Posted to NYC News on

Got Bilk? Grocers Do!

Sally Goldenberg Betwa Sharma – NY Post

NEW YORK , NY — New Yorkers are being milked for their hard-earned grocery dollars.

A whopping 86 percent of supermarkets, delis and bodegas throughout the five boroughs are charging above the state-mandated price ceiling for milk, according to a City Council survey released yesterday.

The survey found that 43 out of 50stores checked last November were charging an average of 40 cents above the state limit, which is set each month by the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

“It is no secret and it has been widely reported that the price of food has been consistently increasing in New York and across the country,” said council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).

“While food prices are rising, it’s incredibly important that we make sure important staples, critical things to families like milk, are as affordable as possible.”

Current metropolitan-area limits for June are set at $3.93 per gallon, $2.01 per half-gallon and $1.04 per quart, with lower prices upstate.

Shoppers cutting every corner to make ends meet – many of whom did not know there were legal price limits – were appalled to learn they were getting gouged.

“I have two children. We buy a lot of milk. If it’s overpriced, it’s unfair for mothers and their children,” said Gloria Williams, 36, who was shopping in Murray Hill.

For example, the council found that all 10 milk sellers it surveyed in Queens were charging above the limit.

And on Staten Island, seven of 10 stores were overcharging.

“Milk is not a luxury,” said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens). “Milk is a necessity for a healthy diet, especially for children.”

The complex state law does allow stores to make a case for above-the-limit prices before they are considered in violation.

Most of the major supermarket chains have done so, but many smaller shops do not.

In fact, a manager at one small store – the Food Market at Second Avenue and 41st Street, where a half-gallon was selling for $3.29 – was clearly unaware of the regulation, saying, “This is a free country. I’m allowed to charge whatever I want.”

Quinn blasted the Agriculture Department for lax enforcement of the 1991 law against milk-price gouging, saying the agency “needs to re-evaluate how they’re doing oversight. They need to change it because it’s clearly not working.”

State officials promised to work with the city on better enforcement, but argued they do not have the resources to conduct frequent price checks.

Related Articles

11 Comments

  • WIC

    The only store in CH that accepts WIC, will not give me my full amount of milk bec they charge too much and it’s not covered by WIC.

    Maybe if we all start complaining to the WIC office something will be done about it. I complained. (Without massering)

  • to WIC

    genius!!! the fact that you told is still massering and now if the stores stop taking wic, everybody losses!!!!
    think b4 you do (not naasse v’nishma)

  • moooo

    Contrary to what people think and that the common notion is. “since it is kosher it probably cost more” well in the case of milk this is bogus, as you are all aware that there is no down time in milk processing due to shabbos and yom tov. The only extra expense that may exist is the masgiach, which in the Milk industry also does actual labor, unlike a masgiach in other industries.

    In addition Kosher milk unlike non kosher milk, there is a captive audience so no marketing or promotions are needed, specifically in the tri state are, where there are only 2 milk companies competing. So there are huge percentage points saved by the manufacturer.

    Also unlike other product like meat, all of the milk produced is kosher. So basically what we have is price gouging from the producer all the way down to the grocer.

    What is even more interesting, the article states that the prices should be even cheaper upstate. What a joke that is…wait for the summer to start and see the prices in the country.

  • cs

    What’s bogus is that milk is a staple food essential for a healthy diet. Plenty of people manage to survive and thrive without ever consuming a drop of milk. The milk industry is responsible for pulling this one over us, that milk is an indispensable part of a healthy diet. Now milk sellers have to conform to the government’s ridiculous price cap on milk.

  • You have to be a Millionaire

    I only buy kosher, organic, grass fed, no hormones. There are only two producers in the NY area that meet those standards. A half gallon is nearly $5.00, $3.69 a quart. This is more than a dollar higher already in the last year alone! Upstate when I can get it, it’s even more.
    What is one to do who only wants to keep kosher and give their family safe clean food?

  • Yirmy

    Part of the reason milk is expensive is that it gets transported many times. The price of diesel fuel is over 5 dollars a gallon in NY City and nearly 5 dollars upstate. NY State has the highest tax on diesel fuel in the US and on top of that NY City just raised all their tolls and truck taxes. when you add that all up it will be almost 60 cents per gallon of milk.
    The city or state can set minimums all they want. The state and especially NY City do nothing to lower transportation cost, they make it more expensive everyday.
    Groceries are going to get a lot more expensive due to transportation cost. Lately people have been complaining about trucks being parked in the Shechuna. Some of those trucks carry a lot of groceries that end up in our stores in CH and by forcing the trucks out of Crown Heights they add to that cost of transportation. There are no more truck lots in NY, they all got sold to developers by the city, the few trucking companies that had yards before the price of land went up are the lucky few . This is part of the problem why grocery prices are sky high. Every extra mile that trucks have to drive adds $ 1.50 per mile, to the bill that the grocery store has to pay. You multiply that by the 1000’s of trucks that NY City needs everyday to sustain itself and you get a picture why cost have risen so high.
    I have been dealing with Ahava and Golden Flow for years and if they just sold milk and not all the other products they sell, they would have been out of business a long time ago.