Was up at CostCo yesterday and saw this:
At the end of each aisle was not just one but several pallets of TP and paper towels.Now, CostCo usually does these ‘endcaps’ with various product they are sellingbut I’ve never seen them do an endcap of all the same product on every aisle.
So, now I’m wondering, do they know something I don’t? Are they privy to some information that indicates an upcoming surge in demand? Is something coming that they are aware of and i am not?
Or did they just get a really good deal on overstock?
Hmmm.
Commander:
Better late than never, I suppose…
But with Costco, you can never be sure!
Commander,
It definitely doesn’t look like that at our Costco back east. We aren’t bare but the stocks are lowish compared to normal.
Perhaps they see a shltstorm coming.
Apparently, not everyone knows how to use the ”
three shells” yet.
Costco (and almost everyone else) got caught off guard the first time. I’m skeptical they have learned their lesson so quickly.
Love that movie!
People so over bought that they haven’t had to buy any for a while, but Costco probably has an an ongoing supply contract that requires then to either buy the paper products or pay a penalty which is probably squall to it more than buying it and putting it up for sale and on sale so they continue to buy it and stack and pack it,
Could be, but I’m suspecting that when the shortage hit, Costco placed big orders. The manufacturer’s ramped up production when the shortage hit, and Costco couldn’t cancel after the fact. And, as the law of supply and demand dictates, shortages lead to surpluses. I expect to see sales soon. I also expect to see the price plummet, as many people now have surpluses of their own, and warehouses are probably now bursting. The consumption rate is a constant since people on average use the same amounts day in and day out. The shortage was artificial since people bought more but didn’t need to use more.
I tend to think the run on TP was created intentionally. Sometime in January or very early February, I remember the media blasting images of long lines and shortages of it in China. All it took was the fear of scarcity to start a run. Then the media showed the long lines of people with 300 rolls in their shopping carts here to get the herd mentality instinct to kick in.
Things like masks, sanitizers and disinfectants DID get used more. So, while production of those things also increased, so did the consumption. There is now a noticeable increase in availability of them, but not an epic oversupply.
I DO think that something wicked this way comes, but I don’t think that it’ll be another TP shortage.
Back in February, friends of my family in China and Mongolia were reporting real shortages of many basics. We stocked up, and managed to avoid the hysteria here as a result.
Our local Sams Club is absolutely jam packed with TP and paper towels right now
Election day is coming soon, so another lockdown is heading our way. Gotta get that mail in voting done so Dementia Joe can pretend to be president.
He won’t see the front door before he’s 25th
Don’t lie, that your basement, not Costco! lol
that’s
My basement has more stuff.
My BET is they over-ordered at COSCO Corporate and now there is a lot at COSCO. Knowing Corporate NOW they are canceling orders until the “excess” is sold off. And thus Corporate idiots create even MOAR troubles when a new panic shows up and cleans them out with little resupply planned for.
I shop at BJ’s and our paper goods is a tad sketchy and an excellent way to learn some Spanish reading the TP packages. Our WM is also slim pickings in paper goods so enjoy the COSCO error folks.
I was reading elsewhere that expiration dates for canned goods have been longer term than normal. From my shopping over the years finding an expiration date beyond 18 months was pretty rare. Yeah, I have a boring life, I actually read expiration dates and rotate my food stocks thusly.
Lately I have found plenty of 2+ year expiration dates that some in the Business (from Barons) say that’s next years stock brought up to fill todays needs. I hope our crop harvest is far better than last years fiasco or food prices will jump as real shortages show up on the shelves.
I suspect that we will call today with all it’s nonsense the “Good Ole Days” next year. Winter is coming no matter who wins the Presidency and the many Senate Seats available in November. 80 some days until what?
COSCO and CostCo are not the same company.
COSCO is the China Ocean Shipping COmpany…which is an arm of the Chinese .gov
Sorry My Bad. The message remains other than that.
I’ll read the sign next time I drive out that way.
I’ve heard reports of empty shelves of paper towels and/or toilet paper from some parts of the country, more than just the normal-ish supply issues we’ve gotten used to recently. This could be a result of Costco trying to get ahead of it.
Our local Sam’s Club was out of paper towns this past weekend. They’ve had pallets of them for the past couple months consistently.
Flip side was they had Member’s Mark TP on hand, which they haven’t for a month or more.
Steelheart
Where did you find a Costco with no people?
I know, right!? Took me a few minutes to time it just right and I had to cut in front of a woman to get the perfect moment.
Folks should take them up on their kind offer. Things will be getting hinky in 2 months, tops. Pile up the beans, band-aids and bullets to the rafters if you can.
Spot on. It is going to be at least a year before the COVID-19 hysteria ramps down. Beyond the actual biological issues, it has become a political issue and will not be abandoned no matter who wins in November. It is the perfect excuse for all sorts of new governmental powers — if Biden wins do not expect it to disappear, it is far too useful for controlling what people can do in public. If anything, expect new rules about “dangerous speech” to be enacted.
Naw. First Wednesday in November.
I wonder what happened to the huge paper product supply chain that normally serves commercial establishments ie- bars/restaurants, pro sports, offices, schools, theaters, museums, churches, libraries, polka halls, and every other place you normally went to before COVID1984- all of which are no longer consuming at previous levels. Did the current situation somehow exponentially increase the fecal capacity of USA? Seems like all this manufactured scarcity of basic goods is a test drive for communism. Really hoping America aint buying.
There were some very good articles written about that.
And to the commentor upthread, people did in fact use more TP, about 40% more iirc from the article. The pooping was the same but WHERE they pooped, and whose paper they used to wipe were different.
