2021 Supply Disruptions

[ZLoth]

From NBC DFW:

US Shoppers Find Some Groceries Scarce Due to Virus, Weather
Shortages at grocery stores have grown more acute in recent weeks, though some in the industry feel the supply chain will soon settle back to more normal patterns

Shortages at U.S. grocery stores have grown more acute in recent weeks as new problems – like the rise in COVID-19 cases and severe weather – have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The shortages are widespread, impacting produce and meat as well as packaged goods such as cereal. And they're being reported nationwide. U.S. groceries typically have 5% to 10% of their items out of stock at any given time; right now, that unavailability rate is hovering around 15%, according to Consumer Brands Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[1995hoo]

My mom's comment on the grocery store yesterday:

I had to make adjustments...no fresh milk, so I bought Fairlife milk that has an expiration date in mid-March.  No orange juice , so I bought two containers of frozen concentrated orange juice.  No lettuce, no fresh vegetables, so I got frozen string beans and carrots.  There was almost no meat, but I didn't need any.  Surprisingly there was plenty of bread.  I got some things I don't yet need, but supplies on the shelves were getting low...noodles, pasta, coffee, tea, cereal.

[US 89]

Get ready for more runs on food and supplies in the southeast and east coast, with the threat of a significant winter storm this weekend...

[jmacswimmer]

Our local Wegmans was more picked over this past weekend than anything we'd ever seen back in Spring 2020...a specific contributing factor I've heard tossed around (for the DC/B'more area at least) is the I-95 VA fiasco from last week.

[roadman65]

Dog Food to Walmart and Dollar General is a big product out of thanks to this supply crisis.  I have to buy other expensive brands to keep my Buddy fed well.

[1995hoo]

Our local Wegmans was more picked over this past weekend than anything we'd ever seen back in Spring 2020...a specific contributing factor I've heard tossed around (for the DC/B'more area at least) is the I-95 VA fiasco from last week.

That was true for us too. Back then what was missing was mainly paper products–TP, tissues, paper towels–and related stuff like moist wipes and the like, along with cleaning products like Clorox spray and Lysol. Last weekend, the meat was very picked over. No pork at all, other than just a few packages, when I was there. Don't know what to expect this weekend, nor have I figured out when the best time to attempt the store is. May wind up heading to a butcher for meat instead of the grocery store.

Dog Food to Walmart and Dollar General is a big product out of thanks to this supply crisis.  I have to buy other expensive brands to keep my Buddy fed well.

A few weeks ago the cat food was very much picked-over at Wegmans. I ordered two 24-packs from Chewy.com and may do the same soon to restock.

[kalvado]

Our local Wegmans was more picked over this past weekend than anything we'd ever seen back in Spring 2020...a specific contributing factor I've heard tossed around (for the DC/B'more area at least) is the I-95 VA fiasco from last week.

That was true for us too. Back then what was missing was mainly paper products–TP, tissues, paper towels–and related stuff like moist wipes and the like, along with cleaning products like Clorox spray and Lysol. Last weekend, the meat was very picked over. No pork at all, other than just a few packages, when I was there. Don't know what to expect this weekend, nor have I figured out when the best time to attempt the store is. May wind up heading to a butcher for meat instead of the grocery store.

Dog Food to Walmart and Dollar General is a big product out of thanks to this supply crisis.  I have to buy other expensive brands to keep my Buddy fed well.

A few weeks ago the cat food was very much picked-over at Wegmans. I ordered two 24-packs from Chewy.com and may do the same soon to restock.

Chewy is running low as well.

[1995hoo]

Our local Wegmans was more picked over this past weekend than anything we'd ever seen back in Spring 2020...a specific contributing factor I've heard tossed around (for the DC/B'more area at least) is the I-95 VA fiasco from last week.

That was true for us too. Back then what was missing was mainly paper products–TP, tissues, paper towels–and related stuff like moist wipes and the like, along with cleaning products like Clorox spray and Lysol. Last weekend, the meat was very picked over. No pork at all, other than just a few packages, when I was there. Don't know what to expect this weekend, nor have I figured out when the best time to attempt the store is. May wind up heading to a butcher for meat instead of the grocery store.

