Dollar Tree has announced they will no longer carry eggs because they are too expensive to be feasible with their $1.25 storewide primary price policy.
Dollar Tree sometimes sells limited items for $3 or $5, but they could not make eggs work within their model.
The cost of eggs has increased by approximately 60 percent over the last year.
“Our primary price point at Dollar Tree is $1.25. The cost of eggs is currently very high,” company spokesperson Randy Guiler said, according to a report from the Washington Examiner.
Guiler told the outlet that they will once again start selling eggs when “costs are more in line with historical levels.”
According to the Examiner report, “this change will impact the grocery sections of about 8,000 Dollar Tree stores across the United States and Canada.”
The average cost of a dozen Grade A eggs was $4.21 last month, down from January’s $4.82 average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ data.
Rodney Holcomb, an agricultural economics professor at Oklahoma State University, explained the price fluctuations to the Associated Press.
“You’ve got a short supply — in large part due to avian flu and the impact it had on on our flocks. Then we saw prices just skyrocket more-so than it had in several years,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb explained that it takes time to raise new flocks of egg-laying chickens.
“It’s going to be six months before she’s a really, extremely productive day in, day out, egg-producing hen,” Holcomb said. “We lost so many back in the fall that it’s taken us a while, into January and February, just to start building our supply of chickens back out.”
The professor warned that egg prices are likely to go back up with Easter approaching and families rushing to buy them for decorating.
“I think we’re gonna see prices tick back up,” Holcomb said. “There’s been a lot of concern about what may happen with egg prices. If you look at USDA Economic Research Service data, out of all their predictions — changes in food prices and different categories for 2023 — egg is by far the highest and the most variable in terms of change.”
Holcomb suggested sticking with plastic eggs unless you plan to eat the ones you decorate.
“All of a sudden those plastic eggs, just filling them with candy and prizes, they’re starting to look a whole lot better,” Holcomb said. “And if you’re gonna boil some eggs in color, hang on to them, because you might as well eat them. They’re worth the investment.”