Supply chain disruptions?

Yesterday in Aldi, they had a freezer end case full of large turkeys. A sign on the case said to buy them now if you want one, as they would probably not restock. That's pretty much the info that has been on the news, that, and that smaller turkeys would be in very short supply. I didn't buy the turkey as I couldn't lift it, and no longer want a big one.

Some items in Aldi were not available, soups, and other canned goods.

Walmart has been having lots of empty shelves for the past two months. Just empty spaces, all different types of products food, paper, cleaning, etc.

Last year and currently, the chain grocery stores seem to be well stocked.
I haven't been able to get the small containers of Greek yogurt for two months. Last week, a woman and I were looking at the empty cases where bacon, sausage, etc. should have been.
 

Lately, it seems that the "shortage of truck drivers" is being blamed for these shortages....I don't understand why. Truck drivers, on average, make about $25/hr. That is far above any "minimum wage", and unemployment benefits. Plus, most of their work is outdoors, and alone...which should offer minimum risk for exposure to Covid. Why are many avoiding this job????
 
Don M. said:
Lately, it seems that the "shortage of truck drivers" is being blamed for these shortages....I don't understand why. Truck drivers, on average, make about $25/hr. That is far above any "minimum wage", and unemployment benefits. Plus, most of their work is outdoors, and alone...which should offer minimum risk for exposure to Covid. Why are many avoiding this job????
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My friend, who is a trucker, said there has been a shortage of drivers for 10-15 years. He said it is because no one wants to do it, and a lot of people have retired. He knows no one under 30 who is a trucker. He thinks some of them don't want the job because it carries no prestige and they don't want to drive for 10 hours at a time.

He says driving for many hours is all that fun, although he likes his job just fine, and doesn't mind the driving.
 
A close friend's son in law was working for a company that recently laid off all their truckers. However he's also been working for a long time as an independent trucker with his wife previously finding plenty of work for him, but now they're having a hard time finding any.

This is in spite of many truckers not working now due to the mandates. He has personally had 4 long time close friends in their 30's and 40's who were forced to get the shots to get trucking runs and all 4 of them are now dead.
 
Owlivia said:
Yesterday in Aldi, they had a freezer end case full of large turkeys. A sign on the case said to buy them now if you want one, as they would probably not restock. That's pretty much the info that has been on the news, that, and that smaller turkeys would be in very short supply. I didn't buy the turkey as I couldn't lift it, and no longer want a big one.

Some items in Aldi were not available, soups, and other canned goods.

Walmart has been having lots of empty shelves for the past two months. Just empty spaces, all different types of products food, paper, cleaning, etc.

Last year and currently, the chain grocery stores seem to be well stocked.
I haven't been able to get the small containers of Greek yogurt for two months. Last week, a woman and I were looking at the empty cases where bacon, sausage, etc. should have been.
Click to expand...
Interesting about possible holiday food shortages.

Other SF members have no idea where you are, @Owlivia, so others can't know if your experience might apply to them. Are you in the UK, the US, AU, Germany, or somewhere else? If in the US can you give a general region?

Would you consider updating your account info to include a rough location?
https://www.seniorforums.com/account/
 
Owlivia said:
Yesterday in Aldi, they had a freezer end case full of large turkeys. A sign on the case said to buy them now if you want one, as they would probably not restock. That's pretty much the info that has been on the news, that, and that smaller turkeys would be in very short supply. I didn't buy the turkey as I couldn't lift it, and no longer want a big one.

Some items in Aldi were not available, soups, and other canned goods.

Walmart has been having lots of empty shelves for the past two months. Just empty spaces, all different types of products food, paper, cleaning, etc.

Last year and currently, the chain grocery stores seem to be well stocked.
I haven't been able to get the small containers of Greek yogurt for two months. Last week, a woman and I were looking at the empty cases where bacon, sausage, etc. should have been.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for reminding me I need to buy sausages NOW and freeze them so we can have some for our holiday meals. ;) I buy and freeze meat every time I go to the grocery store just in case this is really bad.
 
