Supply chain SNAFU


 
This is the kind of topic that makes my spidey senses tingle because it often results in political commentary and we don't do politics here. So thanks in advance for your cooperation on this matter.

Regarding Walmart, I've noticed staffing shortages resulting in fewer open cashier checkout lines and more reliance on customer self-checkout. I asked about this at one store and was told they never know from day to day who will be showing up for work. I also see poorly stocked shelves but also messy shelves and stores, so I assume that's a combination of lack of products plus lack of adequate staffing to keep the store shelves in shape. Having said that, Walmart is never as well organized and clean as it should be, IMHO, but it's obviously worse now.

I shop a lot at Safeway. Not really noticing problems there, I've been finding most everything I want. But it's been two weeks since my last visit, I'm probably going today and we'll see what I find.

Went to Costco yesterday. Everything seemed normal to me.
 
Not interested HERE in the politics. Interested in situation in reality. Your last sentence about Costco is the kind of simple responses I'm interested in from all sorts of people in numerous locations. Thanks.
 
I guess I should consider myself lucky, or else I live in Oz. Here in north central Wisconsin the Walmart and local small markets I shop all seem to be business as usual. In fact, at Walmart there are so many employees it's common to see them in almost every food aisle.
I see the news stories and I'm not denying it is happening, just not around here fortunately.
 
All the Walmart stores here in our area (greater Rockford IL area) no longer have cashiers. They're self checkout only with some poor old person looking at receipts. On the rare occasion I even bother to step foot in Walmart (can't stand them they make me feel "dirty"), I walk right past them. If you were so worried about something bypassing payment you'd have people doing it.
As for being stocked the one thing I having a REALLY hard time finding anywhere is Shell Rotella T-6 engine oil for my diesel Kubota. In fact ANY kind of synthetic diesel oil. Later on may try my Farm & Fleet. At this point I don't even care if I have to buy a 5gal pail of it
 
Barb works at Safeway here in Prescott Valley. Their store is stocked very well on most items. The biggest issue is the distribution center is 100 miles away in Phoenix and the lack of trucks and drivers sometimes makes for shortages of fresh produce and perishables. But for the most part now that the holidays are over everything appears to be returning to normal.
 
Darren Lebner said:
Anyone here experiencing this now?

www.dailymail.co.uk

Kroger, Walmart and more grocery stores are opening with EMPTY shelves

Shoppers across the U.S. are confronting alarming shortages of basic foodstuffs, as a variety of factors exacerbate supply chain issues from coast to coast.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
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We haven't seen much of that at our local Walmart. There are the normal empty shelves after the weekends but, for the most part, restocking is in progress. It might help that we're only about 35 miles from one of their grocery distribution centers. The local Safeway has problems keeping the meat areas filled, but that's a staffing issue.
 
My local grocery chain didn't have pre-packaged salads and Wally World didn't have orange juice this past week. My Wally World is in the same mode of not having cashiers. I have had to check out myself since before Thanksgiving. I joke about not getting invited to the staff Christmas party. I'm sure it has something to do with the Great Resignation but they also seem to an army of folks pulling stuff for people to pickup.
 
Seeing it here south of St. Louis with short term produce and dairy shortages. Hit or miss. One day empty shelves the next they are loaded. Walmart here has mostly gone self-checkout.
 
This seems to be influenced by where in the country/state you are and the company you are shopping at imo. Around here Publix seems to have shortages of stuff but if I go across the street to Aldi, Winn Dixie or Walmart the same products Publix couldn't get are everywhere. I noticed this in both western NC where I just was and here in CFL. Regardless of location I can't think of a time where I've seen shelves as bare as what I see in the news. Maybe I'm just lucky on timing?

Not getting political but I just don't buy into the "mass shortages" we keep hearing about. Yes some products are limited supply but I've always been able to get what I need or want through all this. In regards to Publix, I think its the company not wanting to renegotiate terms and prices so they just refuse to sell it. Why else would every other store have plenty when Publix can't get it? I have seen messy shelves which I figure is staffing problems though so that I agree with.
 
