Current Events > High egg prices send profits at largest US producer soaring more than 700%

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/business/egg-profits-cal-maine/index.html

You must be thrilled, eggcorn

wtf

The French Revolution may have had some good points tbh

chicken prices are down at least

No guys it's just a shortage driving up the prices.

Shocked pika, etc

Antifar posted...

You must be thrilled, eggcorn

haha

Unsuprised_Pika posted...

The French Revolution may have had some good points tbh

more and more these days I agree

ScazarMeltex posted...

No guys it's just a shortage driving up the prices.

Well, it is. This is how price curves work. The market's supply has gone way down because another supplier lost an enormous number of chickens to disease. This means that selling at the normal price would results in shelves being bare. Raising the price to the point where they maximize the product of sales and price is the efficient thing to do.

Now, you might say, "But surely raising prices that much is unethical", but remember that publicly traded companies are obligated to say, "Fuck any externalities caused by our actions. We must make money and grow endlessly like a tumor so shareholders can profit."

Fuck capitalism

How many employees did they have to lay off to make up for these record profits

Ah, well, at least those chickens were exploited for a good cause.

the_rowan posted...

Now, you might say, "But surely raising prices that much is unethical", but remember that publicly traded companies are obligated to say, "Fuck any externalities caused by our actions. We must make money and grow endlessly like a tumor so shareholders can profit."

Something that is best for business can also be unethical.

25% markup on $4 is more than a 25% markup on 80 cents.

"you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/8/AAUJr4AAEVOo.jpg

I should have bought egg futures

TMOG posted...

lay

heheh

*cooks himself up a 3 egg omelette*

When chickens have disease, maybe we should switch to turkey or ostrich eggs. We shouldn't rely entirely on chickens

Unsuprised_Pika posted...

The French Revolution may have had some good points tbh

Bastille Day is such an underrated holiday

But muh inflation

Makes me glad to be a shareholder in big egg

all a result of the egg "shortage"

The real cause is greed. Eggs were the last thing that were cheep so they invented a crisis to justify raising prices

i saw there was more of the 5 dozen packages. eggs only went down about 10 cents per dozen compared to last month.
still limit 2.

Ubergeneral3 posted...

all a result of the egg "shortage"

The real cause is greed. Eggs were the last thing that were cheep so they invented a crisis to justify raising prices

You know you sound conspiratorial right?

People can point to inflation causing higher prices and talk about how bullshit it is, but using eggs as an example always seemed weird. It went high for a legitimate reason

ScazarMeltex posted...

No guys it's just a shortage driving up the prices.

Yep, lot of these "shortages" the last few years resulting in ridiculous profits.

emblem-man posted...

You know you sound conspiratorial right?

People can point to inflation causing higher prices, but using eggs as an example always seemed weird. It went high for a legitimate reason

When there is an actual shortage, prices are raised to balance out the loss of profits. They GAINED 700% after raising prices, which is pretty damn obvious that short supply was no issue.

MabusIncarnate posted...

When there is an actual shortage, prices are raised to balance out the loss of profits. They GAINED 700% after raising prices, which is pretty damn obvious that short supply was no issue.

No, ONE company gained 700%. The other suppliers lost tens of thousands of chickens. These guys' supply isn't hurt, but the price curve has shifted dramatically. If the price stayed the same, everyone who still can sell eggs would be selling out with people still willing to pay more. This is literally econ 100 stuff.

Don't you just love profiteering?

ScazarMeltex posted...

No guys it's just a shortage driving up the prices.

Well you see, supply chain...

Kaiganeer posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/2/8/AAUJr4AAEVOo.jpg

( O_o)

Guys, price gouging is a small price to pay for the freedom of capitalism

The rich/corporations know they can goug people and get away with it. Politicians collude with them and average citizens will just sit there and take it. Watch egg prices stay the same or barely go back down well after this "shortage".

And certain folks wonder why others hate capitalism.

emblem-man posted...

You know you sound conspiratorial right?

a lot of things that are objectively true sound conspiratorial

People can point to inflation causing higher prices and talk about how bullshit it is, but using eggs as an example always seemed weird. It went high for a legitimate reason

this is more like price gouging than inflation

the_rowan posted...

No, ONE company gained 700%. The other suppliers lost tens of thousands of chickens. These guys' supply isn't hurt, but the price curve has shifted dramatically. If the price stayed the same, everyone who still can sell eggs would be selling out with people still willing to pay more. This is literally econ 100 stuff.

It's literally the first sentence in the article.

"Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, reported revenue doubled and profit surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices."

The point is that there shouldn't be record profits in a shortage. The idea is that prices will rise to meet the shortage and the companies should only be making the same level of profit they would if there wasn't a shortage.

Key word is "should" and these companies raised prices well over what was fair and it resulted in this crazy profit for Cal-Maine Foods. It's greed, pure and simple.

Southernfatman posted...

average citizens will just sit there and take it

What would my course of action be? Protest? Write my congressperson? None of it matters.

