# 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:** 48
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/941 "2021-10-30T18:27:19Z")
I’ve never had a dental visit in the same room as another person. Maybe at a dental school where practitioners are learning under supervision? ---
**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:** [October 30, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/942 "2021-10-30T21:49:58Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Me too but even my pediatric dentist decades ago was like that. It would seem weird for there to be someone getting their teeth cleaned right next to me. My dentist basically set up office in a small, modestly remodeled single-family home. A couple of small separate single-occupant rooms and I think 3 chairs in what was probably once the living room + dining room, separated by panels like classic office-style veal-fattening pens. The dentists, hygienists and the occasional random chatty patient (that don’t happen to have a mouthful of hand in the moment) will engage in a lively back and forth chatter while yanking, poking, prodding, scraping, drilling and polishing teeth 🙂. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/943 "2021-10-30T21:53:26Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Not really relevant to the topic, but I’ve never been a dentist that didn’t have separate rooms for each dental chair. Of course, I have been going to the same dentist for 30 years, so my experience isn’t exactly broad. I’ve not ever seen it at a dentist’s office, but when I was a teenager in the late '70s, and had braces, my orthodontist had something like four dental chairs, all side-by-side, in a big room, which he used for patients who were coming in for routine monthly checks/adjustments. His assistants would do most of the preliminary work on those appointments, and then he’d come over from the next chair to check out how each patient was doing. He did have individual rooms for patients who were coming in for more complex work (having braces put on or taken off, etc.) ---
**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:** [October 30, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/944 "2021-10-30T22:53:42Z")
Hard boiled eggs keep for quite a while. > [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > One local store has reasonably priced quail eggs; I’ve been thinking of giving them a try. The flavor is about the same but you have to use twice as many and cracking all those tiny shells makes it easy to do the spoldge thing where you end up with egg on your fingers and shells in the bowl. You know those cheap, ubiquitous hair bands that you can find anywhere? I forgot to bring any to Las Vegas and looked for them at a CVS, a 711 and a Target with no success. We also had issues finding diet coke in the smaller bottles. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/945 "2021-10-30T23:18:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > ’ve not ever seen it at a dentist’s office, but when I was a teenager in the late '70s, and had braces, my orthodontist had something like four dental chairs, all side-by-side, in a big room, which he used for patients who were coming in for routine monthly checks/adjustments. His assistants would do most of the preliminary work on those appointments, and then he’d come over from the next chair to check out how each patient was doing. Me too. Exactly. I forgot all about that. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/946 "2021-10-30T23:20:50Z")
I may resort to that. I mostly use eggs in baking, but my baked goods can survive in the freezer for a while…it’s just a matter of finding enough room in there. I had so much trouble finding suitable hair ties and clips last year that I resorted to buying stuff on Etsy. Last year it was because people were learning to deal with long/unruly hair; this year I’m guessing it’s a supply chain thing. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/947 "2021-10-30T23:31:05Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > Hard boiled eggs keep for quite a while. Regular fresh eggs keep longer than many people think. USA eggs have been washed, so they need to be refrigerated; but even standard grocery eggs, which aren’t superfresh to start with, should keep two or three weeks in the fridge; maybe longer. You can also freeze eggs. Scramble them lightly in a small freezer container, mark how many eggs are in there. No good for eggs over easy, of course, but fine for scrambled eggs or baking – if you do the kind of baking that calls for separating whites and yolks, then obviously do that first. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/948 "2021-10-31T00:09:23Z")
Fresh eggs can be kept unrefrigerated for weeks, and in the fridge for six months or so. Eggs have a bad reputation for spoilage, but that’s just because rotten eggs smell so amazingly terrible. But it’s actually not easy at all for eggs to get rotten. One shortage I’m seeing, though I have no idea if it’s pandemic-related, is rooibos tea. Nobody around here seems to have it any more. It’s starting to also look like there’s a shortage of sriracha sauce, though that might have just been a couple of grocery trips worth of bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/949 "2021-10-31T05:00:58Z")
