What is the price of milk and buttermilk in your area?

[Darkstream]

In comparison to semi skimmed or full fat milk, what is the price of buttermilk for the same quantity?


EG list the price for 1 quart of full/semi milk and one quart of buttermilk.


Where I am, buttermilk is 400% more costly, eg if 1 quart of ordinary milk costs 50 cents, then 1 quart of buttermilk costs $2.00.

Is it the same for you?

Does anyone know why it should be so much more expensive?

Not a healthy alternative at that price.

 

[Audeo]

Well, this is not entirely accurate, as I found my milks both on sale this afternoon, but...

1 US Gallon of 2% milk was $1.89, while 1 US Quart of Lowfat Cultured Buttermilk was $.99. Normally, milk is at least $2.50 per gallon, while buttermilk is around $1.75 per quart!

Sounds like the same ratio as yours, if not worse normally!

Lately, for the last eight or nine months now, milk and dairy products have skyrocketed here to the point of being almost double in cost. The local Dairy Manager at the Tom Thumb grocery store I frequent states a state or national law that removes a store's ability to offer lower than market pricing is to blame. For the life of me, I can't find a legislative reference to that anywhere online. And you're not even stateside, are you Darkstream?

 

[wasabi]

Hang on to your pants everybody.....1 gal, 2% milk, the highest price here is $6.50 and the low is about $3.50.. And I drink alot of milk.

 

[Lifter]

Here in Canada, we have a "regulated" system, where dairy farmers are handed a "quota" that they can produce to, but not above (the excess gets sold off for "industrial milk" uses, or worse, is dumped down the drain, resulting in higher prices to both producers and consumers, as opposed the USA system of free market rules, where huge monopolies start to form...

I saw a "funny" cartoon after the USA Election, with a "pink" "United States of Canada", representing Canada and the Democratic States, and a "Jesus Loving Bible Belt" of all the Republican States...(and I add I'm certainly not attempting to offend anyone here!)...Democrats view Canada as Heaven, Republicans seem to view us as "Heck" (saw your "correction" on my last post1)

Anyways, milk here is "bagged" in four litre amounts for roughly $3.59 $Cdn (@ 0.83US$ rate of exchange), or in 2 litre cartons for about $3.50, reflecting more expensive packaging....

I've not bought buttermilk in ages, according to quick memory, but its expensive....leaving the cash potential for whipping cream and butter in the milk apparently drives the price nuts, but thats ALL going to the middleman, never the farmer...

Lifter

 

[middie]

2% right now is on sale for 1.99. few weeks ago it was 2.89 a gallon.
don't know about buttermilk though. have to check on that

 

[amber]

I buy a gallon of skim milk for approximately $3.50 per gallon here in Maine.

 

[SierraCook]

Yesterday in Reno, NV I paid around $2.20 per gallon of 2% milk. Here locally I normally pay about $3.25 per gallon of 2% milk. I have not bought any buttermilk lately.

 

[buckytom]

Hang on to your pants everybody.....1 gal, 2% milk, the highest price here is $6.50 and the low is about $3.50.. And I drink alot of milk.

wasabi, it would be cheaper to buy a cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[WayneT]

I just paid AUD$2.30 for a litre of milk but it is possible to get generic brands for AUD$1.95. Low fat versions are about 20-30c dearer. I think I will start drinking Petrol/Gas selling AUD$1.08 per litre today.

1 gallon [US, liquid] = 3.7854118 liter.

 

[Darkstream]

Audeo,

Looking at your ratios, the buttermilk is betweeen two to two and a half times more expensive than ordinary milk, not four times the price as it is in my locality.

This is still outrageous for what is a byproduct of another industrial process which has removed the valuable cream from the milk to make into butter.

Sounds like predatory pricing to me.

Incidently, did you just elect a COMMUNIST government? Government enforced price controls do not sound like the actions of a free market economy. Even where they have been tried in merely socialist counties they have been found not to work.

Finally, an examination of the language used shows that it is rubbish. What IS a market price? It is the price set in the market by willing buyers and willing sellers. Therefore, in order to HAVE a market price below which you cannot go, you first have to be ABLE to set your price wherever you want it. The stsatement is internally inconsistent.

I suggest you ask the manager for a full citation of the statute, clase number and subclause so you can look it up in the law library. It should at least give him something to think about!

There are some substatial price differences arround the US. Is it transport costs?

