Anyone else worried about fall supplies?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The only odd thing these days is last time we went to Costco (August 16th) they were out of paper towels completely. Toilet paper was limited to 1 (which I've seen had a limit at times and then not have a limit at other times). I didn't check wipes as we had already gotten a 3-pack a while ago at Walmart. We can't remember if Costco had a limit on poultry. I haven't seen the SoftSoap 2-pack at Costco since Feb/March and Walmart was getting more soap in but far fewer varieties in scents. They did at least have the refill bottles about a month or so ago.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Already seeing things not in stock in multiple stores that I have had dh go to
Rice - 3 kinds
Napkins
Bounty Towels

He finally got the big soft soap refill

My ds is an ICU nurse and he said the management is telling all new hires to prepare for the next covid wave this fall and winter.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Already seeing things not in stock in multiple stores that I have had dh go to
Rice - 3 kinds
Napkins
Bounty Towels

He finally got the big soft soap refill

My ds is an ICU nurse and he said the management is telling all new hires to prepare for the next covid wave this fall and winter.

I just finished my 20 lb bag of rice tonight. I was planning on picking up a new bag tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find it without issue. Oy vey, not looking forward to the panic again. It was just settling down from March.

 

[sasywtch]

I scored 2 cans of lysol spray and a 3pack of clorox wipes the other day at Walmart. They were still in their boxes in the middle of the aisle and the worker opened it up. I highly doubt he had to put any on the shelves as I don't think it made it past the middle aisle.

 

[Pooh2]

Bounty paper towels are hard to find here.

 

[RamblingMad]

Weird. Is this the second wave of paranoia? I used to think that Lone Gunmen on the X-Files were the rare odd balls. When did they go mainstream?

 

[barkley]

Weird. Is this the second wave of paranoia? I used to think that Lone Gunmen on the X-Files were the rare odd balls. When did they go mainstream?

i don't think it's paranoia. this is the time of year many people in areas prone to bad fall/winter weather tend to stock up. add in people whose kids are actually going to some form of in person school and those school lists they send out that include cleaning and paper products, add a dash of university kids who may or may not even venture from their dorms for classes but have parents who want them with supplies in place. garnish with the folks who bought reasonably during the shut downs/shortages what they could but found themselves in want/need of certain products and are concerned about 'the next wave' (we've never exited wave one here) being a decimated shopping landscape b/c some producers have still not recovered.

demand is still outpacing supply in many places. demand has changed b/c people's lifes

 

[RamblingMad]

i don't think it's paranoia. this is the time of year many people in areas prone to bad fall/winter weather tend to stock up. add in people whose kids are actually going to some form of in person school and those school lists they send out that include cleaning and paper products, add a dash of university kids who may or may not even venture from their dorms for classes but have parents who want them with supplies in place. garnish with the folks who bought reasonably during the shut downs/shortages what they could but found themselves in want/need of certain products and are concerned about 'the next wave' (we've never exited wave one here) being a decimated shopping landscape b/c some producers have still not recovered.

demand is still outpacing supply in many places. demand has changed b/c people's lifes

We’re pretty much through the first wave here in AZ. Things like Clorox wipes are still hard to find. But otherwise we have mostly returned to normal. Not finding any real shortages. You can now buy bread flour at Costco, so that’s new.

 

[HeatherC]

I'm confused by your wording starting to rise? Where are you getting your information that it says "starting to rise" as opposed to already rising?

Sorry for the confusion. I just mean that the media has been reporting cases are now increasing in the heartland over what they were a week or two ago. Seems like the heartland could be next for big outbreaks.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sorry for the confusion. I just mean that the media has been reporting cases are now increasing in the heartland over what they were a week or two ago. Seems like the heartland could be next for big outbreaks.

Thank for responding

Oh yeah that's the issue then. Big outbreaks? We've already had them in my state. Spikes are something we are watching out for at the present moment. We've been up and down for over 2 months now and it was a sharp sharp increase from what we were when we starting going up in mid-June. A headline saying "now increasing over what they were a week or two ago" and inferring big outbreaks is putting the cart before the horse at this moment most especially if you're relating that to the supply chain. States go up and down on cases it's not always the worst is here. It's worth keeping an eye on and is something our governor is hoping people take seriously as public schools go back (though most ones around me are after labor day this year).

Just a snippet of information from July 30th-August 25th there were 742 cases of inmates of a NEW outbreak at just 1 prison in my state. For references on August 13th that number was 113. They did mass testing of the prison pop after 2 inmates became positive on July 30th and majority who tested positive were asymptomatic.

Community spread is def. big but so is long-term care facility new outbreaks which continue to exist unfortunately. Colleges are going back and at least my alma mater is testing every student and staff and have already found 89 positive (as of last week) with over 7K tests done {Edited: updated information as of yesterday: "222 people have tested positive out of 19,452 entry test results (from my alma mater) received, for a positivity rate of 1.14%. The overall positivity rate among members of the Greek community was 5.47%."}, etc.

And to give historical information the news has been talking about outbreaks in the middle of the country since April (stories in April, stories in May, stories in June, stories in July {edited corrected month})-meaning in various places spikes and large increases have already occurred in the past. These days I look at the U.S. and basically a big circle of ebbs and flows here. By that I mean a good portion of places will go up and down and circle back around. Big is also probably a very relative term.

