6 ms·

People don't feel like it's going well because they've been getting sticker shock every time they go to the grocery store for the last 2 years. Regardless of GD

People don't feel like it's going well because they've been getting sticker shock every time they go to the grocery store for the last 2 years. Regardless of GDP numbers, or Wall Street turning record profits, or medium income growing, people aren't used to and don't like seeing a carton of eggs selling for 8 or 9 dollars.

beej71 2y ago
What's really strange to me is that during COVID, the prices at our Safeway spiked and stayed high. The prices at our WinCo barely budged. And they're still low. These stores are 10 minutes apart.
fallingsquirrel 2y ago
The average price for a dozen eggs is $2.86. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111
- MeetingsBrowser 2y ago
  TIL eggs in my Texas suburb are 2x the national average.
  - AlotOfReading 2y ago
    The cheapest eggs at the store in my California suburb are 2x the nominal average. Looked up the online prices and averaged all the available dozens to find the "price average". It's the square of the nominal average ($8.20)
    - bryanlarsen 2y ago
      California and Hawaii are pretty much the only states that still have expensive eggs: https://pantryandlarder.com/eggspensive https://pantryandlarder.com/eggspensive
    - HDThoreaun 2y ago
      California agg laws ban most eggs produced in the US, which makes them much more expensive.
- mat_epice 2y ago
  At the moment, yes. For a short while, it was very hard to find eggs for less than $5-6 a dozen due to a supply issue. Since then, some egg prices have fallen back to normal. Some egg producers, however, have decided that this new price is just fine for them, so you can still see that price on the shelf.
  - mat_epice 2y ago
    Just as a data point, I saw a $9 dozen of eggs next to a $2.19 dozen of eggs at the grocery store today.
- cooper_ganglia 2y ago
  That's still quite expensive for a dozen eggs, no? I can buy a carton at my grocery store for $1.54.
- tiahura 2y ago
  Really? Check https://www.safeway.com/shop/search-results.html?q=12%20eggs https://www.safeway.com/shop/search-results.html?q=12%20eggs for your market. Next, check what a case of Coke costs and come back and tell me sticker shock isn't a thing.
  - davidfischer 2y ago
    While I agree with you to an extent, this is not a very good way to check actual in-store prices. Most grocery stores charge a different rate for products that are delivered or even curbsided than they do if you go to the store and buy it yourself. This is true even if you go directly vs. going through an intermediary like DoorDash. I live in coastal CA and the cheapest eggs at my local market are $3.49/dozen. Trader Joes and Costco are closer to $2.20/dozen if you just want plain white eggs. The moment you go organic, the cheapest is Costco at about $4/dozen. Edit: Just to be clear, at Costco you buy 2 dozen rather than 1 and I've divided the price to a single dozen.
    - Thorrez 2y ago
      For other stores the online price might be different from the in-store price. But I think for Safeway, the online price is the same as the in-store price (which is why the webpage says "Shopping at <address>").
      - davidfischer 2y ago
        I can't confirm if the price is the same or not, but their terms[1] specifically mention that the price can be different. > Prices for Offerings you order for delivery or pickup through the Online Grocery Ordering Service may be higher than the prices for such Offerings in our physical stores. Most outlets I've seen (eg. Target) are the same in that they just list a higher price on the website than it costs in-store and they're upfront about this. It takes me 20-25 minutes of in-store picking to shop including checkout for my weekly groceries. Even if that is done by a minimum wage worker (~$17/hr here) that's ~$6-8 of service on top of them bringing it out to the curb. In addition, eggs are usually specially packed in their own bag (frequently with a sticker on the bag labeled "eggs") when they're bought online and curbsided. It seems a bit naive to me to think that all this service would just be included/free. [1] https://www.albertsonscompanies.com/policies-and-disclosures/terms-of-use/default.aspx#section-2-6 https://www.albertsonscompanies.com/policies-and-disclosures... (linked from safeway's footer)
sanderjd 2y ago
People don't feel like it's going well because all the reporting on the high inflation of mid to late 2021 into early 2023 just kept on going with that same narrative after inflation stopped being high, and now people frequently read posts about how eggs cost like three times as much as they actually cost, and lots of people just blindly follow that narrative.
- xnx 2y ago
  A huge part of this is weak understanding (and poor explanation by the media) of inflation vs. price level. Inflation has decreased to normal levels, but most prices (i.e. those not affected by supply-chain issues) aren't going to go back to 2019 levels.
  - sanderjd 2y ago
    How did this happen though? Did they stop teaching introductory economics in high schools? I didn't learn about this in the media... I learned about it in school.
    - xnx 2y ago
      Inflation was so low for so long that people didn't have to think about it. Only people who lived through the 70's probably have meaningful firsthand experience. Everyone experiencing it today will consider it for the rest of their lives.
      - sanderjd 2y ago
        But I didn't live through the 70s, and I still learned what inflation is and how it differs from "price level", because we covered basic economics in high school... I really don't buy this thing about how things are confusing unless you have already experienced them!
      - peterdobs 2y ago
        To have the buying power that $200k/yr salary had in the 80s you’d need a $600k/yr salary now Math tricks; mostly loans with long term repayment obligations to a rent seeker, media obfuscation, have been used to hide the deflation of purchase power We know where it all went. Warren Buffet said the solution is simple, the people need to demand government raise his taxes. But the public thinks making $200k in 2024 puts them beyond the $60k/yr their parents made in 1990 so it’s cool

beej71 2y ago

What's really strange to me is that during COVID, the prices at our Safeway spiked and stayed high. The prices at our WinCo barely budged. And they're still low. These stores are 10 minutes apart.

