I was going to say that I apologize for the slow posting but then I realized, I actually don’t owe you guys anything so..why apologize?
Just had some distractions lately and then this amazingly absurd heat isn’t helping.
Anyone else notice that it seems like nowadays there’s (supposedly) a shortage of everything? I mean, it seems like overnight we went from a nation that has 98 different types of breakfast cereal on the shelves to a nation where newsmedia keeps telling us that there are shortages of…well..everything.
Global infrastructure logistics failures or some such technobabble being the words du jour. Objectively, I can see a few hiccups.. The Kung Flu reduced manpower (or person-power if you think along those lines) at ports, terminals, and other transport hubs. Ok, makes sense. Some nations closed their borders, thereby making trade more difficult. Okay, still with ya on that. And there was, naturally, unprecedented demand as people suddenly realized that toilet paper and rice might suddenly vanish. Ok, still seems legit.
So where is all this sky-is-falling media blitz coming from and, more interestingly, why? Are we being groomed to become used to ‘getting by with less’ in some sort of sneak attack on ‘consumerism’? Is it jockeying by our larger trading ‘partners’ (cough*China*cough) to flex a little and see how much the markets cringe when they raise their hand? Or is it just the delayed effect of all the other stuff I mentioned finally catching up?
Personally, I’ve not seen shortages of anything that I use except for, of course, ammo and related materiel. My neighbor has been building a garage and has had a helluva time finding lumber, trusses, etc. But in my world? No…no shortages I’ve noticed. But then again, I tend to live a fairly simple lifestyle at the moment. I buy my groceries, I get new clothes every other year, I fill my vehicle twice a month, and thats about the extent of my shopping.
Still, I’m quite curious about these supposed shortages and if there is something more sinister going on here.
It could be something as simple as bad management, which is the answer to most business problems.
But it could be the Chicoms and Ruskies manipulating markets to get under our skin.
Just picked up another Savage 99 in .308 so no shortage of lever guns, here anyway. Since it was sorta the gun that won the west it feels more dependable some how than an AR. If I do wind up in the boonies and have to hunt to eat I just like it better.
The heat? I heard Spokane called Arizona and said come get your weather, it’s drunk and in their backyard.
The conversations about reducing the variety of products available to consumers have been going on for about 2 decades now. But it was last year that I think they became really serious. With the ever-growing concentration of retail, they just don’t need 98 different types of corn flakes. 3 will do. Because there is less competition and the customer doesn’t have too many alternatives. So, although I don’t think this is something that strictly belongs to the “shortages” category, it is happening and it probably adds to the general feeling.
Amen, unnecessary apologies undermine sincerity. The same goes for apologizing on demand.
This month my Costco had zero australian lamb when I was there. That’s never happened before. They had no spiral sliced ham either, and that is a staple item too. There has been quite a bit of brand changing going on in my other grocery store, ie. there will be brands they never had before, while the normal brands are missing. That suggests some difficulty getting what they want and just buying whatever they could… The selection in the soda aisle is still reduced. There was a problem getting the aluminum for the cans, iirc, so they just make their best sellers for a while.
Other than groceries, I do almost all my buying at online auction sites or in thrift stores, so I’m not a great judge of “normal” retail. I will say that last spring, bikes, bike parts, exercise equipment, and above ground pools were all in VERY short supply, and most of that stuff was unobtainium thru retail channels.
This year, above ground pools were VERY expensive compared to pre-wuflu, and all the less expensive pools were sold out early. Home Depot send me an eflyer, and the same day I checked online and found them already sold out of most models.
Blue label Charmin is still in short supply at the local grocery but Costco had some this month.
There seems to be very little decent beef in the stores around here. What’s in the coolers is lesser cuts, and it is priced high. I don’t know where the good cuts are being sent, but it isn’t to my neighborhood.
So I do see some shortages, don’t know where in the chain the problem is though.
nick in Houston.
This news of shortages and the like all depends upon the media source that you are watching/reading/listening to. Some news sources are reputable, others not so much. The major task is the ferret out the good news outlets and end your support of the bad ones.
