To Get To The Other Side!

With all due respect to MBB, and I apologize for sending him out on a cold a deary night to fight the forces of Wackadoodle, it is no coincidence at all that he was the one in Pathmark last night.

My hatred of Pathmark goes back many, many years, and while in 12th grade we were assigned a compare and contrast essay I chose to use Shoprite and Pathmark as my subjects. I think that was one of the easier assignments for me, and I must have written it in about 3 minutes. They say write what you know, and lemme tell you, when you do, it just flows.

I try to avoid Pathmark as much as possible, even during the day the parking lot is creepy, and the store annoys me. There's just one problem with this self imposed "sort of" boycott . Cheap Chicken. Actually, it may not even be all that cheap, but compared with the other local stores it's priced almost a full dollar less PER POUND. Now, even if you've been living in a cave, and subsisting on berries, freshly caught fish and small wildlife, you obviously have internet access and read ICEBERGCARWASH, and therefore certainly are aware of today's economic realities. So you can surely understand why this dilemma has crept up. Firstly, it's only "sort of" a boycott because I will accept products from the store and I'm OK with people patronizing them, as long as I don't have to be the one to do it , and I will go in there if I can't find any sucker to do it for me. Boycotts are funny things though. You have to be a real believer to really truly boycott something. Do you know how many people in this country boycott both Fur and Diamonds? Both on the grounds of cruelty of course, and when out at a party with the uppercrust it's very easy to just defer to your boycott as to why you are neither fur clad or diamond adorned. I give credit to people who can boycott Walmart. That hits you right in the pocket, and if they can stand up for their convictions, good for them.

I also boycott Caviar and Sea Bass, and I used to boycott Sushi, until I actually tasted it.

The bigger issue, beyond Pathmark and boycotts is why is kosher chicken so expensive in stores that are catering exclusively to the kosher community? Many think it has to do with a shortage of chicken now that many stores no longer stock Aaron's brand. I guess that's simple economics, supply and demand. But I demand chicken that doesn't have a terribly inflated price. So even if I need to go to Pathmark to do it, I'm taking a stand! I have a freezer, and I'll get the chicken there and stock up so as to minimize my exposure. I will continue to patronize the other stores for most of my other protein needs, but for now, unless I find another way, Pathmark it will be.

The real answer is for the local kosher eating public to forgo chicken for a few weeks, and really take a stand. Unfortunately, as expensive as chicken has become it's probably still the cheapest of all proteins and the easiest to make for a large family. So essentially I cannot think of a market shift that will bring the price down, other than a Chassidshe supervisory agency taking over the Rubashkin facility, and reflooding the market with chickens that a broad range of consumers will buy.

I really should leave the economics to MBB, but he's busy fighting with some monkey.