Pandemic supply chain in your area

[bykfixer]

Used to be a truck load of ready mix concrete was an hour late, maybe two in a good economy but since the pandemic it's two weeks late.

A traffic signal controller switch for intersections to speak to each other... the supplier said "sometime between July and June" as in June 2023.

 

[turbodog]

... When a crisis happens they talk it to death. Even if it is not a crisis, they make it sound like it is so that they have something to talk about. ...

Agreed, but like any merchant, they give the customer what they want. And people would much rather talk about a problem than taking steps to fix it.

I can't fix global/structural issues w/ economy, healthcare, education, but I did take the time to write ALL my state & fed representatives as well as the governor.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

So, if folks get hungry enough they can munch on vehicles wire looms.. Hunh, I wonder how it'd taste with a little ketchup?

Next year, L.A. is mandating all takeout containers and plates be made of compostable material (plant based). You can munch on your wire, then eat the plate you had it on. Reminds me of a parody song by Tim Hawkins called “The Government Can” which has the line, “soon we’ll have to eat our dishes”. Scary how accurate that song is now.

 

[ampdude]

I hate the media. When a crisis happens they talk it to death. Even if it is not a crisis, they make it sound like it is so that they have something to talk about. They then move onto the next topic they can turn into a crisis.

What happened to reporting on Ukraine? CNN commercials state... "I am so-and-so in Ukraine" yet I can watch the show for hours, and there isn't 5 minutes on Ukraine. People are dying 100-200 a day, yet over here if one person dies for whatever reason, it gets national coverage.

For a month, they dwelled on the baby formula shortage. Now not a word!

I don't have an infant at home, so it doesn't affect me, but I am wondering... is it back on the shelves yet?

Some of you might be old enough to remember 2000 "The year of the shark." They had nothing to report on all summer so they hyped up shark attacks like it was some national issue for people who don't swim with sharks. The entire news business model is based on hype and creating panic.

 

[Poppy]

I just did an online search at a local super-market for baby formula powder. It came up with 3 instock, and 18 out of stock.

Of course this is not pandemic related, but it is supply related.

 

[bykfixer]

It seems the plant that was halted for so long had to shut back down briefly due to some water damage after a rain event recently Poppy. Not sure if it's back up and running yet because the one minute sound bites on my radio are back to the January 6th thing.

If I were to actually do some research I suppose I could find the answer. Trouble is my search inquiries all think I want to buy something from Amazon.

 

[knucklegary]

^ Bamboo?

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

YABBA DABBA DOO!

 

[jtr1962]

Al production, from the raw ore all the way to your flashlight housing is one of the most energy-intensive industries there is.

What's my response? I just bought a SL Polytac X, and I really like it

That's one of the great things about LED efficiency increasing dramatically. Besides getting more lumen-hours out of our cells, there's less and less need for a big hunk of aluminum to take the waste heat away.

Aluminum production is very energy intensive, but it's also one thing which can easily be 100% recycled.

 

[aznsx]

Aluminum production is very energy intensive, but it's also one thing which can easily be 100% recycled.

BINGO! That, and the fact that with the right alloys and processing there are few things that can't be done well with it, is why it truly is the 'metal of the future' (as some call it). I forget the % of total aluminum production in the last X years that has been recycled, but it's impressive. Even the high-end stuff I was dealing with has a good bit of 'clean scrap' in its base. I forget the number(s) - not my department - 'all' I had to do was keep the plant running

 

[bykfixer]

Elzetta Bones owners used to get all bummed about blemishes in the ano that looked like bacon grease splattered on it. Elzetta stated it was from portions of the recycled alluminum not being completely mixed with the new. That was in 016 or so.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Aluminum production is very energy intensive, but it's also one thing which can easily be 100% recycled.

Usually aluminum has to get heated to melt down the aluminum and get rid of impurities. This energy intensive process can’t be done if they keep shutting down smelters. If it’s too expensive to process the aluminum because oil, coal, natural gas, and electricity cost too much, all you have are a bunch of aluminum cans and scrap metal. It doesn’t do anything to build you a Tesla electric car.

 

[aznsx]

Elzetta Bones owners used to get all bummed about blemishes in the ano that looked like bacon grease splattered on it. Elzetta stated it was from portions of the recycled alluminum not being completely mixed with the new. That was in 016 or so.

I'm just a sparky guy and not one of the metallurgists I had to keep happy, but if that's so, that would indicate the quality of the big cast alloy billets their finished rod was extruded from wasn't the greatest. We cast our own billets (a very complex process in itself), and they tell me one of the reasons our extrusions were so good was because the billets were so good. A major factor in that was the fact that the 'ingredients' were melted down in 'induction' furnaces (which were pretty scary things BTW), vs other types of furnaces. The eddy currents produced by the induction heating method (a phenomenon which was quite obvious when observing them) served to mix that stuff up in the very best possible way, which results in very consistently homogenous, high-grade billets, which (fundamentally / among other things) results in very high-grade extrusions. They also, of course, consumed incredible amounts of power.

Aside from my flashlights, many of those extrusions went into (among other things) the Boeing planes I fly on, so that was reassuring

 

[aznsx]

Now it's turkey. Any turkey in any form. Apparently they're all dead - not because of the latest chinese virus, but an earlier one. I would say 'what's next?', but I don't really want to know

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Now it's turkey. Any turkey in any form.

There’s no shortage of turkeys in every form. Whenever I turn on the news, I see lots of turkeys, just none I can eat.

 

[Burgess]

Great thread here !



Today I noticed the 12-packs of Energizer Ultimate Lithium
L92 (AAA) batteries at Wal-Mart have jumped 85% in price
since last year !

From $ 16.24 to now $ 29.99

 

[knucklegary]

I've found Walmart always high in battery prices.
Amz not too long ago selling L92 8ct packages $15.. and they're fresh dated!

 

[turbodog]

Great thread here !



Today I noticed the 12-packs of Energizer Ultimate Lithium
L92 (AAA) batteries at Wal-Mart have jumped 85% in price
since last year !

From $ 16.24 to now $ 29.99

Strange. Too much for inflation. Seems to be a low volume item so supply chain issues would not drive the price that far. And probably not enough lithium in then to be affected by adoption of electric cars.

Just checked prices online at my local stores:
target 17.49
amazon 26.90
home depot 23.37
wal-mart 38.99
lowe's 32.98

 

[orbital]

+

We get the term 'inflation' driven into our heads, so it becomes a convenient/perfect excuse to raise prices on everything.

About 5 weeks ago I bought a 24V charger, every time I looked at it online, the price was up.
So if I needed some entertainment I would check the current inflation price,,,, it went up $55 over five weeks.
For a charger in stock, sitting on the shelf.

yea,, inflation

 

[orbital]

+

Also, understanding commodity prices, the last few months of equity revaluation, corporate margins, labor participation & wages, compounded by trucking issues. Even the fed too..


Still, perfect excuse, is that inflation label.