Advice to Bay Area Consumers

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White Liquid Gold:
Bay Area Supermarkets
Charge Too Much for Milk

Elisa Odabashian, Policy Analyst
West Coast Regional Office
February, 1999

• Consumers should not think that they are getting the best buy on milk at supermarkets. In general, before buying a gallon of milk at a supermarket chain, consumers should check the milk prices at smaller neighborhood markets (not convenience or liquor stores), or check the milk prices at discount, co-op, or specialty stores like Trader Joe's, Food Maxx, and Rainbow Grocery. In the San Francisco Bay Area, consumers can find numerous Mom-and-Pop grocery stores that sell a single gallon of whole milk for between $2.99-$3.39.
  
• Consumers should know that there is only the slightest difference in the quality of most brands of milk, even those sold for considerably less. All brands of milk must meet minimum nutritional standards set by the CDFA.
  
• Families capable of consuming two gallons in a week should take advantage of the two-gallons-for-less offer at Safeway and Lucky, which are the cheapest per-gallon prices in the survey, as long as two gallons are purchased.
  
• Consumers should let California legislators know that retail milk prices are too high in California. Write a letter of support for the bill to repeal the sales-below-cost law on milk and send it to:
  

  Senator Jackie Speier California State Senate P.O. Box 942848 Sacramento, CA 94248-0001

  Elisa Odabashian Consumers Union 1535 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103

• Of the chain stores, Trader Joe's offers the lowest-priced milk in the San Francisco Bay Area survey. A gallon of Trader Joe's brand whole milk sells for $2.99. Trader Joe's milk prices have not increased since April of 1998, even though the farm price increased $.34 during that period.
  
• Consumers should let supermarkets know that California retail milk prices are too high, that there is no good excuse for their milk prices being considerably higher than prices at many Mom-and-Pop markets, and that taking advantage of people's need for this essential product is unfair and harmful to consumers.