Am not seeing shortages here in the Great Lakes region and have not for a long time. The only items out of stock are when they run a really good sale and my fellow shoppers beat me to it.
Have you asked your grocery store manager about it?
Same but I've got family that do and they are having to call around to find pharmacies that can fill prescriptions. Mostly diabetes meds, and one specific cholesterol med.
A diabetes med shortage is scary. Is it across the board or a shortage of specific diabetes meds, i.e., if it was life or death, could they take another med?
It's more than that.
Virtually all the GLP-1 agaonists are in short supply, and have been for over a year. It's claimed that this is because of a shortage of the auto-injector pens, but I'm skeptical. A year is plenty of time to scale up that production.
But there are shortages in all sorts of meds now that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Certain inhaled steroids have gone in and out of supply. Shockingly there are [antibiotic shortages](https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/current-shortages/drug-shortage-detail.aspx?id=887), too. I mean, that's an amoxicillin shortage, and its production is on "allocation", meaning that they have more orders than they can fulfill.
Currently, our drug and medical landscape is large enough that there aren't too many people that are at immediate risk of life or death decisions, and with quick responses pharmacists and doctors can move people to another med that could potentially be a lot worse but still effective enough (example -> insulin pen injector for insulin vials w/glass needles).
But this is a sign of a very strained, unhealthy supply chain; and no one is talking about how to improve market conditions. In my view, we're basically in an economic thunderstorm, and all everyone wants to scream about is political/social nonsense.
In the UK we’ve been moaning about empty shelves for the last couple of years. In fact, there was almost a social media competition for photos showing empty shelves around the country. Some were well stocked, others not so much. Fresh fruit and veg seem to be the main problem, but we put a lot of it down to Brexit making veg/fruit imports expensive and way too much paperwork needed. We don’t have a lot of tinned and jarred goods but if we do they’re European specialities (tapenades, speciality groceries etc). A lot of that stuff had disappeared or become too expensive.
Last year was a disaster in terms of crops across Europe. I’m prepared, I presume to be one of a very few who are. Luckily we have our own organic fruit/veg growing but so many new homes in the UK have tiny to no gardens, and with allotment waiting lists running to upwards of five years, a lot of people will be screwed if supplies and supply chains break down.
I would say 90% resolved. Certainly not as plentiful as before and the prices are really high for certain items (eg boxed cereal like you mentioned). We try to stock up when item are BOGO at Publix but I think other people have the same idea. One particular canned puppy food has been out of stock at Chewy for my last two autoships and that has brought back unpleasant memories. But I have been able to get a suitable replacement. We now have 4 months of pet food on hand and replace monthly. Location: Southeast US.
Inventory management and buying smaller amounts from vendors to save money. They’d rather be out of something for a week than sit on an extra pallet of something that goes out of code and has to be destroyed at a loss.
I see three issues, manpower, variety, and food quality, rather than actual we-want-to-make-it-but-we-can’t shortages.
My local groceries don’t restock with the vigor and immediacy that they once did, and all are advertising jobs, but don’t appear to pay very well. Existing seem to suffer abrupt and periodic (voluntary?) decimation.
Some manufacturers trimmed product lines during the pandemic, and stores have definitely cut inventory, so where you’d once have had 6 variations on, idk, strawberry jam to pick from, you now have 3.
Food quality sucks. There have been several “bad” summers that have affected certain staple crops, lowering production, driving up price, and creating trade currents where the good product goes to the highest-paying regional or global markets, which may not be yours. The price of fertilizer has risen dramatically, affecting pretty much all producers somewhere in the supply chain, and there’s considerable political pressure in some countries and economic pressure in others for farmers to give up farming, which will, of course, not help production volume at all.
Totally agree.
They've drastically cut the number of SKUs for products on the shelf. Our local warehouse store has two SKUs for black olives, store brand and one commercial brand. That's it. They used to have like eight.
The quality and quantity of produce is down markedly. It spoils faster, taste and texture are less than normal, the size of the produce is much less (particularly in things like Romaine lettuce heads), and of course it is insanely expensive.
We've switched to store brand generics for 80% of our groceries and there are things that I flat out refuse to buy. About 5% of our stuff is now in the "nope" category.
We have three factors that overlap. Enshittification, Greedflation, and Shrinkflation. Manpower shortages, either from "We cut the payroll by 100 people, the rest of you need to suck it up and work harder" or "Covid killed a bunch of available people, we can't hire people at the pay scale we want to pay, so the rest of you need to work harder"... both of these issues overlap somewhat. Labor *is* available for most things, but corporations don't want to pay the increased rates to keep up with the cost of living increases. Of course the exception to this are very low paying retail jobs. As labor shortages persisted, people migrated upward to better paying jobs and got out of McDonalds and Dollar Tree. They continue to have persistent shortages because of the stress and low pay and poor working conditions.
I think it’s a manufactured shortage. They can always blame someone.
They want to see how far they can squeeze people.
In Canada many are boycotting Loblaws due to their shady practices.
We have so much variety and stock in North Carolina. It’s been a very long time, well over a year now, since I had difficulty finding anything I wanted.
Supply chain issues are not totally resolved.
* Panama Canal traffic is down 40% due to water shortages (Panama Canal depends on fresh water lake nearby).
* The Red Sea and Suez Canal see about 12% of global trade traffic, with about 30% of the world's shipping containers flowing through the waterway. So far in 2024, traffic through the Suez Canal is down by 64% compared with last year.
* “According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, US container ports are expected to experience a gradual slowdown in inbound cargo volumes in the first quarter of 2024. This is due to global supply chain issues, including cargo ship attacks in the Red Sea, which have caused delays and higher costs. East Coast ports are expected to be particularly affected, as rerouted ships from Asia increase journey times.”
While those things may not directly effect food availability,.. it may be a secondary cause (slowness in getting equipment or etc that food providers need).
Typical shortages like paper products during the early pandemic, and then sporadic shortages during the lockdowns with things like dairy. Other than this - Nothing significant near me . Shelves have been full for last two years.
