More than one person sent me a link to this, but I actually caught it myself this morning while perusing the news:
- Costco shoppers have complained on Twitter that some stores are out of toilet paper and water.
- The warehouse chain is also limiting the number of products people can buy, several customers said.
- There is some evidence that stockpiling could return as the Delta variant spreads.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Who the heck is buying this stuff? Either you bought it all at the last panic and still have plenty, or you didnt stockup last time and, unsurprisingly, found out that there wasn’t really a need to stock up after all…and therefore have no interest in doing so this time around.
I suppose we should look to what has become the barometer of panic buying – TP, rice, and ammo. Ammo is still out where the buses don’t run, but TP and rice bounced back pretty quickly.
I didn’t really buy at the last panic, and I’m definitely not buying at this one. Why? Because for the last 25 years I’ve lived a lifestyle that assumes stuff like this is going to happen next weekend. I had my supply of TP, ammo, rice, batteries, and bleach long before some of you reading this were even born.
Honestly, Im less worried about Wuhan Flu (which has a , what?, 96% survival rate for the unvaccinated among the otherwise-healthy?) and far, far more worried about the economy, inflation, and our current foreign ‘policy’.
Speaking of Wuhan Flu, some ‘woke’ person gave me a hard time about using that term. “Don’t you know Asians are being beat up on streets because people use that term and it makes Asians a target?” Because, apparently, this virtue-signalling self-appointed guardian of language and outrage-by-proxy didn’t know that, historically, flus and viruses are named after where they originate. Ebola? Hantavirus? Legionnaires disease? Named after the initial outbreaks, thank you very much. Learn some history before you step up on that soapbox.
Sometime in the future, maybe soon, the source of the Wuhan Flu is going to become known and the Chinese are gonna have some major damage control. Just a harmless ol’ bioweapons lab that was playing with weaponizing a flu virus…nothing to see here.
In the meantime, though….I’m fairly pleased with how, so far, I’ve managed to deal with it. I see these idiots on television going on about how they haven’t been able to visit with their friends in a year, they haven’t been able to visit dad and mom since 2020, and they can’t go out to restaurants like they used to….and now need extensive mental health interventions to avoid depression and loneliness. Seriously? If not being able to see your friends for a year throws you into a mental state that renders you dysfunctinal, then the problem isn’t Wuhan Flu..the problem is that you’re life was empty, your sense of individuality was wonky, and, in general…well… you’re a pussy.
So..delta variant, lambda variant, omega variant, tau variant, whatever variant….bring it on.
I don’t have a Costco card so I can’t say what is happening there locally to me in Vancouver Wa but there are 3 Wally World Super Stores within 15 minutes of me, one is actually exactly one mile from here and all 3 stores have had low bottled water supplies for well over a month now.
TP seems to still be OK but I do see some other items that seem to be scarce on a fairly regular basis.
One of the strangest being canned cat food.
Another weird one is Cured Ballpark Hot Dogs.
They all have plenty of hotdogs but 99% of them are Uncured now for some reason.
I had to drive the Wifely Unit to 3 different supermarkets last week because she will only buy Ball Park Jumbo cured hot dogs.
We hit a Wally World, a Safeway and finally snagged the last 2 packs on the shelf at a Fred Meyer. ( Kroger)
Just in case any of your readers aren’t aware of it yet, get ready for coffee to get real pricey.
The estimated coffee yields coming out of South America are about half of what they normally are . I give it 3 months before it starts jumping up in price.
When I saw that I went down and bought another 6 cans of Folgers and got hit with Shrinkflation real good. The same price can I just opened that I bought last year is a good 2 1/2 inches taller than the new ones.
“Cured” just means it has a lot of salt added. For those with blood pressure issues who want to enjoy a hot dog, uncured is a better choice.
Try Costco hotdogs,best for the money.
