# 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:** 58
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1141 "2022-01-24T00:53:44Z")
I went to three stores today, and the only fresh carrots were a couple bunches of organic at one store. The other 2 stores had none at all. I bought frozen for my stew, sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1142 "2022-01-24T01:55:32Z")
Yes, the higher-priced boutique items are there, but the basic versions favored by us frugalitarians are not to be had. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1143 "2022-01-24T11:38:26Z")
I’ve been seeing a shortage of unsweet tea in bottles for well over a year now. I drink ice tea during the day at work. I tend to just go down to the McDonald’s since it was a $1 for 32 ounces. When I started working from home I decided to buy bottled tea, but it was $4 for 64 ounces. I decided to keep getting McDonald’s tea since it was cheaper. At my SO’s house the McDonald’s is 15 minutes away so I would buy the bottles. But for quite some time no one has had bottled unsweet tea. There are always plenty of sweet tea, but rarely any unsweet. I buy a bottle whenever I see one, at home or by her house. This past week I’ve come down to Myrtle Beach to visit my father. There’s no unsweet tea around here either. I went to three different shops and have found like two bottles. There’s still plenty of sweet tea, so either people really love unsweet tea, or they are not making as much, but I rarely see it and I tend to look when I go shopping so I can have some. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1144 "2022-01-24T12:31:29Z")
Distilled water is short again (a must-have for people who use CPAP machines, to keep the airflow humid). Usually get it from the grocery, occasionally must fall back to a Walgreens, for the past 2 weeks couldn’t find it at all. I have heard that there is a bottleneck (pun intended) around beverage packaging facilities and materials. The liquids are out there, but the bottles and jugs are prioritized for highest-demand products. This is why the shelves seem to be cleared of everything except oddball flavors that were stocked before the shortage hit (and not the oddball flavor you’re looking for). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1145 "2022-01-24T13:01:24Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I went to three stores today, and the only fresh carrots were a couple bunches of organic at one store. My gf was surprised to find a carrot shortage Saturday. She went to two stores and found just one bag. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1146 "2022-01-24T13:27:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > My gf was surprised to find a carrot shortage Saturday. She went to two stores and found just one bag. Veggies have been very hit or miss. I’ve posted about broccoli here several times. About every 10 days there’s a full fresh selection, usually the shelf is half full with questionable specimens, and sometimes there’s just zero broccoli to be had at any price. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1147 "2022-01-24T21:50:39Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Aldi’s has been out of several of their store brand items for months. They are substituting brand name items. Publix is out of a lot of store brands too. Namely squeezable, portable applesauce containers, where I prefer the store brand because it’s just as good for half the price, and oyster crackers, where I prefer the store brand because it tastes _exactly the same_ for half the price, _and_ the premium brand comes in a flimsy clear plastic container instead of a sturdy cereal box. I don’t get those oyster crackers at all since I’ve grown accustomed to not having to mess around with closing the bag once I use it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1148 "2022-01-25T02:13:29Z")
Now it’s cream cheese and gallon jugs of spring/drinking water vanishing from the shelves. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1149 "2022-01-25T02:23:30Z")
At Target this evening (Sacramento, CA), the cold/cough aisle was devastated. Lots of bare space with a few scattered stragglers. The usual suspects like cleaning supplies and paper goods looked OK. Did manage to snag the Alouette garlic & herb cheese spread I was there for, along with some Pamprin clone (pain relief aisle wasn’t exactly full, but had decent selection) and yogurt. Winco had some bare spots in produce (stockers were working on that section when I was there, had to maneuver around one to nab some bananas), and cleaning supplies were a tad sparse. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1150 "2022-01-25T02:40:23Z")
@Ludovic, I assume you’re in the south? A Facebook friend who lives in South Carolina said she couldn’t find oyster crackers OR saltines, at several different stores. I replied that crackers are not exactly easy to make, unless you’re trying to make something special or unique and she replied, “Then I hope all those hoarders have their crackers go stale.” ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1151 "2022-01-25T03:24:51Z")