About 8 weeks ago, almost all bags of whole non-organic and organic carrots disappeared. I checked the web and it seems that’s due to the lack of truck drivers. Today there were _no_ bags of non-organic carrots, and only a few bags of organic, so I had to settle for a 5-lb bag. Lots of “baby” carrots, but they’re even more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/950 "2021-11-01T05:28:17Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > (Bacon: $9 for a standard package.) There must be some weird imbalances in local pork production. I keep hearing that bacon prices have gone up a lot, but you wouldn’t know it from where I shop. Most bacon seems comparable in price to what I usually pay, and when I last bought it, there was one brand that was actually on sale. Maybe there’s just a lot more bacon produced closer to my house than I ever knew? ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/951 "2021-11-01T06:42:46Z")
Bacon is relatively cheap here (sale price $2.99/pound). But N.C. is filled with pig farms(which is why the NHL team’s mascot is a hog). More concerning is the increasing shortages of bourbon and gin. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/952 "2021-11-01T14:24:56Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > There must be some weird imbalances in local pork production. I keep hearing that bacon prices have gone up a lot, but you wouldn’t know it from where I shop. For most of the past six years (maybe more, I only took over primary grocery shopping duties then) pork was pretty cheap, less than $2.50lb for most of the boneless cuts - except bacon and ham, of course, which both are typically $5-6lb - often as low as $2lb. This year sometimes boneless pork is still as cheap as $2 and sometimes it’s $4. It varies much more than beef. ---
**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 1, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/953 "2021-11-01T14:32:56Z")
I saw a TV ad for WingStop over the weekend, where they talked about the chicken wing shortage, and that they are addressing it by now also offering chicken thighs. ---
**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 1, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/954 "2021-11-01T14:33:26Z")
The canned cat food problem is getting worse, not better. My cats’ favorite version is now out of stock, not only locally, but also in the larger place where I generally count on being able to stock up – and is also entirely out of stock at Chewy. [ETA: it’s a major brand, not an odd small company.] I’m not out yet, and I was able to get some of two brands which they will eat at least most of the time; though one of those was also scant on the shelf. But this is starting to get seriously concerning. All the other shortages I’ve seen have come and gone, allowing restocking after at most a couple of months; this one has gotten steadily worse for probably a year now. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/955 "2021-11-01T15:35:23Z")
Have you tried contacting the manufacturer to ask them what’s going on? ---
**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 1, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/956 "2021-11-01T16:22:22Z")
Not yet. Might do that. Trying to get their website to work. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/957 "2021-11-01T16:30:55Z")
Sometimes you can get a faster answer through Facebook or Twitter if you have an account with either of those apps and PM the company there. There even may already be an explanation for the problem there too. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/958 "2021-11-01T17:21:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Fresh eggs can be kept unrefrigerated for weeks, In the US, eggs are cleaned, which removes the natural anti-bacterial coating and makes it dangerous to keep them unrefrigerated. ---
**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 1, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/959 "2021-11-01T17:34:12Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > The canned cat food problem is getting worse, not better. This is getting serious. What food/s are you looking for? I can keep my eyes open for some to send to you, but the post office has already said the expect delays so I can’t be counted on as a reliable source even if I do find it. ---
**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 1, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/960 "2021-11-01T18:40:03Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Sometimes you can get a faster answer through Facebook or Twitter if you have an account with either of those apps and PM the company there. There even may already be an explanation for the problem there too Do not have and do not want. Company website was effectively unusable for me – pages wouldn’t work without a shitload of java, and with it took forever to load, and the sorting function still didn’t seem to be working. I did manage to pry a phone number out of there [ETA: it occurs to me that the phone number’s probably also on some of the cat food I’ve got in stock], and might try calling it. As near as I can tell the only thing about shortages on the web site was that at least some items are out of stock. > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > This is getting serious. What food/s are you looking for? I can keep my eyes open for some to send to you Thanks! but I routinely buy ahead to some extent anyway and have enough in stock for a couple of months yet; if there’s any available in your area there are probably people (and cats) there who need it worse than I do. And I did manage to buy some alternative brands that I know they’ll usually eat. What concerns me is that these particular shortages have already gone on for considerably longer than that and are getting worse. (It’s specific versions of Science Diet canned; not all of them. Not a prescription diet issue right now, thank goodness.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=49)