Another Look At That Thanksgiving Turkey -- November 10, 2022

Updates

10:15 p.m. CT, November 10, 2022:

After posting a note on Thanksgiving meal expenses, I ended up in an e-mail discussion with a reader from Minnesota. Both he and I were comparing notes on grocers giving frozen turkeys away as promotional items if customers bought $50 to $100 worth of groceries.

If grocers are giving away turkeys as promotional items that suggests to me there is not a shortage of Thanksgiving turkeys as the mainstream media would have us believe. 

I also noted the price: that a non-Butterball turkey was actually slightly less expensive than last year (although I might be comparing non-Butterball with Butterball turkeys). Be that as it may, you can still get a Thanksgiving turkey for less than $1.00 / pound.

Curious, the Minnesota reader simply typed in Butterball in his google search and this was his return:

Google/Walmart was tracking his location and referred him to a Mankato, MN, Walmart store. Note: this Butterball turkey at Walmart was priced at $1.18 / pound, a decrease from the "original" or perhaps competitor's price of a $1.70 / pound. 

This certainly suggests to me that there is not now a shortage of Thanksgiving turkeys and they aren't much more expensive than last year.

However: my hunch is that by the last week in November, before Thanksgiving Thursday, it may be hard to find a turkey at your local grocery story. Plan accordingly. 

.... it never quits. Now this, another google search that took me to Amazon:

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Original Post

From October, 2022:

New York Times: "turkeys will cost more than ever this year." Let's fact-check that.

Walmart, yesterday, turkey: $1.48 / pound, not Butterball.

Last year: $99 cents / pound. See here.

An increase of 50%. 

Well, let's taken another look. 

Yesterday at one of our "high end" grocers -- "high end" with regard to selection and quality for "foodies."

First, Butterball turkeys appear to have gone up from $1.00 / pound to $1.50 / pound, meaning that a 20-pound turkey will cost $30 this year compared to $20 last. Most Americans won't notice. 

But hold on for just a minute.

I assume any family of four (or more) will easily spend $100 on a grocery shopping trip this month. At that "high end" grocery store, if you spend $100 you get a free turkey, any size -- repeat, any size -- no hidden fees; no small print -- a free turkey. 

Unless someone pays you to "take" a turkey, I doubt you can find a less expensive turkey: $0.00 / pound.

 Okay, so there's that.

But let's say you don't want to spend a $100 on toilet paper, paper towels, wine, cranberries and a table floral arrangement, you can buy that same turkey for two cents less per pound than last year, at 97 cents / pound.

Americans have it pretty good.