Around here they are about twice as mad as OPEC. $3.79 to $4 a gallon a milk mad. A slice of pizza is now more than four dollars-- one slice.
This reminds me of when iceburg lettuce went buck wild last year (or was that the year before last?) when they went from .69 cents a head to about two dollars. Things went back to normal after a while. I hope the same thing happens with the milk.
How are the milk prices in your neck of the woods?
My daughter and I are both lactose intolerant, so we buy Dean’s Easy lactose-free milk, which ranges from 2.59 to 3.29 a HALF gallon. The WryGuy mentioned that it’s cheaper for us to buy Lactaid drops and regular milk, but we discovered that the drops do not work very well for either of us, so we just do our best to stretch our half-gallons.
It’s about 3.79 if I’m lazy, i.e, if I walk across the street. If not (about three blocks), I can get two for $5.00. I think they take a loss on it though, kind of to get people in the store.
One local chain has made a decision to artificially keep the milk prices low, so a gallon, last time I checked, was $1.99.
So, of course the other main competitor in the area is being forced to keep their milk prices at normal levels, too.
Mind you, it’s just the one gallon size that’s being subsidized: since I live alone, and don’t drink that much milk, I’m stuck buying the quarts at $1.21 for my last one.
Since it’s just me, I buy half-gallons. The last one I bought was $2.19, but most of the time I manage to schedule my trips so that they’re just around the “sell by” date - then I’ll pick up one with a .50 or .75 cent coupon on it, making it a lot more tolerable by my checkbook’s standards.
This may be due to where the smaller supermarket is getting their milk.
You see, when the ISB-OLU (International Sisterhood of Bovines and Other Lactating Ungulates) went on strike earlier this year over feed quality and lack of disclosure concerning the nature of retirement plans, some dairy farmers sold their union herds and bought scabs. Perhaps the small supermarket has a deal with one of those non-union dairies.
For my daughter’s whole milk- 1/2 gallon is $1.93. For the 1% milk we drink, it’s $2.93 a gallon. I buy the brand name milk, the generic isn’t much cheaper.
I don’t buy milk, but I noticed cheese is getting expensive, no doubt as a direct result of milk prices. Standard store-brand cheeses like cheddar are $5 a pound down here.
Yikes! I might not like much about Detroit, but the milk prices aren’t too bad, compared to what I’ve seen in this thread. At the local Meijer, a gallon is regularly $2.79 and goes on sale for $1.99 pretty regularly. I just got 12 oz of store-brand cheddar for $1.62.
Big supermarket had huge dairy “G” milk for 3.49. Store brand Moo (from the same dairy, mind you) is 3.75
The Commonwealth has a priceing law that does not allow milk to be a loss leader. There was one enterpriseing dairy owner who started up a small chain of storefronts that sold his milk. The big guys did not like it, and sic’ed the state on him.
Even though the dairy owner proved that he was makeing money on the milk, the AG made him raise his prices.
The store that was by me is now empty and abandoned.
And of course everyone involved, but the little guy, will say, with a straight face that the whole purpose behind the law is to protect the consumer. :smack:
Do you mind if I ask which Commonwealth you are in? PRM? Virginny? Or one of the other ones?