Maybe I went shopping on a bad day?

[Ex Post Facto]

I went to the store yesterday to shop for food. I noticed nearly 1 in every 5 items was missing from the shelves. Is it just me, my store, my neighborhood? Anyone work for a food store? Any shipping or supply issues?

[RickyJ]

I noticed the same thing. It is scary. I don't know what is going on, but I don't like it.

[chris198]

I work at a large grocery store chain on the east coast, I did notice the canned goods a little on the low side, I would assume mainly because we have a good sale price on the soups/canned vegetables, so I can't say yet for a fact if people are preparing, or what exact reason it is.

I work today, so I'll try to post in this thread with an update once I return.

[RonPaulVolunteer]

Yep, I went shopping late tonight to buy some bulk rice. Only 2 bags left. People are catching on. Stock up now. The rush will be real.

[ryanduff]

I stopped at the local wholesale club yesterday to buy 50 lbs rice, 22 lbs pasta and 6 cases of soup. Nothing seemed particularly low or out of stock, but I got a look like I was crazy from the girl checking receipts at the exit.

I plan on going back next week for more, didn't want to look too conspicuous.

[Alex Libman]

I was at a Costco the other day. Didn't notice anything unusual. Bought a huge box of sardine cans. Good source of calcium, iron, and protein. Didn't buy a flat-screen monitor, which is why I went there in the first place, and good thing I didn't because I got this awesome deal on a 26-incher for $260 the next day! Um, what were we talking about again?

[politicsNproverbs]

Since I've had a disability for some time, I quit regularly shopping years ago, and would only go like 3-4 times a year and stock up big time so I wouldn't have to go back anytime soon.

But they were ALWAYS out of stuff that I needed, which was a real drag as I knew I wouldn't be going back anytime soon (just too hard to get out). That used to happen all the time. I just figured crappy grocery stores just don't order enough and keep their shelves stocked very well.

Then I started buying in bulk -- not due to the situation we are in today in this country -- but just because it was great not to have to go back to the store. So I learned to eat black beans and garbonzos years ago, lol. I would call the manager or asst. manager in advance and order several cases of everything. Then when the truck would come in a few days later, I would go and get all of it.

And yeah, the checkout girls would GRIPE about having to checkout so much stuff, but OH WELL, it's YOUR JOB, honey, so shush it up. :eek:

If people look at you funny, and you don't like it, just tell 'em you've got a disabled friend you're buying for who doesn't get out and you need to stock them up until you can come help them again in a few months, or whatever.

[ItsTime]

Last weekend was "welfare weekend" I am sure they were just out of stock of a lot of things.

[reduen]

I noticed this at my local Wal-Mart a couple of days ago..... It was the first time I have ever seen them that far behind on stocking items and it was very strange to see. I commented to my wife about this when I returned home because it was so unusual.

Wonder what is really up?

[ShowMeLiberty]

It might also be partly due to stores cutting back work hours for the people who have the job of re-stocking shelves. That would be a bad sign too. Let's keep posting about this as we notice things. I think it's important and we will really help each other out.

[billjarrett]

I noticed this at my local target too. ALOT of empty/almost empty areas of shelves.

What made it even more eerie was that I was there on the weekend, and the place was empty. Usually I have to wait in line behind 3-5 people on the weekend, but I just walked right up and checked out.

It was like nobody was shopping at all, and if they were they were stockpiling. Thats the only sense I could make of it.

[freelance]

Publix was out of Kitchen Basics chicken stock, Colgin Liquid Smoke and a few other things that I can't remember right off the top of my head. BUT, they had Wolfgang Puck organic chicken broth on sale for less than the Kitchen Basics, and it was in an out-of-the-way place, so I picked up 10 of them.