 

[crewsk]

Here milk is about $3.49 a gallon for the store brand. I don't know about buttermilk. It's rare that I buy buttermilk since no one drinks it. I usually add lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk if I need buttermilk for a recipe.

 

[Audeo]

Audeo,

Looking at your ratios, the buttermilk is betweeen two to two and a half times more expensive than ordinary milk, not four times the price as it is in my locality.

Indeed. Your math is correct! Mine was a wee bit tired, so thank you for making that point!

This is still outrageous for what is a byproduct of another industrial process which has removed the valuable cream from the milk to make into butter.

Sounds like predatory pricing to me.

Incidently, did you just elect a COMMUNIST government? Government enforced price controls do not sound like the actions of a free market economy. Even where they have been tried in merely socialist counties they have been found not to work.

Finally, an examination of the language used shows that it is rubbish. What IS a market price? It is the price set in the market by willing buyers and willing sellers. Therefore, in order to HAVE a market price below which you cannot go, you first have to be ABLE to set your price wherever you want it. The stsatement is internally inconsistent.

I suggest you ask the manager for a full citation of the statute, clase number and subclause so you can look it up in the law library. It should at least give him something to think about!

There are some substatial price differences arround the US. Is it transport costs?

Darkstream, I don't disagree with a single word! This is the very antithesis of a free economy. It makes no sense, but nevertheless exists. A local retail giant, known as WalMart, confirms the same regulations which preclude them from selling a myriad of items competitively, and they are in a unique position (by virtue of their size) to dramatically reduce the market price on products. I will, however, endeavor to find the specific citation, since it intrigues me also.

I'm certain that transportation costs significantly affect pricing. I'm sure this is the case for Wasabi in Hawaii, where everything (other than pineapples, lol!) is imported.

As they say, nothing in life is free...that obviously includes the US economy!

 

[middie]

3.49 a gallon crewsk??????????
go buy your own cow. might be
cheaper lol

 

[crewsk]

I have considered it middie! Luckly I only have to buy about 2 gallons a week. Unlike my sil who has to buy at least 8 gallons a week! She a & my brother have 4 kids & they drink is milk.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I had 3 uncles in the dairy business when I was a kid so I've known about this for a long time. All of them have passed away so I can't call and ask questions ... so I'm working from memory here. Agriculture is regulated (and subsidized) in one way or another by most governments around the world. While it might not seem fair to some on the surface ... it really protects us and keeps prices lower in the long run. It works as kind af an agricultural anti-trust. Imagine what the price of a gallon of milk would be if Microsoft owned all of the daries!

The basic laws that regulate milk are federal. To read them you go to the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) - they are found in Title 7 (Agriculture) - Subtitle B (Regulations of the Department of Agriculture) - Chapter 10 (Agriculture Marketing Service - Marketing Agreements and Orders: Milk) - Parts 900-1199. If you don't want to go to the library - you can find them here online at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_00/7cfrv9_00.html

Sustained dought conditions in parts of the US have done more to raise the price of dairy products than government regulations. If it doesn't rain the grass doesn't grow - nless grazing grass - which means either irrigation or supplimental feed (both are epensive) - so some daries have had to thin their herds to be able to afford some production due to the increased operating costs.

I have no idea why the price seemed to double overnight - but it appears that it is setteling back down. Like Audeo noted - it got up to almost $5/gal here for a couple of months - now it's back down to about $2.50.

Buttermilk - a byproduct of making butter? Not these days ... and I honestly don't know why. Check the carton - it says "Cultured". It's a specialty made product these days - like yogurt - so it's going to cost a little more.

 

[norgeskog]

I purchased a quart of 1% milk for $1.19 and a pint of buttermilk for .69. There seems to be another raising of dairy products, and coming next are tomatoes. We will need to find something else red for the salads this winter.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I saw something the other night on some news show about tomatoes, too, norgeskog.

Yep - time to lay in a store of tinned 'maters ....

 

[norgeskog]

I saw something the other night on some news show about tomatoes, too, norgeskog.

Yep - time to lay in a store of tinned 'maters ....

Someone on the local station went to a store here and bought a package of 3 lime-sized tomatoes still on teh vine, $9.00. Needless to say he put them back. I think it had something to do with the hurricanes in the south. I am not to certain where our tomatoes are grown but we will find out.

 

[Audeo]

Michael, once more I thank you for the additional insight. It really helps to look at the bigger picture -- thanks for bringing that better into focus!

 

[Psiguyy]

With the price of vodka approaching $30 a litre, who the heck can afford to drink MILK???