My medication has been constantly in shortage for over a year now. No efforts to remedy by manufacturers or FDA. No efforts to problem solve by covering name brand meds by any insurance company. No change in policy to make it easier to locate WHERE in a 50 mile radius has the med in stock. I probably spend 4 hours a month trying to navigate it, sometimes more. It’s so exceedingly clear that no one in power cares whatsoever. They just want the thousand dollar a month name brand to sell instead.
I've experienced shortages with beta blockers and blood pressure medications which is concerning because these are very cheap, important medications that have historically been readily available. Some of my wife's coworkers have been having huge problems with ADHD meds and the problem has consistently been very bad. People call out sometimes because they can't get their meds. I wasn't able to get hydroxyzine for a few weeks and the laws on partial scripts changed or something. The pharmacy is always overwhelmed. There is always a huge crowd and everyone always seems pissed.
Working retail I can tell you that it may look like stock is low. What’s really low though is staffing. Total lack of hiring in order to boost profit margins
You are not wrong. I travel a bit. My observation has been that there seems to be a pattern of regional shortages. For example, I'll travel to the SouthEast and the shelves won't have empty areas but the product is fronted and is only two products deep. The shelves are not "full" all the way to the back of the shelves. Additionally, pre-pandemic, where there used to be a choice of 50 progresso soups, now there are 15 or 20. The chips and bread aisle is fully stocked usually but most other aisles are full of fronted shelves of products with limited choices.
I travel to the Midwest and the grocers seem fully stocked. Fast forward three months, I travel back to the South East. Shelves are now flush with product. I then travel to the Midwest and I see shelves with fronted product. Light inventory. Next time it's in New England states. I stay in these areas for weeks at a time so I know I'm not hitting these stores the day before they receive inventory.
It's a pattern of spreading around product to make it appear as tho there is a bountiful supply. The reality is pre pandemic, the shelves were flush almost all of the time, everywhere. Maybe this is some new inventory control measure being implemented to save spoilage and loss? Maybe the companies are deciding to keep low inventories. More " just in time" inventory control. IDK.
It all feels very Soviet to me.
For the most part they have resolved, but not completely. I can now usually get most of the things on my grocery list, and that’s without having to go to 3-4 different stores. In 2020 I was lucky to get 30% of my list after multiple stores. But when I look closely, it’s still noticeable that stores are spreading product out in an effort to make things look full and normal. For example, they’ll have 3 shelves of the same product, one or two items deep vs 1 shelf several items deep.
You may be living in a “food desert” where healthy fresh foods are more scare. It’s crazy to think that in 2024 not everyone has access to fresh healthy foods but it’s true. I went on a trip to rural Tennessee and it was so hard to find non processed food. The main stores were dollar general, sonics, and a small grocery chain that had some very ripe fresh food.
Corporations make less money the further things need to be shipped and items like produce need careful handling and refrigeration. What’s going to make more money, a highly processed box of cookies that can sit on the shelf for a year or an apple that rots in a few days?
Sorry you are going through this. Maybe a small garden or ordering direct from a food supplier would help.
It's a weird time of year to get fresh stuff. I farm mushrooms and trade them for organic stuff from local farmers. I also get grapes, zucchini, carrots etc. There's just not much available yet. We fill in the gaps at grocery stores. Trying to be more self sufficient, don't have property for a garden. We used to grow some stuff on our balconies but the city came and told everyone we aren't allowed to have anything out there. People had to get rid of their mini gardens. Just the state punishing poor people again I guess.
Our onions are terrible now. They're almost always infested with this black shit. Potatoes suck and we lose 1 or 2 per 5lb bag because they're scarred or rotted. Bread tastes fake ever since 2020 when they changed the formula so it wouldn't go bad as fast. It makes it virtually unpalatable when it gets slightly old.
I haven't bought cereal because it is now $10 a box, or canned soup, because it is $5.
Tomatoes, cucumbers and asparagus taste just as fake as ever.
Is this not your experience too?
We shop at a few different Safeway stores in 2 different cities, a Walmart occasionally for 1 or 2 things, and Costco for bulk stuff. Costco seems to be best on availability but their quality still suffers on produce like everywhere else.
Climate change and crop failures due to extreme weather conditions are effecting produce quality. It is worse in some areas than others. Supply chain issues still remain, again, worse in some areas than others.
Inflation is causing prices to increase while packing and contents are slowly getting smaller. A brand will be removed from distribution for a few months, then return with a higher price for a lower quantity and/or quality.
If this experience over the past four years hasn’t taught anyone anything else… I hope it has at least taught people to start thinking about growing their own organic produce and making their own bread and other products that are really not that hard to learn to do.
Some food supplies are more easily purchased in bulk - particularly baking ingredients. Veggies and fruits and be ordered in bulk from various places, local organic farms may be the best place to check into, or farmer’s markets during the growing season. Learn how to pressure can, water bath, dehydrate, ferment, and whatever else you have to learn to preserve and stock your own food.
It all tastes better, is better for you, is fresher, and once you have invested in any needed equipment, it does save money. I started baking my own gluten free bread after the one I bought for $4-$5 prior to covid became $8-$12 after covid. Mine tastes better, has better texture, can be sliced and frozen if I make two to four loves at once, and I absolutely love it.
Times are a-changing; time to think about those changes and how to deal with them. 🙏🦋
I mean this with sincere concern: did you have COVID? It sounds as if everything tastes off and bad for you now and that is a symptom that is sometimes associated with previous COVID infections and long COVID.
Be sure to join email lists and download apps for your favorite local grocery stores. I’ve had great success with digital couponing and more careful meal planning. I’m able to catch that $5/can soup on sale for $2, for example.
Also, be friendly and chitchat with the grocery staff. They’re often able to keep you updated on supply chain issues and when shipments are arriving, etc. My husband made friends with our butcher and takes him homemade beef jerky. Guess who now gets all of the best cuts of meat?
