Stores where I am remind me of grocery stores in Mexico City: full-ish but the variety is heavily pared down from what I'm used to. And the shelves get filled with items that aren't typical for the region/time of year (eg. Easter hams and corned beef year-round)
Yes, this is definitely what I am seeing. They still have generally all the stuff you need, but then just random things are missing and yeah, lot of less choices.
I know I go into also a quick trip every day and they usually keep things pretty well stocked, but they I have just noticed a lot of things that when they DO run out of an item [say a type of m&ms for just random example] it takes LONG time of that spot being empty before they get a new one in. Not saying there is a rush on the m&ms for example, but eventually these items do run out and then it takes forever.
Yeah, stuff isn't restocking as quick, but that may also be that people have started buying prepper style again and it sells out fast. The shelves have all the necessities but less choices. But even the cereal shelves, with workers on strike, are still full, minus a few favorites. And I'm in a Blue City.
And the shelves get filled with items that aren't typical for the region/time of year
This is what I've seen a few times recently while shopping. Technically the shelves weren't empty, however seeing excess multipacks of confectionery in the fresh produce areas that were previously fridges is telling that the spots where fresh produce are missing are being filled with whatever is around.
Whether this is being done to hide a lack or products or taking advantage of the space, or both, it's still disguising the fact for many npcs who look at "full" shelves and don't see the forest for the trees.
It's definitely a trick stores do to make sure you see full shelves. Several years ago when I used to travel a lot to California, I'd go the local bevmo stores; and for whatever reason they always had a far better variety of stuff than they do where I live. So whereas the stores up here might have a few rows of the same product on the shelf, down there they'd have one row each of a much greater variety of products.
It's definitely a trick stores do to make sure you see full shelves
Went in to an Aldi store in the last few months [or Lidl, I never remember which one it is], and compared to a previous visit where there used to be an entire fridge/freezer not attached to the walls was instead some regular shelves packed with chocolates and other snack foods. So maybe they were lacking in frozen goods and didn't want it to appear so.
I live in one of the states near Texas and I'm starting to see bare shelves where I'm at. Nothing as major as the pics in the article but I expect it to get more and more apparent where I live over the next few months.
I remember when Covid first started that stores around me were proactive and put limits on certain products. But I do think the media wants to spread panic.
The UK recently had [another] panic buying spree for gas/petrol where it's looking like the supply side of things wasn't the issue [again]. Because it was reported it might happen it went ahead and happened. Always wondered if the financial crisis in the early 2000s was also subject to this that one of the main reasons groups like Black Rock failed was because some "expert" said the company might be in danger and people thought "OH SHIT BETTER GET MY MONEY!" which then caused the very problem being talked about.
Sure there were other factors in play but it's always something worth considering just how much the media has driven these cases.
I'm in Kansas, near Kansas CIty.... I am definitely noticing large sections of CERTAIN products that randomly go missing. For exmaple, for the last week or so I have had trouble finding ANY unsweet ice tea in a bottle/jug. Now I am not saying I looked at every store, or couldn't find it if I tried hard enough, but for a solid week at all the places I happened to go to [walmart, quick trip, ect] there literally was none I could find. Finally today I found a small bottle lol. It seems weird. I am sure if I went on a search through town I would find SOME but it was pretty odd just how this item seemed to be gone everywhere [but plenty of sweet tea].
And, a few other items like that too. Nothing vital, but certain items randomly missing or shelves that just have big random blanks in it.
I'm in Missouri and about a month ago I noticed a bunch of social media posts showing bare shelves at Wal-Mart. We don't shop at Wal-Mart much anymore. Even before the pandemic half the time I'd go to Wal-Mart for something specific they'd be out of it. I do most of our food shopping at the local grocery store chains: Schnucks mainly, but Dierbergs sometimes and then big box crap at Target.
Well a month ago I was in Wal-Mart to get night time pullups for our daughter as that's one of the few items we get at Wal-Mart. Also needed scrubbing bubbles and a couple other things. It was shocking. They had one box of 4t pullups and one box of wipes, both of which I bought. They had no scrubbing bubbles and very little cleaning supplies, no laundry detergent other than Tide. I went to grocery, their milk was $3.19 a gallon vs. $2.79 at the time at the grocery store. They had no butter, very little cheese, very little sugar and the frozen foods section was only a quarter full. I hadn't seen it that bad since April 2020.
So I went to the Target just up the street. It was night and day. Target's shelves were full. They had three different scents of scrubbing bubbles and at least a half dozen cans of each on the shelves. Plenty of diapers, wipes, etc. in the baby section. Shelves full of cleaning supplies and laundry detergent and their frozen foods section was pretty full. Granted they never stocked the number of Skus that walmart did typically.
