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Reply to: Possible food/supply shortages… Posted July 26, 2020

I manage a grocery store in the 4 corners region so I have a decent idea of what’s going on, in my area at least.   First strawberries always run randomly short in the summertime as demand exceeds supply,  and based on your location trucks often get rejected due to quality issues.  Think about how long they are good at your house then imagine them going from Cali to New England, probably about the same length of time so they don’t always make it in good shape. Then upon arrival stored in a warehouse, then once again loaded in a truck and sent to your neighborhood grocery store, so multiple spots where quality can prevent them from being available. In my part of the country we are seeing a lack of canned vegetables and tomatoes.  That is due to farmer’s not growing excess because they were unaware this would happen. Therefore the variety and selection people are accustomed are literally still growing in the field. Cleaning products have started showing back up but with no consistency.  We have received Clorox wipes and Lysol spray once since this has started but that was within the past week. Paper products may not have the variety you want but they are abundantly available. Meat products are coming in consistently but the price of beef has fluctuated greatly.  So don’t expect to find the same sale prices as last year, and if you do stock up and freeze. For curbside pickup most companies have tried to improvise an algorithm that only shows the products they have confidence will be in stock.  This is probably not indicative of what you could actually find in store. Having said all that as of right now things are more consistent and plentiful than they have been since mid March.  My concern though is that the supply chain cannot withstand a second round of panic buying.  The first time when I saw this coming I told my wife to buy 1 extra case of water and 1 extra pack of toilet paper.  Last week I told her to get two months of everything that we need.  Summation things are the best they’ve been in four months but with states going back phases and sporadic civil unrest I’m worried this is the eye of the storm not the end.

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Reply to: Possible food/supply shortages… Posted July 26, 2020

I manage a grocery store in the 4 corners region so I have a decent idea of what’s going on, in my area at least.   First strawberries always run randomly short in the summertime as demand exceeds supply,  and based on your location trucks often get rejected due to quality issues.  Think about how long they are good at your house then imagine them going from Cali to New England, probably about the same length of time so they don’t always make it in good shape. Then upon arrival stored in a warehouse, then once again loaded in a truck and sent to your neighborhood grocery store, so multiple spots where quality can prevent them from being available. In my part of the country we are seeing a lack of canned vegetables and tomatoes.  That is due to farmer’s not growing excess because they were unaware this would happen. Therefore the variety and selection people are accustomed are literally still growing in the field. Cleaning products have started showing back up but with no consistency.  We have received Clorox wipes and Lysol spray once since this has started but that was within the past week. Paper products may not have the variety you want but they are abundantly available. Meat products are coming in consistently but the price of beef has fluctuated greatly.  So don’t expect to find the same sale prices as last year, and if you do stock up and freeze. For curbside pickup most companies have tried to improvise an algorithm that only shows the products they have confidence will be in stock.  This is probably not indicative of what you could actually find in store. Having said all that as of right now things are more consistent and plentiful than they have been since mid March.  My concern though is that the supply chain cannot withstand a second round of panic buying.  The first time when I saw this coming I told my wife to buy 1 extra case of water and 1 extra pack of toilet paper.  Last week I told her to get two months of everything that we need.  Summation things are the best they’ve been in four months but with states going back phases and sporadic civil unrest I’m worried this is the eye of the storm not the end.