After Thanksgiving Turkey Sales - How can they be so cheap?

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YankeeBBQboy

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As a family tradition, we always have Thanksgiving turkey and equally traditional, I end up going out on Black Friday looking for a cheap turkey that I can put into the freezer to smoke during the winter months. This year, Target had 10-14 lb and 20-24 lb turkeys for 69 cents a pound and was able to score a 14 pounder for under $10.

Driving home, snug in the knowledge that I got a good bargain, I started thinking. How can Target, or any other merchant sell a turkey for 69 cents a pound? Now granted, they want to get rid of these leftover birds and they are probably not making much if any money off of the transaction. Still, if you think about it, some farm had to buy the chicks, feed them, process them and then store them before selling to Target who in turn, has to pay for transportation to the store as well as labor and other fixed costs. Watching a newscast in which they interviewed a small farmer that raised free range turkeys (and selling them for $4.50 a pound) made me wonder what we are doing and what we are compromising in order to have a cheap turkey.

Next year, we're starting a new tradition and forsaking the Butterball turkey for one that was raised on a small farm. What I'm asking is how many of you feel about this? Has it changed your BBQ'ing and eating habits by comparing the factory farm system to a more local small-time farm system.

BTW, I'n not trying to troll - just something that I have been thinking about lately.
 
I think the reason Turkeys are so cheap is the stores figure if you buy your turkey there is you buy all the fixings as well and that is were they make there money,like take black Friday for instance most retailers lose money on the stuff they sell but they figure well your there you will by the batteries are whatever accresory you need for it and the impulse buys.
 
I got a 16lber and a 13lber from Foodlion for 47cents/lb

Goign to the store tonight to see if they have any turkeys on post sale.
 
I'm all for supporting local farmers at farmers markets and such. I just can't justify spending $72.00 for a turkey (using your $4.50/lb price for a 16lb bird) when I can get one for $11 and some change. AND most likely if I'm buying my turkey at a certain store I'm buying other things for the meal also.
 
They get cheaper after the holiday, because sending them back is even more expensive than selling them at a loss.
 
Sunk costs. Don't worry, they aren't losing any money in the big scheme.

As for local farms: I am thinking of trying that next year. I hear the turkeys have a little different flavor, but a lot of folks like it.
 
landarc said:
They get cheaper after the holiday, because sending them back is even more expensive than selling them at a loss.
Click to expand...

^ Yep, but remember the grocery chains order for the entire holiday season and can easily hold frozen birds thru Christmas so I usually find the best deals around the end of December. I usually put 6-8 in the chest freezer at $0.59 or less per pound.
 
I take advantage of the surplus in every season. Turkeys get cheap after thanksgiving, corned beef is discounted around st. Pattys day. After Christmas and easter ive seen some real nice sales on rib roast. Ive even caught ribs real cheap after fathers day.
 
I cook turkey all year so I buy them after Thanksgiving. I'll troll the supermarkets until one of them sells them for less than 50 cents a pound. One year I got them for 39 cents a pound. I bought 10 that year for about 58 dollars.
 
Well turkey is hard to find in my neck of the woods. If I find it...I pay double to triple what you guys would, so don't feel bad. I got a 15lb for about $33. A steal really, considering if I order of off amazon.jp I would pay $40 for about a 5lber. I envy y'all.
 
YankeeBBQboy said:
Watching a newscast in which they interviewed a small farmer that raised free range turkeys (and selling them for $4.50 a pound) made me wonder what we are doing and what we are compromising in order to have a cheap turkey.

Next year, we're starting a new tradition and forsaking the Butterball turkey for one that was raised on a small farm. What I'm asking is how many of you feel about this? Has it changed your BBQ'ing and eating habits by comparing the factory farm system to a more local small-time farm system.

BTW, I'n not trying to troll - just something that I have been thinking about lately.
Click to expand...

Not to be disagreeable, but I went to college in a small farming town where a lot of small and mid sized farmers raised turkeys and supplied them to the Norbest turkey processing plant. I worked closely with several of these farmers on a personal (non farming basis) but we talked a lot about their operation as it interested me. There weren't a lot of big farmers that supplied the plant, although there were some. I think that may be the case for most of the name brand turkeys, their stock comes from small to big farms. They definitely aren't organic, but I don't have any issue buying these turkeys.
 
kgrigio said:
Not to be disagreeable, but I went to college in a small farming town where a lot of small and mid sized farmers raised turkeys and supplied them to the Norbest turkey processing plant. I worked closely with several of these farmers on a personal (non farming basis) but we talked a lot about their operation as it interested me. There weren't a lot of big farmers that supplied the plant, although there were some. I think that may be the case for most of the name brand turkeys, their stock comes from small to big farms. They definitely aren't organic, but I don't have any issue buying these turkeys.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your insight - I think that too many people saw this thread as a place to illistrate how cheap turkeys are after thanksgiving.

For those farmers who raised turkeys for Norbert, were they crammed into a small space under very controlled conditions or were they allowed to wander outside. Did Norbert control every aspect of their lives from providing the ckicks to monitoring the feed that they used?

I'm not trying to sound like an activist but it seems that many of use spend quite a bit on our hobby (those fancy smokers don't come cheap) but cast a blind eye to the conditions that much of our food is raised in.
 
YankeeBBQboy said:
Thanks for your insight - I think that too many people saw this thread as a place to illistrate how cheap turkeys are after thanksgiving.

For those farmers who raised turkeys for Norbert, were they crammed into a small space under very controlled conditions or were they allowed to wander outside. Did Norbert control every aspect of their lives from providing the ckicks to monitoring the feed that they used?

I'm not trying to sound like an activist but it seems that many of use spend quite a bit on our hobby (those fancy smokers don't come cheap) but cast a blind eye to the conditions that much of our food is raised in.
Click to expand...

Well, not too sound too anti-activist, but within reason I don't really care. I don't want any animal to "suffer", but I'm not too worried if my cow, turkey, chicken, pig, etc. is living in the lap of luxury or being scientifically maximized for meat production.

None of us want "bad stuff" for the food we eat, but I have a sliver of enough trust in our system that most of the food we get is a-ok as evidenced by the fact that we don't have people falling out every other week from food delivered illnesses.

Now ... alllllll that said, I'd still like to try a local farm fresh raised turkey just to compare and contrast the quality of the product I'm used to from the big producers.
 
I think the answer is marketing. I'm betting the stores make their money on the front end, banking on the fact many folks will buy a turkey, and of course all of the fixins for the holiday meal (which might even include a ham or roast beef).... and the real profit is in the fixins. Then after Thanksgiving, they guesstimate how many they want to hold until Christmas and dump the rest. After Christmas is another price reduction. Since the majority are frozen, shelf life is not an issue.
 
What has to be considered also is storage. There is only so much real estate on the store floor and in back for holding. Like thirdeye said they figure out how much they need and dump the rest. They are better off holding $4 lbs pork and $10 lbs beef than turkey that takes up a large volume of space and cost well under $2 lbs.
 
HossIsBoss said:
I think the reason Turkeys are so cheap is the stores figure if you buy your turkey there is you buy all the fixings as well and that is were they make there money,like take black Friday for instance most retailers lose money on the stuff they sell but they figure well your there you will by the batteries are whatever accresory you need for it and the impulse buys.
Click to expand...


You got that right I work in a store that has a deal where you buy $150 in one trip and you get a free turkey. This year we had entire semi freezer delivered 2 weeks before Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving the entire freezer trailer was empty and we had to bring in more.
 
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