Severe crop failures and distribution disruptions (witness the Suez Canal ) are a coverup for the crop failures created by the Grand Solar Minimum. While extensive coverage of the heat waves in the West are daily MSM grist (with “OMG, Global warming!!”, notice that no attention has been paid to the cold records in the SW and flyover states. Also note the crop failures in Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Red China….you get the idea. Millions are about to starve, and it will be blamed on Covid interruptions. The reality is that while Central Banks can print money, they CAN’T. PRINT. FOOD. Hyperflation combined with food crop failures is creating a situation where starvation will be seen here in America and Worldwide. Prepare accordingly. If you doubt me, look up the Grand Solar Minimum yourself. Just don’t use Google or Yahoo. Use Duckduckgo or some alternate search engine. I’m about to go dark myself, soon. Good luck. Gods Bless. CZ, thank you for your words over the years. They’ve been educational; and entertaining.
The Grand Solar Minimum has made North Texas wetter. While hot mostly, our rain in continuing and it’s July. We’re normally without rain from June through September. So, while the Grand Solar Minimum is bad for some, it great for others. Thus, the nature of the sun and it’s affect on climate change!!! Climate change is coming no matter what the crazy left tries!!
I was at the local farm and goods store and saw an amazing sight. The ammo section looked almost completely stocked. I had been to Wally World just before that and they had a grand total of three boxes of ammo. Back at the farm store. I was looking like a kid visiting Willy Wonkas factory. Then I saw them, a stack of about 15 ammo cans of 556 (800 rounds each). I just about emptied my bowels right there. The price was way up there but if someone needs something bad enough, they will pay the price. Normally they would have five to ten small boxes of calibers that are not very common. I don’t think it lasted long because folks were on the phone talking to others about the ammo needed.
My industry is seeing large supply shortages. 2 of the largest manufacturers pushed lead times out repeatedly starting in May 2020 and in the last couple months have gone to allocation only and focusing on their largest customers and everybody else can get whats left if there is any.
Hydraulics is fun. 4 week lead to 6 to 10 to 22 to 50+ to GFL…..
56 working weeks, so like 60-62 actual weeks.
Many other manufacturers in this industry has also had lead time go to crap. For the most part now either a distributor has stock or lead time is over 20 weeks if the manufacturer is even still accepting orders.
None of the above.
Like a freeway traffic jams that’s till there 4 hours after the wrecks were cleared, this is just the residual of having nothing coming in, then everyone wanting everything, and supply trying to catch up to demand.
I talked at length to a longshoreman, who assures me that he and his union brethren have all the overtime they can handle now, and that ships in LB/SP south of L.A. are unloading 24/7 around the clock, and will be for weeks to months going forward.
But last year, for weeks to months, nothing new was unloading, and everyone is still working on making up for that.
One simple example was fishing weights and workout hand weights. All supplies cleaned out by month 2 of last year’s prolonged emergency, and gone since late last spring.
Now, finally, a year-plus later, both sl-o-o-o-wly coming back up to fully stocked on store shelves. Holes are starting to get filled.
Same-same for TP, kleenex, and paper towels.
Some of it is “can’t get lazy b*stards to go back to work because unemployment is more than offering wages”, but that unemployment will run out eventually, and things will even out.
Ammo is another thing entirely. Multiple makers are running every machine they’ve got, multiple shifts/day, and they’ve got orders in hand now for the next few years of production.
When people stop panic-buying, and loading up by the horse-trailer-full, things will settle down. If people ever sate their thirst.
Right up until Gropey Dopey and/or his minions announce the next new attempt to evade the clear intent of the 2A, and then we’ll be off to the races again.
If gun and ammo manufacturers’ goal was a certainty of 1B firearms in private hands, and 20B rounds of ammunition, in the US, they couldn’t have picked better salesmen than the current crop of government @$$holes. And they’re crying about that, all the way to the bank.
Commander:
I think you are so right about China.
Have you seen their claims today about “Breaking Heads” of any nation that tries to stop them bullying?
Either war is coming, or we can lose without one…
all i know is the shelves are relatively empty at my local chain grocery store and i could not find a foot long chili dog anywhere in the vicinity. madness. how are we expected to survive the shtf without chili dogs?
Much of the shortages are supply chain issues. I work in the office area for a manufacturing and we are constantly dealing with material orders being pushed out, ships unable to find a port slot to unload etc.
