Would you buy a dozen eggs from a chicken farmer whose dozen was an odd number?

If you can have a 'bakers dozen' then why not an egg farmers dozen? Seriously though, the best way to sell eggs is by weight.

One can do that but then the package has to be labeled as such with the actual count also disclosed on the label. Why? Because those designations are not "standard" for legal trade (although one might be able to make a case for "baker's dozen" being well-known enough now to be a "standard".

Eggs are sold by weight, you just don't realize it. That's what the small, medium, large, extra large and jumbo grading on those cartons means. Here's an example of an egg scale for home and small farm use for chicken eggs (eggs which also are available in multiple colors: white, brown, blue and green) . . . 

This post was edited by Salt and Red Pepper at October 28, 2017 6:29 PM MDT

I fully agree with every word you write here but would point out that you are looking at it from only a first world point of view. When I first went to Asia I was amazed that eggs were sold only by weight, labeled packaging was not necessary as you would simply ask for perhaps one KG of eggs, they would be weighed in front of you and when the scales topped one KG then the eggs are placed in a bag and you walk off a happy chappy. I really have no idea how many countries this method is used in but I imagine given the number of developing countries that possibly this method is more widely uses than prepacked by numbers.

I was addressing the way we do it in the northern part of the western hemisphere and in western Europe. 

Selling eggs by weight only is not something that I'm in favor of though. You can guarantee much better consistency and better portioning across recipes with the way it's done Stateside.  (Add two eggs . . . what the hell size? Eggs from a Bantum chicken or a healthy, well-fed Barred Rock?)

There is one thing we do here that I am vehemently opposed to though, washing the damn eggs. (I think it's just an excuse to hide how badly egg factory chickens are treated.) That washing process removes the protective coating that the chicken lovingly applied. In addition to allowing all manner of nasty stuff through the shell into the egg, removing that coating also allows for evaporation, which means that the egg weighs less and less as time drags on. And that leads to a loss of quality. I've no qualms about eating an egg that hasn't been washed that's been sitting on the kitchen counter for 3-weeks that came from one of our own chickens but wouldn't dream of eating an egg from the grocer that's been sitting outside the fridge at room temperature for a day. This post was edited by Salt and Red Pepper at October 28, 2017 4:14 PM MDT

If a baker is buying eggs ... does he buy them by the "baker's dozen"?!?

Good point, I have no idea.

Right.  An odd number would not be a dozen. 

Nor would an even number be a dozen unless it was exactly 12. But, maybe in Canada that's not true, maybe. One can't tell how people that sell milk in plastic bags really think about such things . . .  This post was edited by Salt and Red Pepper at October 28, 2017 2:50 PM MDT