Dog Food to Walmart and Dollar General is a big product out of thanks to this supply crisis.  I have to buy other expensive brands to keep my Buddy fed well.

A few weeks ago the cat food was very much picked-over at Wegmans. I ordered two 24-packs from Chewy.com and may do the same soon to restock.

Chewy is running low as well.

Thanks for the warning. I was going to have to order next week, so I went ahead and did it now while eating lunch. They had everything I wanted, so if they run low, we're at least ahead of the demand.

[jmacswimmer]

Our local Wegmans was more picked over this past weekend than anything we'd ever seen back in Spring 2020...a specific contributing factor I've heard tossed around (for the DC/B'more area at least) is the I-95 VA fiasco from last week.

That was true for us too. Back then what was missing was mainly paper products–TP, tissues, paper towels–and related stuff like moist wipes and the like, along with cleaning products like Clorox spray and Lysol. Last weekend, the meat was very picked over. No pork at all, other than just a few packages, when I was there. Don't know what to expect this weekend, nor have I figured out when the best time to attempt the store is. May wind up heading to a butcher for meat instead of the grocery store.

Similarly the missing items we observed was most meat products, bread (we got lucky and found a loaf on a wrong shelf, or we would have been SOL), but the most striking of them all was how empty the entire produce section was.  Zero bananas or berries of any kind, and very little lettuce & green beans.

As far as paper products go...didn't go in that aisle at Wegmans, but I was at a Walmart the following day and noticed that paper towels & TP, while available, seemed to be running low.  Adding on to the pet supply discussion, that Walmart was also low on cat litter.

[ZLoth]

From Business Insider via Yahoo News, posted November 3, 2021:

Furniture shipping rates now equal the cost of the furniture itself as lead times continue to stretch on for months

Earlier this year, the estimated delivery time for a new couch could easily be three months or more.

Shoppers who decided to hold off on their purchase until that number improved are still waiting, as the Long Beach logjam has nearly crippled the US supply chain.

But now furniture buyers face another obstacle in addition to seemingly endless lead times: the cost of shipping the goods has skyrocketed.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[wxfree]

I saw an interesting situation.  I was in a store with some empty shelves and a lot of half-empty shelves, and at the end of each aisle there was a big stack of boxes wrapped in plastic.  They had new inventory, but it was packed up.  My guess is that so many people are out sick that they don't have the staffing to run the store stock and the shelves during business hours.  I went back today.  The shelves are less empty, and the big piles are gone, but they have stuff stacked up, in an orderly way, so you can grab what you want, at the ends of the aisles at the back of the store.  Most aisles have no end caps and there's usually nothing at those ends.  I don't know if they have too much of some stuff or if they just decided to stack it at the end because it's quicker than putting it on the shelves.

[abefroman329]

I saw an interesting situation.  I was in a store with some empty shelves and a lot of half-empty shelves, and at the end of each aisle there was a big stack of boxes wrapped in plastic.  They had new inventory, but it was packed up.  My guess is that so many people are out sick that they don't have the staffing to run the store stock and the shelves during business hours.  I went back today.  The shelves are less empty, and the big piles are gone, but they have stuff stacked up, in an orderly way, so you can grab what you want, at the ends of the aisles at the back of the store.  Most aisles have no end caps and there's usually nothing at those ends.  I don't know if they have too much of some stuff or if they just decided to stack it at the end because it's quicker than putting it on the shelves.

Kinda sounds like the way stores are set up at the end of the last business day before Black Friday.

[Scott5114]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Which is funny because every time I go to Braum's, I buy just bread and milk, because theirs is better than anything they have at the grocery store. I sometimes wonder if I've ever made the cashier check the weather just to see if snow is in the forecast.

[dlsterner]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Been that way for decades, if not longer!  We've always referred to those shoppers as making "B.M.T. Runs" at the grocery.