We only buy toilet paper about once per year at the office and buy enough at that time to last a year. So when the pandemic hit, we had more than enough toilet paper to last – even enough for employees to take some home as long as they did so sparingly. The only thing that would have been better would be to have a bidet – some people I know with bidets loved not having to worry about toilet paper. I thought the hand cleanser situation was funny. I went to a WalMart at the start and saw that they were out of hand cleanser. At the same time, a shelf away there was a good stock of Hibiclens. A hand cleanser might kill some of what’s on your hand, but once it dries, it does no more. Hibiclens, if used properly, kills pretty much all bacteria, viruses, and fungi and keeps killing them for up to 24 hours. It can be dangerous if used wrongly, though. Just in case, though, I bought an extra plastic bottle of Hibiclens and kept it in the office kitchen. I did get rather perturbed at the local hospital when I went in and they made me use hand cleanser which did little more than wash off the Hibiclens. The Wagyu ground beef has barely changed prices the entire time, both at the store and by private delivery in bulk. Other meat prices did rise quite a bit but in some cases (hams) seem to be coming back down now and with normal availability. About a year ago, I started to buy a Ford Transit Connect Van – the easiest vehicle to get in and out of the driver’s seat that I have tried and more headroom than I will ever need. I thought about buying one and decided to wait. If I could even get one now, it would cost a lot more than they cost a year ago. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1152 "2022-01-25T04:11:28Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Distilled water is short again Due to hearing about this issue from more than one person, I asked u-tube and learned that it is very simple to make. If your tap water is iffy like ours, use regular bottled water instead. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1153 "2022-01-27T19:20:55Z")
I took my Mazda to my dealer yesterday to get a roof rack put on it. While I was waiting, I thought I’d browse around the new cars to see what has changed in the 6 years since I bought mine. But I didn’t see a new car lot anywhere. There was a lot of construction going on nearby, so I thought maybe they had moved their lot, so went and asked an employee where the new cars were. He told me “We only have three.” I was quite literally shocked by that information. They had one each of the CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9 SUVs, and only one used car that I could see. He told me they expected a shipment of another 3-4 cars in about a month, but that wasn’t certain because of the lack of transport and the logjam at the ports. He was also nearly salivating over my 2016 CX-5 (it only has 12,000 miles). ---
**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:** [January 28, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1154 "2022-01-28T00:50:49Z")
Heck, my local dealership got excited about my '09 Grand Cherokee when I took it in for an oil change before Christmas. Mom reported today that the meat case at Whole Foods was pretty sparse, and that they were completely out of chicken. An employee she knows fairly well told her that the produce department was wiped out last week. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1155 "2022-01-28T02:20:12Z")
Having previously reported this, I was pleasantly surprised to find it at Wegman’s when I went shopping on Tuesday. I picked up two jugs, which should last me for a couple of months. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1156 "2022-01-28T04:08:07Z")
I’ve been hearing folks talking about having problems finding distilled water and looked into making it. It seems like it is a fairly simple process. If you have crappy water like we do, I’d start with bottled water or just plan to distill it twice. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1157 "2022-01-28T10:55:25Z")
Around here, you can always get distilled water at a garage (gas station). Is this not the case in the US? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1158 "2022-01-28T12:07:30Z")
I’ve _never_ seen distilled water for sale at a gas station. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1159 "2022-01-28T12:25:54Z")
It’s used to top up [batteries](https://www.wynns.co.za/product/battery-water/) and radiators and stuff like that. This link is to a hardware store because garages don’t generally have online stores. > **[Motoquip Distilled Water (750ml)](https://www.builders.co.za/Automotive/Automotive-Lubricants-%26-Additives/Motoquip-Distilled-Water-%28750ml%29/p/000000000000010424)** > > Buy Motoquip Distilled Water (750ml) Online or Locate Your Nearest Builders Warehouse Store. ✓ Secure shopping ✓ 100% Contactless ✓ Reliable Delivery ✓ Many ways to pay! ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/1160 "2022-01-29T03:38:57Z")
I bought an new car last July. I checked today, and that dealership has none of that car in either 2022 or 2021 models. So then I entered its information in Kelly Blue Book. It told me my trade in value was about $3,000 **more** than I paid for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=59)