I’ve been in Costco, Aldi’s, and Meijer (which is a midwest grocery store) in the last week and stocks look really good. I was pleasantly surprised.
The “great wall of buttwipe” in Costco was totally full.
The problem is we have too many trucks/truckers on the road. We can thin them down by mandating vaccines or they can’t deliver our goods/food to us. We’ll show them who’s boss.
Author makes a good point. You must always compare prices per the same unit of measure. This shrinkage thing has been going on for a while. Real sneaky.
Hell the damned ABC/Liquor stores here in My Town are out of everything except the high dollar items.
Heard rumors that they will be shutting down soon !!!!
WTF OVER !!!!!!
BTW they are state run.
I’ve been buying 2 6-packs of toilet paper every shopping trip for months now. I go 2-3 times a month and there are only 2 of us so I’m good for about 6 to 8 months.
I remember a story told to me some years ago. Some people I knew went to Moscow when the Soviet Union still existed. They were American tourists aboard a bus going down the highway.
It started to rain. The bus driver quickly pulled over and jumped out. He installed windshield wipers on the bus. The bus passengers noticed all the cars on the highway had pulled over to do the same thing.
They never drove anywhere with the wiper blades installed unless it was raining. Wiper blades were so hard to find, they would often be stolen if left on the car because there was such a chronic shortage of wiper blades.
Somebody has too much time on their hands. Stock is fine on everything I need.
Dark winter.
Guys, get your stuff for Christmas now. It is probably to late, but you won’t find it much longer. Source food also.
The cost of outsource our capital is happening now.
Actually, the picture of the empty shelves looks exactly like my HEB grocery store for the past 15-20 years. The past 3-4 years, they’ve filled empty shelves with entire aisles of Whataburger brand mustard. We get the garbage the other HEB stores refuse to accept. Venezuela’s got nuthin’ on this HEB.
Since covid, I finally gave up and am now driving four towns over to Walmart. We’re still getting some substitutions and everything has limits. I’ve had to change brands and such. FYI, I cook from scratch so it’s just the basics.
All sorts of things are running short. I went to Sherwin Williams to buy a paint sample (about $6.00, but it’s a big sample) and they told me they stopped selling samples because there’s a paint shortage and they need to keep their big buyers supplied.
I don’t know if the problem is materials or shipping, but the point is that shortages are affecting everything.
Just bought a 6 month supply of freeze dried food, 12 buckets, 25 year shelf life. Will add it to the 6 month supply I bough a few years ago so I have a years worth for 2 people.
Hope I never need to use it. Hope it was a waste of money.
I’ve noticed the downsizing of products lately.
Inflation is a black eye for the economy under the current conditions. As the availability of product continues to shrink, the overall budget for HR can’t continue without laying off workers and thus not getting what products they do get to the shelves wih the inconsistent arrival of stock.
If a store has two items that cost the same, as soon as they lose one of those items, they are no longer able to pay the power bill that part of those items covered. And as soon as they lose enough items, they can’t pay certain bills at all. But they still have requirements to the stockholders and the government for taxes along with the light bill and water/sewage/garbage. So as shrinkage continues, the business is trying to cut as much as they can and raise the prices of product or service to cover the minimums. But that has a long term effect as if enough people get laid off to try to balance the minimum, there won’t be able to pay for applied sales products and the customer income slows again. It’s a big circle.
wy69
In it’s simplist form, inflation can be defined with three clauses:
1 - Too much money...
2 - ...chasing...
3 - ...too few goods.
Google M2. Clause 1, check.
Google velocity of M2, Clause 2 - not yet (but watch out!)
Anecdotal evidence of clause three is all over the place. Check.
So probably inflation has started heating up. Once it gets hot, spending will accelerate as people trade paper assets for hard assets. This could be very ugly.
The prices of a lot of things are up these days, which fits the common definition of “inflation.”
Meanwhile, an increasing number of products are appearing at the same price but in smaller packages.
This is inflation’s slippery first cousin “shrinkflation.”
Here’s a sampling from a recent study:
• Bounty paper towels: The triple back has shrunk from 165 sheets to just 147.
• Costco’s toilet paper: A large pack was 425 sheets last year, but now is just 380.
• Dial Body Wash: Reduced from 21 ounces to 16 ounces, a 25 percent reduction.
• Ziploc freezer bags: 54 bags last year, but just 50 bags this year.
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 10 packs last year, but just 8 this year for some varieties.
Etc., etc. etc….
Empty shelves are possible, as are fewer brand selections of your favorite items.
The situation may be different where you are.. for now.
Then please read post #20
Empty shelves are a direct result of medium to low wage earners being paid Not to go to work.
Factory workers, retail workers, delivery drivers, etc. are having an impact on products across the board.
Meat, farm and other food products along with plastic shortages, vehicle production, parts and repairs, medical care (housekeeping, lab techs, pharmacy techs, etc) home builders and repairs, and so many other industries.
Until the Federal Government Stops paying people to stay home, shortages and poor product performances (due to temp workers) will continue.
Empty shelves are a direct result of medium to low wage earners being paid Not to go to work.
Factory workers, retail workers, delivery drivers, etc. are having an impact on products across the board.
Meat, farm and other food products along with plastic shortages, vehicle production, parts and repairs, medical care (housekeeping, lab techs, pharmacy techs, etc) home builders and repairs, and so many other industries.
Until the Federal Government Stops paying people to stay home, shortages and poor product performances (due to temp workers) will continue.
I can find anything here in rural MO. Problem is, prices skyrocketed on meat last year and came back down but not all the way back down. Everything under $6/lb has gone up $1/lb. Everything over $8/lb is $2-4/lb higher. Ribeye, KC Strip and T-Bone steaks are damn near $20/lb.
Meat sales have changed too with only the cheaper cuts being put on sale. Pork steaks, ground beef, pork loin, chicken thighs and drumsticks.
Produce is $1/lb more now too. I used to be able to get red grapes for $1.29 - 1.69 and rarely over $2/lb. Now they’re $2.99/lb and never go on sale.
Paper products are up $1-2 per package.
I’m buying fruit trees, bushes and vines next Spring. We already started a meat goat herd and I want to get some small pasture pigs. I’ve got a ton of veggie seeds and need to go big on gardening next Spring.
I want to get us to the point where all we need to buy is staples.
I definitely noticed the shrinkage of Costco toilet paper and Quaker Oats oatmeal packets the last time I bought those two items.
“...thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week.”
Orwell in for the win. :(
Also - as long as those ‘more equal’ PIGS in our Congress have THEIR acorns, why should they care about us?