April 13, 2005
Judge each man favorably
I've seen a couple of bloggers who have taken issue with the high prices of Pesach products. Now I don't do the majority of the Pesach shopping in my house. However I do some shopping and while it's clear that the prices for Pesach products, I don't find the prices exorbitant. Of course there are a number of reasons why Pesach products are more expensive.
1) People are more careful about what they eat on Pesach necessitating a higher level of supervision. And there isn't the volume to offset the higher production costs.
2) The Pesach season for a Kosher supermarket will determine its success for the year. There's a need for higher margins to make this happen. (If the Kosher supermarket has enough Pesach season that are unsuccessful then it won't be in business for long.)
3) The same goes for Kosher for Pesach food producers. This is their main or only season. The money they make now has to support operations for the next year.
I bet that Critical Mastiff or possibly Biur Chametz could present the economics better than I did. But I hardly think there's a brewing scandal here. I think that the New York office of consumer affairs is grandstanding here posing as a champion of the regular guy against the greedy storeowners.
Actually in Baltimore there have downward price pressures on some items (notably Grape Juice) because regular chains are discounting them.
Posted by SoccerDad at April 13, 2005 01:34 AM | TrackBackZocher Ha-bris
Idiots
Abbas's job
Pop music trivia answers
Where I've been mentioned
This just in
Counterproductive
The half blood prince
Haveil Havalim #30 is up
Perceptions of Israel
I have a piece up. Your trackback isn't working, so here it is:
http://criticalmastiff.blogspot.com/2005/04/economics-of-pesach-food.html
Posted by: Mastiff at April 13, 2005 02:46 PMOne can save money by not buying the prepared foods. So many things are kp all year. But economically there are added expenses for the manufacturers, and it's hard for them to know quantities, since after Pesach, there's no market. It's only a week, or 9 days this year in chul, so you can live without some things. And things like bleach don't need a hechsher. Even the dumbest dog won't touch it.
Posted by: muse at April 19, 2005 12:05 AM[People are more careful about what they eat on Pesach necessitating a higher level of supervision. And there isn't the volume to offset the higher production costs.]
A fair idea, but false. No EXTRA supervisions is required. The same number of supervisors can keep an eye out for the Pesach issues. You dont need to hire anyone new, or anything like that.
[The Pesach season for a Kosher supermarket will determine its success for the year. There's a need for higher margins to make this happen. (If the Kosher supermarket has enough Pesach season that are unsuccessful then it won't be in business for long.)]
So what? This doesn't justify price gouging or the caollaberating between stores that makes the prive gouging possible.
[The same goes for Kosher for Pesach food producers. This is their main or only season. The money they make now has to support operations for the next year.]
So what? This doesn't justify price gouging or the caollaberating between producers that makes the prive gouging possible.
Why the excuse making for greedy businessmen? Do you just hate poor people?
Posted by: dovbear at April 19, 2005 01:38 PM