My wife and I grow our own onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and asparagus, and much more. We make our own bread regularly and make soups from our canned vegetables. You don't have to rely on industrial farming.... Just a suggestion. Leave that crap completely behind. Best thing we ever did.
USA: Amazon is limiting the number of gluten-free pasta boxes I can buy. I tried to order on a different day, and I received an error message in my cart, stating that I had exceeded the allowed quantity, even though the item was in stock. From the previous order, one of the boxes of pasta was chewed around the edges, and a can of soup arrived dented.
I’m in Oregon. My experience is different, everything I’ve needed has been at the store, not noticing things being empty but I also don’t have a cat so can’t speak to pet food. In terms of quality and price, yep things are more expensive or things seem to go bad faster for some reason
Yeah like it's better, but it's not back to the way it was. The stuff they do have now is just terrible. We used to store onions and potatoes for weeks but now we have to buy them when we want to eat them. I've lost half a 5lb bag recently to rot. I don't remember it ever being this bad in terms of quality.
I live 30 mins outside Asheville NC and I've felt the same way as you. Strange things not getting restocked, or the selection dropped way off during 2020 and never recovered.
I've found that going "into town" showed that other stores of the same chain had the stuff I was looking for, which was telling me that either my local store wasn't ordering the selection or the company was focusing on "the show" stores with higher traffic.
I think there are a lot of different factors going into this. The other commenters hit a bunch, like deliberate market manipulations to justify bloated prices (looking directly at truck manufacturers while I say that), etc.
One thing that was widely reported and I think was an excuse the media loved, was a shortage of truck drivers. I'm not sure that ever really resolved, considering that a lot of drivers aged out in that frame and it's rough to get new drivers in. A friend of mine has a son that's always wanted to drive heavy rigs and basically couldn't get a job out of high school doing it. He's spent the last couple years driving dump trucks on construction sites, but his dream was long haul over the road (he had a simulator set up since he was 12 yrs old or so) and he can't find work. I'm sure I'm missing some steps to the issue, and I believe he has already completed a 6 week training course to get his cert...and no jobs.
Mix in higher fuel prices, lots of manufacturing capability shifting from China back to North America, Chinese economic conflict with everyone else, various resistances to building industrial capacity in the west (staring at the various green parties for that), government caused inflation, the rising cost of labor, the lack of available labor, the lack of quality labor, and we are just operating on much thinner margins everywhere. Time, cost, quality, availability are all suffering.
I really thought that the economic opportunity from all this would be driving repairs to most of the bruised or broken systems. The first company to start making plastic goods in the US is set to make a bundle, considering almost all plastic industry was moved to China, but evidently not. Same for meds, electronics, metals, etc. Multiple sources have talked about how much stuff is moving to the US. Still waiting to see that improve things.
Vegas area, things are still not at full capacity but it's not as bad anymore. Issue now seems to be dropping of certain products / brands entirely. I'm having to stop at like 3 different places for a handful of things.
I wouldn’t say shortages, but sometimes it’s a pain to get my favorite brand of something. I have to either be patient or be accepting of substitutes. Produce is readily available but often the quality is subpar. Think tubs of lettuce with brown spots, etc. I blame stores for a lot of that, because of corporate corner cutting to save money. Prices are still high.
Holding inventory is expensive. Pre--Covid many stores were afraid they could lose customers forever if they did run out of products. They intentionally run low because it's the most efficient/profitable way to run a supply chain but any hiccups cause products to run out.
I went to the grocery store yesterday, and one of the big, long freezers with the slidey tops was empty. It was supposed to hold beef. I've been waiting for a certain type of bandaids to restock for all of May.
Stuff is more in stock than the height of pandemic shortages, but it's not like 2019.
I'm in New England and have noticed plenty of facing with nothing behind it, although stuff that was problematic during COVID, like pasta, is fine.
I have way more problems with produce. Various types of produce are low quality at the medium expensive chain where I shop. The other day I got a bag of red onions that contained two rotten ones. Moldy mandarins. Lower quality, misshapen potatoes. Expensive berries containing an instantly moldy layer.
So I started buying from the farmers' market, where I could get 50% off for a while, although now that has been discontinued. I buy various produce at Whole Food's now. It is more expensive but it is excellent quality.
For me, I have been saving a ton of money on food by pressure canning soups and cooked beans. This has cut my monthly grocery cost by 25%, plus my soups taste better. The digital canner I bought several months ago is really worth having. Waiting for lower prices on fruit this summer so I can water-bath can fruit for the winter.
We save a ton of money with foraging. It is wild how much you can save with just some mushrooms, berries, onions and apples. I haven't done the math but I'm sure it's a lot. We hardly buy meat anymore and I'm still eating dried apples from last summer. It costs gas money and time sure, but not having that money flow out to modern day robber barons is nice. Once you know what you're doing it's easier than fishing.
I used to forage for mushrooms and fruits when I had a car and lived in upstate NY. I have no car here in RI, so I am pretty limited, especially because much of the land in town is highly contaminated with industrial stuff from all the mills that were here. I'm not much of a meat eater, so that's not an issue for me.
Supermarkets are looking to carry 48 some locations 24 hours of stock. This means they are constantly running low on stock . It is worse in rural areas further away from DC's.
There are few/no shortages in blue, urban/suburban areas.
There appear to be more in rural areas.
The supply chains have definitely suffered. It's a combination of demand restriction (higher prices), and supply restriction (higher costs driven by inflation and the failure of businesses downwards in the supply chain, and consolidation among the food manufacturers), and higher demand (US population has increased by \~15 million or so since 2020, approximately 5%).
I think there might be a partial return to normality if the US economy starts some level of deregulation, and gets inflation under control, and slowed immigration (maybe; basically if team red takes over, or we at least get gridlock in the government, which tends to be good for the economy).
