Looks like Roblaw’s at it again… robbing the working class to keep obscene profits rolling to the Parasite Class. And I bet the farmer who raised those turkeys get only a few dollars per.

  • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    They seem to be $2.50 a pound across Ontario at Independent (including the one in St Mary’s), $2 a pound at some other Loblaw stores, both of which are cheaper than Walmart at $3 a pound.

    Maybe the uproar made them change their price.

    That said, I’m pretty sure my dad paid $80 for our 20lb turkey last year. I only remember cause he was bitching about it and I had to ask him if that was expensive lol.

    • DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Dollar per kg conversion for those numbers, this is /Canada on .ca after all:

      • The Turkey the dad bought last year: $8.82/kg
      • The Butterball in the picture may be as cheap as $7.45/kg, or as expensive as $9.11/kg
      • Walmart $6.61/kg
      • across Ontario at Independent $5.51/kg
      • other Loblaw stores are $4.40/kg

      Were all the prices you saw the same brand?
      I don’t eat animals, so I don’t really have a solid price in my head for what it should cost. I do remember as a child that Butterballs were more expensive, so we never had one.

      • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Yes, all the exact same product as the one discussed in the article.

        (Except my dad’s last year, I have no clue what he bought.)

      • pbjamm@beehaw.org
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        1 month ago

        I bought a Butterball yesterday at my local YIG and it was $5.49/kg

        Not the best price I have ever seen, but not terrible.

  • dessimbelackis@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    And what happens to all the ones they don’t sell? You guessed it, dumpster. Probably call the cops on you if you try to pull one out too

    • rekabis@lemmy.caOP
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      1 month ago

      At least in Western Canada, dumpster diving has become impossible: all major chains now have fully enclosed dumpsters that attach to the side of the building, and can only be accessed from inside the building. Plus, most of these are compactor units, which crush the contents down into the dumpster portion that gets hauled away.

    • Grappling7155@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I would hope that they would be able to forecast demand reasonably well and use any extra for other products that might sell better in between holidays, like cold cuts, before it gets stuffed and packaged up only to end up in the dumpster.

      • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Folks sometimes forget that actually selling the thing is a part of the greedy profit maximizing goal

  • Icalasari@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    I love the one comment on the article calling $82 normal

    About $9 a kilo,$4 a pound, yes that’s about right. Lately chicken has been $11 a kilo.

    • ladicius@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      In Germany good quality meat costs about 25 EUR per kilogram. Everything under 10 EUR per kilo is considered low quality.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 month ago

        i wouldn’t say it’s low quality, just not luxury meat.

        like ground pork is perfectly fine, it’s basically the definition of the concept of meat, it’s just that a beef steak is pretty fancy.

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        This seems normal for western Europe. Meat prices will range from roughly 4 to 55 euros per kilo, ranging fro shitty chicken to prime beef cuts.

    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      That’s a normal price for semi-decent chicken.

      Here, the price for a normal, decent chicken is 22 to 26 euros. It gets you a bird that has lived a normal life, has been outside most of its life, hasn’t been injected with weird shit, has eaten normally and has led a regular chicken life. That’s if you buy direct from the producer though (through the many ways to get stuff directly). Otherwise, you can possibly double the price.

      • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        It’s hard to find good quality meat these days, I eat a lot less meat than I used to.

        The quality is not what it was 5-10 years ago and the prices are much higher. When I go grocery shopping I feel like I scour the meat section for anything that is both a good price and looks good, and most of the time I just leave unsatisfied. I bought a chest freezer so now I stock up when there’s an actually good deal.

        Vegetables have gotten worse too. I have to double check everything at the super store near me. Even things like beets and potatoes spoil quickly like they’re very old stock. I have to feel and smell everything before I buy it.

    • lobut@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I’m so stupid. I was like where else would turkeys be raised – if not a farm? Then I remembered about factory farming and felt horrible.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        That’s the thing. The industry actually calls them Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). They’re literally shreds where the animals are kept and fed until they are big enough to harvest

        Our turkeys live outside under the sky during the day and in secure open sided huts protected from the elements and predators at night.

