Posted on 01/16/2022 9:56:53 AM PST by blam
Setting aside the ever-present issue of the global supply chain crunch presently gestating in the PROC, where factories and ports are struggling with the most restrictive lockdown measures since the (Fauci-funded) “China virus” first burst forth out of Wuhan, the US is still facing serious shortages of workers and critical goods like foodstuffs and medicine.
The US labor market disappointed once again in December, while November’s similarly disappointing number was revised up only slightly. Meanwhile, those who are working are struggling with the fact that inflationary price pressures are hammering real wages. And regardless of what the Fed does next, it appears kinks in the economy created by COVID and the federal government’s response to COVID will continue to push food prices higher for the foreseeable future, as Reuters reports.
Citing three critical factors, high demand for groceries, soaring freight costs and “omicron-related” labor shortages, Reuters projects that prices for “food and fresh produce” will continue to climb for the foreseeable future.
Already, growers across the West and Midwest are paying 3x the freight costs from before the pandemic – all to guarantee shipment of perishables like berries and lettuce before they spoil.
Some companies are even holding back on shipping certain goods (like long-lasting onions) to see if shipping costs might ease.
Shay Myers, CEO of Owyhee Produce, which grows onions, watermelons and asparagus along the border of Idaho and Oregon, said he has been holding off shipping onions to retail distributors until freight costs go down.
Myers said transportation disruptions in the last three weeks, caused by a lack of truck drivers and recent highway-blocking storms, have led to a doubling of freight costs for fruit and vegetable producers, on top of already-elevated pandemic prices. “We typically will ship, East Coast to West Coast – we used to do it for about $7,000,” he said. “Today it’s somewhere between $18,000 and $22,000.”
One CongAgra subsidiary blamed labor shortages for the bulk of their troubles.
Birds Eye frozen vegetables maker Conagra Brands’ CEO Sean Connolly told investors last week that supplies from its U.S. plants could be constrained for at least the next month due to Omicron-related absences.
Earlier this week, Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran said he expects the supermarket chain to confront more supply chain challenges over the next four to six weeks as Omicron has put a dent in its efforts to plug supply chain gaps.
The packaged goods industry is missing more than 100K workers. Participants filled measly 1,500 jobs last month, according to the BLS data.
The situation is not expected to abate for at least a few more weeks, Katie Denis, vice president of communications and research at the Consumer Brands Association said, blaming the shortages on a scarcity of labor. The consumer-packaged goods industry is missing around 120,000 workers out of which only 1,500 jobs were added last month, she said, while the National Grocer’s Association said that many of its grocery store members were operating with less than 50% of their workforce capacity.
Of course, labor shortages aren’t the only issue. Demand for groceries remains sky high as millions of Americans remain hunkered down, too scared to eat at a restaurant – or too tapped out from their financial difficulties to justify dining at one.
Funny how all this happened, disasters in every direction, AFTER the election was stolen from Trump.
Drove Highway 10 from Fla. to Calif. Plenty of big rigs on the interstate so I can assume the stuff is moving.
The price of oil drives costs. It affects EVERYTHING.
Labor Shortage And Surging Shipping Costs Are Biggest Drivers Of US Food Inflation
PLANNED DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA for POWER!
Baloney! The sole reason there is so much new inflation is that the Federal Reserve is printing hot-money out onto the street without any backing from the US Treasury. They’re just borrowing against nothing. The very definition of inflation is more money chasing around the same or fewer goods, EXACTLY like we are seeing under that idiot Brandon and the entirely unconstitutional Federal Reserve.
Family member handles trucks for his company and says they have lots of drivers off because they’re sick. Covid flu or whatever it’s rough for dispatchers.
Is there REALLY a labor shortage? That’s like asking congressman Richard Armey: “Is there REALLY a Dick Army?
Answer: If so Barney Frank would be the first to sign up!
The biggest driver of our misery are libtards without a clue holding jobs they shouldn’t have 🤪
I fixed the headline.
This is an effort to deflect responsibility from the FED. The general price level is increasing across the board. This means that the money supply is increasing. If not, demand for some goods and services would drop to offset the increased money need to buy food. Used cars or houses or something significant would be crashing.
I’d say printing trillions of Weimar dollars..
You beat me to it. All of the challenges present today were also present when Trump was in office. Funny how we had no widespread shortages (or inflation) back then.
The reason shipping costs are going up is because mechanics can’t get parts for trucks when they break down. It’s worth mentioning that the number one reason trucks break down is the expensive and complicated antipollution equipment diesel trucks have to have nowadays.
I went for a brief store visit and some stuff was up fifty percent. But the press has gaslighting polls that Biden’s new lowest approval is 42 percent, down from last week’s 41 percent.
I’m going out to both a Walmart neighborhood grocery and a Fry’s (Kroger) this afternoon ( yes, we’re that picky about individual items).
I will report back.
Are you sure about that?
Total Bull Sierra. The fed printing money is the cause. It worked great in Venezuela.
That is an utterly ridiculous assertion. People eat the same number of calories per day regardless of whether the food is eaten at home or at restaurants.
I would have agreed with the author if he had written "Americans are so depressed by Biden and Democrats destroying the country that they have doubled their food consumption to deaden the anguish and pain."
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