| ▲ | dsr_ 4 hours ago |
| The article text cites a comment about ice cream becoming unaffordable. The numbers show reduced prices for milk and butter (e.g. cream), and sugar remaining constant. Thus: ice cream is being priced too high. |
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| ▲ | lm28469 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| If you try it at home you'll realise combining milk, butter and sugar in a bowl doesn't create ice cream. And when you figure out how to create ice cream you'll realise moving said ice cream to a place where you can sell it requires extra steps too |
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| ▲ | dylan604 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | You also have to learn how to do it without adding things like listeria which seems like a difficult task for at least one brand after multiple rounds of recalls. | |
| ▲ | Loudergood 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | How does the cost of chilling, packaging, and moving 1/2 Gallon of ice cream differ from 1/2 Gallon of frozen dairy dessert? |
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| ▲ | infecto 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Labor costs have risen. There are other inputs than a handful of raw materials. |
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| ▲ | snake42 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Even if ice cream is lower, if the price of staples is going up you have to make cuts elsewhere. |
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| ▲ | kbelder 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Ice cream is being priced too high if the ice cream sellers would make more money by decreasing the price of ice cream. If they wouldn't, it is appropriately priced. Or, from the buyer's perspective, it is priced appropriately if the total amount buyers would spend on it would go down if the price is lowered or raised. There isn't a correct intrinsic price that an object should be sold at that can be calculated based on the ingredients and labor. That idea is one of the fundamental flaws of Marxism. Price is a compromise between the buyers and sellers, based on the values of each. |
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| ▲ | heisenbit 23 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | This story is a fiction pitting the seller and buyer against each other in a context free vacuum. The reality is that between buyer and seller there are channels which are either under control of the seller or another powerfull third party. The playing field is very difficult to enter for new sellers and the number of sellers has been going down for a long time tilting the playing field more and more against the buyer. | |
| ▲ | Edman274 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Is it completely insane and incoherent to imagine a situation where ice cream has two equilibrium prices, one higher and one lower, and the market just settles on the higher one? Like, imagine a case where Jeni's would start losing money on every pint if they reduced the price by a dollar, but they'd make the same amount of money overall if they reduced it by 3. But they're in a local optimum, the "price reduced by 3" is identical for revenue purposes, and they choose their current local optimum. Then ice cream could still be priced too high and be "appropriately priced". Is this impossible? | | |
| ▲ | dragonwriter 24 minutes ago | parent [-] | | > Is it completely insane and incoherent to imagine a situation where ice cream has two equilibrium prices, one higher and one lower, and the market just settles on the higher one? It it completely insane? No. But draw a set of supply and demand curves that supports it, and then try to come up with a narrative that explains them. In the static, same time, all other things being equal case, it is hard to do. |
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| ▲ | jandrese 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Maybe the milk and butter were local while the ice cream was imported and hit with tariffs? |
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| ▲ | bpt3 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Does ice cream need to be affordable to 100% of US households, regardless of their other budgeting decisions? That's the implication of your comment. |
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| ▲ | dylan604 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I've reduced my ice cream intake close to 0 solely based on price. Specifically, I remember the prices from long ago to the current just under $10. To me, ice cream should not be the same price of a cheap bottle of wine or other alcohol as an example comparison. We all have our own individual red lines, but ice cream prices crossed mine some time ago | |
| ▲ | VLM 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | The implication is economic decline. Healthy economies "should" have a reward for specialization where both supplier and purchaser win. There is no reward anymore for economic specialization in the context of ice cream; its cheaper to make your own, now. This is a troubling long term implication for any *-as-a-service There's a second even worse economic implication in that ice cream has long been affordable to 100% of US households... Now due to permanent long term economic decline its seen as acceptable losses for some not to afford it anymore. Again, troubling long term implications. | | |
| ▲ | bpt3 31 minutes ago | parent [-] | | 1. Ice cream has never been affordable to 100% of US households. 2. I strongly suspect the couple in the article could afford ice cream if they brought less beef, less name brand items, or were just more savvy shoppers. 3. I don't know how you determined that it's cheaper to make your own ice cream, but I would say that's generally inaccurate based on personal experience and a basic assessment of input costs and a reasonable value on your time. 4. If you really feel like ice cream is overpriced, you have identified an opportunity! |
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| ▲ | quietsegfault 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| First, I think you're probably right that ice cream is priced too high compared to its inputs. But maybe there are other factors? What about energy? One would assume that ice cream has a higher energy requirement than other "treat" style products? Are there specific tariff impacts on ice cream manufacturing equipment? |
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| ▲ | binary132 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| it may be that the costs of labor, distribution, and manufacture (for various reasons) have been increased |
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| ▲ | fwip 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Could be. But also, ice cream manufacturers buy their ingredients more cheaply than consumers do. It is very possible that the cost of milk/butter/sugar at Walmart reflect Walmart deciding to lower their profit margins on these items, even if the cost to Walmart has increased. Or - Walmart is a big enough supplier that they have stable contracts with manufacturers, and are able to purchase their ingredients for the same cost as always, while Turkey Hill et al is competing over what's left. (Like Apple, buying up TSMC runs.) |
