I’m not sure if I’m preaching to the choir or just beating a dead horse, but I continue to be concerned about supply chain issues. I’ve mentioned my concerns and experiences more than once in these ongoing #quarantinediaries posts. It’s a small sample size, but based on comments I’ve gotten, it would appear that Europeans and Canadians haven’t been experiencing supply chain problems to the extent that Americans have, except when news of the pandemic first broke. I don’t have an understanding of why America seems to be having more problems, particularly versus Canada since our two economies are so intertwined.
I’m starting to wonder if one day I’ll be telling grandchildren about the olden days when you could go to a store and buy whatever you wanted. I find myself frequently having to go to more than one store to get what I want, and often coming up short. An anecdotal bit of evidence: I used to do most of my grocery shopping at Cub, a chain of grocery stores serving Minnesota and Illinois (Wisconsin too?), with occasional forays to Aldi or Target. Lately I’ve had to branch out because of not being able to find some items, and have done some shopping at Walmart, a chain that I’ve tended to avoid.
But it too has a lot of empty shelves. Just today, this is what shelves looked like in the produce area that would typically have several kinds of potatoes, yams, squash, shallots, and onions (granted, there’s a salmonella outbreak affecting some varieties of onions):
This kind of stuff has been going on for five months now so can no longer be written off as panic buying or hoarding. As we move into what might be a deepening economic hole this fall and winter, might supply chain problems get even worse than we’ve already seen?
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Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) daughter:
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Soon you will shop only Amazon as they Drone in packages down your chimney like some kind of mechanical Santa! Do not defy The Company!
Even they can pull a tomato or corn out of their butts.
If the food production isnt there, even Amazon cant magically manifest it.
Even Whole Foods might have empty shelves to go with the lack of cashiers.
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Indeed, Amazon is just a logistics middle-man.
I am not sure why this is a surprise to anyone? What do people think is going to happen when most areas of the economy are completely shut down? Do they believe crops will pick themselves? How about transit?
An entire planting season was lost meaning many crops wont be picked in the fall.
Of course, the few that do make it to market, what areas do you think will get them? Just wait until next year when food prices explode due to shortages.
How many of the remaining middle class homes will find it difficult to keep enough food on the table?
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I’m guessing that a lot of people are going to be blindsided by it. Normalcy bias is a bitch.
BTW, did you see that I responded to your “LEO Whale” posts? It’s here.
Very good points raised in that one.
I agree there needs to be a "graduation" level above Whale for Hive. Big Khauna would make a lot of sense.
As for the approach with Leo, it is a tough situation. Yes could get rid of the levels of Whale and Orca and have all as Dolphins. That said, the other is what people seem to know.
Like government stats, I think the value is less in the different levels and more in the consistency of its use and the trend it presents. Like the argument over the unemployment rate, it might not be accurate on a monthly basis but at least when viewed over the period of months (or years) we see what is going on.
Perhaps the same can be done with LEO regardless of the manner of analysis used.
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!ENGAGE25
ENGAGEtoday.It's pretty easy to see that there are problems, but no one is talking about it! I order my groceries online and have them delivered, and I used to order once a month from one store. Now my orders are incomplete and I am finding I have to order more frequently, and from several places to find the things I want. It's much more expensive because of delivery fees and tips, but since I don't drive it's my easiest option.
We went to the Whole Foods on Selby Ave a few days ago and they were out of a lot of fresh produce and meats. The Woodbury Whole Foods was just fine. Disinfectants and paper products are still intermittently stocked, and have been since the beginning of the quarantine. The other day we noticed a package of 250 napkins were priced at over $8. It’s just weird.