    • AlmightyTritan@beehaw.org
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      1 month ago

      I think even if you don’t eat meat there’s reason to be mad. Cause they killed a bunch of animals, and put it at prices where people can’t afford to buy and thus might have even more waste. So a triple whammy of corporate greed, excessive animal farming, and food waste!

      On the plus side maybe people will be forced to buy more ethically farmed turkeys this year, or reduce meat intake all together, cause its looking like these are more expensive then any locally grown Turkeys I’ve seen.

      For additional context on my take: I do eat meat, despite being morally against factory farming. So, I try to reduce my intake of unethically farmed food and try to use as much of the animal as possible.

      • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        People will see the high price, decide not to get a turkey, and make roast potatoes or something instead. Hopefully something vegan, like roast potatoes.

        I like it better when the dead animal rots on the shelves. Because it means that the company that killed an animal made a financial loss, and next quarter they might decide to reduce their stock, since people aren’t buying. If people buy the dead animal, then the animal killers make money and they keep killing animals. If it becomes more profitable to kill half the turkeys and sell at double the price, then I’m glad. That’s half as many dead turkeys. That’s a good thing. I hope the economy is going that way. And I hope people realise due to this economic trend that they don’t actually need to eat meat every day.

      • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        I don’t see a triple whammy, it’s a nothing burger to me.

        1. If it’s a greedy markup on top of a product that I’m against, I don’t care
        2. Excessive animal farming… exists already regardless of price passed down to consumers
        3. We don’t any evidence these turkeys are going to waste at higher rates than before yet so this is just speculation

        So personally I don’t see any reason for me to be mad, though I empathize that folks who care about having turkey have their reasons.

        • Zoot@reddthat.com
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          1 month ago

          So you would rather they slaughter an excessive amount of animals that will then be entirely discarded, then to actually go to people to eat?

          • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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            1 month ago

            Yes. I would rather the animals’ deaths be entirely pointless and bring zero revenue to the animal killers.

            • Zoot@reddthat.com
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              1 month ago

              “Killing animals is wrong! Unless you’re pointlessly killing them so someone doesn’t profit from it!”

              Dude are you alright, cause wow, what a fucked up and incredibly disgusting view.

              • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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                1 month ago

                No, killing is still wrong when it’s pointless. You need to pay attention and take this discussion seriously. Killing that doesn’t benefit murderers is better than killing that benefits murderers, because murder shouldn’t be profitable.

          • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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            1 month ago

            No, I would prefer to see markets selling those at a loss so they don’t make a profit and food isn’t wasted. ~And hopefully that loss motivates them to plan for less consumption next year and/or reducing the amount they’re willing to pay producers, decreasing the profitability of the meat production industry.~

            But as I said before, there’s no evidence yet that the food waste is increasing due to price increases. This is just speculation from people who wouldn’t buy the thing because they fail to imagine that there are people who would.

    • Hydra_Fk@reddthat.com
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      1 month ago

      Oh the horror everyone became vegetarian and the prices rose, and the quality became shite.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      It has expanded Tofurky too. the small tofu ball is now $27…Personally I would have skipped it and made something else, but my wife felt Thankagiving is not thanksgiving without Tofurki LOL

  • bbbhltz@beehaw.org
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    1 month ago

    Butterball frozen turkeys are like 25% water, sugar, and salt. They’re nasty. That’s what I grew up on, And I thought they were the best of the best. One at Thanksgiving and another for Christmas! So great, plus the price is right, turkey is turkey, right?

    My mother mocked me for buying something else one year, so I can understand why people would be shocked. The waited too long, they have no backup, they think that having meat is a requirement of a healthy meal…

    But these birds aren’t worth the electricity used to freeze them.

  • adub@programming.dev
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    1 month ago

    They probably lose 2-3 Turkey’s for each one that makes it to market that is antibiotic free in the conditions they raise them in.