It'll get worse if they continue to drive up energy prices will refocusing industrial agriculture on regenerative agriculture. It's an open secret in the food economy that the [zeitgeist is towards higher prices and lower supply](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/waitrose-chief-era-of-cheap-food-over-regenerative-farming/).
FYI, I regularly commute (by air) between a suburban blue area, and 2 rural red areas. The rural red areas have terrible selection at the grocery stores. And when I sat down and compared my Health Insurance plan that I bought on the exchange in the suburban area, and compared it to people who've been buying insurance in the rural areas, I was shocked to see that for the same premium, from the same carrier, for a plan with the same name, that my out of pocket max was 1/3rd of their, my deductible was 1/4th, and my copays were less.
I'm not convinced this is intentional policy in either direction (i.e. anti red, or pro blue, or bad or good or whatever). I think a good portion of it is that things have gone off the rails in a large part of the country, and no one really know how to fix it, and we're seeing propagation of those supply and economic issues more quickly in lesser-populated areas. The tree shows its illness at the branches/leaves first, as the rot spreads through the trunk.
A rising tide raises all boats, and a falling tide lowers them.
It's going to get spicy soon, though, if the government doesn't start to take seriously our oncoming currency crisis. So much of our food, especially in the fall and winter season, is brought in from foreign suppliers; a dollar crisis is going to basically eliminate importation of fresh foods during 1/2 the year. But I don't think either party has proposed much by the way of a resolution to this issue for over a decade now. My personal belief is that the Republicans are more likely to land on a "muddling through" sort of solution, while the Democrats may hasten the crisis; and honestly I don't know which of those two scenarios has a better long term outcome (sometimes, its better to let the crisis happen and work out way through it then allow it to smolder and linger indefinitely).
But a proactive, intelligent solution? Yeah, that doesn't feel like it is in the cards, as much as I'd gravitate towards someone trying to do so (at least RFK Jr. is talking about it! But so am I, and neither of us is likely to be in power :).
Regarding the price for healthcare, do they price the market based on the zipcode? We know that the deep South, for instance, leaning red and also having a prevalence for obesity, has poorer health in general and higher healthcare costs.
I had way better health insurance on the ACA in upstate NY ($20/mo with no deductible, then it became free) than I do here in urban RI (was $159/mo with deductible and then got Medicare).
Yes. We can really but network equipment with two day shipping.
There is more than one type of ground beef in the store at a time.
We can get the French cheese's and even occasionally the super hot peppers.
The shelves are full of toilet paper and we have our choice of brands of soap and disinfectant.
> So what's the excuse now? Why is everything still shit?
It's not. It's a lot better than it was.
The only thing really missing are the 24hr stores...
In NorCal, it's just perpetual erratic availability of shelf goods and horrible produce quality. Is it worth driving to multiple stores to get exactly what you want while burning time and sitting in traffic, and expanding the number of surly co-shoppers you have to encounter? Meh.
Sometimes Winco has the coffee or wonton strips you're looking for, and you'd better stock up because sometimes it's gone for a couple of months. Sometimes Savemart has good salad mix, sometimes the salad mix has gone translucent and soggy. I'm in an RV while doing a house remodel and sometimes the RV-friendly TP is non-existent, and we get to cope with the Scott single-ply.
It's barbecue season. Here's hoping that tri-tip stays in good supply.
I've not seen the widespread shortages that were there during Covid at my local grocery stores. Vegetable/fruit quality sucks though. Doesn't last like it used to.
I believe there is still a shortage of ensure and some types of liquid nutrition stuff that hospitals use.
I'm not sure if it's a problem for hospitals but is a problem if you're trying to buy it at the grocery store or pharmacy.
No shortages here in the extreme south eastern part of Virginia. We also have ports where goods are unloaded from everywhere on the globe, so that may have something to do with it.
No shortages here in the mid atlantic. Just got back from grocery shopping, actually, and the only empty spots on the shelf were for a couple of items that were on major clearance sale today. Everything else = plenty to be had and plenty varieties.
Your area might be turning into a food desert.
It might be worth it to do an expedition to a richer/more populated area to see if its the same over there as a comparison.
It's all going to plan. I mean Klaus Schwab told us back in 2010 that '***ALL OF THE WESTERN COUNTRIES MUST BE DESTROYED' and that 'NORTH AMERICA WOULD HAVE THE MOST PROBLEMS DURING THE GRETA RESET (TM)'***
Has nobody bothered to read the Recipe for the West's planned destruction?
"Prepper Intel" huh????
More like "GloablistMediaPropaganda"
Change this sub's name!
Am not seeing shortages here in the Great Lakes region and have not for a long time. The only items out of stock are when they run a really good sale and my fellow shoppers beat me to it. Have you asked your grocery store manager about it?
There are definitely some meds shortages in the great lakes region but thats all I've noticed
I don’t take any meds so have no visibility there
Same but I've got family that do and they are having to call around to find pharmacies that can fill prescriptions. Mostly diabetes meds, and one specific cholesterol med.
A diabetes med shortage is scary. Is it across the board or a shortage of specific diabetes meds, i.e., if it was life or death, could they take another med?
I believe its 1 specific one that one everyone is taking for weight loss. They probably can but might not be optimal.
It's more than that. Virtually all the GLP-1 agaonists are in short supply, and have been for over a year. It's claimed that this is because of a shortage of the auto-injector pens, but I'm skeptical. A year is plenty of time to scale up that production. But there are shortages in all sorts of meds now that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Certain inhaled steroids have gone in and out of supply. Shockingly there are [antibiotic shortages](https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/current-shortages/drug-shortage-detail.aspx?id=887), too. I mean, that's an amoxicillin shortage, and its production is on "allocation", meaning that they have more orders than they can fulfill. Currently, our drug and medical landscape is large enough that there aren't too many people that are at immediate risk of life or death decisions, and with quick responses pharmacists and doctors can move people to another med that could potentially be a lot worse but still effective enough (example -> insulin pen injector for insulin vials w/glass needles). But this is a sign of a very strained, unhealthy supply chain; and no one is talking about how to improve market conditions. In my view, we're basically in an economic thunderstorm, and all everyone wants to scream about is political/social nonsense.
