Supply chain disruptions?

chic

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Location
U.S.
Have you noticed empty store shelves anywhere near you with all the talk there has been of supply chain disruptions?

I did encounter some empty shelf space in the toilet paper / paper towel aisle of a local major chain grocery store yesterday and this was my first sighting of a shortage in over a year.

No problems getting the car gassed up, and there is plenty of food in all the grocery stores so far.

How is it where you live? I'm curious if this is going to be a valid concern going forward or just a media driven panic to keep us half nuts all the time.
 

I read a "news" email the other day that's predicting a global transportation crisis or strike. I also have groceries delivered from a major chain and they've been out of several things for the past month due to transportation issues.
 

Around here, Costco and BJ's are both limiting purchases on paper products. In the grocery store that I work for, we also have limits on paper goods. We also have shortages on some meat items and other grocery items as simple as pancake mix, ketchup, mustard and Oscar Meyer Lunchables. We are told that there aren't enough truck drivers to make the deliveries. Our driver that delivers the meats to our store, (I work in the meat department), is making anywhere from 8-10 deliveries a day. His normal day is about 4-5 deliveries a day. Big uptick in deliveries for him. We are the second largest grocery chain in the U.S. next to Walmart.

https://www.aholddelhaize.com/
 
I think that it’s a combination of fact and media hype.

In my area the stores have some pockets of empty space in the frozen food section and the paper product aisle.

The news is reporting container ships backed up off the California coast due to a shortage of truck drivers.

This supposedly translates into shortages for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

The news of those shortages triggers a panic buying frenzy and suddenly the shortages become very real.

It may mean that we have what my grandparents called a mitten Christmas.
 
Lots of shortages here , Fuel ( well not specifically fuel).. delivery drivers, which has caused half the countries fuel stations to close and panic buying of fuel here for the last week or more.. and many people unable to get to work due to the lack of fuel. The Govt are bringing the army in as from Monday to deliver to all petrol & Diesel stations

Lots of empty shelves in the supermarkets...and hardware & department stores...again mainly down to the break in the supply chain..

This snippet from the headlines in this mornings' paper...

The fuel crisis is getting worse in London and the south east, an industry expert warned today, as retailers demand urgent action to restock filling stations.

Soldiers will start delivering petrol from Monday in a drastic bid to end the chaos of recent days, with nearly 200 military drivers being deployed to the worst-hit areas.

While ministers insist the situation is 'stabilising', industry bosses remain concerned, and have called for neighbourhood retail stations to be quickly replenished to give customers 'confidence', amid warnings that motorists should expect to pay 3p more at the pump, with claims that one garage in west London is charging as much as £2.68 per litre.

The disruption is part of an ongoing 'EFFing crisis' - made up of energy chaos, fuel shortages and empty food shelves, which is expected to last for months.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-Monday-amid-warnings-3p-rise-fuel-costs.html
 
We haven't seen any major shortages in our area....just occasional items in the grocery store while they are waiting for a delivery. I can't understand Why there is a shortage of truck drivers....they should have minimal concerns about this virus in their workplace. Then, there is the huge backlog of container ships at our ports, waiting to be unloaded....Again, dock workers should Not be having issues with this virus.

All these shortages and backlogs are going to do is drive prices and inflation higher, and put a dent into the budgets of those living on a fixed income.
 
We haven't seen any major shortages in our area....just occasional items in the grocery store while they are waiting for a delivery. I can't understand Why there is a shortage of truck drivers....they should have minimal concerns about this virus in their workplace. Then, there is the huge backlog of container ships at our ports, waiting to be unloaded....Again, dock workers should Not be having issues with this virus.

All these shortages and backlogs are going to do is drive prices and inflation higher, and put a dent into the budgets of those living on a fixed income.

Seeing images of all those cargo ships on the Evening News, sitting in the Pacific Ocean, is troubling ...

.....
 
Update : at the health food store the entire frozen food aisle was nearly depleted! First time since early in the pandemic. I stocked up with what they had, as much as possible, and bought a lot of fresh produce too which in sections, is becoming more sparse but not as bad as frozen food. I guess we'll see how this goes in coming weeks but I will stock up as much as space and my finances allow because I remember how bad things were from April - June 2020 and I never want to go through that again. :oops:
 
I just saw this morning the chip shortages are so severe the automakers are stating "shortages" is no longer applicable rather this is the new norm. Also, the average family owned business will take 3-5 years to recoup their losses. The mail system will take 5 days longer for normal mail and cost more. Imagine how terrible things would be had the vaccine never been created.
 
Seeing images of all those cargo ships on the Evening News, sitting in the Pacific Ocean, is troubling ...

.....

So far, our stores here in northern Alabama do not seem to have empty shelves. Of course, fuel has more than doubled in price this year; but so far we have not had a lack of delivery trucks either. I have been adding more storable foods to our supply each time that I get groceries. We don’t have enough for an economy collapse, but at least it will help during shortages, and since it is storable foods, they will keep until we use them.

Here is a map that shows all of the hundreds of cargo ships all around every United States port, all waiting to be unloaded. Obviously, if the cargo ships were being allowed to unload, then we would have probably overstocked shelves instead of facing shortages.

C81994D4-AE59-44B1-B8DE-1BC7566B59F6.jpeg
 
So far, our stores here in northern Alabama do not seem to have empty shelves. Of course, fuel has more than doubled in price this year; but so far we have not had a lack of delivery trucks either. I have been adding more storable foods to our supply each time that I get groceries. We don’t have enough for an economy collapse, but at least it will help during shortages, and since it is storable foods, they will keep until we use them.

Here is a map that shows all of the hundreds of cargo ships all around every United States port, all waiting to be unloaded. Obviously, if the cargo ships were being allowed to unload, then we would have probably overstocked shelves instead of facing shortages.

View attachment 186959

Amazing image! - It's almost surprising now when packages do arrive.
 
I don't think it's media drive to cause panic. One of the issues is that massive amounts of cargo ships stuck in ports in L.A. N.Y. and N.J. causing major delays in the delivery of goods. Another problem is there has been a manufacturing slowdown in part due to a loss of workers.
https://news.yahoo.com/tens-thousan...vKNcUpvrll1eK_Hdmo5bbALo9Xx5wD5AUCy7d9N4Vcq3_
There are no empty shelves at my local supermarket and last time I went to Costco a couple of weeks ago, they had plenty of water, TP and no empty shelves. I've advised my son to get what he will need of the basics early this week and go back for me toward the end of the week. I told him this because he would only be able to get one bundle of TP and paper towels at a time.
 
Lots of empty shelves in CVS a few days ago, especially in the over the counter meds section. It looked like they only had about two thirds stocked if that. Gaps at grocery store over the counter med sections as well. I've been looking for one OTC product for weeks with no luck.
 
Back in the early 2000’s there was a push for the 100 Mile Purchasing Theory. i.e. Buy your goods, especially food, from within 100 miles of you. Too bad it never really caught on. In the summer this isn’t hard, I shop at the Farmers Markets. When I couldn’t make it this week, the apples & pears that I looked at in the grocery store were all from out-of-country. They grow them right here.
 
It is, though. We're not near Thanksgiving or Christmas so it's another indicator of the supply chain problem. ....Speaking of the holidays, I'm starting to stock up on our traditional favorites now while they are still available.
We're being warned now, that traditional Holiday stocks will be low if not unavailable completely this year.....foods mainly, but also including Christmas toys, and the public are being urged to stock up now...

of course people will panic and if there wasn't already a shortage ..and currently there is... then there definitely will be soon...
 

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