The NY Daily News reports: Retailers are overcharging New Yorkers for milk, City Councilman Eric Gioia charged.
The Queens Democrat, a public-advocate candidate, said the state Department of Agriculture is failing to monitor the price of milk in the five boroughs, allowing prices to reach up to $6 a gallon in Manhattan.
A survey of milk prices in each borough found prices by the gallon ranging from $2.50 to $4.99 in The Bronx, $2.69 to $5.99 in Brooklyn, $2.89 to $4.50 in Queens, $2.89 to $3.99 on Staten Island, and $2.25 to $6 in Manhattan.
The prices reflect mainstream brands of regular milk sold in delis, supermarkets and bodegas, Gioia said.
The survey did not identify individual stores, and Gioia said he doesn’t blame the retailers for the overpricing as much as the state agency.
The Agriculture Department is charged with regulating milk prices by setting limits on what merchants can charge. But he said department officials no longer list what the maximum prices are, leaving consumers exposed to gouging.
He called on the agency to resume publishing the threshold price – as well as post local average retail prices on the Web.
Officials with the department did not return calls yesterday.
Consumers can report suspected milk price-gouging by calling (518) 457-1772.
Retailers who want help on milk pricing can call (518) 457-5731.
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7 Responses
It would be better to have a baby over bed sheets. Having a cow over milk prices is quite ironic.
New York historically manipulates the milk market, and this causes higher prices. It is a feature, not a bug. Nationally, farmers are complaining about falling milk prices, since most states do not articifically inflate prices.
A free market system would result in lower prices, but would hurt those who benefit from the higher prices (farmers who are part of the system, retailers, etc.).
Hey Mr. Councilman, what about cutting all of those programs that you want for your constituents and then cutting our taxes by a hefty bunch?
😉 what a headline! Love it!
4, the price of the water in mayim yisroel plus that little bit of sour milk taste, costs more of course!
On a serious note, the farms are not in residential areas and the mashgiach needs to make it to the farms at all hours of the day or night. Its not an easy job even though to the layman it seems like it should be.
I got a gallon of Chalav Stam milk for 2.15 at Costco. How much can the mashgiach be making that charging 300% PER bottle is necessary to pay for his services?
7. The Jewish mafia (aka the Cholov yisrael hechshers) has realized that if you inundate children in yeshiva with the “dangers” of cholov stam and you compare it to tref from an early age, you can get them and their parents to spend twice as much for half the product. In europe there was no such thing as cholov yisrael milk. Even though todays consumers parents and grandparents were fine drinking the “tref” or cholov stam milk, it has some how become unacceptable.