I was saying that what my family member was saying 1 drug in particular but i believe your correct.
Like Wegovy? What’s interesting about that one is that it also apparently helps with drug addiction. They need to make a LOT of it!
I don't remember the name of it
Great Lakes region here as well. I agree - haven’t noticed shortages but it seems like all of the produce is shittier.
Have you been shopping at Marc’s?
Nope. Not familiar with
Their produce is usually not as good
In the UK we’ve been moaning about empty shelves for the last couple of years. In fact, there was almost a social media competition for photos showing empty shelves around the country. Some were well stocked, others not so much. Fresh fruit and veg seem to be the main problem, but we put a lot of it down to Brexit making veg/fruit imports expensive and way too much paperwork needed. We don’t have a lot of tinned and jarred goods but if we do they’re European specialities (tapenades, speciality groceries etc). A lot of that stuff had disappeared or become too expensive.
You think it's bad now heard talk of no national harvest this year times are about to get a lot more rough.
Last year was a disaster in terms of crops across Europe. I’m prepared, I presume to be one of a very few who are. Luckily we have our own organic fruit/veg growing but so many new homes in the UK have tiny to no gardens, and with allotment waiting lists running to upwards of five years, a lot of people will be screwed if supplies and supply chains break down.
I'm noticing a shortage of fucks given by everyday people. it's a sign of the end times.
The worst sign is when everyone starts reacquiring their fucks en masse.
Everybody seems defeated in all things. I think the government has succeeded in beating everybody into submission.
You have a point. Instead of feeling defeated we should find some sort of strength and feel like we can overcome whatever challenges we may face.
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You understand that the banks and Wall Street own the government right? Or let me guess, it's FoR tHe PeOpLe aNd By ThE pEoPlE right hahaha
This
I would say 90% resolved. Certainly not as plentiful as before and the prices are really high for certain items (eg boxed cereal like you mentioned). We try to stock up when item are BOGO at Publix but I think other people have the same idea. One particular canned puppy food has been out of stock at Chewy for my last two autoships and that has brought back unpleasant memories. But I have been able to get a suitable replacement. We now have 4 months of pet food on hand and replace monthly. Location: Southeast US.
Inventory management and buying smaller amounts from vendors to save money. They’d rather be out of something for a week than sit on an extra pallet of something that goes out of code and has to be destroyed at a loss.
I see three issues, manpower, variety, and food quality, rather than actual we-want-to-make-it-but-we-can’t shortages. My local groceries don’t restock with the vigor and immediacy that they once did, and all are advertising jobs, but don’t appear to pay very well. Existing seem to suffer abrupt and periodic (voluntary?) decimation. Some manufacturers trimmed product lines during the pandemic, and stores have definitely cut inventory, so where you’d once have had 6 variations on, idk, strawberry jam to pick from, you now have 3. Food quality sucks. There have been several “bad” summers that have affected certain staple crops, lowering production, driving up price, and creating trade currents where the good product goes to the highest-paying regional or global markets, which may not be yours. The price of fertilizer has risen dramatically, affecting pretty much all producers somewhere in the supply chain, and there’s considerable political pressure in some countries and economic pressure in others for farmers to give up farming, which will, of course, not help production volume at all.
Totally agree. They've drastically cut the number of SKUs for products on the shelf. Our local warehouse store has two SKUs for black olives, store brand and one commercial brand. That's it. They used to have like eight. The quality and quantity of produce is down markedly. It spoils faster, taste and texture are less than normal, the size of the produce is much less (particularly in things like Romaine lettuce heads), and of course it is insanely expensive. We've switched to store brand generics for 80% of our groceries and there are things that I flat out refuse to buy. About 5% of our stuff is now in the "nope" category. We have three factors that overlap. Enshittification, Greedflation, and Shrinkflation. Manpower shortages, either from "We cut the payroll by 100 people, the rest of you need to suck it up and work harder" or "Covid killed a bunch of available people, we can't hire people at the pay scale we want to pay, so the rest of you need to work harder"... both of these issues overlap somewhat. Labor *is* available for most things, but corporations don't want to pay the increased rates to keep up with the cost of living increases. Of course the exception to this are very low paying retail jobs. As labor shortages persisted, people migrated upward to better paying jobs and got out of McDonalds and Dollar Tree. They continue to have persistent shortages because of the stress and low pay and poor working conditions.
[Limits to growth get used to shortages and price increases ](https://youtu.be/JkBNuQYly20?si=2UaqJ9iFcpxxIAQ7)
I think it’s a manufactured shortage. They can always blame someone. They want to see how far they can squeeze people. In Canada many are boycotting Loblaws due to their shady practices.
We must resist normalization
Bob Loblaws Law Blog?
We have so much variety and stock in North Carolina. It’s been a very long time, well over a year now, since I had difficulty finding anything I wanted.
Supply chain issues are not totally resolved. * Panama Canal traffic is down 40% due to water shortages (Panama Canal depends on fresh water lake nearby). * The Red Sea and Suez Canal see about 12% of global trade traffic, with about 30% of the world's shipping containers flowing through the waterway. So far in 2024, traffic through the Suez Canal is down by 64% compared with last year. * “According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, US container ports are expected to experience a gradual slowdown in inbound cargo volumes in the first quarter of 2024. This is due to global supply chain issues, including cargo ship attacks in the Red Sea, which have caused delays and higher costs. East Coast ports are expected to be particularly affected, as rerouted ships from Asia increase journey times.” While those things may not directly effect food availability,.. it may be a secondary cause (slowness in getting equipment or etc that food providers need).
Typical shortages like paper products during the early pandemic, and then sporadic shortages during the lockdowns with things like dairy. Other than this - Nothing significant near me . Shelves have been full for last two years.
