Pretty much everyone, at being told we were facing a pandemic, figured “Ok..pandemic…so load up on canned goods and avoid other people”. But very few folks seem to have sat down and thought out the downstream consequences…schools close so parents stay home with kids instead of going to their truck driving job, without a driver the materials don’t get to the factories on schedule, production schedules are wrecked, whatever does get manufactured can’t get distributed on schedule, etc, etc.
I guess it’s no surprise that this sort of thing is going on. And, by and large, I’m about as prepared for it as can be, but it’s rather annoying to see the US slide into the sort of stereotpyes we used to have about the Soviets standing in line for toilet paper.
What’s worse is that some idiot somewhere is braying “Government should do something…” about these ‘shortages’ and, Crom help us, .gov might actually do just that. And if you think that having .gov manage a sector of industry is a good idea, you clearly don’t mail a lot of packages or get your paycheck by mail.
‘Tis interesting times we live in. We will all get through it, of course, but they are interesting nonetheless.
Also: Why the Supply Chain Is Tangled Up in Knots
Got stuck out of town working this week and the crappy 2 star quality inn that I got stuck at for $280/night in Bozeman didn’t have a laundry room. Off to Walmart to get some socks, nothing not a single pair for men. Lots in my supply at home but that didn’t help. Ended up finding some at murdocks but it was eye opening to see that department stripped clean.
It’s all self-inflicted BS, man. None of it “had to be this way”, but asshole progressives *must* inflict their shit on the rest of the planet. If it wasn’t the Kung Flu, it would be “climate change”, or “unequal outcomes”, or some other such manufactured BS.
They hate the world & they’re going to destroy it no matter what.
ok, so if you believe that, what are you doing to prep for the next 10 years?
n
I doubt the wheels will stay on for 10 months.
Local Harley dealer just told me they can’t get tires. Ford has a few boatloads of cars and trucks sitting in lots because we outsourced our chip making and they can’t complete vehicles without them. Electricians are waiting months for what used to be common panels and parts.
Just got my second backordered box of 1000 primers from Midwayusa for 80 FREAKING DOLLARS! used to be about $35.
Made it this far in life by trusting my gut and it has me moving most of my 401k money to cash until about the end of the year or a correction, whichever comes first. This is about to get bad.
The new luxury purchase will be spam.
I live in Hampton Roads, in South Eastern VA. I went shopping yesterday morning with a list of goods. I went to both Kroger & BJ’s. both were fully stocked. I got everything on my list which was pretty diverse list of items.
Also I have noticed that Walmart has had a hard time stocking up some goods, like underwear etc.
China and Lebanon are seeing huge power outages due to fuel costs and delivery issues. The silver lining in that cloud is factories (like Tesla, Apple) may be moving back to the US because they can’t operate on a unstable power supply. Intel is building two new chip plants in Phoenix AZ.
Maybe a sign of things to come.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/China-power-outages-spur-new-wave-of-supply-chain-shifts
Intel building a chip manufacturing plant in Arizona is height of stupidity.
Chip manufacturing uses a lot of water. So these geniuses decided to place a water intensive industry in the desert.
Maybe they can go for a twofer and build a nuclear power plant next door, to supply the with electricity.
the biggest nuke plant in the US is just west of Phoenix.
Jimbo:
Do you think the Chinese Communist Party gives a S*it if peasants go without power? Even if they had electricity, the peons wouldn’t have power!
Besides, China is busy planning to take Taiwan, because they know American politicians don’t have the stones to stop them…
They don’t care about peasants but they may care if Apple,Tesla and others move factories to some other country resulting in a loss of income for the Chicom army.
The Chinese are terrified of a common revolt and will do anything to prevent unrest- see Tianamen Square as a example
While cargo ships park off the coast of California . . .
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/o-c-oil-spill-cargo-ship-crossed-near-rupture-site-same-day-pipeline-began-leaking/
Do I take it you’re a Pern fan? “…about these ‘shortages’ and, Crom help us,…” Loved that lady.
I always thought that the Crom references were Conan related.
Correct.
Nothing you or I can do about it, just ride the wave.
And history will be written that this was the worst plague ever experienced.
History will be written that the Jan 6th was a battlefield.
History will show fentanyl floyd was a hero.
Because they will win – they already won. They control both sides of the narrative, and don’t care about human life.
Right, and the Commander’s spread sheet form of supplies accounting will help readership keep a management handle on what is desperately low inventory needs and what can be held off on a while to fill those other more pressing shortages. These current trends validate your prepper and “survivalist” hobbies as legit activities. I may evacuate dollar funds as well from banks, mattress, and retirement accounts (and not blinking or looking back at the decision) and embarking upon a road trip type provisioning excursion to flat out apocalypse stockpile. The waiting two weeks to flatten curves and Q correct things is not a viable strategy. Stay Frosty out there.
I’d like to see a national graph of shortages; here in the mountain west there are very few shortages. Given the lack of population and the distance stuff has to be trucked, I would have expected lots of stuff to be short of gone
PNW here. Haven’t seen anything in short supply at all.