As someone who uses the same terminology for the pathogen in question, and for the same reasons, a minor nitpick on your choice of Legionnaire’s as an example – ex InfoGalactic
“Legionnaires’ disease acquired its name in July 1976, when an outbreak of pneumonia occurred among people attending a convention of the American Legion at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Of the 182 reported cases, mostly men, 29 died.[33] On January 18, 1977, the causative agent was identified as a previously unknown strain of bacteria, subsequently named Legionella, and the species that caused the outbreak was named Legionella pneumophila.[34][35]”
Oh I know that Legionnaires was named after a function/organization rather than an actual location. Bu the principal is the same – the name comes from the initial incident.
They would probably call it the “Philadelphia flu” but too many people would get the picture of police dropping bombs on civilians.
I have to say that during this whole pandemic over-reaction I did not limit any of my normal activities unless they were limited by .gov edict. My hunting buddies and I still went up to my remote Northern WI property to hunt grouse and deer and whatnot, went to 2 weddings that no one hardly wore masks at all, restaurants that didn’t limit patrons and stores etc. Yes had to wear that dumb mask when mandated to get into food stores and the like but didn’t keep away from family or friends at all. And they didn’t either. So yeah a lot of these sheeple are just that.
“the problem is that you’re life was empty, your sense of individuality was wonky, and, in general…well… you’re a pussy”
No truer words have been used to describe those that buy into this evil insanity, manipulation, lies, deceit and control. Anyone that believes a politician, or bureaucrat and doesn’t do anything to rectify their position for the better deserves what is coming down the pike.
Thanks for that.
Since Day1 i have refused to call the wuhan by its pc media given name. Sometimes with strangers i call it The Virus for expediency, but Wuhan Virus IS the proper name for the reasons you point out.
Odd, our local COSTCO does not seem to be out of anything, and they are not limiting purchases.
Same here
FTR, Kung Flu survival rate in the US, to date:
Better than 98.3%, raw.
17x worse than annual flu, but 30x-53x better than Ebola, to put it in perspective.
I think what you’re noting re: shortages, is that what happened last year has finally reached the areas formerly bereft of large COVID numbers. Things aren’t so bitchin’ in Flyover Country these days. Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man is seeing similar shortages in TX.
FWIW, that isn’t happening here in SoCal this time around, at least not yet.
The Bio-weapon which was released upon the world was in response to Trumps’ winning an economic war…it’s real purpose was to create panic and destroy the worlds economies…leaving the culprit the ability to flourish and regain economic superiority…any reduction in the population was just gravy. The “gene – therapy” is the real danger to civilization…where it’s designed to destroy the recipients immune system, at the same time delivery a slow acting, in most cases, death. TPTB are pushing the “death-murder-kill-shot” are part of the globalists plan to reduce the global population in accordance with the GA Guide Stones’ directive. A manageable population of 500,000,000. Any other afflictions contracted by the population, such as mental disorders and (you fill in the blank) is again, gravy to the powers that be. just for the simple reason they’re distorting reality in the minds of the population which they seek to control, which brings about chaos which they seek. Remember, the fabian socialsts ideology…”Order out of Chaos”
DEATH TH THE NEW WORLD ORDER…and the horse they rode in on
china released it, either on purpose or by accident but our gov is as much to blame as china… we funded it…
noticed shortages at my wally world for the last month or more… some is always the same, other times it seems to be random empty shelves
you have to figure in that the ones that hoarded all the tp last time and probably sold it in a yard sale for pennies on the dollar or tossed it in the dump two days after the lock down was over. you know, the same ones that buy a generator after the power goes out and sell it a week later, in a hurricane zone. but personally, i have several years worth of about everything yet i find myself overstocking for the idiots in my “family” that can’t/won’t prepare even though they know better. now i’m building charity buckets for beggars that i’m sure will come knocking when it all goes tits-up.
Riverrider your kindness to beggars is noteworthy.
Remember the old tale about feeding cats, they NEVER leave…?
Got plans on how to get never do wells, irresponsible to somehow stand up on their own feet and become productive citizens in your area?
BTW what are the chances they will tell their “friends” about your abundance? You know the fake-book oversharing issues most of them have?
I could use some tips as I too have Normalcy Idiots that are family. So I’m not being sarcastic here. Just looking for ideas.