Went to the Schnucks, they don't carry scubbing bubbles anyway, but they had plenty of other cleaning products, laundry detergent, and their shelves were mostly full other than things like kid's juice (capri sun) and sports drinks. Those shelves have been bare the entire summer. Yet Aldis had Caprisuns by the pallet.
Of all the places I think Walmart's been hit the hardest and my cousin spent a few years working as a rep for a consumer goods company calling on grocery stores, walmart, target, etc.. Her take is that there really is a shortage such as there's only 1M cans of Scrubbing Bubbles. And that some of these companies that have been squeezed by Walmart of the past 20 years are now squeezing back. Target will pay more per unit on much more friendly payment terms, like usually 21 days after receipt of product to their warehouse. Walmart doesn't pay until 60 - 90 days until after it gets scanned at their register. So the producer of scrubbing bubbles eats the inventory costs during that time. If you only have 1M cans and target and other companies will buy them on better terms than Walmart, Walmart aren't getting the product.
Walmart I think is just generally in disarray because people clean it out first knowing the prices are cheaper and they have everything they could want there in one place. I think they get the stuff but sell out, and I noticed this even before the pandemic. I think slow to stock shelves employees and customers who are always moving stuff around also kind of contribute to this feel. But that's interesting about them not paying suppliers for 2-3 months, I'm a bit surprised really.
Same where I live, but I've been out of town for a week now, not in blue country, and the supply has been inconsistent depending on where I've been. Even more so, the supply of employees has been thin. There's some places that would typically have 3-4 workers in them and it's got one guy doing the best they can.
Things have a lot of potential to get REALLY interesting this winter.
Cheap shit from China not being in stock is one thing. Current energy prices have a much bigger potential to lead to empty shelves on things that matter: food.
Here in Europe fertilizer plants and greenhouses have either scaled back production or shut down completely because energy has gotten too expensive.
Farming wholesalers can't risk stocking up on fertilizer because of high prices. Thus farmers have trouble getting the fertilizer they need, if they can afford it.
Electricity and gas suppliers are starting to go out of business because they can't afford wholesale prices anymore.
There's a lot of "cheap shit from China" that our infrastructure is built on. Say some specialty water/gas valve breaks in a water or gas line: does the utility have spares, or are they going to have to wait 6 months to get a replacement? If they have to repair the valve, is the guy who would have done that still working there or did they just fire him?
We own farms and I've written two checks this past summer for fertilizer that were more than the car we bought back in April. And since we share crop lease that was only 1/3rd share of the fertilizer.
Supply chain problems that have been tormenting retailers for months are showing up in America's stores
Around the country, there are shortages of goods on shelves in Target, Costco, Home Depot and Sears
The issues aren't specific to any one type of good and are down to problems with shipping and distribution
Cargo ships off [sic] can't get into overworked ports to drop off goods and are hovering off the coast
There is a global shortage in truck drivers which is stalling distribution of goods and railroads are also jammed
The cost of shipping a single container from China to LA reached $20,000 last month - four times what it cost last October
Some retailers are telling people to buy Christmas gifts now to ensure they arrive on time
There is no immediate end in sight: Biden has launched a White House supply chain task force but businesses fear the problems will stretch on for months yet
Hopefully American businesses will learn the obvious from this: globalism is bad, self sufficiency is good. But I'm sure they won't. Or if they do they'll be found washed up on a riverbank somewhere, their replacement even more globalist than they were.
I've noticed that the snack foods in the "impulse grab" section of our local WalMart (i.e. the bits right before the cash registers) have been dwindling over the last couple months, and some of the racks in other sections of the store are looking pretty bare. The powers that be had better get their asses in gear before the "bread and circuses" run out, or they'll be looking at real riots on their hands.
I've definitely noticed the pet food shortage ever since the crisis started in March 2020. I always buy the same stuff from Chewy, and sometimes they are out-of-stock for weeks at a time. I looked into what was causing the pet food shortage—an aluminum shortage. They don't have the cans to package the pet food.
The beverage aisle over the past few months has ranged from "picked over" to "bare." The liquor store is also picked over. The reason? Bottle shortage.
The center store grocery aisles still have inventory, but no shelf depth. I can still buy everything on my shopping list, although the aisles look consistently picked over.
If there's aluminum and glass shortages for bottles and cans, what the fuck am I recycling for? Shouldn't that be pretty close to a closed system, where you get nearly 1 new bottle/can for every bottle/can you recycle?
Interesting, I like in California and have not noticed any bare shelves. Over the summer, certain beverages were a bit hard to find, but only in the sense that I would have to go to another store to get them. Most places have been fully stocked otherwise.