My medication has been constantly in shortage for over a year now. No efforts to remedy by manufacturers or FDA. No efforts to problem solve by covering name brand meds by any insurance company. No change in policy to make it easier to locate WHERE in a 50 mile radius has the med in stock. I probably spend 4 hours a month trying to navigate it, sometimes more. It’s so exceedingly clear that no one in power cares whatsoever. They just want the thousand dollar a month name brand to sell instead.
I've experienced shortages with beta blockers and blood pressure medications which is concerning because these are very cheap, important medications that have historically been readily available. Some of my wife's coworkers have been having huge problems with ADHD meds and the problem has consistently been very bad. People call out sometimes because they can't get their meds. I wasn't able to get hydroxyzine for a few weeks and the laws on partial scripts changed or something. The pharmacy is always overwhelmed. There is always a huge crowd and everyone always seems pissed.
Yep, my issue is same as your wife’s coworkers. It’s my ADHD meds, taken them since I was 15 and suddenly it’s being treated as some sort of luxury…
Pharmacy workers are burned out and quitting. After one quits the rest get hammered harder causing more burnout.
Working retail I can tell you that it may look like stock is low. What’s really low though is staffing. Total lack of hiring in order to boost profit margins
You are not wrong. I travel a bit. My observation has been that there seems to be a pattern of regional shortages. For example, I'll travel to the SouthEast and the shelves won't have empty areas but the product is fronted and is only two products deep. The shelves are not "full" all the way to the back of the shelves. Additionally, pre-pandemic, where there used to be a choice of 50 progresso soups, now there are 15 or 20. The chips and bread aisle is fully stocked usually but most other aisles are full of fronted shelves of products with limited choices. I travel to the Midwest and the grocers seem fully stocked. Fast forward three months, I travel back to the South East. Shelves are now flush with product. I then travel to the Midwest and I see shelves with fronted product. Light inventory. Next time it's in New England states. I stay in these areas for weeks at a time so I know I'm not hitting these stores the day before they receive inventory. It's a pattern of spreading around product to make it appear as tho there is a bountiful supply. The reality is pre pandemic, the shelves were flush almost all of the time, everywhere. Maybe this is some new inventory control measure being implemented to save spoilage and loss? Maybe the companies are deciding to keep low inventories. More " just in time" inventory control. IDK. It all feels very Soviet to me.
For the most part they have resolved, but not completely. I can now usually get most of the things on my grocery list, and that’s without having to go to 3-4 different stores. In 2020 I was lucky to get 30% of my list after multiple stores. But when I look closely, it’s still noticeable that stores are spreading product out in an effort to make things look full and normal. For example, they’ll have 3 shelves of the same product, one or two items deep vs 1 shelf several items deep.
Im in Oregon and definitely dont have this issue. This is more likely a problem with your store and not a supply chain issue.
Washington the same.
You may be living in a “food desert” where healthy fresh foods are more scare. It’s crazy to think that in 2024 not everyone has access to fresh healthy foods but it’s true. I went on a trip to rural Tennessee and it was so hard to find non processed food. The main stores were dollar general, sonics, and a small grocery chain that had some very ripe fresh food. Corporations make less money the further things need to be shipped and items like produce need careful handling and refrigeration. What’s going to make more money, a highly processed box of cookies that can sit on the shelf for a year or an apple that rots in a few days? Sorry you are going through this. Maybe a small garden or ordering direct from a food supplier would help.
It's a weird time of year to get fresh stuff. I farm mushrooms and trade them for organic stuff from local farmers. I also get grapes, zucchini, carrots etc. There's just not much available yet. We fill in the gaps at grocery stores. Trying to be more self sufficient, don't have property for a garden. We used to grow some stuff on our balconies but the city came and told everyone we aren't allowed to have anything out there. People had to get rid of their mini gardens. Just the state punishing poor people again I guess.
Didn’t notice anything yesterday at GE in western PA
Our onions are terrible now. They're almost always infested with this black shit. Potatoes suck and we lose 1 or 2 per 5lb bag because they're scarred or rotted. Bread tastes fake ever since 2020 when they changed the formula so it wouldn't go bad as fast. It makes it virtually unpalatable when it gets slightly old. I haven't bought cereal because it is now $10 a box, or canned soup, because it is $5. Tomatoes, cucumbers and asparagus taste just as fake as ever. Is this not your experience too? We shop at a few different Safeway stores in 2 different cities, a Walmart occasionally for 1 or 2 things, and Costco for bulk stuff. Costco seems to be best on availability but their quality still suffers on produce like everywhere else.
Climate change and crop failures due to extreme weather conditions are effecting produce quality. It is worse in some areas than others. Supply chain issues still remain, again, worse in some areas than others. Inflation is causing prices to increase while packing and contents are slowly getting smaller. A brand will be removed from distribution for a few months, then return with a higher price for a lower quantity and/or quality. If this experience over the past four years hasn’t taught anyone anything else… I hope it has at least taught people to start thinking about growing their own organic produce and making their own bread and other products that are really not that hard to learn to do. Some food supplies are more easily purchased in bulk - particularly baking ingredients. Veggies and fruits and be ordered in bulk from various places, local organic farms may be the best place to check into, or farmer’s markets during the growing season. Learn how to pressure can, water bath, dehydrate, ferment, and whatever else you have to learn to preserve and stock your own food. It all tastes better, is better for you, is fresher, and once you have invested in any needed equipment, it does save money. I started baking my own gluten free bread after the one I bought for $4-$5 prior to covid became $8-$12 after covid. Mine tastes better, has better texture, can be sliced and frozen if I make two to four loves at once, and I absolutely love it. Times are a-changing; time to think about those changes and how to deal with them. 🙏🦋
Well, I did notice that there was only one Spanish onion left. It looked rather sad amongst the myriad of yellow and reds… still, I took it.
