# So what shortages are you personally seeing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [July 24, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268 "2020-07-24T23:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/361 "2020-11-18T03:30:25Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Most folks in line didn’t seem to have a lot of anger management skills. There was a very entertaining shoving fight between a couple of guys who got to the end of the line at the same time. Anger management issues + guns and ammo… now there’s a perfect combination! One hopes the store was indeed out of ammo or guns by the time some of those folks got into the store! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/362 "2020-11-18T03:36:33Z")
We have a monthly TP order through Amazon’s subscription service. It was bimonthly and we had just gotten a case (so we had 2 on hand) in early March, But I decided what the heck, and bumped it up - which was getting ridiculous when we realized we had FIVE cases of Charmin. We gave three of them away along the way, but have gotten more. I think we have 3 cases right now. I wonder if I should ship one to the in-laws - they were literally on their last roll last May, unable to get any via the grocery delivery service, and had resorted to ordering some from China through a company that actually was NOT fly-by-night, just very slow. Luckily I hopped onto Walmart dot com, and ordered two large packages of it to be shipped directly to them. MIL said it was THE BEST MOTHER’S DAY GIFT EVER. I may have to ship her some more, if things are really getting bad again. Gotta hand it to WalMart: their prices generally did not go into the gouging territory. I ordered thermometers from them - when Amazon was charging three times as much for the same thing (third party sellers). ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/363 "2020-11-18T03:55:36Z")
Reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask someone who uses Amazon Subscribe & Save: do they remind you about a shipment when the time gets near? I have a lousy memory lately (got into a jam because I misremembered what day my car insurance payment was coming out, for example), so need all the help I can get. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/364 "2020-11-18T04:20:07Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Tractor Supply, for the first time I’d seen, was out of the plain non-clumping cat litter. Weird. In the past 4 years Tractor Supply has been out of the clumping litter 75% of the times I’ve looked for it, but never the regular kind. Which reminds me that it’s nearly time to make another futile effort to get more non- clumping there… ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/365 "2020-11-18T06:34:26Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask someone who uses Amazon Subscribe & Save: do they remind you about a shipment when the time gets near? I have a lousy memory lately (got into a jam because I misremembered what day my car insurance payment was coming out, for example), so need all the help I can get. Yes. I’m not a heavy S&S user, but I recall getting multiple notifications as my toothpaste delivery got nearer and nearer, and it was quite easy to defer it by a month as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/366 "2020-11-18T17:23:31Z")
I was at Costco yesterday and it wasn’t overly crowded but they were 100% wiped out of paper towels and toilet paper. Had that whole aisle section blocked off, in fact, and I heard an employee telling someone to maybe try on Friday. They did have large cubes of paper napkins that some people were buying – though I don’t know if they were planning to use them in lieu of paper towels in a pinch or just because they needed a thousand paper napkins. But I also stopped at a grocery store this morning and there was both toilet paper and paper towels to be found. They did have a 1-per-person restriction but most of the brands were there and the aisle looked a touch sparse but not ravaged. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/367 "2020-11-18T17:36:09Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Weird. In the past 4 years Tractor Supply has been out of the clumping litter 75% of the times I’ve looked for it, but never the regular kind. Which reminds me that it’s nearly time to make another futile effort to get more non- clumping there… The particular Tractor Supply I’ve been going to has had plenty of both all the way through, up until now. > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > The UPS guy hates us, but so does the USPS contract delivery person and FedEx guy because we have fully embraced shopping online. Why would they hate you for giving them business? Or do you mean that they’re horribly overworked? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/368 "2020-11-18T18:51:41Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Meat is hit or miss, and much more expensive than before the pandemic. This still seems to be the case. The other day I had to go on a mini-quest to find a chuck roast to cut up for stew meat and while I eventually found one pickings were slim indeed. I had a similar issue a few days earlier with center-cut pork loin chops. And yes I also struggled to find Guinness, which I found a little amusing because I rarely drink much anymore (though I do love Guinness) but I needed it for the stew. Never know what’s missing until you start looking I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/369 "2020-11-18T18:53:38Z")
Just got back from one of our two brands of ordinary grocery stores. This was to pick up just 5-10 items, so I didn’t search every aisle. Nothing was obviously missing and I didn’t notice anyone with bulging carts panic buying for an apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/370 "2020-11-18T20:45:29Z")
I don’t understand the paper products shortage. People were buying products above their normal level for many months after this started. They should already have a substantial supply on hand. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/371 "2020-11-18T21:05:29Z")
It seems to vary from week to week. I was out doing a fairly substantial amount of grocery (and wine/liquor) shopping today, and everything I needed was available. Even oddball items like the frozen French onion soup I love as a great comfort food, which had been missing for several weeks, was back in stock again. Name brands of TP abounded in huge stacks at sale prices, as were paper towels again. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/372 "2020-11-19T02:10:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I don’t understand the paper products shortage. People were buying products above their normal level for many months after this started. They should already have a substantial supply on hand I imagine that there are a great many people who ran through dozens of rolls of paper towels as part of a misguided belief that groceries etc needed disinfection. A lot of us got the memo that surfaces are a rare vector for transmission but there are still people quarantining their mail and all their purchases. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/373 "2020-11-19T02:24:17Z")
The thing is that cloth wipes or towels would be a cheaper, more eco-conscious alternative to paper towels and disinfectant wipes. And most of us already have towels at home. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/374 "2020-11-19T02:46:45Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Or do you mean that they’re horribly overworked? Horribly overworked and we have heavy and awkward to carry packages shipped to us. Ammo, Chewy (pet food), vertical blinds and etc. Actually, the UPS guy has said that he’s pretty happy about the extra hours/money. FedEx guy isn’t a fan because he’s the one carrying the ammo. Contract USPS woman hates having to deliver packages. She hated it before the world ended and her entire attitude shows that she despises it now. A new outage that I was recently made aware of is concrete. Bricks and blocks are easy to find, but our “decorative wall” took over a month because it was so hard for our contractor to get a truck in to pour the footing. Today I stopped at a road side ammo stand to check prices and inventory. I could have walked away with as much 9mm as I could afford, if I wanted to buy cheap stuff for twice what it was worth. He had a couple of cases of .45 and 1 single brick of .22 rounds that he wanted 25 bucks for. I did not buy ammo today. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/375 "2020-11-19T02:52:29Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > a road side ammo stand A road side ammo stand?! And you haven’t locationed ([see thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-locationed-have-you-a-game-with-a-community-benefit/925454).) I am curious as to where roadside stands sell ammunition. Around here roadside stands sell produce; or occasionally handmade crafts. (Yes, you can buy ammunition – but that would be at a gun shop. Or, probably, at Walmart.) ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/376 "2020-11-19T03:08:37Z")
Did the location change work? Anyhow, Central Arizona. The roadside ammo stand I usually see is off the 17 in New River. Head towards the dispensary and it will be on the left. The new one I saw was in Prescott Valley on the 69, across the highway and kittywompis from the stand selling honey. Thanks again for pointing out how to put location in. If I did it wrong, please let me know. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/377 "2020-11-19T03:09:13Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Did the location change work? It did. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/378 "2020-11-19T03:10:29Z")
Yup, working fine. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/379 "2020-11-19T03:11:02Z")
Very cool, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/380 "2020-11-19T03:14:52Z")
The Costco Business I went to this evening (they’re conveniently located) had pretty decent stocks on most of the high-demand items, but most had quantity limits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=20)