No one listens to me, so I’ll just pass on the data I got from SRS Rocco ( a rather smart dude looking through the lens of energy ). Our domestic oil production is down 25%. For perspective, a 5% drop from the first OPEC oil fiasco fifty years ago crushed our Industrial Age economy. As the oil production drop is from fracking production, we are also looking at less natural gas. Wonder why the fertilizer plants shut down? Plastic production? Natural gas shortages are a little more important than more expensive Happy Motoring juice. If you doubt that, imagine Britain right now a few months from now, here, in the middle of winter.
*
Your supply chain shortages are here to stay, and will get worse. And if I’m wrong, you only bought way too much stockpiled goods at a cheaper price. And no, fracking cannot ramp up, as it peaked in 2018. And yes, soon we will be pumping even less of that. Enjoy the waterfall collapse. Cheers.
Yes, Dakin is correct. My Wy. county lost 15% population in last decade because of the clawback of fossil productions, not market shennanigans. Fuel pump prices are only not stupid due to idled workforce, that will go hurricane “Jim” when scalpers prices come forward due to simple supply= “no got more product G.I.” fundamentals. The waterhole control and oil spigot control are time honored overlord choke points, plan accordingly. Stay frostiest.
I have to say some of these supply chain shortages must be regional. Because here in SE WI ( Midwest ) I see very few shortages of anything ( other than primers and premium pistol bullets ) in the stores I shop in. Bad if those shortages are in your area but I don’t see it. I stocked up pre- Covid and have not let the pile go down at all so I’m good. Get it when you can and keep alert to any changes is my advice, as the Zero oftentimes says.
Not denying your first hand experience but I do always want to ask “how much shopping do you usually do?”
I do all of our family’s shopping and have for the last ten years, with the exception of clothes for my wife, and about 3/4 of the clothes for my two kids. I see shortages, reduced number of choices, unusual brands, etc everywhere I look. I normally shop at least two grocery stores and Costco for food.
I live in Houston, but was just in Orlando at Disneyworld, and they are short everything too. Stores on property that used to be literally overflowing with merch are practically empty and what is there is minor character stuff, and super expensive playsets- kinda like what was in the gun stores only with kid stuff. There are ‘Limit Two items per SKU’ signs everywhere.
Take a closer look the next time you are out and look for some of these ‘tells’…
-large number of “faces” which is what the industry calls each individual product on the front edge of the shelf. Retailers will put out more ‘faces’ of the products they do have to fill the gaps where missing product is supposed to be. In other words, they’ll put 10 cans on the front edge of the shelf, instead of 5. In the BCF days, (before china flu) the number of faces and which shelves they were on was something retailers and wholesalers used to fight about.
-shallow shelf contents. IE, only one or two products behind each ‘face’ on the shelf.
-fewer brands of the same stuff, fewer varieties of the same stuff, or substitute brands. Unlike Costco, most stores carry more than one major brand and at least one minor brand and a ‘house’ or private label brand in most things. Del Monte, Green Giant, Hill Country Fair, and some weird no name can, for example. If you just scan the shelf, you think “plenty of canned corn”. Look closer, it’s all a brand you’ve never seen before, the whole shelf is one variety, and there are no cans behind the ‘faces’ (stock is spread out to fill the space.)
— some of the bigger stores are removing shelves, getting rid of the stuff hanging off the front of the shelf, removing freestanding displays, etc, generally opening up and spreading out the sale areas. They don’t want people to think they can’t meet their needs and try shopping at other stores, so it’s worth doing from the store’s pov.
–I had to go to our local upscale mall and I saw the same things going on there that I see in food stores.
Let me add that I’m GLAD you aren’t seeing shortages. I can’t help but wonder though if it’s like the early days of wuflu, when so many people were saying “we don’t have a single case here” who a year later couldn’t find an open bed at their regional medical center. In other words, take advantage while you can, there’s nothing that says you won’t see shortages later, and there are a lot of indications that you will….
nick
.gov created these shortages through their socialists’ policies. They will now offer that the .gov is the solution to these shortages. Same tactic every socialist government has uses to undermined the capitalist system in their countries. Most recently Venezuela or would that be the U.S. now?
And then there is this, here we come Socialism:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/majority-of-americans-express-dissatisfaction-with-democracy-and-gerrymanderers-race-to-the-bottom/ar-AAPldKY?ocid=msedgntp
inspired, i took a trip to the local sam’s club. zero paper products, plenty of everything else. noticed everybody getting bottled water. limits on canned veggies but stacked to the ceiling in several locations. went over to lowes, they had paper out the wazzoo stacked to the sky. no shortage, just mismanagement on a grand scale. noticed lowes has their own brand of water now. hmm.
Unless someone has come up with a new recipe, it seems all water should pretty much be the same…a blend of oxygen, hydrogen, and a plastic bottle.
not to argue but there are differences. spring has minerals n such that have flavor. fake spring has chlorine, lol. purified sometimes has minerals added back in. it boggles. lately my fave has been sold out a lot.
While we did have spot gasoline shortages this summer, at the peak of tourist season, from my perspective, it is not so much shortages as mis-allocations. There are 2 major grocery stores in my area (mountain West), and what one doesn’t have, the other often has in abundance. As Nick Flandrey wrote, yes, sometimes there are shallow “faces”, but only a few real shortages, at least so far. That doesn’t mean I don’t keep my stocks up – with inflation, it just means I’ve paid less for more later.