I'm cautious about it all though; it's a concern I have in going up like crazy high like we did in the past but I'm not looking at the cases in the last week or so without context and getting to 'big outbreak and supply chain issues'.. yet at least..

 

[barkley]

IT'S A MIRACLE-today i went to costco about an hour past opening and saw people exiting w/clorox wipes i went to the area they've had them in the past but none were to be found. i decided to ask an employee who was walking by- where, when they have them in stock, are they putting them. he said 'yeah, they sold out fast'-then he reached into the basket he had (i'm guess of stuff to be restocked on the shelves) and pulled out the one lone 5 pack and handed it to me (thank you unknown shopper who likely tried to exceed the 1 per membership limit creating the need for that 5 pack to be in transit back to the shelf).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just got back from Walmart and they had wipes (didn't get any because we didn't need them) but they did have Lysol 19oz sprays (limit 1) and because we're a tad low on what we have left from this past late winter when we were sick from the flu we went ahead and got a can. First time seeing lysol spray can though in a long long time.

 

[starry_solo]

Still seeing no-name hand sanitizer everywhere (no Purell or Germ-X which are the name brands I'm familiar with).

I don't get out of work early enough to score the Clorox Wipes or Lysol Wipes at Target or WalMart. I did find some alcohol wipes at Albertson's (Safeway) this past weekend, just sitting on the floor near a check-out stand so I decided to get them (160 for $7.99) that I can use at work to clean.

 

[Dentam]

Plenty of Germ-X in all size bottles, some with pump dispensers, at our Super Target here over the past month or more. I also scored a 20 pack of Purell wipes there last week! I have a 3 month supply of TP now - felt the shelves of that were starting to get really sparse again so I bought one pack every time I saw some over the past few weekends.

I should probably start stocking some pantry and freezer stuff too...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I should probably start stocking some pantry and freezer stuff too...

We did that a tiny bit in our house. We bought meat a few weeks ago and portioned it out in 1lb sizes (like normal) and put them in the freezer. We just used up the last of our pork chops so we need to get more of that. We got more chicken at Costco the last time we were there and separated out the pouches and froze them (like normal).

Last time we were at Costco we got more gallon sized freezer bags as we found we often used them over the last few years especially as we've done more freezer meal preps.

We got kleenex last time we were at Costco so we're good on that now and that should last us at least through early Spring.

I think two of the main things I need are paper towels from Costco and we need foil pans we use for our freezer meals. We have deep ones that will be great for a full recipe but when we're splitting up the recipe to be used for 2 meals worth we need a smaller pan (like and 8X8). I forgot to have us look today at Walmart for that..anyone see any inventory issues with that in their area?

 

[Dentam]

Forgot to add that I've given up looking for canned pumpkin anymore but my pup seems to be doing fine without it. I had given her a tablespoon or so with every meal to help with digestion.

 

[barkley]

we need foil pans we use for our freezer meals. We have deep ones that will be great for a full recipe but when we're splitting up the recipe to be used for 2 meals worth we need a smaller pan (like and 8X8). I forgot to have us look today at Walmart for that..anyone see any inventory issues with that in their area?

i get all my foil pans at the dollar store. they have a wealth of sizes and can be bundled with as many as 3 to a $1 package. in some cases if you need a specific size it can end up being cheaper to buy their metal baking pans. at $1 each they are less expensive than wamart's for foil and can be used for multiple times (i've taken to buying a dozen non stick cookie sheets at a time-i feel absolutely no remorse when one goes south after a dozen or so uses b/c it cost me less than an foil pan).

 

[hsmamato2]

Weird. Is this the second wave of paranoia? I used to think that Lone Gunmen on the X-Files were the rare odd balls. When did they go mainstream?

It's not paranoia. It's reality. Our grandparents knew what it meant to have shortages,and need to prepare and stock up seasonally as they could manage. Just b/c it's a new thing for us now,doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Shortages exist all around the world anyway, many people know that to be true. We're more buffered here in the US, but last spring showed (or should have) what it means when supply lines are disrupted for whatever reason. Maybe I say this b/c I was raised with this mentality, and have always thought about my home supplies on a seasonal basis. I'm just being a LOT more organized about it after the springtime experience of few shopping trips combined with lack of regular supplies.

 

[RamblingMad]

It's not paranoia. It's reality. Our grandparents knew what it meant to have shortages,and need to prepare and stock up seasonally as they could manage. Just b/c it's a new thing for us now,doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Shortages exist all around the world anyway, many people know that to be true. We're more buffered here in the US, but last spring showed (or should have) what it means when supply lines are disrupted for whatever reason. Maybe I say this b/c I was raised with this mentality, and have always thought about my home supplies on a seasonal basis. I'm just being a LOT more organized about it after the springtime experience of few shopping trips combined with lack of regular supplies.

All the spring showed me was that people are nuts for toilet paper. I’m not convinced most people know what to do when bad stuff happens. Lots of chickens with their heads cut off. Hoarding shouldn’t become the new normal.

 

[Kitty 34]

All the spring showed me was that people are nuts for toilet paper. I’m not convinced most people know what to do when bad stuff happens. Lots of chickens with their heads cut off. Hoarding shouldn’t become the new normal.

.....and speaking of chicken; that was very hard to find this past spring!!

But now today when DH and I did our shopping at a local Meijer most meat especially beef was gone which was odd. As other posters have said the paper towels and tissue aisles were looking quite empty, too.