Pandemic supply chain in your area

[wjv]

This has been a fairly serious thread, and if it was meant in jest the :sarcasm: font or smilie should have been used.. (oh wait.. )😉 If it was in jest, carry on.

Since it was me he quoted, and made the remark about.

I found it pretty darn funny!

 

[wjv]

I live in SW WA State
The shelves are mostly stocked.

No problems with meats. A bit low on canned goods. Fresh produce is 60%-70% of normal.

Overall we are in pretty good shape.

I really don't know if the problems are:
- The ports
- The long haul trucks
- The short haul local truck
- Labor at the stores/warehouses

Maybe it varys based on geographical location. And by store.

My wife went to Safeway and said she could find any packages of cream cheese. I went to Albertsons earlier that day and noticed that they had "buy 2 get one free" on packages of cream cheese.

One thing for sure is that food prices are up. A lot more than the official 7% inflation.

In the past few months I'd say that ground beef is up a dollar per lb. So that's at least 20%. . .

 

[idleprocess]

Last weekend the local Costco only looked to be out of ... things that one would expect them to be out of around closing time. Grocery store in my neighborhood appeared well-stocked. COVID rapid tests on the other hand seem to be in short supply in the region.

 

[Poppy]

Two weeks ago our local facebook page people were clamoring for rapids tests around New Years. They were hard to find. A pharmacy nearby had them, 2 in a package for $25. I picked up a package, should have bought two.
Last week, my son was calling around and there weren't any to be had in his area. I made one call and the pharmacy I called had a supply. $17.50 each. The following morning, in my son's area, the County was giving them out for free.

From the above, I gather that there is a supply of them, there just isn't an over-supply of them.

The demand also goes up and down. For example, a friend had a relatively large group of people at his house for New Year's Eve. He purchased a lot of tests, and each person was tested before being allowed to enter.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I scored two home test kits the other day at a local pharmacy. They had a fair amount of them on the shelf and were limiting them to 4 kits per customer. I haven't been there since, so I don't know if their supply chain situation has improved or if I just happened to stop by when they got a shipment.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Went to Stater Bros. today. Wanted to get a couple 2.5 gallon jugs of water with the spout for a trip this weekend. They had none. A worker said they had been out of those for several months and were temporarily discontinued. Had to get 5 one gallon regular jugs instead. Further down the aisle, I was looking at the Gatorade and Powerade section. Almost all of it was gone. This was maybe 12+ feet of shelf space top to bottom with almost nothing. These shortages are getting worse.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

After shopping at two local stores, I see supplies are in good stock here. The sky isn't falling everywhere.

 

[bykfixer]

Gatorade was back at my grocery store, but my favorite bottled water…gone. Oh they had cases and cases of 12-16oz bottles but I buy mine in the container with a spout. Gallon jugs of brand B were on sale so I was "that guy" who bought the last 2.

Now there has been a run on toilet paper again. There was still some left but there was a mighty big hole where there is usually a bunch of 24 packs.

And there were no Doritos or Fritos. Perhaps 2 for $3 played a role? Yup, the normal $3.79 bag of nacho cheese doritos was a buck 50 a bag so, why not stock up?

There was no chicken or pork. None! That was strange to see again. Plenty of $14.99/lb beef to be had though. Ground beef was down to $5.99/lb but since I don't usually dig on that we passed it up.

Overall, considering it was Friday after 5 pm when the store is usually packed with "what's for dinner" or "get that carton of beer for the weekend" types. And then with a snow storm predicted, aside from toilet paper hoarding and panic buying bottled water all seems pretty much normal. But I did wonder why no pork or chicken.

 

[Poppy]

Each week the stores have some sale items, "loss leaders" to entice shoppers to come to their store. They are usually in stock. However, perhaps with people being a little more cost conscious due to the rising prices, I've seen holes where those "loss leaders" were stocked. Yep... gone!

We have three major supermarkets within a mile of my house. The one I usually shop at because I know where everything is located, I have reported holes. A couple of days ago, there were rows of shelves empty. NOT because of supply chain. They decided to rearrange the store, so now I won't know where everything is anymore, and I may start to shop at the newer larger store.

 

[jtr1962]

Each week the stores have some sale items, "loss leaders" to entice shoppers to come to their store. They are usually in stock. However, perhaps with people being a little more cost conscious due to the rising prices, I've seen holes where those "loss leaders" were stocked. Yep... gone!

I saw that on my last trip to the grocery store. A quart of half and half for $2.49. Would have bought one but they were all gone.

 

[bykfixer]

As long as they keep veggies to the right side, dairy on the left side of the store and meats at the rear I'm ok regardless of changes they make. It drives Mrs Fixer nuts when they change things up.

Now there are times I wonder why the peanut butter is no longer next to the jelly but now next to pancake syrup on the boxed ceral row……but at least it aint next to the mayonaise anymore.

 

[jtr1962]

As long as they keep veggies to the right side, dairy on the left side of the store and meats at the rear I'm ok regardless of changes they make. It drives Mrs Fixer nuts when they change things up.

Now there are times I wonder why the peanut butter is no longer next to the jelly but now next to pancake syrup on the boxed ceral row……but at least it aint next to the mayonaise anymore.

My store did that when they put in new freezers and refrigerators. But in general they don't change things often enough for it to be a major annoyance.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I was at a local pharmacy again today (the "Green Walls" chain) and they still had a good stock of antigen test kits. They even had a couple more brands of kits on hand. It seems to be different from store to store though.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

As long as they keep veggies to the right side, dairy on the left side of the store and meats at the rear I'm ok regardless of changes they make. It drives Mrs Fixer nuts when they change things up.

Now there are times I wonder why the peanut butter is no longer next to the jelly but now next to pancake syrup on the boxed ceral row……but at least it aint next to the mayonaise anymore.

If you'd ever put peanut butter on pancakes, or waffles, for that matter, you'd understand.

I joke. Peanut butter should always accompany jelly.

As for mayonnaise, you do know the people in Holland put it on their French fries. They drown em in it.

 

[aznsx]

There was no chicken or pork. None!

I wonder where all the pig meat from that great VA company Smithfield is going to? Hmmm...

 

[bykfixer]

I suppose I need to clarify NSX. There was no fresh butchered pork or chicken. There were some pre-packaged Smithfield and Gwaltney items along with Jack Daniels ribs etc. But no pork chops and the like.

 

[turbodog]

All in stock except this... been out for a month.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

All in stock except this... been out for a month.

View attachment 22403

Interesting. I didn't know this package existed. I'm gonna look for it.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

99 cent store was low on 2 liter bottles of soda. They shrank the Shasta brand from 2.5 liters to 2 liters. Most of the sodas that were in stock were 1 liter and under. Most other stuff was well stocked. Bananas all looked expired though.

 

[turbodog]

Interesting. I didn't know this package existed. I'm gonna look for it.

Scored a case of 8! This last around 2-3 weeks.