Bury the cache(s) of charity in a 5-gallon bucket at least 5 miles away.
Suckers walk.
Aesop really? Useless charity cases DON’T walk that a way for a maybe hard work digging up something…
I have caches buried incase I have to walk away from the home as die in place seems less than effective. Never be a defenseless refugee. Have a plan to be an annoying thorn.
For the online Hero’s who will NEVER Run, if a wild fire is coming your way remind me how your 1000 yard headshots will help. I’ve done Iron Ram shooting so I chuckle at most of that chatter.
Please More serious discussion on how to get Normalcy Idiots to become more useful once things go sidewise. Going to be plenty of maybe salvageable people that you acquire and make useful OR the Mob Leaders Acquire. Dealers Choice?
In the very large part, they won’t become more useful. You can’t make them. It’s their right to be taken care of, cradle to grave. And you may have to make the choice about sending some of them to the later so you don’t have to walk away from your home.
Boise Costco has been limiting bottle water. We really don’t like to make the drive to Boise since the invasion from the People’s Republics of California and Washington (Pudget Sound idiots). Have really been questioning my membership due to only making about 4-6 trips a year to Boise these days.
Bottled water is a comfort item for my wife, but we do have two Berkey Water Filter units (one in daily operation and the other in deep sleep). Well prepared for another lock down, but I believe Governor “Chicken” Little doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to try to enforce one. Folks in my area will not comply with another lock down, mask mandates, or mandatory jabs with a bio-weapon poison.
Want to thank Phil at Busted Knuckles for the heads up on the coffee situation. Once again we are set for over a year long siege, but went ahead and improved my position for the coming price increases.
I haven’t noticed shortages per session, but I have noticed that the brands of water, tp, soda (flavors not brands) available here seem to rotate. You’ll find an abundance of a different one each week.
I’m not surprised by the water, given that it’s summer and I’m now in a desert, but other things seem to rotate availability; the above are just the most convenient examples.
Just a heads up, If you have had your bleach for more than a year or 2, you no longer have bleach
That is the very reason that my long term water plans include reagent grade calcium hypocholorite (every pool shock I’ve looked at has numerous “other ingredients”), triple sealed against air and water they will keep for decades, stored with instructions for use. They’re about half liter bottles, enough to treat several hundred thousand gallons of water.
Only true with liquid bleach, Grasshopper. 😉
Powdered pure pool shock in a plastic bucket is still pool shock.
And like the little girl told the little boy, “With one of these, I can get all of those I want.”
“well… you’re a pussy”
Dude, been reading your blog many years and those 4 words are the best you’ve composed. I dont lol but I did today. God bless ya man!
Hmmm…
West Nile Virus, Lyme (as in Lyme, Connecticut) disease , Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever….
Yeah, place names are how it’s done.
And you can add Hong Kong flu to the list.
We’ve had shortages off and on all summer here (CO mountains). Gas has been spotty at times, due to a shortage of CDL drivers, I’ve been told, but we also get a LOT of tourist traffic. Some grocery shelves are bare, too, for perhaps the same reason. Haven’t looked at water, but rice, dried beans, TP are all available. Ammo is starting to come back, but lumber…
We rarely buy bottled water. We have a well (with solar back up in case of grid down) and a Berkey with extra filters. We stock up regularly on TP so we didn’t add to our collection. We were at Costco yesterday and bought $1,000.00 of meat to fill the freezers. Prices have definitely gone up but we didn’t look at water or TP. I was required to wear a mask so I dutifully put on my see thru, large holed mask that is sparkly. You can see my face and I can breath. I always take it off as soon as I pay or when I get my money at the bank so that I can walk through the store/bank without my mask. It’s my polite way of giving the finger since I would never do such a thing.
I laughed at your comment about socializing. We went to all the regular family parties, celebrations and a farewell party with no masks. Most events were four hours away. My whole family acted like there was no change. No masks. One event required 10 pizzas from Round Table. When I picked them up I with my dad I told the pizza guy, “No, we are not having a large gathering. We always buy 10 pizzas for the two of us.” Then I walked away laughing like a crazy woman.