Zazabar posted...

It's literally the first sentence in the article.

"Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, reported revenue doubled and profit surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices."

The point is that there shouldn't be record profits in a shortage. The idea is that prices will rise to meet the shortage and the companies should only be making the same level of profit they would if there wasn't a shortage.

Key word is "should" and these companies raised prices well over what was fair and it resulted in this crazy profit for Cal-Maine Foods. It's greed, pure and simple.

The article literally says Cal-Maine did not lose chickens, but tens of thousands of chickens were lost in the US. I don't understand why you even think you have a point here. If the price goes up, and one company does not have increased costs, then that company will make more money. Everyone that actually had to kill all their chickens is actually hurting right now.

bluezero posted...

What would my course of action be? Protest? Write my congressperson? None of it matters.

Mass strikes like how the French are doing. If enough people would show some solidarity with each other, it would cripple the country and the rich would be forced to not be a bunch of greedy, soulless ghouls. If that doesn't work, maybe take another page out of the French playbook. Americans are too cowardly and cowed though and half of them love being fucked by the rich.

Thanks, capitalism.

Southernfatman posted...

Mass strikes like how the French are doing. If enough people would show some solidarity with each other, it would cripple the country and the rich would be forced to not be a bunch of greedy, soulless ghouls. If that doesn't work, maybe take another page out of the French playbook. Americans are too cowardly and cowed though and half of them love being fucked by the rich.

Nothing would change, corporations own this country.

bluezero posted...

Nothing would change, corporations own this country.

That's not true, the one core fact of capitalism is that it's a machine that runs on debt and endless growth. The workers are the ones who generate that growth, the machine can't do a single thing without us and the owners can't tolerate slowdowns or stoppages. Enough of them will build a separate base of power from our current systems and bring them to their knees.

bluezero posted...

Nothing would change, corporations own this country.

Sad but true.

bluezero posted...

Nothing would change, corporations own this country.

They wouldn't if Americans (and I include myself) stop being a bunch of little coward cucks. The rich can't own the country when their heads are in the guil-I mean prison. I don't think that will ever happen so you're correct, but it doesn't have to be that way.

legendary_zell posted...

the machine can't do a single thing without us

There's always someone that can take your place. If not someone, then a machine. To achieve what's being suggested, 100s or 1000s of people would need to act at the same time, and that just won't happen. So again, as an individual, I have absolutely no power to change things.

the_rowan posted...

The article literally says Cal-Maine did not lose chickens, but tens of thousands of chickens were lost in the US. I don't understand why you even think you have a point here. If the price goes up, and one company does not have increased costs, then that company will make more money. Everyone that actually had to kill all their chickens is actually hurting right now.

exactly. My grocery store never even had an egg shortage at all, so my area probably gets them from that company.

Zazabar posted...

It's literally the first sentence in the article.

"Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, reported revenue doubled and profit surged 718% last quarter because of sharply higher egg prices."

The point is that there shouldn't be record profits in a shortage. The idea is that prices will rise to meet the shortage and the companies should only be making the same level of profit they would if there wasn't a shortage.

Key word is "should" and these companies raised prices well over what was fair and it resulted in this crazy profit for Cal-Maine Foods. It's greed, pure and simple.

I don't think you fully understand what the article was about.

ONE company showed a 700% rise in profit because they were basically the only game in town. Their production didn't change at all, but the prices rose to meet to the demand.

This is literally stuff you learn in the first week of an Economics class.

Let's make it simpler for you.

Three kids have a lemonade stand in three driveways next door to each other. They all charge 25 cents a glass.

Two of the 3 kids parents decide not to buy the supplies for them anymore, so now there only 1 kid selling lemonade on the block. He raises his price to $1 a glass.

Since his costs to run the stand do not change at all, the higher price result in a surge in profits, despite absolutely nothing changing other than the demand for his product going up.

Cal-Mane is that kid selling $1 cups of lemonade.

I just had two hard boiled eggs as part of the free complimentary breakfast there at the hotel.

bluezero posted...

There's always someone that can take your place. If not someone, then a machine. To achieve what's being suggested, 100s or 1000s of people would need to act at the same time, and that just won't happen. So again, as an individual, I have absolutely no power to change things.

There's not if we work together. It absolutely is possible. I don't see how giving up is a better option for you. You already seem to recognize what happens if you go that route. It'll be more of the same. We've done it before in even worse circumstances, so we can do it again. There's a reason you're not working a 14 hour shift at a mine right now, have a minimum wage, have a weekend, etc and it's because people saw greed like what we're experiencing now organized, joined together, withheld their labor, fought, died, and won. And that was in an era with no protections for labor and where private companies were hired to straight up kill workers, rather than just convince them not to unionize.

The only thing that allows the owners to get away with all this is the atmosphere of fear, and most of all apathy and futility they've created. That doing the one thing that works is impossible or nave to even think about. It's a strategy, it's their greatest hope and their greatest weapon, don't fall for it.