Did you know that Colgin Liquid Smoke will kill bad stuff on meat? I didn't until recently when I got on a kick of checking out all of my can't-live-without products.

http://www.colgin.com/public/lsfaq.aspx#eliminatebacteria

[slacker921]

Ex Post Facto .. trucks aren't arriving at grocery stores as often, but are filled more. They're trying to get more goods shipped per gallon of diesel. Deliveries to retail stores are being condensed more than at grocery stores so you're more likely to see temporary shortages at retail stores until they get their next shipment. Big tractor trailers used to deliver as little as a pallet of stuff to a store.. now they wait a few days and ship it with other stuff.

fwiw I went to the Food Lion on George Liles Parkway in Concord this morning and they had plenty of stuff stocked.. I didn't see any obvious shortages.

What's really struck me as odd is the number of people out shopping for junk and eating out.. as if there's nothing wrong. It's good for the economy for people to keep spending money and it's kind of impressive to see it happening in the face of so much turmoil in the markets, but wow.

[reduen]

I will make it a point to go to the store each day and see if things change any. :)

[torchbearer]

whole sections of shelves were empty at the kroger's in alexandria.
maybe distribution problems or someone came in and bought a truck load of the same products.

[Arklatex]

I was at target sunday and their food shelves were very barren.

Last week or so I reported on the board that my local walmart was completely sold out of cans of vienna sausages.

[Deborah K]

I went to the store yesterday to shop for food. I noticed nearly 1 in every 5 items was missing from the shelves. Is it just me, my store, my neighborhood? Anyone work for a food store? Any shipping or supply issues?

I noticed the same thing this past Sunday at my little town's local Albertson's store. Mentioned it to my husband. Can't find any gold for sale in our county either....

[pacelli]

There are some worldwide shortages starting to rear their ugly heads. For instance right now there is a worldwide shortage on lemon juice, so the stores are trying to stock lime juice instead.

[Mahkato]

What's really struck me as odd is the number of people out shopping for junk and eating out.. as if there's nothing wrong. It's good for the economy for people to keep spending money and it's kind of impressive to see it happening in the face of so much turmoil in the markets, but wow.

It's not good if they're buying on credit, which doubtless nearly all of them are.

[freelance]

There are some worldwide shortages starting to rear their ugly heads. For instance right now there is a worldwide shortage on lemon juice, so the stores are trying to stock lime juice instead.

Aldi still has the large bottles of lemon juice.

www.aldi.us

Fresh lemons and limes are in stock, but they've gone through the roof! If you want a real treat, and if you rely on citrus to add the acid component to recipes, you might try Nellie & Joe's key lime juice.

http://www.keylimejuice.com/

Publix carries it for about $2.75. Trust me, it's a steal, compared to the fresh thing, and this is THE best bottled key lime juice. Once you start using key lime juice, you wouldn't be caught dead using plain on lime juice. You have to rotate your stock on this, because it does go bad. A few bottles will keep in the refrigerator for quite a while--a year anyway.

P.S. OH GOD. They're at least working on genetically modified citrus now:

http://www.citrusresearch.com/documents/eeece7e6-e13e-49bc-8b3b-30ed7db5f2ba.pdf

[pacelli]

Aldi still has the large bottles of lemon juice.

www.aldi.us

Fresh lemons and limes are in stock, but they've gone through the roof! If you want a real treat, and if you rely on citrus to add the acid component to recipes, you might try Nellie & Joe's key lime juice.

http://www.keylimejuice.com/

Publix carries it for about $2.75. Trust me, it's a steal, compared to the fresh thing, and this is THE best bottled key lime juice. Once you start using key lime juice, you wouldn't be caught dead using plain on lime juice. You have to rotate your stock on this, because it does go bad. A few bottles will keep in the refrigerator for quite a while--a year anyway.

P.S. OH GOD. They're at least working on genetically modified citrus now:

http://www.citrusresearch.com/documents/eeece7e6-e13e-49bc-8b3b-30ed7db5f2ba.pdf

http://pichostonline.com/u/080927/0082a9d57e.jpg

http://pichostonline.com/u/080927/5e732776e3.jpg

[Deborah K]

Why lemon juice, I wonder?

[freelance]

Why lemon juice, I wonder?

Dunno, but I know that bananas are suffering from some sort of disease and different varieties have died off over the years. They can't figure out anything to slow this down, and they say that soon bananas will be a thing of the past. We are down to just a few varieties now.

