much like the OP on this thread I just provide the subject, the responders decide which direction the thread goes.

2.50 a dozen farm fresh right down the road. Bring your own carton and it’s 2 bucks. We catch and kill most our meat then buy beef and pork from a farmer down the road. The rest of the stuff is wildly expensive. Luckily my red bull has stayed the same price

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dan wrote:</div>
It’s a lot more complicated than the “blame that guy in office that I don’t like” take.

Exactly.

It’s also interesting to me that on one hand there are constant complaints that the country is “turning socialist/communist”. And then the same people say prices are too high and the President/congress/governor/insert political party they don’t like, should step in and interfere with free markets to lower prices. Ummm…isn’t that…

Inflation is part of a natural economic cycle regardless of which party is in charge. The problem is that historically inflation rarely comes out to be the healthy 2-4% a year rise over the long term, it moves in swings. We’ve had low inflation by historical standards for decades now and yet the swing comes and it’s all down to [insert politician/party I don’t like here].

^Bingo. Capitalism as an economic and political system is generally great, until the market swings to bite you in the @**. It hurts, but it will swing back again at some point. If you don’t support socialism (as I don’t), then the last thing you should be looking for are artificial price points or policies to control prices. Invest and manage your assets responsibly and know that things are cyclical while remembering that those who are elected to run this country care about staying in power first and foremost…not keeping your life affordable.

The tide will always go in and out regardless of who is in office or controls different lawmaking bodies. When it goes out (as it may here soon), we will definitely see who has been swimming naked all along.

Brad Dimond wrote:

Following up on Biggill’s comment ” Regardless of how much we can produce, world markets control the price of oil.” – absolutely true. If oil pumped in Texas, California, Alaska, North Dakota, etc., can be sold off shore for a greater profit it’s in a tanker and moving immediately. Production on shore adds jobs and revenue streams to the U.S. economy, all to the good, but does not save Americans a dime at the pump.

Another great post! It’s great to see some people here have taken an economics class before or at least understand the processes involved.

Capitalism 101 – commodities are sold to the highest bidder…period. If you think oil companies should be forced to keep their sales stateside, then you in-fact are supporting socialist ideas.

We could ramp up all of our oil production to the highest manageable amount in the US and we’d just be selling most overseas. Job creation would be a positive, achievable outcome. Lowering oil prices in a global market for US consumers is not likely something that’s going to be achieved. We could pump in some subsidies to allow more domestic oil production and sales…but subsidies are also socialism. Darn it.