Costco Is Now Limiting Egg Purchases—Here's How Many You Can Buy
The widespread egg shortage has resulted in empty supermarket shelves and even reports of customers fighting over eggs when they're available—so it's no surprise Costco has instituted a limit on how many eggs one person is allowed to buy. Many Costco locations now have signs telling customers they can buy no more than three cartons of eggs at a time, putting an end to solo shoppers stocking up on cartloads of eggs at a time and leaving none for others.
Costco eggs are typically sold in two dozen, four dozen packs, and five dozen packs, with the Kirkland Signature Large Eggs, Cage Free, 5 Dozen priced for $21.09 in Los Angeles—but marked as unavailable. "Due to supply challenges caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza, shell eggs and egg products may be short or cut from delivery orders without notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," Costco says on its website.
Other Chains are Limiting Purchases, Too
Costco is not the only large chain store forced to enforce new rules on eggs due to panic-buying—Trader Joe's is also limiting customers to one dozen eggs per customer. "Due to ongoing issues with the supply of eggs, we are currently limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer, per day, in all Trader Joe's stores across the country," a grocery chain spokesperson told Good Morning America. "We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joe's."
More than 150 Million Birds Have Been Culled
At Sprouts (where many Los Angeles locations showed zero eggs available at all last weekend) the signs saying, "Due to supply shortages, availability may be limited in the coming weeks. Limit 4 dozen eggs per visit," (posted by Brandon Curran inside his local store in Los Angeles, as per ABC).
More than 150 million birds have been culled as a result of the bird flu, and analysts predict the current high prices and overwhelming demand will continue until stocks are recovered. "It takes approximately 19-20 weeks before hens are ready to produce eggs in newly repopulated barns, and that is but one element of a lengthy recovery process," a spokesperson for the American Egg Board said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
While the risk is extremely low, humans can potentially get bird flu from eating undercooked or raw eggs from infected birds, but properly cooking eggs eliminates the virus and makes them safe to eat.
We're Not Getting Back to Normal Anytime Soon
"For about a year and a half now, the sort of frequency and severity of avian flu outbreaks in the poultry and egg supply chains in the U.S. have sort of just been on the rise in a big way," says Ricky Volpe, a professor of agribusiness at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. "Everyone is just sort of hoping that, 'OK, this will be the last one, then we'll get back to normal.' But we keep on not getting back to normal."
Waffle House and Others Have Added an Egg Surcharge
The egg shortage has impacted restaurants and diners, with Waffle House adding a temporary 50-cent surcharge per egg until the situation resolves. "The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices," Waffle House said in a statement to CNN. "Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions."
Other Restaurants are Refusing to Charge Extra
took a swipte at the competition last week. "A surcharge on eggs? Well, there's nothing hospitable about that," a Cracker Barrel spokesperson told Eat This, Not That!. "At Cracker Barrel, country hospitality is as important to us as a hearty breakfast – and that means not charging extra for eggs. That's why we'll be trading some pegs for eggs. Starting Thursday, Feb. 6, all Cracker Barrel Rewards members will earn double pegs on all egg dishes through Wednesday, Feb. 12. We know our guests already have a lot on their plates, so we'll just stay focused on serving up plates of delicious food at incredible value, like our Sunrise Pancake Special starting at $7.99. We've got you covered, all-day breakfast, lunch and dinner." Hope that lasts as this shortage continues.
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