Whoa! I haven't bought beef in so long but damn! I'm glad I don't have to worry about ever buying it again. And of course I don't buy pork products.
Re the OP: Still not seeing empty shelves at our local supermarket. I've been stocking up on everything I'll need in the coming months. Besides Costco, I've ordered necessary items from Walmart.com, Luckyvitamin.com and Amazon.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Whoa! I haven't bought beef in so long but damn! I'm glad I don't have to worry about ever buying it again. And of course I don't buy pork products.
Re the OP: Still not seeing empty shelves at our local supermarket. I've been stocking up on everything I'll need in the coming months. Besides Costco, I've ordered necessary items from Walmart.com, Luckyvitamin.com and Amazon.
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Ditto. I buy poultry and chicken sausages. But healthy meats are the first things the stores run out of. I've already stocked up on vitamins in case this lasts longer than they expect. But I hope it doesn't.
 
No one can really predict how the food situation may pan out, and panic buying doesn't help, but being the sensible type of fella that I am, I may just decide to fill the freezer up with a few dozen tubs of ice cream. :giggle:
 
I made an early morning Walmart run.

I was surprised that the packaged cold cuts, sausage, etc... from brand name producers like Hillshire Farms, Jimmy Dean were empty. The fresh milk section was also fairly empty. Heat and eat foods like Hormel Compleats were also in short supply.

A few other gaps but still plenty of food to choose from.

Crews were busy restocking.

Some of it may be the result of normal weekend shopping with an eye towards stocking up.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
I posted this on another thread:

I read online that Walmart, Target and some other big chains were chartering their own cargo ships and dock workers to unload their merchandise to their trucks with their own drivers. I wondered why all those ships are just sitting out there in the ocean...duh! because there's no one to unload them, no drivers for the trucks.
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Isn't there some sort of union that dock workers have to belong to? Just anybody can't work the docks, can they?
 
Longshoremen's union is for the dock workers. The Commercial Carrier's driving schools closed during covid and that has created a real long haul truck driver's backlog. What with the normal attrition; retirements, job quits and changing professions, the truck drivers are in short supply. It takes quite a while to properly train a big rig driver.
 
cdestroyer said:
here is a list of survival items some are also listed for barter usage, ya never know..

Beans: These are relatively cheap and are a great long-lasting item to store.
Hard Grains: Stored properly hard grains have a shelf life of around 10 – 12 years.
Click to expand...
Pasta's

Storage hint for those interested....
Using regular Mason jars, and other same style with a plastic screw on lid (think mayonnaise jar)
Order some Oxygen absorption packs
Fill your jars, toss in a pack and seal... The lid will actually suck down as the Oxygen is absorbed.
This stuff with be usable for many many years.
 
My 2¢ worth... In the U.S. (and only the U.S.) any potential food shortages are only peripherally caused by the Big Supply Chain disruption. The big supply chain disruption was caused by fully loaded trains inbound from the ports, with smaller service and many empty carriages going outbound at the start of the pandemic. As the U.S. rebounded late last year, this continued. This problem became so bad in the Spring, the major rails (BNSF, UNP) halted all inbound and outbound port service for at least one week in July. Since then they have been metering, which means take away form the ports matches freight going to the ports. This has caused the ports to become clogged.

Across the U.S., trucks are being delayed as the rail yards attempt to stack and unstack containers, as well as delays at delivery points, etc. Due in large part to personnel shortages, etc.

There is an idea that food inflation is due to some impending shortage caused by the Big Supply Chain disruption and hoarding may therefore be a factor in driving the cost up and emptying some shelves. However, I would not disparage the notion of hoarding, as worldwide weather has contributed to some very large crop losses, especially in that really heavily populated country in Asia that is a massive food importer.
 
Owlivia said:
Yesterday in Aldi, they had a freezer end case full of large turkeys. A sign on the case said to buy them now if you want one, as they would probably not restock. That's pretty much the info that has been on the news, that, and that smaller turkeys would be in very short supply. I didn't buy the turkey as I couldn't lift it, and no longer want a big one.

Some items in Aldi were not available, soups, and other canned goods.

Walmart has been having lots of empty shelves for the past two months. Just empty spaces, all different types of products food, paper, cleaning, etc.

Last year and currently, the chain grocery stores seem to be well stocked.
I haven't been able to get the small containers of Greek yogurt for two months. Last week, a woman and I were looking at the empty cases where bacon, sausage, etc. should have been.
Click to expand...
Co-incidentally I was in Aldi yesterday... all shelves were fully stocked..
 
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