I have noticed the cargo ships coming into San Francisco just floating out in the bay, waiting to dock.
Interesting. In north Texas where I live shelves are full
Stores where I am remind me of grocery stores in Mexico City: full-ish but the variety is heavily pared down from what I'm used to. And the shelves get filled with items that aren't typical for the region/time of year (eg. Easter hams and corned beef year-round)
Yes, this is definitely what I am seeing. They still have generally all the stuff you need, but then just random things are missing and yeah, lot of less choices.
I know I go into also a quick trip every day and they usually keep things pretty well stocked, but they I have just noticed a lot of things that when they DO run out of an item [say a type of m&ms for just random example] it takes LONG time of that spot being empty before they get a new one in. Not saying there is a rush on the m&ms for example, but eventually these items do run out and then it takes forever.
Yeah, stuff isn't restocking as quick, but that may also be that people have started buying prepper style again and it sells out fast. The shelves have all the necessities but less choices. But even the cereal shelves, with workers on strike, are still full, minus a few favorites. And I'm in a Blue City.
This is what I've seen a few times recently while shopping. Technically the shelves weren't empty, however seeing excess multipacks of confectionery in the fresh produce areas that were previously fridges is telling that the spots where fresh produce are missing are being filled with whatever is around.
Whether this is being done to hide a lack or products or taking advantage of the space, or both, it's still disguising the fact for many npcs who look at "full" shelves and don't see the forest for the trees.
It's definitely a trick stores do to make sure you see full shelves. Several years ago when I used to travel a lot to California, I'd go the local bevmo stores; and for whatever reason they always had a far better variety of stuff than they do where I live. So whereas the stores up here might have a few rows of the same product on the shelf, down there they'd have one row each of a much greater variety of products.
Went in to an Aldi store in the last few months [or Lidl, I never remember which one it is], and compared to a previous visit where there used to be an entire fridge/freezer not attached to the walls was instead some regular shelves packed with chocolates and other snack foods. So maybe they were lacking in frozen goods and didn't want it to appear so.
It's a lot harder to get people to deliver to your business when they have to show their papers at the border.
Red states don't really have that problem so any trucker regardless of vax status can bring goods in.
I live in one of the states near Texas and I'm starting to see bare shelves where I'm at. Nothing as major as the pics in the article but I expect it to get more and more apparent where I live over the next few months.
I remember when Covid first started that stores around me were proactive and put limits on certain products. But I do think the media wants to spread panic.
The UK recently had [another] panic buying spree for gas/petrol where it's looking like the supply side of things wasn't the issue [again]. Because it was reported it might happen it went ahead and happened. Always wondered if the financial crisis in the early 2000s was also subject to this that one of the main reasons groups like Black Rock failed was because some "expert" said the company might be in danger and people thought "OH SHIT BETTER GET MY MONEY!" which then caused the very problem being talked about.
Sure there were other factors in play but it's always something worth considering just how much the media has driven these cases.
I'm in Kansas, near Kansas CIty.... I am definitely noticing large sections of CERTAIN products that randomly go missing. For exmaple, for the last week or so I have had trouble finding ANY unsweet ice tea in a bottle/jug. Now I am not saying I looked at every store, or couldn't find it if I tried hard enough, but for a solid week at all the places I happened to go to [walmart, quick trip, ect] there literally was none I could find. Finally today I found a small bottle lol. It seems weird. I am sure if I went on a search through town I would find SOME but it was pretty odd just how this item seemed to be gone everywhere [but plenty of sweet tea].
And, a few other items like that too. Nothing vital, but certain items randomly missing or shelves that just have big random blanks in it.
It is possible to do both.
I'm in Missouri and about a month ago I noticed a bunch of social media posts showing bare shelves at Wal-Mart. We don't shop at Wal-Mart much anymore. Even before the pandemic half the time I'd go to Wal-Mart for something specific they'd be out of it. I do most of our food shopping at the local grocery store chains: Schnucks mainly, but Dierbergs sometimes and then big box crap at Target.
Well a month ago I was in Wal-Mart to get night time pullups for our daughter as that's one of the few items we get at Wal-Mart. Also needed scrubbing bubbles and a couple other things. It was shocking. They had one box of 4t pullups and one box of wipes, both of which I bought. They had no scrubbing bubbles and very little cleaning supplies, no laundry detergent other than Tide. I went to grocery, their milk was $3.19 a gallon vs. $2.79 at the time at the grocery store. They had no butter, very little cheese, very little sugar and the frozen foods section was only a quarter full. I hadn't seen it that bad since April 2020.
