# 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:** 7
**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:** [August 12, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/121 "2020-08-12T17:59:51Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Mostly my patience at this point. > [@Seanette](#): > > Same here. I am SO over this damn pandemic and this damn year. World War II lasted 4 years for the USA and more like 8 for the earliest participants. This is just getting started. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/122 "2020-08-14T21:31:35Z")
There seems to be a shortage of Claussen pickles in my area, especially whole dills. I’ve seen the “sandwich slice” size, but the other varieties are missing from the stores around here. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/123 "2020-08-15T00:35:26Z")
Diet Coke seems to be difficult to find here. And the grocery store I have been picking my orders up from has emailed us to say that chicken might be in short supply for awhile - the processor they get their product from has seen high levels of absenteeism (hmm, wonder why …) and so they won’t have as much in stock as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/124 "2020-08-15T00:42:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > World War II lasted 4 years for the USA and more like 8 for the earliest participants. > > This is just getting started. The Spanish Flu lasted two years. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/125 "2020-08-16T17:13:31Z")
I haven’t been able to find unsalted top Saltines, and it’s hard to find no salt added canned vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/126 "2020-08-19T15:34:00Z")
Shelves which usually hold pump bottles of liquid hand soap are bare practically everywhere. I don’t understand - there’s plenty of bar soap, and you can use the liquid shower soap to refill hand soap bottles. It’s all pretty much the same thing for cleaning hands. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/127 "2020-08-19T19:07:38Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I hope this is not a shortage I’m personally seeing – > > My printer broke. I need a printer. I ordered a printer from Staples, free delivery says the web page. > > The web page also said, when I was in process of placing the order, that expected delivery date was Friday. After I’d actually placed the order, it had magically changed itself to today, Monday. Printer not having shown up, I went looking for a tracking number; and realized that the confirmation email didn’t have a tracking number, but said instead ‘we’ll email you when it’s shipped’ – and I haven’t got an email saying it’s been shipped. Plus which, the confirmation email, for an order that was advertized as being deliverable by Friday but which switched upon payment to Monday, said delivery was expected neither Friday nor Monday but Wednesday. > > I am now wondering whether they’ve actually got the thing, or whether they just sold me something they don’t have. Update: The printer did eventually show up; shipped on the Monday (the second of the two different delivery dates they started off promising) and showed up on Wednesday. It’s not quite the model that I ordered, though very similar. And according to the HP website, the printer that goes with that serial number was purchased in June, not August. So I wonder whether they sent me not a new one, but one that had been returned and maybe refurbished. It does seem to be working, though I had to go through quite a batch of figuring things out for myself to get it functional, and have not been able to get it to use a USB connection instead of wireless. There seems to be no way to contact HP by email; the phone number has a warning about hold times; they want you to use chat, but the chat application kept either kicking me off altogether or refusing to let me type anything into the chat window. I did email Staples but have heard nothing back. It took them a week to get back to me the first time, though, when all I wanted to know was when if ever it was getting here; how long it’ll take them to get back to me, if they ever do, about the discrepancy in ship date I have no idea. I also have no idea whether this actually has to do with a shortage of printers. Maybe they have plenty, but just screwed this up for other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/128 "2020-08-19T19:21:02Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Maybe they have plenty, but just screwed this up for other reasons. I vote for this. Staples either screwed up (common with them) or is trying to palm off less printer on you than you paid for. Not HP’s fault but hope they can help with the connectivity issues. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/129 "2020-08-19T21:32:13Z")
Still tough to buy decent exercise equipment. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/130 "2020-08-19T22:47:12Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > is trying to palm off less printer on you than you paid for. On the one hand, it’s actually a slightly newer model. On the other, if it really is a returned item, it ought to be discounted; at least if it was returned because it needed repairs, and not just because somebody decided they didn’t like the color or it wouldn’t fit where they wanted to put it. And on the third hand I ought in any case to get the full warranty; which may well involve HP. Their only suggestion so far on that was to ‘return it to Staples for instant replacement’, at which point the chat quit working before I could explain that any replacement would hardly be instant. (Especially if they did send me this one because they couldn’t find another. My local office supply store said the reason they had so few in stock was because they’d been having trouble getting printers.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/131 "2020-08-19T23:11:19Z")