The short answer is that the commercial and consumer sides are completely different. Different products made in different plants from different inputs, to different specs, packaged differently, shipped to different distributors, and sold in different quantities and different places. There was a real shortage of consumer grade paper and the commercial guys couldn’t pick up the slack.
At the SALES end, some distributors and sellers found ways to sell to the general public, but most did not. (the SKUs are different, package quantities, etc)
For example, one of our local surplus auctioneers here in Houston got a couple of truckloads of commercial paper. He’s selling it in bags of 80 rolls, for about $40. It’s the thin, shiny, slick stuff you’d find at the airport. It’s better than nothing, but not much.
I’m very glad to occasionally see blue label Charmin available, even if I don’t need it now, I’m buying it to replace what we used. I’m also paying almost double what I paid when Costco had it onsale, which is about what Costco is charging locally when they have it.
n
Nick,
Funny!! I guess Blue Label Charmin is the gold standard by which all others are measured by!!! We do not use anything else and have plenty on hand. I even take some with me so I do not have to use the hotel stuff!!!
How about the manufactured scarcity of coinage? You will never convince me that people are hoarding their coins. It seems that most people are using credit/debit cards for everything – I saw someone using a credit card to buy a Snickers bar. I read a post on some other blog from someone who works in a bank that said that the Fed / Treasury has recalled most of the coinage. Banks were instructed to give no more than one roll of coins per customer including commercial / business accounts.
My father in law went to a local grocery store and paid cash. They said we don’t give change. He replied give me my change. Needless to say he got the items we needed and his change.
My local Costco last week looked like that but with pallet upon pallet of bottled water. No tp, but pallet upon pallet of water. It was the weirdest thing.
Too bad Costco doesn’t sell guns, ammo and reloading components. That’d likely send the Birkenstock/Prius crowd into a tizzy.
Who cares why they have so much? If you are short on those paper products…..buy now.
Who cares?
For the same reason “Who cares’ if the military suddenly cancels leaves and recalls everyone to base. ‘who cares’ if your bank suddenly changes its hours and limits withdrawals. ‘who cares’ if the local hospital, that hasnever had an infectious disease ward, suddenly starts erecting isolation tents in the parking lot.
Because it’s a possible indicator that something is going on that they know about and that you don’t.
Funny you mention the tent thing.
The local hospital erected a pretty big one way back. (March/April ish).
They took it down last week.
Odd
The mother load of fear may be coming.
Interesting. Went to Costco in Helena today, and saw merely the normal arrangement of goods – nothing like that.
Temporary overstock?
The Rea Kurt
What I noticed at Costco yesterday was that they had removed a pallet-rack from each aisle, and replaced it with extended end-cap displays. Exactly the sort of retail ‘make everything look good’ behavior I saw back in 2008 at Walmart and other retailers, when they could not obtain sufficient stock to sell. Happening again at Walmart too — empty shelves, shelves filled with bulky goods from other aisles to cover a lack of products to sell…
It is very evident that there are issues with the supply chain and/or corporate financing. Many products are simply not making it to the stores — tried to buy isopropyl alcohol in the last few months? Hand soap?
With all of the talk of a ‘second wave’ of disease and lock-downs coming this fall, NOW is the time to stock up on both basics that have been consumed and on the stuff that you ran short of the first go-round.
I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but the Coscos in the Wild, Wild West aren’t carrying their Kirkland brand; only Charmin, which is less paper than air, and costs a full $10.00 more for a 24-roll flat. Used to be, Mr. Whipple squeezed the Charmin. Now Charmin squeezes US.
Cosco doesn’t carry Kirkland. Costco carries Kirkland.
WRT the shortage of coins, if you don’t move in the cash economy, you might not see it or believe it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not factual.
I went from never using cash, to using mostly cash for any in person spending. I shop and sell in the “secondary economy” of auctions, flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, craigslist, ebay, and other ‘person to person’ markets. This part of the economy is much bigger than most people realize. It’s the primary marketplace for a LOT of people. Corner stores, storefront groceries (bodegas), dollar stores, street sellers, all places where people use cash. If you don’t go there you won’t see it. They mostly do it because they don’t have banking, for whatever reason. It’s called being “unbanked”.
———————————————————–
The unbanked in the United States
The Federal Reserve estimated there are 55 million unbanked or underbanked adult Americans in 2018, which account for 22 percent of U.S. households. One report found the nationwide rates to be 7.7% unbanked and 17.9% underbanked, with the most unbanked state Mississippi, at 16.4%
———————————————————–
sure, alot of it is illegal aliens, but alot of it is people with side gigs, or under the table cash jobs, or even just hustling…
If those people are hurting, or following the lockdown rules, then you are going to see a lot less change changing hands. (Ever watch a sharp eyed, hatchet faced, ecuadoran granny with a change purse checking out at the grocery? Talk about squeezing a nickel….)
My larger point is that I have been increasingly hearing a certain style of comment lately, that boils down to “I haven’t seen it, so you/they must be lying/wrong.” The arrogance built into something like that is breathtaking. But leaving aside any judgement, what it comes down to is Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns. If you don’t even know there is something you don’t know about, you aren’t getting a complete picture and your planning and reactions will be subsequently sub-optimal.
The best way to get through difficulties is with as much info as you can get, from as wide a range of sources as possible. Consider that information novel to you might be widely known to other people. Try for a humble and open mind.
n
I’ll have to go have a look-see at Costco this week. Last time I went (last week) they had some but it was still one-per-customer.