Global Supply Chain Crisis 2021: Megathread - A cozy thread for watching the supply chain fall apart just in time for the holidays

[Still Anonymous For This]

I live in the Midwest. Wife's boss flew her parents down from California for the Christmas and New Year's holidays from California. They were supposed to fly back last Tuesday. That got cancelled by the airlines three times now.

They're having to fly out to Las Vegas and have their son drive from LA to Vegas to pick them up.

I've noticed frozen foods starting to disappear locally. Those shitty mini pizzas and frozen fried chicken specifically. As well, milk is starting to become difficult to get.

 

[Never Scored]

I live in the Midwest. Wife's boss flew her parents down from California for the Christmas and New Year's holidays from California. They were supposed to fly back last Tuesday. That got cancelled by the airlines three times now.

They're having to fly out to Las Vegas and have their son drive from LA to Vegas to pick them up.

I've noticed frozen foods starting to disappear locally. Those shitty mini pizzas and frozen fried chicken specifically. As well, milk is starting to become difficult to get.

Milk, chicken, fish, eggs and root vegetables are very easy to get in my parts because it's all produced locally within 100 miles or so of where I buy it. It's nearly impossible to get good produce that's shipped in this time of year like oranges, bananas, strawberries, lettuce etc. It is not currently possible to get one of the plastic tubs of salad greens at any of my local grocery stores without a bunch of wilted/stinky leaves inside. Not possible to get a case of little oranges without 3-4 rotten ones in the middle. Things that last long like apples and onions have been OK, but most fresh poduce is shit by the time it gets on the shelf.

All that being said, even some local producers have been falling behind. There's a local beef producer that sells beef preserved in brine in a bucket(salt beef) and they ran out of stock because they couldnt get buckets. There's a savory shortage because the local producer was not able to find people to harvest it.

 

[George Lucas]

Yesterday a Taco Bell’s drive-thru closed around lunch hours because they were understaffed. I’m guessing there were too many fucking mobile orders. Fuck this mobile order shit, and fuck the ghetto trash who work for these apps.

 

[Catman from cat town]

Just thought I’d update you all on the happenings of the liquor store I work at. I counted over 500 items to be out of stock. The normal maximum for out of stocks is supposed to be under 200 items. I want to say there are around 1000 items displayed on the shelves if properly stocked.
Fun fact, my store apparently has the least amount of empty signs compared to stores around us because we moved locations last year. That is probably not gonna last.

Also customers keep getting mad at us when we are out of henny and jack or fucking Kahlua. I’m glad most customers are open to learn about similar products or that I’m able to assist them in finding a product at another location.

 

[Leslie Nielsen]

Here in the midwest it seems like they have more trouble getting shit on the shelves than transporting it. I can't say I've seen any long term shortages, just items sporadically being out of stock. However, some of the electrical shit I work with is in short supply. Now that I think about it there actually is a shortage of chocolate milk in my area.

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

Yesterday a Taco Bell’s drive-thru closed around lunch hours because they were understaffed. I’m guessing there were too many fucking mobile orders. Fuck this mobile order shit, and fuck the ghetto trash who work for these apps.

I've recently (past 6 weeks) had 4 instances of pulling up to a drive thru or small retail joint and finding it closed during normal business hours due to staffing issues.

Today Safeway blames the tornadoes for the chicky tender crisis:

 

[contradiction of terns]

I posted about this in the Depression thread too, but the Biden administration is rolling out a plan for the meat and poultry supply chain. Nothing that will have much of an impact on the price of meat and eggs in the near future, but it's an interesting move. Personally, I think having lots of smaller companies processing and packing meat is great, because it will let farmers get better prices.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to bring down the price of the end product for consumers, so... it's good or bad depending on how you look at it.

AG Garland announces plan to protect meat and poultry supply chain - …

archived 5 Jan 2022 06:40:53 UTC

archive.md

 

[wopirish]

I posted about this in the Depression thread too, but the Biden administration is rolling out a plan for the meat and poultry supply chain. Nothing that will have much of an impact on the price of meat and eggs in the near future, but it's an interesting move. Personally, I think having lots of smaller companies processing and packing meat is great, because it will let farmers get better prices.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to bring down the price of the end product for consumers, so... it's good or bad depending on how you look at it.

AG Garland announces plan to protect meat and poultry supply chain - …

archived 5 Jan 2022 06:40:53 UTC

archive.md

I see this and all I can think of is "price fixing" and "state funded packing plants".

Both things always end horribly.

And do we really want to see Biden's take on "affordable" meat? Like his "afordable" epipens?

