Great Lobster Mystery: Food prices are soaring. So why are prices for the delicious crustacean falli

[rockzilla]

http://www.slate.com/id/2196990/

Recent Slate article. Lobster going for $5.50 a pound (okay, in Maine, but still)

Maybe sheds some light on todays thread-that-will-be-unnamed?

Quote:

"Based on my intensive investigations, it seems that prices for both the commodity (lobsters sold on the docks) and the finished product (steamed lobsters sold at dockside restaurants) are lower than they've been in past years. In a seafood store in downtown Portland, a pound of lobster ($5.49) went for pretty close to what I had paid for a gallon of gas in Connecticut the day before ($4.30). A few years ago, the pound-of-lobster-to-gallon-of-gas ratio would have more like 4-to-1. Our hosts welcomed us with two-pound lobsters that cost less than a pound of steak."




RZ

 

[violet02]

I''m not sure if this applies to my story but I was just talking to my FI tonight about a co-workers camping trip this past weekend... apparently he brought 25 lobsters to grill and there were less than 25 people there. I was like wow, how was he able to buy so many aren''t they pricey? My FI said something about him buying them in bulk? I don''t know... I thought it was weird though and then I see your post about cheap lobster!

 

[Maisie]

Can you believe I am 37 years old and have never tasted Lobster?

 

[absolut_blonde]

It might be cheaper at the stores (haven''t checked lately) but it''s definitely not cheaper in the restaurants here! We celebrated our anniversary last month and the lobster on the menu was $.

 

[neatfreak]

Makes sense to me...the first things people cut out in an economic crisis are "fancy" foods. Demand falls and so the price falls to try and compensate for the lost sales. If they can't sell a lobster at $10/lb they either have to literally eat their losses or sell it for less...

Just basic economics at work here.

 

[Dee*Jay]

My husband grew up in New Hampshire and he's amazed and appalled at what lobster costs here in the midwest. When he was a kid lobster was "poor people food" in his neck of the woods!

 

[Anna0499]

Date: 8/19/2008 10:47:28 AM
Author: neatfreak
Makes sense to me...the first things people cut out in an economic crisis are ''fancy'' foods. Demand falls and so the price falls to try and compensate for the lost sales. If they can''t sell a lobster at $10/lb they either have to literally eat their losses or sell it for less...

Just basic economics at work here.

Bravo neatfreak!

I hated drawing out those curves for Economics class!

 

[Dancing Fire]

we have a chinese restaurant in town that serves a 1.25 lb Maine lobster over noodles for $13

 

[sumbride]

That makes me want to go to Maine! if only I could afford the gas to get there...

Stopping for lobster on the side of the road was the highlight of my last trip there. YUM.

 

[fleur-de-lis]

Date: 8/19/2008 10:47:28 AM
Author: neatfreak
Makes sense to me...the first things people cut out in an economic crisis are ''fancy'' foods. Demand falls and so the price falls to try and compensate for the lost sales. If they can''t sell a lobster at $10/lb they either have to literally eat their losses or sell it for less...


Just basic economics at work here.

Hmm, great observation.

I guess it''s related, but over the last few years I''ve been noticing our regular filet mignon creeping up from $22.99 a pound to $26.99 to most recently $30.99; you can imagine my surprise last week when I went to a run-of-the-mill grocery store and saw it on sale for **$5.99/POUND**! (Having seen so many complaints and news stories about rising gas and food prices, I figured that the newly budget-conscious had stopped picking it up altogether.)

f-d-l

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 8/19/2008 1:10:58 PM
Author: fleur-de-lis

Date: 8/19/2008 10:47:28 AM

Author: neatfreak

Makes sense to me...the first things people cut out in an economic crisis are ''fancy'' foods. Demand falls and so the price falls to try and compensate for the lost sales. If they can''t sell a lobster at $10/lb they either have to literally eat their losses or sell it for less...



Just basic economics at work here.

Hmm, great observation.


I guess it''s related, but over the last few years I''ve been noticing our regular filet mignon creeping up from $22.99 a pound to $26.99 to most recently $30.99; you can imagine my surprise last week when I went to a run-of-the-mill grocery store and saw it on sale for **$5.99/POUND**! (Having seen so many complaints and news stories about rising gas and food prices, I figured that the newly budget-conscious had stopped picking it up altogether.)


f-d-l

Hehe, that''s what I get for being in a Public Policy Ph.D. program, LOTS of economics.

Certainly a nice time to have a bit of extra cash though, since food staples are so expensive the "fancy" stuff is a steal!

 

[Miranda]

Yum yum! I''ll have to go eat some lobster! I wish I could find it for $5.50. It''s pricey here in restaurants, too.

 

[FrekeChild]

:::packing up shoes to move to Maine:::

 

[GoingCrazy29]

Here is a great article in Newsweek about this very topic: http://www.newsweek.com/id/154042

ETA: I realized it was the same article that Rockzilla originally posted, just on another site. Whoops- SORRY!