So I went to the Target just up the street. It was night and day. Target's shelves were full. They had three different scents of scrubbing bubbles and at least a half dozen cans of each on the shelves. Plenty of diapers, wipes, etc. in the baby section. Shelves full of cleaning supplies and laundry detergent and their frozen foods section was pretty full. Granted they never stocked the number of Skus that walmart did typically.
Went to the Schnucks, they don't carry scubbing bubbles anyway, but they had plenty of other cleaning products, laundry detergent, and their shelves were mostly full other than things like kid's juice (capri sun) and sports drinks. Those shelves have been bare the entire summer. Yet Aldis had Caprisuns by the pallet.
Of all the places I think Walmart's been hit the hardest and my cousin spent a few years working as a rep for a consumer goods company calling on grocery stores, walmart, target, etc.. Her take is that there really is a shortage such as there's only 1M cans of Scrubbing Bubbles. And that some of these companies that have been squeezed by Walmart of the past 20 years are now squeezing back. Target will pay more per unit on much more friendly payment terms, like usually 21 days after receipt of product to their warehouse. Walmart doesn't pay until 60 - 90 days until after it gets scanned at their register. So the producer of scrubbing bubbles eats the inventory costs during that time. If you only have 1M cans and target and other companies will buy them on better terms than Walmart, Walmart aren't getting the product.
Thanks for breaking that down. Very interesting
Walmart I think is just generally in disarray because people clean it out first knowing the prices are cheaper and they have everything they could want there in one place. I think they get the stuff but sell out, and I noticed this even before the pandemic. I think slow to stock shelves employees and customers who are always moving stuff around also kind of contribute to this feel. But that's interesting about them not paying suppliers for 2-3 months, I'm a bit surprised really.
Meanwhile me who buys in packs of 24 once every 6 months regardless of things...
Fucking panic buyers. Of all the things and times it was inconveniently around the time I needed to buy more, too.
Same where I live, but I've been out of town for a week now, not in blue country, and the supply has been inconsistent depending on where I've been. Even more so, the supply of employees has been thin. There's some places that would typically have 3-4 workers in them and it's got one guy doing the best they can.
Things have a lot of potential to get REALLY interesting this winter.
Cheap shit from China not being in stock is one thing. Current energy prices have a much bigger potential to lead to empty shelves on things that matter: food.
Here in Europe fertilizer plants and greenhouses have either scaled back production or shut down completely because energy has gotten too expensive.
Farming wholesalers can't risk stocking up on fertilizer because of high prices. Thus farmers have trouble getting the fertilizer they need, if they can afford it.
Electricity and gas suppliers are starting to go out of business because they can't afford wholesale prices anymore.
There's a lot of "cheap shit from China" that our infrastructure is built on. Say some specialty water/gas valve breaks in a water or gas line: does the utility have spares, or are they going to have to wait 6 months to get a replacement? If they have to repair the valve, is the guy who would have done that still working there or did they just fire him?
Fired for not taking the injection.
Good news! The world government is currently controlled by a cabal that’s desperate to funnel taxpayer money to “green” energy
We own farms and I've written two checks this past summer for fertilizer that were more than the car we bought back in April. And since we share crop lease that was only 1/3rd share of the fertilizer.
Quick summary from The Daily Mail:
Hopefully American businesses will learn the obvious from this: globalism is bad, self sufficiency is good. But I'm sure they won't. Or if they do they'll be found washed up on a riverbank somewhere, their replacement even more globalist than they were.
I've noticed that the snack foods in the "impulse grab" section of our local WalMart (i.e. the bits right before the cash registers) have been dwindling over the last couple months, and some of the racks in other sections of the store are looking pretty bare. The powers that be had better get their asses in gear before the "bread and circuses" run out, or they'll be looking at real riots on their hands.
Not where I live
Full for me but I'm in a red state with zero papers please moments.
I've definitely noticed the pet food shortage ever since the crisis started in March 2020. I always buy the same stuff from Chewy, and sometimes they are out-of-stock for weeks at a time. I looked into what was causing the pet food shortage—an aluminum shortage. They don't have the cans to package the pet food.
The beverage aisle over the past few months has ranged from "picked over" to "bare." The liquor store is also picked over. The reason? Bottle shortage.
The center store grocery aisles still have inventory, but no shelf depth. I can still buy everything on my shopping list, although the aisles look consistently picked over.
If there's aluminum and glass shortages for bottles and cans, what the fuck am I recycling for? Shouldn't that be pretty close to a closed system, where you get nearly 1 new bottle/can for every bottle/can you recycle?
Interesting, I like in California and have not noticed any bare shelves. Over the summer, certain beverages were a bit hard to find, but only in the sense that I would have to go to another store to get them. Most places have been fully stocked otherwise.
I have noticed the cargo ships coming into San Francisco just floating out in the bay, waiting to dock.