What's Out?

Food and other things — It seems that many things are either out of stock or cost more in local stores, not only here in Nashua, NH but everywhere. Here, it's frozen foods and canned goods.

That's why recent new headlines weren't surprising to me, and probably to you as well. They proclaimed that grocery store prices have soared upwards of 10-20%. Factors cited were more home cooking and shortages in the supply and demand chain. You think that's was really surprising to learn, I didn't either.

I'm sure you know as well as we do that supermarket prices have risen since the coronavirus outbreak has widened and disrupted the food supply chain. Some grocery stores have set purchase limits to keep from running out of stock. Others are raising prices to ration items and others are passing rising costs onto consumers.

When restaurants had to shut down, many people started cooking at home more often and some for the first time. We've always been at-home cooks, but also have enjoyed dining out at local restaurants at least once, sometimes twice a week. Local restaurants here now have expanded outdoor dining and inside dining begins June 25 with reduced capacity. We have been to a couple of local places in recent weeks and will continue with a preference for outside dining. How about you?

Not surprisingly, the demand for groceries has skyrocketed in the past few months. Farmers and food producers have become hard-pressed to quickly shift food deliveries from eateries to grocery stores. Another reason for some shortages is that panicked customers have bought food they may not need right now. Admittedly, we did buy some extra canned goods at first; now we're buying extras for the Community Food Pantry here in the mill apts. How about you, any stocking up?

That left a lot of empty store shelves as shoppers sought to buy non-perishables in the form of canned, bottled and boxed products including frozen foods.

Then, news spread about that employees at meat and poultry packing plants had caught coronavirus, which created even more shortages. Producers were shutting down plants countrywide and reports of meat and poultry shortages began. As with toilet paper before, supermarkets started to set purchase limits. 

You remember when toilet paper (TP) was in short supply seemingly everywhere here in the U.S. and elsewhere, don't you? That crisis has eased somewhat.

There was widespread accounts of TP hoarding. Supermarkets, retail pharmacies, warehouse club stores (Costco and BJs), and even discount dollar stores had empty shelves. Deliveries sold out as soon as they became available and stores limited purchases. Social media not only had many parodies and cartoons of these shortages, but people would post about availability in stores. That crisis has eased somewhat.

Then, shortages followed for hand sanitizer products, disposable gloves, paper masks. More recently, local supermarkets and other stores here have been providing some of these items for customer use at point of entry, notably to wipe cart handles.

Clorox® bleach and/or bleach related products have become hot sellers and often are hard-to-find items. Here, some stores are stocking off-brand products. There's also store shortages of other household cleaning products including toilet bowl cleaner. 

This week, two super markets we checked were completely sold out of shower cleaners of any brand with totally empty shelves. Are people showering more because of coronavirus?

That said, the local stores did have ample supplies of TP and other paper goods. I didn't see any limits posted. 

Here's even worse news, another reason for rising food costs either in the stores or at restaurants has nothing to do with shortages and/or availability. And it will most likely be ongoing. Can you guess, without reading ahead?

Did you figure out that every business and industry from farmers, producers, processing plants, grocery stores and restaurants have been and will continue to be making large financial investments in both employee and product safety? These measures include increased sanitation, plexiglass or plastic barriers between cashiers and customers, security guards to limit customer capacity during certain hours, and added signage. Admittedly, I find these 1-way signs frustrating (1) when the item needed is at the start of the aisle and (2) no other shopper(s) is around, Yes, I've cheated. Are all shoppers following the 1-way aisles where you shop?

Blog Friends, I was planning a Friday Funny today, but got sidetracked. It will return next week. We're remaining optimistic and thankful that we're doing well and grateful that family and friends are too. Some days get difficult with the new normals. Frustrations will pass, but still there's this saying on a fridge magnet in our home — Lord, please give me patience, and please make it NOW.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We're heading to a flea market & the park