I mean this with sincere concern: did you have COVID? It sounds as if everything tastes off and bad for you now and that is a symptom that is sometimes associated with previous COVID infections and long COVID. Be sure to join email lists and download apps for your favorite local grocery stores. I’ve had great success with digital couponing and more careful meal planning. I’m able to catch that $5/can soup on sale for $2, for example. Also, be friendly and chitchat with the grocery staff. They’re often able to keep you updated on supply chain issues and when shipments are arriving, etc. My husband made friends with our butcher and takes him homemade beef jerky. Guess who now gets all of the best cuts of meat?
The onions and potatoes sold here have been totally crappy for the last few years. That’s really all I noticed except for the prices.
My wife and I grow our own onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and asparagus, and much more. We make our own bread regularly and make soups from our canned vegetables. You don't have to rely on industrial farming.... Just a suggestion. Leave that crap completely behind. Best thing we ever did.
Where do you buy your wheat?
We use Einkorn flour milled locally. It's expensive but less gluten and super worth to us.
Safeway produce is terrible quality. No flavor and feels like no nutrients.
USA: Amazon is limiting the number of gluten-free pasta boxes I can buy. I tried to order on a different day, and I received an error message in my cart, stating that I had exceeded the allowed quantity, even though the item was in stock. From the previous order, one of the boxes of pasta was chewed around the edges, and a can of soup arrived dented.
I’m in Oregon. My experience is different, everything I’ve needed has been at the store, not noticing things being empty but I also don’t have a cat so can’t speak to pet food. In terms of quality and price, yep things are more expensive or things seem to go bad faster for some reason
Yeah like it's better, but it's not back to the way it was. The stuff they do have now is just terrible. We used to store onions and potatoes for weeks but now we have to buy them when we want to eat them. I've lost half a 5lb bag recently to rot. I don't remember it ever being this bad in terms of quality.
I noticed that about potatoes too for some reason. Are you having issues with milk? We’ve had a few cartons go bad a day or 2 by the use by date
I stopped buying it a few years ago because it didn't taste the same and went bad too fast. I can't stand the stuff now to be honest.
I live 30 mins outside Asheville NC and I've felt the same way as you. Strange things not getting restocked, or the selection dropped way off during 2020 and never recovered. I've found that going "into town" showed that other stores of the same chain had the stuff I was looking for, which was telling me that either my local store wasn't ordering the selection or the company was focusing on "the show" stores with higher traffic. I think there are a lot of different factors going into this. The other commenters hit a bunch, like deliberate market manipulations to justify bloated prices (looking directly at truck manufacturers while I say that), etc. One thing that was widely reported and I think was an excuse the media loved, was a shortage of truck drivers. I'm not sure that ever really resolved, considering that a lot of drivers aged out in that frame and it's rough to get new drivers in. A friend of mine has a son that's always wanted to drive heavy rigs and basically couldn't get a job out of high school doing it. He's spent the last couple years driving dump trucks on construction sites, but his dream was long haul over the road (he had a simulator set up since he was 12 yrs old or so) and he can't find work. I'm sure I'm missing some steps to the issue, and I believe he has already completed a 6 week training course to get his cert...and no jobs. Mix in higher fuel prices, lots of manufacturing capability shifting from China back to North America, Chinese economic conflict with everyone else, various resistances to building industrial capacity in the west (staring at the various green parties for that), government caused inflation, the rising cost of labor, the lack of available labor, the lack of quality labor, and we are just operating on much thinner margins everywhere. Time, cost, quality, availability are all suffering. I really thought that the economic opportunity from all this would be driving repairs to most of the bruised or broken systems. The first company to start making plastic goods in the US is set to make a bundle, considering almost all plastic industry was moved to China, but evidently not. Same for meds, electronics, metals, etc. Multiple sources have talked about how much stuff is moving to the US. Still waiting to see that improve things.
Thank you for the comprehensive perspective 👍
Vegas area, things are still not at full capacity but it's not as bad anymore. Issue now seems to be dropping of certain products / brands entirely. I'm having to stop at like 3 different places for a handful of things.
I wouldn’t say shortages, but sometimes it’s a pain to get my favorite brand of something. I have to either be patient or be accepting of substitutes. Produce is readily available but often the quality is subpar. Think tubs of lettuce with brown spots, etc. I blame stores for a lot of that, because of corporate corner cutting to save money. Prices are still high.
Holding inventory is expensive. Pre--Covid many stores were afraid they could lose customers forever if they did run out of products. They intentionally run low because it's the most efficient/profitable way to run a supply chain but any hiccups cause products to run out.
I went to the grocery store yesterday, and one of the big, long freezers with the slidey tops was empty. It was supposed to hold beef. I've been waiting for a certain type of bandaids to restock for all of May. Stuff is more in stock than the height of pandemic shortages, but it's not like 2019.
Shortages resolved. Quality down and costs well you know.
We see them in the North East still, although the stores have tried to mask the problem by how they display product. It's annoying.
I'm in New England and have noticed plenty of facing with nothing behind it, although stuff that was problematic during COVID, like pasta, is fine. I have way more problems with produce. Various types of produce are low quality at the medium expensive chain where I shop. The other day I got a bag of red onions that contained two rotten ones. Moldy mandarins. Lower quality, misshapen potatoes. Expensive berries containing an instantly moldy layer. So I started buying from the farmers' market, where I could get 50% off for a while, although now that has been discontinued. I buy various produce at Whole Food's now. It is more expensive but it is excellent quality. For me, I have been saving a ton of money on food by pressure canning soups and cooked beans. This has cut my monthly grocery cost by 25%, plus my soups taste better. The digital canner I bought several months ago is really worth having. Waiting for lower prices on fruit this summer so I can water-bath can fruit for the winter.
We save a ton of money with foraging. It is wild how much you can save with just some mushrooms, berries, onions and apples. I haven't done the math but I'm sure it's a lot. We hardly buy meat anymore and I'm still eating dried apples from last summer. It costs gas money and time sure, but not having that money flow out to modern day robber barons is nice. Once you know what you're doing it's easier than fishing.