Plus there’s the ongoing shortage of truck drivers for various reasons (companies putting cameras in the cabs of doesn’t make the drivers want to stay with that company for example).
Steelheart
Here’s a related tidbit I heard yesterday. To get 9 pallets of injection molded plastics from China (not our call, we’d much rather they get made CONUS) to the Midwest it’s currently $21k and 60+ days (triple the original quoted amount). To send that same 9 pallets via air (DHL was mentioned) it will be $24.5k and 7ish days.
Steelheart
A very wise person once told me if you want to know why something like this (shortages, regulations, general bull stuff) happens just follow the money. Those who have the most to gain will stick it to those that have the most to lose.
cui bono
A friend and I were chatting about this this morning. Shortages create bottlenecks, DUH, I hear you saying. Shortages of steel used in tin cans has caused a lot of available produce not to make it into canned veggies, soups and such. Serious droughts and FLOODING has been battering our food production areas for a couple of years recently. SO Damages to the ability to can currently excess veggies into shelf stable loner term food stuffs bears watching.
There is NO National Grain Reserve, it was sold off to “Save Taxpayers Money” (Cue wild giggle here, the Gov.com CARES about My Taxes spent?) SNIP:
Today our national grain reserves have apparently vanished, primarily due to deregulated global markets and globalization, and the 1996 abolishment of our national system of holding grain in reserve – which was gradually depleted until 2008, when the USDA decided to convert all of what was left into its dollar equivalent.
China has over the years bought a LOT of our Pork, Soybean and Corn production and distribution. They ship most of it (Cue Surprise here) back home to feed THEIR nation.
What did Marx say about capitalists selling them the rope they get Hanged with?
Got two plus years food? Got some gardening skills, seeds, decent soil and tools? I’d NOT want to be THAT GUY who is opening up a can of “Survival Seeds” when the grocery stores are burned and looted by Burn Loot Murder and Co.
Electricity. Texas has had another “emergency”. The price went through the roof. Again. People paid and companies made huge profits. Normally OK with that EXCEPT our fine state scumbag political class engineered this. AGAIN. Don’t only watch the fedgov. Watch local/state. We pay more than several northern states that have our natural gas piped in. We have so much oil and natgas we should be getting it free like the Saudi Arabians and gulf states. Just like the War of Northern Aggression. They take our resources and give us fedgov in return. What a deal.
So, China is screwing with our Navy ships in south china sea, Iran is doing the same in Persian gulf, Russia is firing at/near British ships in Black sea, there are shortages of food and other supplies, ( neighbor is remodeling the kitchen and has had cabinets on order for months), inflation is up, some say 18-20%. Get what you need when you can, stack to the rafters,
If you don’t like today, you surely ain’t gonna like tomorrow!
Apologize for nothing It’s a sign of weakness. You think you got something to say and others may be interested in your opinion you post it. We here are interested in your opinion so we read it and keep coming back to read more. When we get tired of your opinion we’ll stop visiting your site. Simple No!
And for the shortages, I have, as you say, not experienced shortages for most essentials – Yet. But there is always the possibility.
Other stuff, is turning into a nightmare with reports from numerous sources all the way from a backlog of ships waiting to get unloaded to not enough drivers to deliver freight (hence some food and lumber shortages), to gubmint paying people to not go to work, throughout the employment sector in all services and occupations. I can’t get lumber at a decent price, I can’t get hydraulic fittings I need, from anywhere, quoting no raw materials, no workers, etc. etc. etc. Crap, I’ve even had to order steel that I don’t need yet and can’t afford yet because when I do need & can afford it, It may or may not be available. And that goes for certain auto parts, tractor & truck parts, general consumable supplies of various sorts as well. And top it off with the Ammo & reloading supplies shortage. Crap, I’ve had loading dies on order since January with a stated leed time of 3-6 weeks. Still not available.
Hell, all I can think of is this would be a great place to start a country that actually wanted to participate in trade with the rest of the countries around the world. To say nothing of using our raw materials to actually make stuff of our own to consume and trade with various countries.
Apologizing is not a sign of weakness. It’s dependent on context – what you are apologizing for. I suffer no guilt, but I try to be a nice guy… and that means if *I* think I wronged someone, I apologize.
