Dollar Tree stores have recently elected to stop carrying eggs in their stores due to escalating prices for the staple grocery item remaining at insane levels.
Dollar Tree, which runs roughly 9,000 locations all over the nation, stated in a release given to a number of news outlets that the company will no longer be selling eggs until the price of the commodity stabilizes once again. Family Dollar, another subsidiary of Dollar Tree, will still be selling eggs.
“Our primary price point at Dollar Tree is $1.25. The cost of eggs is currently very high,” expressed Randy Guiller, a spokesperson for Dollar Tree, promising that the highly popular discount store will put eggs back on the shelves when “costs are more in line with historical levels.”
A recent influx of avian flu infections dropped the effective size of the American poultry flocks, spiking the costs of both chicken and turkey meat along with a severe increase in the price of eggs. One dozen large Grade A eggs back in February 2023 at a national average of $4.20, as reported by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking an increase of 110% from $2.01 back in February 2022 and a 163% rise from $1.60 in February 2021.
Headline inflation spiked by about 6.0% between February 2022 and February 2023, as reported in data issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing a modest drop from the 9.1% year-over-year levels seen in June 2022. Prices for food in home went up by a significantly higher 10.2% between February 2022 and February 2023, while costs for food away from home only went in up 8.4% over the same time frame.
Still, Old Uncle Joe stated that “annual inflation is down by a third from this summer” when giving a statement from the White House in response to the new data. He overtly failed to mention that inflation is close to three times higher than the observed 1.4% when he went into office in January 2021. “We will continue to make progress in our fight to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out, not top down,” exclaimed the president in his comments.
Dollar Tree has previously announced an increase in its standard price point from $1.00 to $1.25 in November 2021, marking the first move of its kind in close to forty years. Diluted earnings per share from the third fiscal quarter did increase by 25% between 2021 and 2022.
“Our third quarter sales performance reflects the timely execution of merchandising initiatives to drive our consumables business in this uncertain and inflationary environment,” stated Mike Witynsky, the CEO of Dollar Tree. “Same-store sales for both segments improved from the prior quarter and delivered a sequential monthly improvement throughout the quarter. Shoppers are responding to our new value proposition at Family Dollar and Dollar Tree as we focus on driving both traffic and store productivity.”
Historically, discount stores tend to do better in recessions and periods of economic uncertainty. “The efforts to evolve the assortment to drive consumables performance at Dollar Tree, combined with initiatives designed to improve the value proposition at Family Dollar, are working,” concluded Witynski. “We believe we will continue to be part of the solution to millions of households seeking value at a time when they need us most.”