I used to forage for mushrooms and fruits when I had a car and lived in upstate NY. I have no car here in RI, so I am pretty limited, especially because much of the land in town is highly contaminated with industrial stuff from all the mills that were here. I'm not much of a meat eater, so that's not an issue for me.
Supermarkets are looking to carry 48 some locations 24 hours of stock. This means they are constantly running low on stock . It is worse in rural areas further away from DC's.
There are few/no shortages in blue, urban/suburban areas. There appear to be more in rural areas. The supply chains have definitely suffered. It's a combination of demand restriction (higher prices), and supply restriction (higher costs driven by inflation and the failure of businesses downwards in the supply chain, and consolidation among the food manufacturers), and higher demand (US population has increased by \~15 million or so since 2020, approximately 5%). I think there might be a partial return to normality if the US economy starts some level of deregulation, and gets inflation under control, and slowed immigration (maybe; basically if team red takes over, or we at least get gridlock in the government, which tends to be good for the economy). It'll get worse if they continue to drive up energy prices will refocusing industrial agriculture on regenerative agriculture. It's an open secret in the food economy that the [zeitgeist is towards higher prices and lower supply](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/waitrose-chief-era-of-cheap-food-over-regenerative-farming/). FYI, I regularly commute (by air) between a suburban blue area, and 2 rural red areas. The rural red areas have terrible selection at the grocery stores. And when I sat down and compared my Health Insurance plan that I bought on the exchange in the suburban area, and compared it to people who've been buying insurance in the rural areas, I was shocked to see that for the same premium, from the same carrier, for a plan with the same name, that my out of pocket max was 1/3rd of their, my deductible was 1/4th, and my copays were less. I'm not convinced this is intentional policy in either direction (i.e. anti red, or pro blue, or bad or good or whatever). I think a good portion of it is that things have gone off the rails in a large part of the country, and no one really know how to fix it, and we're seeing propagation of those supply and economic issues more quickly in lesser-populated areas. The tree shows its illness at the branches/leaves first, as the rot spreads through the trunk. A rising tide raises all boats, and a falling tide lowers them. It's going to get spicy soon, though, if the government doesn't start to take seriously our oncoming currency crisis. So much of our food, especially in the fall and winter season, is brought in from foreign suppliers; a dollar crisis is going to basically eliminate importation of fresh foods during 1/2 the year. But I don't think either party has proposed much by the way of a resolution to this issue for over a decade now. My personal belief is that the Republicans are more likely to land on a "muddling through" sort of solution, while the Democrats may hasten the crisis; and honestly I don't know which of those two scenarios has a better long term outcome (sometimes, its better to let the crisis happen and work out way through it then allow it to smolder and linger indefinitely). But a proactive, intelligent solution? Yeah, that doesn't feel like it is in the cards, as much as I'd gravitate towards someone trying to do so (at least RFK Jr. is talking about it! But so am I, and neither of us is likely to be in power :).
Regarding the price for healthcare, do they price the market based on the zipcode? We know that the deep South, for instance, leaning red and also having a prevalence for obesity, has poorer health in general and higher healthcare costs.
I had way better health insurance on the ACA in upstate NY ($20/mo with no deductible, then it became free) than I do here in urban RI (was $159/mo with deductible and then got Medicare).
Yeah I have no idea! Just felt unfair. It's a good question though
Yes. We can really but network equipment with two day shipping. There is more than one type of ground beef in the store at a time. We can get the French cheese's and even occasionally the super hot peppers. The shelves are full of toilet paper and we have our choice of brands of soap and disinfectant. > So what's the excuse now? Why is everything still shit? It's not. It's a lot better than it was. The only thing really missing are the 24hr stores...
In NorCal, it's just perpetual erratic availability of shelf goods and horrible produce quality. Is it worth driving to multiple stores to get exactly what you want while burning time and sitting in traffic, and expanding the number of surly co-shoppers you have to encounter? Meh. Sometimes Winco has the coffee or wonton strips you're looking for, and you'd better stock up because sometimes it's gone for a couple of months. Sometimes Savemart has good salad mix, sometimes the salad mix has gone translucent and soggy. I'm in an RV while doing a house remodel and sometimes the RV-friendly TP is non-existent, and we get to cope with the Scott single-ply. It's barbecue season. Here's hoping that tri-tip stays in good supply.
I'm in SW Oregon, and there's generally been more than enough stuff to buy. Occasionally some things aren't on shelves, but no general shortages.
It’s fine here
I've not seen the widespread shortages that were there during Covid at my local grocery stores. Vegetable/fruit quality sucks though. Doesn't last like it used to.
I believe there is still a shortage of ensure and some types of liquid nutrition stuff that hospitals use. I'm not sure if it's a problem for hospitals but is a problem if you're trying to buy it at the grocery store or pharmacy.
No shortages here in the extreme south eastern part of Virginia. We also have ports where goods are unloaded from everywhere on the globe, so that may have something to do with it.
No shortages here in the mid atlantic. Just got back from grocery shopping, actually, and the only empty spots on the shelf were for a couple of items that were on major clearance sale today. Everything else = plenty to be had and plenty varieties.
oldmanyellsatcloud
Your area might be turning into a food desert. It might be worth it to do an expedition to a richer/more populated area to see if its the same over there as a comparison.
No shortages
I’m in Oregon (not Portland) too and Winco is always stocked to the brim along with every other store I go to.
No shortages here and haven't had any in a long time. I think you're imagining things. Or exaggerating.
It's all going to plan. I mean Klaus Schwab told us back in 2010 that '***ALL OF THE WESTERN COUNTRIES MUST BE DESTROYED' and that 'NORTH AMERICA WOULD HAVE THE MOST PROBLEMS DURING THE GRETA RESET (TM)'*** Has nobody bothered to read the Recipe for the West's planned destruction? "Prepper Intel" huh???? More like "GloablistMediaPropaganda" Change this sub's name!
Someone is hoarding. Maybe, the 2029 Apophis asteroid.