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Also customers keep getting mad at us when we are out of henny and jack or fucking Kahlua. I’m glad most customers are open to learn about similar products or that I’m able to assist them in finding a product at another location.

I would not want to get between a customer and their Hennessey, sounds second only to getting between a customer and their malt liquor.

I see this and all I can think of is "price fixing" and "state funded packing plants".

Both things always end horribly.

And do we really want to see Biden's take on "affordable" meat? Like his "afordable" epipens?

It'll be deliberately inefficient and expensive because Biden's masters in Davos really want you to stop eating meat.

 

[Butcher Pete]

Things are just fine in Tokyo. Some things are a little more expensive, but everything is still available. Also, no ‘ronies restrictions.

The ”Land of the Free” needs to start watering that tree of liberty. All of this is being done to you deliberately.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

I've recently (past 6 weeks) had 4 instances of pulling up to a drive thru or small retail joint and finding it closed during normal business hours due to staffing issues.

I've been Doordashing during my self imposed quarantine and the number of available stores is crashing. Had a buddy who dashes for beer money and asked why, it's cause due to staffing they have to close pretty much at random now, and if Doordash sends a car out to pick up food and the store is closed unexpectedly, they flag the store. Too many flags in a certain amount of time and they disable the store in the app/website. First by setting the "now open" hours to like "Wednesday night at 8 PM" and then just removing it outright.

A few weeks ago, before getting these sniffles, I walked past Dairy Queen and went to go in -- but they had big signs all over the doors: "Lobby closed due to staffing issues." Had two people in there running the grill and drive through, and a notice on the sign by the street that they were hiring 15 people + 1 manager, inquire within.

It's not the supply chain, but the labor market seems completely fucked for some reason. I don't know how people are making ends meet if everyone's just refusing to work. Unless there's some welfare bullshit I wasn't aware of.

 

[BradCarter]

Things are just fine in Tokyo. Some things are a little more expensive, but everything is still available. Also, no ‘ronies restrictions.

The ”Land of the Free” needs to start watering that tree of liberty. All of this is being done to you deliberately.

I'm hoarding arborist supplies as thankfully they aren't out of stock yet.

 

[Sneed's Feed And Seed]

Fuck this mobile order shit

For real though.

PL: I went to two different Jackoff In The Box's a couple nights back because I did the mobile order thing, hit the MAKE FOOD NOW button, went to the first, they were "closed for maintenance"; so now I had to make a SECOND order, ACROSS TOWN, on my 15 minute break. Not only that, I now have to make a chargeback because "hurrdurr once you hit the MFN button that's it too bad"

Left that restaurant a bad review as well, like at the very least shut your lights off if you're gonna run maintenance and have nobody in the store at a 24/7 location. If I was a bit more ghetto that motherfucker would probably be Kristallnacht/on fire that night.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

Noticing a complete crash in Amazon's cheapo "Amazon Basics" line of goods. Shit like cheap socks, shirts, sheets, etc. Out of stock across the board.

 

[Totallyunknown]

I have multiple small pets that eat fresh lettuce and herbs but I live in an apartment so it's not easy to grow.

The grocery store was up to $4.99 for a head of lettuce but the Asian grocery store had it for $2.50 each.

Luckily the food banks have been offering fresh produce so at least the old baby carrots don't go to waste.

 

[Titos]

I have multiple small pets that eat fresh lettuce and herbs but I live in an apartment so it's not easy to grow.

The grocery store was up to $4.99 for a head of lettuce but the Asian grocery store had it for $2.50 each.

Luckily the food banks have been offering fresh produce so at least the old baby carrots don't go to waste.

Try checking out any local organic stores like Sprouts if you have them around. Back when we had pigs and rabbits Sprouts would give us "Expired" veggies for free. By expired I mean half of it just had some bruises or was one day past the date on the sticker. We got enough free veggies from them to support 4 whole pigs every month.

 

[AnotherOne]

I've been Doordashing during my self imposed quarantine and the number of available stores is crashing. Had a buddy who dashes for beer money and asked why, it's cause due to staffing they have to close pretty much at random now, and if Doordash sends a car out to pick up food and the store is closed unexpectedly, they flag the store. Too many flags in a certain amount of time and they disable the store in the app/website. First by setting the "now open" hours to like "Wednesday night at 8 PM" and then just removing it outright.

A few weeks ago, before getting these sniffles, I walked past Dairy Queen and went to go in -- but they had big signs all over the doors: "Lobby closed due to staffing issues." Had two people in there running the grill and drive through, and a notice on the sign by the street that they were hiring 15 people + 1 manager, inquire within.

