How much do meatpackers' services cost for Choice beef and fresh pork? How are costs of packers' services allocated among labor, packaging materials, grading services, buying and selling, and operating overhead? How do costs and services for beef compare with those for pork? And how do meatpackers' costs compare with their price spreads for beef and pork? Recent surveys of costs of a selected group of commercial-scale meatpackers provided some answers to these questions. Reporting packers were located in the Eastern and Western Cornbelt and in the Southeast and the Southwest. Records used in the beef cost analysis were from packers slaughtering mostly steers and heifers. Data from packers slaughtering medium-weight hogs and cutting hog carcasses into fresh pork were included in the pork analysis. Non-reporting packers may have incurred different selling, shipping and handling costs, depending on the distances between their plants and major distribution centers, differing volumes of output, and the method of selling.
