DOJ: Stop Corporate Price Gouging!

The Department of Justice (DOJ) found that corporations like Cal-Maine, a major producer of the eggs we buy at the grocery store, engaged in price gouging and anticompetitive practices that artificially inflated egg prices.

Corporations that engage in conduct like this should get more than a slap on the wrist. The DOJ-proposed settlement that resulted from this investigation doesn’t do enough to address this issue or prevent it from happening again.

Tell DOJ: We need meaningful consequences and strong safeguards to protect us from corporate greed!

Your Message

Mr.

Zachary

Trotter

Chicago Office, Antitrust Division

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I’m writing as a consumer who believes no family should have to pay more for basic food because powerful corporations have manipulated the market.

I’m deeply concerned by findings that corporations like Cal-Maine and others manipulated egg prices while families are already struggling to put food on the table.  Corporations that do this to the American people need more than a slap on the wrist.  The settlement proposed by the Department of Justice does not do enough to protect the American people from corporate price gouging, and the Department of Justice needs to take more serious action to prevent conduct like this going forward.

Eggs are an everyday necessity. When companies coordinate bids to inflate price benchmarks, the harm reaches far beyond the boardrooms; it shows up in grocery bills, restaurant prices, and family budgets. It is a grave injustice that while Americans are struggling to feed their families, corporations like Cal-Maine make record profits.

Yet, while Cal-Maine made over a billion dollars in windfall profits in the first year of the bird flu outbreak, the Department of Justice is only proposing Cal-Maine pay $1.5 million as a payout — less than 0.15% of this profit. This incredibly weak settlement sets a dangerous precedent for other corporations: that engaging in unlawful market manipulation has a huge payout and minimal consequences.

The court should reject or strengthen these settlements to include meaningful penalties, strong oversight, and enforceable measures to stop future price manipulations.

When corporations illegally manipulate markets, the DOJ must take enforcement actions that stop this conduct for good, require real oversight, and hold companies accountable for putting profits ahead of the public.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~Address 1} 
{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Ghost Zip Code}

Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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