I went to Lidl last week and the shelves were very empty. I think it may have been from the snow storm. I took some pics as I found it a little scary.
20220106_184013.jpg20220106_184022.jpg
 
Not seeing too many “holes” in inventory for the most part. Last week there were some but, aside from the big bare spots in the booze aisle (mostly bourbon) early in the week, everything was pretty much fully stocked here. I have not been this week yet.
 
Chris Allingham said:
Went to Costco yesterday. Everything seemed normal to me.
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I've noticed outages of certain products at Costco ever since the original pandemic shortages were resolved. For a while they had no diced tomatoes. Then one trip they have no pasta on the shelves at all. Next trip they have pasta and diced tomatoes, but none of the crushed tomatoes I started using instead of the diced. On my last trip they were out of the Kirkland organic orange juice we love and they had none of the K-cup coffee we prefer.

On the plus side, this gave me an opportunity to try the new medium roast variety they've had for a while. It's different than the Pacific Bold, but much more to my liking than the Breakfast Blend.
 
Rice Krispies is the only thing regularly missing.

Costco was well stocked last weekend as were Raley's and Safeway.
 
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LMichaels said:
They're self checkout only with some poor old person looking at receipts. <snip> I walk right past them. If you were so worried about something bypassing payment you'd have people doing it.
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Yes, I do the same thing. Walmart is not a membership store like Sam's or Costco, but they act as if they are at the exit. I just smile, say thank you, and walk on by.
 
My family has banned me from shopping for 30 days. Something about the freezer was too full and the pantry overflowing.

So we're back to eating the freezer and pantry. However, I did go to Whole Paycheck yesterday as they were the only place in town that had Caputo 00 pizza flour which i need to make pizzas for this weekend. I was allowed to buy them and confirmed I wasn't overpaying before going in.

BUT, the price of a 1kg bag is now at $3.99 whereas it was $3.49 last summer. It is what it is. The price vs quality is still reasonable so I bought it. It's only $0.78 per 12" round pizza for the flour cost only.

And Whole Paycheck was well stocked, albeit ridiculously overpriced for my wallet (I did peruse the fish/chicken/meats section and you could hear my jaw hit the floor at their pricing).
 
Shortages are very uneven around here. The cracker aisle, for instance, is almost bare, but In the rest of the store most other things are generally available. Things that aren't in stock generally have replacements or substitutes that are. Any shortages tend to be item specific, as opposed to whole areas or categories.

One thing, though, has been hard to get for a couple of months: whole (vitamin D) milk in half-gallon cartons, of any brand. Gallons and quarts are fully stocked, but there are no half-gallons to be had. All other grades of milk are in ample supply.

I asked the stocker the other day what was up with the milk supply. He said that all the dairies in the area have their cartons printed overseas. Since half-gallons are the most popular size, and vitamin D is the most popular grade, they tend to run out of those sooner. Guess where all the replacement half-gallon cartons are? Yep — on a container ship waiting to enter port down in CA, where they've been for months. I don't know how factual that is, but it certainly is plausible given what I know about the port congestion.
 
Grant Cunningham said:
Shortages are very uneven around here. The cracker aisle, for instance, is almost bare, but In the rest of the store most other things are generally available. Things that aren't in stock generally have replacements or substitutes that are. Any shortages tend to be item specific, as opposed to whole areas or categories.

One thing, though, has been hard to get for a couple of months: whole (vitamin D) milk in half-gallon cartons, of any brand. Gallons and quarts are fully stocked, but there are no half-gallons to be had. All other grades of milk are in ample supply.

I asked the stocker the other day what was up with the milk supply. He said that all the dairies in the area have their cartons printed overseas. Since half-gallons are the most popular size, and vitamin D is the most popular grade, they tend to run out of those sooner. Guess where all the replacement half-gallon cartons are? Yep — on a container ship waiting to enter port down in CA, where they've been for months. I don't know how factual that is, but it certainly is plausible given what I know about the port congestion.
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Different here. Quarts are hard to find. Gallons and half-gallons are abundant.
 
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