Went there last week. No line to get in, I don’t think they’re restricting shoppers to two on a card, and they had ample supplies of toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues, all the same brands as before. No diced tomatoes, but I don’t think that is a shortage since my supermarket has plenty.
Only thing in short supply around me is TP. They had some last time I went to the store which was the first time in 2 months it has been in that store.
Even TP is back here, but Facial Tissues are in short supply. Not sure about hand sanitizer, never checked.
We got a jar of yeast somewhat early on, and just cracked into it a week or so back. A relative online said he got his from King Arthur Flour, so I looked there and added a pound of it to my shopping list.
Sadly, I did not check out right away - and the next time I looked, the next day, it was out of stock.
A friend sent me a 3-pack of packets from California - her son works at a grocery store and she quipped “this is one of the perks”.
TP: No clue what the local stock is like. The parents-in-law, who are 80+ years old and live in God’s Waiting Room (south Florida) have been shopping online and their shoppers have had no luck finding it (I have to assume they have substitutions turned off or something). MIL, sadly, turned to online sources to order some and that was nearly 2 months ago - pretty sure she was scammed, as the site “Tiddly Tots” is either a children’s clothing shop, or a newly-registered site that has all sorts of odd things (TP not being one of them, though I found a cached listing for it). She holds out hope because she claims she’s been emailed that it is in the US… somewhere. Gotta persuade the rest of the family to push her to do a credit-card chargeback on it; I’ve suggested to her at least 3 times that it’s a scam but she doesn’t want to believe it.
Anyway, I ordered her 2 large packages of Charmin Extra Strong from WalMart - and it arrived the second Saturday in May. She called me to say “Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever” (they had just put their last 2 rolls on the holders). Then I shipped her another case of a different brand from Amazon - so she’s all set.
Amazon has a bigger selection of various rices at more-reasonable price. I just ordered a 10 pound bag of Basmati that should arrive in about a week (next Subscribe and Save date).
There are definitely things at Amazon that you can get if you already have subscriptions, but you can’t find them when searching for them - our Charmin, for one thing, that has been arriving regularly but doesn’t turn up otherwise.
Lysol or Clorox wipes sometimes show up as available at Peapod but have yet to actually make their way into my delivery.
As a side note on the scam: There are a lot of new sites out there that are purporting to have scarce items. Like that toilet paper site, for example. There’s a run on tumbling composters, of all things - and if regular stores have them, they are hugely marked up. But I found two sites that had them for less than anyone had been selling them for even pre-COVID. They set off my spidey sense and I checked around: the two sites are basically identical, are very newly registered (like, March 30) and are linked to some well-known scam sites. My husband tried to buy 3 N95 masks early on - and got rooked (I did a cc chargeback on that one 6 weeks ago).
I’m no longer buying from new or unfamiliar vendors when possible. Still waiting for toilet paper ordered on April 5 from a scummy Amazon vendor.
Stuff like onions, limes, lemons, oranges, sauerkraut, bell peppers, and lots of other foods have plenty of vitamin C, and are either grown in the US, Mexico or Canada.
Imported produce isn’t necessary for health.
Can I use this as my new sig line?
Eat American[del]s[/del]!
I was finally able to order my favorite toilet paper (I was OK in the meantime) and it arrived today - in a plain brown box with nothing on the outside indicating the contents.
In the past, it was shipped in a box with the Marcal logo all over it.
Sign o’the times, right?
Also, hamburger has nearly doubled in price around here, probably to reduce hoarding, except for one place - Kwik Star convenience stores, which still sell 1-pound tubes at 2 for $6.00. They do have limits on meat items.
:D:D:D:D :eek:
On Amazon, I’m limiting to Prime, which involves Amazon itself in the fulfillment process. Feels a bit safer.
I as well- and man is that depressing.
" Amazon Prime: Because Safety Matters ! "
:eek:
I think just on the basis of the sheer volume of annual imports, we probably don’t have enough home-grown produce to get through this Winter. Keep in mind that this sudden, unexpected dearth of imports comes at a time when American farmers are having difficulty getting many crops in, because seasonal workers are afraid to come here. Not to mention the “Trade War” which is making us a less tempting port of call anyway.
I really do expect us to feel the pinch of the aggregate effects.
Not sure if this is the best thread, but my bike broke over the weekend. I took it into the local shop for repair. The shop had a grand total of 1 bike for sale. They feature Giant (Chinese), and said they don’t anticipate geting bikes/parts until Aug at the earliest. (If you are not aware, there was an amazing run on bikes earlier in the pandemic. I did not make the connection that the supply of new bikes would be limited.)
Went to a nearby shop which featured my brand (Trek). They had the parts, but were running 2-3 weeks on repair. Similarly - tho not quite as - barren of new bikes.
Have you run into shortages of any other non-food/consumables?
Thought of another one myself - pets!
We got a puppy just before the lockdown.
We’ve heard since that there are few dogs/cats to be found in shelters, and that breeders have waiting lists. Walking our pup, I’ve never seen so many young dogs.
Took my bike in to get air in the tires from the local shop. He is totally swamped with repairs. (He doesn’t sell bikes, just sells accessories and does repairs.) Suddenly public transportation seems like a suboptimal way of getting around the city. (Also people need ways to exercise with gyms closed.)
I thought it might be fun, early on, to write cheerful messages in chalk on the sidewalk, as I had seen others around the neighborhood doing. Chalk was also completely sold out.
Gardening supply places are all completely slammed as well. The places where I normally order seeds are sold out of many things and weeks behind on order fulfillment - the pandemic coincided with spring planting season, and everyone and their brother deciding to plant a victory garden for the first time. A local gardening Facebook group that I belong to has had a 20% surge in membership over the past few weeks, with lots of people who have never planted anything in their lives.
For a minute there, I thought you were going to report a shortage of bike tire air. I better stock up, just in case.
I heard about the puppy shortage, but there was no dog food shortage. The line for one of the cash registers at our grocery went past the pet food aisle, and there was always plenty there. Reinforces my CT that the virus was invented by dogs who wanted to get walked more.
Yup. There’s also a kitten shortage. If there actually were any kittens available, I probably would’ve caved by now and gotten a kitten from the shelter before my other two kittens arrive (my plan, as I try to remind myself, is to get a kitten from a shelter when I get whichever of the kittens I’ve put a deposit on first to be the same age). But there are like a total of 7 male kittens within a 100 miles of here according to petfinder, and 0 within 50 miles. Even so, if 51-99 miles brought me to shelters in Maine instead of entirely in Massachusetts…
Still not seeing my favorite Cambell’s Soups.