fallingsquirrel 2y ago

The average price for a dozen eggs is $2.86. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111

MeetingsBrowser 2y ago
TIL eggs in my Texas suburb are 2x the national average.
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  The cheapest eggs at the store in my California suburb are 2x the nominal average. Looked up the online prices and averaged all the available dozens to find the "price average". It's the square of the nominal average ($8.20)
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    California and Hawaii are pretty much the only states that still have expensive eggs: https://pantryandlarder.com/eggspensive https://pantryandlarder.com/eggspensive
  - HDThoreaun 2y ago
    California agg laws ban most eggs produced in the US, which makes them much more expensive.
mat_epice 2y ago
At the moment, yes. For a short while, it was very hard to find eggs for less than $5-6 a dozen due to a supply issue. Since then, some egg prices have fallen back to normal. Some egg producers, however, have decided that this new price is just fine for them, so you can still see that price on the shelf.
- mat_epice 2y ago
  Just as a data point, I saw a $9 dozen of eggs next to a $2.19 dozen of eggs at the grocery store today.
cooper_ganglia 2y ago
That's still quite expensive for a dozen eggs, no? I can buy a carton at my grocery store for $1.54.
tiahura 2y ago
Really? Check https://www.safeway.com/shop/search-results.html?q=12%20eggs https://www.safeway.com/shop/search-results.html?q=12%20eggs for your market. Next, check what a case of Coke costs and come back and tell me sticker shock isn't a thing.
- davidfischer 2y ago
  While I agree with you to an extent, this is not a very good way to check actual in-store prices. Most grocery stores charge a different rate for products that are delivered or even curbsided than they do if you go to the store and buy it yourself. This is true even if you go directly vs. going through an intermediary like DoorDash. I live in coastal CA and the cheapest eggs at my local market are $3.49/dozen. Trader Joes and Costco are closer to $2.20/dozen if you just want plain white eggs. The moment you go organic, the cheapest is Costco at about $4/dozen. Edit: Just to be clear, at Costco you buy 2 dozen rather than 1 and I've divided the price to a single dozen.
  - Thorrez 2y ago
    For other stores the online price might be different from the in-store price. But I think for Safeway, the online price is the same as the in-store price (which is why the webpage says "Shopping at <address>").
    - davidfischer 2y ago
      I can't confirm if the price is the same or not, but their terms[1] specifically mention that the price can be different. > Prices for Offerings you order for delivery or pickup through the Online Grocery Ordering Service may be higher than the prices for such Offerings in our physical stores. Most outlets I've seen (eg. Target) are the same in that they just list a higher price on the website than it costs in-store and they're upfront about this. It takes me 20-25 minutes of in-store picking to shop including checkout for my weekly groceries. Even if that is done by a minimum wage worker (~$17/hr here) that's ~$6-8 of service on top of them bringing it out to the curb. In addition, eggs are usually specially packed in their own bag (frequently with a sticker on the bag labeled "eggs") when they're bought online and curbsided. It seems a bit naive to me to think that all this service would just be included/free. [1] https://www.albertsonscompanies.com/policies-and-disclosures/terms-of-use/default.aspx#section-2-6 https://www.albertsonscompanies.com/policies-and-disclosures... (linked from safeway's footer)

sanderjd 2y ago

People don't feel like it's going well because all the reporting on the high inflation of mid to late 2021 into early 2023 just kept on going with that same narrative after inflation stopped being high, and now people frequently read posts about how eggs cost like three times as much as they actually cost, and lots of people just blindly follow that narrative.

xnx 2y ago
A huge part of this is weak understanding (and poor explanation by the media) of inflation vs. price level. Inflation has decreased to normal levels, but most prices (i.e. those not affected by supply-chain issues) aren't going to go back to 2019 levels.
- sanderjd 2y ago
  How did this happen though? Did they stop teaching introductory economics in high schools? I didn't learn about this in the media... I learned about it in school.
  - xnx 2y ago
    Inflation was so low for so long that people didn't have to think about it. Only people who lived through the 70's probably have meaningful firsthand experience. Everyone experiencing it today will consider it for the rest of their lives.
    - sanderjd 2y ago
      But I didn't live through the 70s, and I still learned what inflation is and how it differs from "price level", because we covered basic economics in high school... I really don't buy this thing about how things are confusing unless you have already experienced them!
    - peterdobs 2y ago
      To have the buying power that $200k/yr salary had in the 80s you’d need a $600k/yr salary now Math tricks; mostly loans with long term repayment obligations to a rent seeker, media obfuscation, have been used to hide the deflation of purchase power We know where it all went. Warren Buffet said the solution is simple, the people need to demand government raise his taxes. But the public thinks making $200k in 2024 puts them beyond the $60k/yr their parents made in 1990 so it’s cool