Apologizing when you are wrong is a sign of strength and character. Apologizing solely to appease someone is weakness.
Should have made it clear, but apparently no one can read between the lines anymore. It’s a line from an old John Wayne movie about the cavalry, and has the meaning of never saying anything you need to apologize for.
“and has the meaning of never saying anything you need to apologize for.”
Sounds like you still are not clear, because this say you should never apologize for anything!!!
I have been wishing for Wheaties for a while. My local grocery has been out of stock for some time. The manager I buttonholed said they’re on a rotation to get them, with no idea where they are in line.
Haven’t looked for ammo, but it’s out there. .50 each for 9mm seems average, though sometimes it’s Tula and sometimes Magtech or Blazer Brass.
Could it mayhaps have anything to do with the installation of a Crash Test Dummy at 1600 PA Ave?
Everytime I see these two morons I keep hoping it’s just a sequel to Dumb and Dumber.
Don’t forget #3 Crash Test Dummy. G Witless……..
Probably multiple reasons, but some are definitely designed to take advantage of the situation … the whole “designed to make us used to having shortages” is unquestionably true, because the government seems determined to do everything it can to make things worse.
But that’s the whole point of the “climate change” theme. How to eliminate 80% of the world population and make the other 18% serfs, so the remaining 2% global elite will want for nothing. We are the carbon footprint that they want to get rid of. Those 18% that are allowed to live will do so at bare subsistence levels. No more consumer economy for you!
I’m actually seeing a sufficiency of 9mm target 115g FMJ lowest price for brass-.47 cents. .223/5.56 is available .70 plus cents a round for brass. surprisingly my local cabelas doesnt have squat. As to bicycles, not seeing any cheap walmart bikes. Stock of some of the better bikes is pretty low.
Funny how things are shortage here but not there.
For example both my Walmart’s have Plenty of Cheap Bicycles. Wasn’t true a couple of months ago when my area finally caught up to the reported shortages in Other area.
However unless I’m willing to drive 2 hours south I cannot find 9mm or 5.56mm target or otherwise at the prices you mention. At least 50% higher and limited supplies.
Those points of data makes reading there sites worthwhile.
If you take even one link out of a chain, it’s broken. The lockdowns and the ongoing color revolution have taken a lot of links out of the supply chain, and I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of this yet.
True shortages of critical heavy truck parts, engine parts are often weeks or more back ordered,disc brake rotors are almost unobtanium(manufacturer defect caused premature wear and huge demand,l had to pull a used waterpump off a junk engine to get a truck back on the road. The US largest grease manufacturer just burned down with no idea when or if they may rebuild,a very large warehouse of li-on batteries(supplied most of the midwest) is currently burning(can’t be put out-28 tons of dry concrete dumped to try to control it with limited success-fire dept equiped for nuclear powerplant fire-so no lack of equipment). Shortages are here with demand pull inflation(steel is at highest prices)about to really ramp up. If you haven’t read the last few chapters of “Atlas Shrugged” it may be time.
Shortages,
Industrial sabotage? Check out rebar and steel smelting. Of course, just a coincidence. Utility trailer door hinges? Try and buy a utility trailer lately? Check out year to year prices for trailers from all manufacturers.
Naw, just confidence, nothing to see here folks, move along.
I work for Home Depot. Technically I’m a sales floor associate, but I also help cover the receiving dept, so I have access to ordering, and get to talk to vendors and vendor reps and truck drivers, etc. I don’t generally watch the news, so I can’t comment on most of your guesses at reasons.
But I can tell you the supply chain is well and thoroughly fucked. And has been since everything shut down last year. From what I can see NO ONE has caught up. Or if they have its only in one area. We’re behind on orders for just about every dept. Based on discussion on HD’s internal forums exactly what is out of stock varies from region to region, but everyone is struggling to stay in stock on large numbers of products.
Personally I don’t think its any huge conspiracy either. Its just the snowball effect of “just in time”, plus way to much of specific areas of manufacturing all being out of one area or one country (aka China), plus covid freakout causing shutdowns and slowdowns and people shortages, plus screwed transportation, plus weather. Plus the average consumer never really slowed down their buying, so there’s not been a chance to actually build up stock.