Of course, B.M.T. = "bread, milk, and toilet paper"

[Brandon]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Been that way for decades, if not longer!  We've always referred to those shoppers as making "B.M.T. Runs" at the grocery.

Of course, B.M.T. = "bread, milk, and toilet paper"

For the record, that's a Southern thing and really doesn't occur in real snow country.

[abefroman329]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Been that way for decades, if not longer!  We've always referred to those shoppers as making "B.M.T. Runs" at the grocery.

Of course, B.M.T. = "bread, milk, and toilet paper"

For the record, that's a Southern thing and really doesn't occur in real snow country.

I don't know why the DMV is "Southern" in this regard - they would get 3-6 inches of accumulated snow at any given time during the winter and a couple feet of snow every 5-10 years.

[Scott5114]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Been that way for decades, if not longer!  We've always referred to those shoppers as making "B.M.T. Runs" at the grocery.

Of course, B.M.T. = "bread, milk, and toilet paper"

For the record, that's a Southern thing and really doesn't occur in real snow country.

Well, yes, because in the north there's an expectation that business as usual will be possible in all but the largest snowstorms. Around here, smart money is to just buy your bread and milk and hunker down until it starts to melt, because even if you know how to get around in a snowstorm, chances are nobody else on the road does.

[Bruce]

Bread and milk is always in short supply before a snowstorm. That's a phenomenon that existed even before 2020.

Been that way for decades, if not longer!  We've always referred to those shoppers as making "B.M.T. Runs" at the grocery.

Of course, B.M.T. = "bread, milk, and toilet paper"

For the record, that's a Southern thing and really doesn't occur in real snow country.

Also happens on the West Coast, even in areas that can expect regular snowstorms. Seattle usually runs out of bananas before snow hits.

[wxfree]

In my area, a forecast for non-accumulating snow flurries causes people to hoard bread and milk, resulting in empty shelves (the only times I saw empty shelves before 2020).  I once saw people rush to the store on a day with a light dusting of snow and buy all the bread, even though the forecast for the next day, which turned out to be accurate, was for sunny skies and warmer temperatures.

[abefroman329]

In fairness, if you live in a mountainous area that doesn't frequently see snow and/or ice, and there is snow and/or ice, you are pretty much homebound until it melts.

[wxfree]

Things are significantly better here (DFW area, at least my part of it).  The amount of product on the shelves is still light, but there's at least some of of nearly everything available.  And this is Saturday night, following a normal busy day.  A store I went to also has the walkways crowded with big stacks of boxes full of inventory waiting to be put on the shelves, presumably overflow with more in the back.  Hopefully this is a leading indicator.  Another store I went to is better stocked than before, but not as well as the first one.

[JKRhodes]

Toddler formula (pediasure grow n gain, along with the Walmart store brand) has been hard to come by locally for almost two months now.

[hbelkins]

I'm still noticing ongoing shortages of pet food. We no longer have a dog, but we still have cats, and the selection of both dry and canned food has been very sparse the last couple of weeks.

Also, and this seems a bit odd, saltine crackers are in short supply in these parts.

[ZLoth]

I have been advised by my pool maintenance guy to have a backup supply of chlorine tablets, shock, and muriatic acid, as he may have issues getting supplies at a reasonable price beyond March. Part of this is related to the destruction of the chlorine plant in Louisiana thanks to Hurricane Laura, part of this is the high cost of shipping containers to import the chemicals from overseas suppliers. When I ordered a 10 pound bucket last week of 3" chlorine tablets, it was $74. Same supplier, one week later.... $116. No jump yet on the 25 or 40 pound variants. The Louisiana plant probably won't be back online until later on this year.

[1995hoo]

I'm still noticing ongoing shortages of pet food. We no longer have a dog, but we still have cats, and the selection of both dry and canned food has been very sparse the last couple of weeks.

....

I noticed the same on Saturday–the cat food was very much picked over. I had ordered a bunch of it from Chewy a week or two ago, so we're well-stocked.