[Mark]

The MSM is starting to have a few talking heads mention storing food so it's probably starting to effect things a bit.

[SovereignMN]

Went to supermarket yesterday and everything was plenty stocked. Nothing out of the ordinary.

[Original_Intent]

I went to CostCo the other day and I was actually surprised the shelves seemed more full than usual. The grains and flour/sugar were completely full. I loaded up.

[Dustancostine]

It is the first of the month. The grocery store is always low at the first of the month. Everyone gets paid and or gets govt. food stamps and buys the place out. Go around the Fifteenth and you will see the same thing.

P.S. Especially after a weekend

[RockEnds]

I just got back from the grocery stores. Of course, there was no lemon juice, but I did find Simply Lemonade. It was only 10 cents more than last week. Nowadays, that's about par for the course.

There were some empty shelves, though. The canned goods at Aldi's were lower than I have ever seen them, and they were completely out of spices. Fortunately, spices were on sale at another store. But that store was out of bottled spring water. Yet another store was out of water in the jug and eggs. The 20# bags of rice were sold out, and there was no jasmine rice at all. I couldn't find any bulk shell macaroni, either. The beans were in short supply as well, and the cheese isle was more than half bare.

I don't know if it's a delivery issue, people stocking up in mass, or if something else is going on. I've seen the stores run short of a few things here and there on a busy Friday night, but this is Tuesday. There weren't many shoppers out. Not sure what to make of it.

Edit: Plenty of copies of Sleeping Beauty, though. (It was a must have or die tonight.) ;)

[torchbearer]

Went to supermarket yesterday and everything was plenty stocked. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Like your avatar.

[Ex Post Facto]

Ex Post Facto .. trucks aren't arriving at grocery stores as often, but are filled more. They're trying to get more goods shipped per gallon of diesel. Deliveries to retail stores are being condensed more than at grocery stores so you're more likely to see temporary shortages at retail stores until they get their next shipment. Big tractor trailers used to deliver as little as a pallet of stuff to a store.. now they wait a few days and ship it with other stuff.

fwiw I went to the Food Lion on George Liles Parkway in Concord this morning and they had plenty of stuff stocked.. I didn't see any obvious shortages.

What's really struck me as odd is the number of people out shopping for junk and eating out.. as if there's nothing wrong. It's good for the economy for people to keep spending money and it's kind of impressive to see it happening in the face of so much turmoil in the markets, but wow.

Haha...someone in my neighborhood. The store I went to was the super Walmart on Concord Parkway. The trucks conserving gas makes some sense, this makes me feel a little better. But as you know with the gas situation this past month...I can give little faith in that the system will be in place tomorrow. They are still out of gas at some stations, only the big named corporations are getting refueled.

I hope it is as everyone says, maybe just a combination of gas reduction, shipping issues, or labor cutbacks. It doesn't hurt to stock up a bit though in the meantime.

[Brian4Liberty]

Costco today, didn't notice any shortages. Did notice low stock in the fruit juice area of a grocery store recently... I noticed years ago that all apple juice was from China. Apple juice is a component of almost all fruit juice mixtures. With tainted Chinese goods, may be some major changes going on in that industry. And doesn't a law go into effect soon that requires country of origin labels?

[BagOfEyebrows]

Why lemon juice, I wonder?

pirates... ?

[libertarian4321]

They were out of Michelob- my GOD, what does this mean? Global famine? The end of society as we know it? Should we call out the militia?

Oh, wait, the Michelob was on sale for $4.99- maybe thats whey they were out.

Okay, no problems here- go back to your regular level of panic...

[Sandra]

In Baton Rouge , there's a constant shortage of bread,

[LittleLightShining]

Why lemon juice, I wonder?Interesting. Lemon juice is one of those things you really want to have around the house, too, in case of an extended power outage scenario. Think Ceviche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche).

[billjarrett]

Was at my Target again yesterday (the one I said had alot of empty space on shelves earlier in this thread), and all seemed normal. Dunno.