It's not the supply chain, but the labor market seems completely fucked for some reason. I don't know how people are making ends meet if everyone's just refusing to work. Unless there's some welfare bullshit I wasn't aware of.

They don't need to make ends meet. The millennial/GenZ failure to launch has finally caught up with us. Most 18-30 year olds don't have kids to support. A slim majority of them live with their parents. Distractions are cheap and plentiful while actually living life is prohibitively expensive. Why the hell would you work at a shitty job? And this extends way beyond fast food and retail. The shortages of nurses and truckers aren't due to a lack of supply, people who are qualified to do those jobs simply don't want to do them.

 

[George Lucas]

Tried Taco Hell again (I really want some goddamn Taco Bell okay?) and it was mobile orders only again, except this time it was around 8 pm. Also the dude at the drive thru was way more rude, like how dare I go to their drive thru window that has no indication it’s closed.

Just went home and ate stuff from my cupboard. If I don’t get some Taco Bell soon I’m going to go nuts. Never get between me and my Taco Bell.

 

[contradiction of terns]

The Supply Chain Storm: Planes, Cranes, And Automobiles | Seeking Alp…

archived 6 Jan 2022 05:13:22 UTC

archive.md

Truck drivers: The American Trucking Association estimates that the United States is currently lacking about 80,000 drivers.3 Long hours and undesirable working conditions continue to push truck drivers toward other professions, so retention continues to deteriorate. In California alone, there are 640,445 people who hold active Class A and Class B commercial driver’s licenses, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. However, there are only 140,000 “truck transportation” jobs in the state.4 Essentially, the truck driver “shortage” is a shortage of willing participants rather than a shortage of qualified drivers.

[Clip]

In the United States, shortages of truck drivers and warehouse workers will likely continue to be a drag on delivery times. The labor shortages could also grow in 2022 given the Pacific Maritime Association’s contracts with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are expiring next summer.10 The last time contracts were discussed in 2014, West Coast ports faced months of slowdowns that were ultimately resolved when the White House became involved.11

In our view, all these risks will be obstacles to a quick recovery in the supply chain; however, the ending of the US and Chinese holiday season and the waning effects of previous fiscal stimulus should provide the framework for the supply chain backlog easing during the first half of 2022, and eventually normalizing before year end.

The rest of the article is pretty good. There's also this other article, which goes over a lot of the same stuff while looking at various metrics.

A New Barometer of Global Supply Chain Pressures - Liberty Street Eco…

archived 6 Jan 2022 05:14:58 UTC

archive.md

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

I've been Doordashing during my self imposed quarantine and the number of available stores is crashing. Had a buddy who dashes for beer money and asked why, it's cause due to staffing they have to close pretty much at random now, and if Doordash sends a car out to pick up food and the store is closed unexpectedly, they flag the store. Too many flags in a certain amount of time and they disable the store in the app/website. First by setting the "now open" hours to like "Wednesday night at 8 PM" and then just removing it outright.

A few weeks ago, before getting these sniffles, I walked past Dairy Queen and went to go in -- but they had big signs all over the doors: "Lobby closed due to staffing issues." Had two people in there running the grill and drive through, and a notice on the sign by the street that they were hiring 15 people + 1 manager, inquire within.

It's not the supply chain, but the labor market seems completely fucked for some reason. I don't know how people are making ends meet if everyone's just refusing to work. Unless there's some welfare bullshit I wasn't aware of.

That's what I can't figure out also. I have plenty of experience with being down and out and using public assistance and I don't judge people who need it in the slightest. I also know how overrated a lot of it is. So when I heard "business owners" grumbling that they couldn't hire anyone because welfare had gotten so damn good I was instantly skeptical and did a deep dive to try to figure out what was going on. Nothing. There is not nearly enough extra being given due to "pandemic" to account for people just NOT working AT ALL. There are a lot of extra food stamps, but if you don't have kids or SSI you have to work or prove you are looking for work to get that. In terms of cash assistance, it's been gone for months, since the last stimulus check. Unless you live in a one room shack in South Dakota you were not going to make it more than a month or two at most on what was given. That all dried up ages ago now.

Noticing a complete crash in Amazon's cheapo "Amazon Basics" line of goods. Shit like cheap socks, shirts, sheets, etc. Out of stock across the board.

This has been going on since at least August. I usually check that brand first for basic shit I need but don't care about and it has been a total flop for the entire last quarter of the year.