Here’s a weird one that doesn’t really amount to anything. It could also just be a fluke, as I only visit one grocery store. But canned ravioli, you have two big brands: Your Chef Boy Ar Dee which has kind of an orangeish sauce, and your Campbell’s which has more of a tomato sauce. The Campbell’s is never there when I look. Maybe Campbell’s is focusing on soup, I don’t know. Maybe people buy the Campbell’s first, which is why I don’t see it. Not a big deal, just weird. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/132 "2020-08-20T17:18:32Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Shelves which usually hold pump bottles of liquid hand soap are bare practically everywhere. I don’t understand - there’s plenty of bar soap, and you can use the liquid shower soap to refill hand soap bottles. It’s all pretty much the same thing for cleaning hands. I’ve also been unable to find the large bottles of liquid hand soap refills at Costco and Target. (I have the small pump bottles - just need more soap eventually to go in them.) However, a quick perusal of Amazon suggests that they have lots in stock. So this isn’t quite as bad as the big toilet paper shortage. I hope this is a sign that people are washing their hands more! ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/133 "2020-08-20T17:28:11Z")
It’s probably been mentioned above, but I haven’t read every post. A lot of sodas seem to be in short supply. I was in Walmart yesterday and one side of the soda aisle was plain Dr Pepper, Coke Classic, and Sprite. One of the chest coolers had about 4 flavors of one off brand sausage spread from one end to the other. I didn’t look for anything else specifically, but most shelves had little variety with the remaining stock spread out to fill gaps. I imagine the backroom storage was nearly a barren landscape with them having pulled everything out to the floor to fill the shelves. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/134 "2020-08-20T18:21:21Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I haven’t been able to find unsalted top Saltines, and it’s hard to find no salt added canned vegetables. Ironically, around here when we’ve had canned vegetable runs lately … the unsalted/low-sodium varieties tend to stay on the shelves. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/135 "2020-08-20T18:24:34Z")
Our soda supply locally has also been essentially normal. I’m a little bemused reading accounts of soda shortages in other areas. Maybe because there are local bottling plants for some of the big names? ---
**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:** [August 20, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/136 "2020-08-20T18:26:33Z")
Things I noticed during yesterday’s trip to the local grocery store: - Flour is finally in pretty good supply - Canned pasta (i.e., SpaghettiOs, Chef Boy-ar-Dee) was pretty picked over, though it also gets put on sale regularly, so that may not be purely a supply-chain issue - Paper products are generally plentiful, though the brand selection is still odd. They had a ton of paper towels, but none were of the normal brands (and probably 1/3 of their stock was a brand labeled solely in Spanish) Also, regarding diet soda: my wife has developed a taste for Diet Dr Pepper over the past few months. It’s a 50/50 chance as to whether or not there’s any of it in stock when I visit the store. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/137 "2020-08-21T13:28:58Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Our soda supply locally has also been essentially normal. I’m a little bemused reading accounts of soda shortages in other areas. Maybe because there are local bottling plants for some of the big names? That isn’t the case with Red Bull here at least, as the cans are marked as made in Austria, distributed from Santa Monica, and are stamped with a returnable deposit which will allow them to distribute them even to places with a 5 or 10 cent returnable fee per can. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/138 "2020-08-21T23:07:09Z")
My store seemed 100% normal. No empty shelves. I don’t drink the oddball minority report sodas so I wouldn’t know if they were missing; that part of the store was still fully stocked with something in cans. It did seem that beef was more expensive. Like the prices were up (like doubled), then on “super sale” for still $2/# more than normal. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/139 "2020-08-22T07:45:55Z")
I only drink two things that come in cans: Sunkist orange soda and Minutemaid light lemonade. I haven’t seen either in months. Fanta’s an _okay_ alternative for the orange soda, but there’s no other 5 cal lemonades ☹ I can still get the 15 cal cartons, however. I asked about ground beef prices a while back, and here the prices are actually dropping on it. It was over $4/lb a year ago, and the last time I got meat it was down to $2.99. I still didn’t buy any, though. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268/140 "2020-08-22T15:43:34Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I only drink two things that come in cans: Sunkist orange soda and Minutemaid light lemonade. I haven’t seen either in months. Fanta’s an _okay_ alternative for the orange soda, but there’s no other 5 cal lemonades ☹ Have you tried sparkling water? They make lemon and orange flavored sparkling water that _might_ be an alternative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-shortages-are-you-personally-seeing/916268.md?page=8)