I am home sick today and was channel surfing. I came across an “I Love Lucy” rerun. The show about the Ricardos and the Mertzs going into the egg business. Lucy says that they can sell the eggs for 75 cents per dozen.
It is nearly 50 yrs later and I bought eggs last week for 57 cents/dz.
Thinking back when I did the weekly grocery shopping for my working single mother back in the late 70’s, I think eggs were something like 90 cents per dozen.
If this is true, then eggs haven’t experienced any inflation in the last 50 years. Is the supply of eggs that much more than demand? I would assume that the consumption rate of eggs hasn’t changed too much per person.
Well, it likely depends on the size of the eggs, since they would range from medium to jumbo, and from the last time I went shopping for eggs, jumbo eggs would be roughly $1.50 a dozen.
Egg production and distribution improvements have kept the supply-side way ahead of the demand curve.
Many items are much ‘cheaper’ (cost versus household income) nowadays.
Actually, many crops ‘suffer’ from low prices because we still overproduce crops, which drives prices way dwon. Generally, it is accepted that farmers overproduce or we have too many farmers.
Fifty years ago I would guess that a family farm had a cute little henhouse and then sold eggs from there. Now there’s massive factories with 80,000+ hens with everything automated. It’s just economies of scale.
I’m with RealityCheck. Where did you find eggs for 57cents a dozen? The cheapest I’ve ever seen is 99cents, and those were eggs I bought directly from the farm, so no added costs of shipping. Were these eggs in the discount bin? Slightly used?
Eggs are sold in different grades (freshness). Most eggs are Grade A, but the 57 cents a dozen could have been Grade B. And then there is USDA certified. Costco sells a carton of 18 eggs for about $2, yet next to those cartons are 18-egg cartons selling for about a dollar less for two of them. The former are USDA certified. The latter are not. I bought the USDA certified, and the eggs just look better before cracking them. The shells appear harder and seem fresher.
Piggly-Wiggly will give you a carton of Grade A, large eggs free with a $10 purchase during most weeks, on their weekly special. You can also get a carton free with the S&H stamps, now called Greenbax stamps.
Quick, someone tell me again why I live in a big city? Eggs are normally right around $2 here. Jewel just had their big holiday sale and the eggs went all the way down to 99 cents.
Have you ever heard the term “trying to put food on the table”? That used to be meant in the literal sense for non-wealthy people up until the middle of the 20th century. Egg, milk, meat and other common food prices have fallen drastically to the point where anyone but the poorest of the poor doesn’t have to worry about purchasing food staples anymore. That was a real concern at one time.
I love eggs, but I think they need some better P.R. - They had that one slogan: “The incredible edible egg.” Oh, gee - they’re actually edible? I would certainly hope so.
An old preacher retired from the ministry after 50 years behind the pulpit.
His dutiful wife was glad to have him home with her all day now, but she advised him not to go sneaking around in her private things. Above all else, she told him, he was not to look in the white box with the red ribbon wrapped around it.
Well after a few days of the box burning away at his curiosity, the old preacher finally gave in to temptation one day while his wfie was at the market, and peeked in the box.
In it, he found three eggs, and about six thousand dollars in small bills! :eek:
When his wife got home, the old preacher confessed his wrongdoing and begged his wife’s forgiveness.
“I just have to ask,” he said tearfully, “what does this mean? Three eggs and six thousand dollars?”
“Every time you preached a boring sermon,” she replied, “I would put an egg in the box.”
“Three eggs,” he thought to himself. “Not bad.” “But what about the money?” he asked.
“Well, every time I reached a dozen eggs, I’d take them to the market and sell them.”
During the fall, when we were cooking for mobs of people at Faire, we bought the 15 dozen cartons at Costco. Insanely cheap at something like $6 a box and perfectly edible and tasty. I’m not sure what USDA certification confers on an egg, but it’s not like our uncertified eggs were missing the yolks or were green inside.
Besides, if you’re hard-boiling eggs, the slightly older ones will peel much more easily than fresh ones.
It drives me nuts. On “The Price is Right” the cost of Eggland’s Best eggs is the ONE CONSTANT on the whole show. Not only can the contestants never guess the price of them, they have never, EVER been that price in any store I’ve been in in my area.
(For the record I think it’s either $1.59 or $1.89…where I live it’s usually more, and while I live in a “pricey” area, I CANNOT believe it’s pricier than Los Angeles! COME ON!)
