Milk prices disturb Pitt student

They say it’s physically impossible to drink a gallon of milk in one day – thank God…. They say it’s physically impossible to drink a gallon of milk in one day – thank God.

Because, with the recent increase in milk prices in Sutherland Hall, it might be financially impossible as well.

Pitt freshman Mike Spiegel was outraged when he saw that his routine half gallon of milk – originally priced at about $1.40 – now costs $1.99.

“There’s no question that the University of Pittsburgh monopolizes their campus by way of simple geographics in every aspect of a student’s daily life,” Spiegel said in an e-mail. “Pitt saw an opportunity to make money on a well-priced commodity good and jumped on it, end of story.”

But Sodexho Resident District Manager Jodi Ludovici says that the original pricing of the milk was the real mistake.

“We inadvertently mispriced the milk at the beginning of the semester and we’re actually selling the milk for less than we were buying for,” Ludovici said. “The adjustment was to fix our mistake and price the milk accordingly. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

No other dormitory halls or facilities were affected by the price change.

“This price increase has nothing to do with the cost of milk regionally or nationwide,” Ludovici said. “It was an error that has been corrected.”

In fact, Sodexho was charging students less for milk than the amount the company spent to purchase it in the first place.

The Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board sets a minimum retail price – not a maximum – for milk in the state.

Heidi Svonavec, director of consumer affairs on the board, says that companies can raise milk prices as high as they want.

“In a market you obviously want to be competitive,” she said. “But there is no maximum set.”

According to the board’s Web site, the minimum price per half gallon of whole milk in Pittsburgh for the month of March was $1.58. The minimum is set at $1.52 per half gallon for April.

“The price of milk is going to be declining,” Svonavec said. “Consumption has decreased and production is higher right now.”

At $1.99 per half gallon, Sodexho is charging just 41 cents more than the set minimum.

Spiegel blamed the increase on Craig Street’s Giant Eagle closing.

“I would rather kill myself than believe that this huge increase in price wasn’t at all encouraged by the local Giant Eagle shutting down,” Spiegel said. “The Dirty Bird on Centre Avenue shut down, and they thought that they could exploit this financially. And they did.”

However, Ludovici replied that Sodexho’s prices do not change based on community events.

She added that Sodexho tries to maintain stable prices for its students during the school year and further emphasized that the original pricing of milk was the mistake – the increased price was what milk should have been sold for all along.

“Even when market fluctuates with prices, we keep ours stable as a service to the students,” Ludovici said. “Often, prices might increase temporarily in the market, most often due to mother nature. Because these are temporary price increases, we do not pass those costs onto the student because they will more than likely go down.

“When and if prices ever do go up, it is because of a long-standing increase in prices, more than a seasonal trend, usually affected by inflation,” she said.

But Spiegel wasn’t convinced.

He said that despite the fact that Pitt needs to inflate prices to cover its low tuition costs, he’s infuriated by the way the University offers students only one dining services provider.

“I almost threw up on the cashier the first time I went to Jock’s in Sutherland Hall, my place of residency, and they said, ‘$12,’ when I went to the register with two little grilled chicken sandwiches, a hamburger and a bottle of water,” Spiegel said.

Spiegel took his complaints to Sutherland Dining Manager Kimberly Workman, and having worked with her on a previous basis, he knew what to expect.

“Her reply didn’t do much to satisfy me,” Spiegel admitted. “Her response was prompt and I believe that she addressed the issue as best as she could from her position as the head of food operations at Jock’s, but I think deep down she’s already long accepted the rape of food and drink prices as an unavoidable cog in the motion of Pitt.”

Workman failed to comment, but Ludovici said that Sodexho strives to provide the students with what they want.

Some of the newest items, which have come from student input, are sushi and the salad bar at Eddie’s.

“We strive to bring convenience and service to the students with our offerings and certainly do not want any customer to feel this way,” Ludovici said. “However, I must reiterate that this was a result of an incorrect pricing on our end. It had nothing to do with the price of commodities.”