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

[General Disarray]

We have a generator, chest freezer, a share with a local butcher and I'm post menopause-no tampon worries here yay!

Garden is in with addition of 2 apple trees. Dude just got a hefty raise and I work from home permanently. We're on the right track, grilling 2" thick steaks every weekend cause we're gonna fucking enjoy life as others hunker and cower *muh virus*

 

[Male Idiot]

I am buying canned goods. It is Slavsquattia so things like a generator or deep freezer are impossible to buy unless you are rich.

But canned beans, fruits, liver paste and fish aren't unaffordable. Cheap stuff that lasts 2-3 years. Buy some water and vitamins.

I don't expect Hungary to go belly up as we make 200% of the needed food and tried to not antagonise the ruskies, but better safe than sorry.

 

[FatalTater]

I'll say this for the record. I am NOT a prepper. The prepper are people that are mostly fucked up in the head living in the boonies.

I've seen them. I've dealt with them and most of them are fucking nuts and some of them maybe deserve to be put into the ground. Yea I had a very bad time with some of these people and their mentality, so it's a knee jerk feeling when some yahoo proudly states that "He's a Prepper".
Well Fuck them and their fucking mentality. They are a symptom of the problem that is rearing its ugly head.

Hell I was raised by people who would today be considered "preppers" and I can't stand 'em either.

BUT!

Shit's weird out there and getting weirder. Prepare for logical possibilities like another quarantine or shortages at the shops, and keep your eyes open to things that might cause hardship. Extra freezers are a wonderful idea.

 

[TheRedChair]

Hell I was raised by people who would today be considered "preppers" and I can't stand 'em either.

BUT!

Shit's weird out there and getting weirder. Prepare for logical possibilities like another quarantine or shortages at the shops, and keep your eyes open to things that might cause hardship. Extra freezers are a wonderful idea.

Yup that is exactly what I mean. Thank you.

Now as far as extra Chest Freezers. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

There are a lot of cheap Chest Freezers floating around. They are cheap because of the high amount of wattage they use for their size.

One of the things I have done with every home I owned is measure my usage of items for every electrical line in the house.

This is the rule of thumb that I use.

Most lines in the US are either 15 AMP (most older homes) or 20 AMP. Most lines in the US are 110/115/120 volt 60hz. Most homes also have a 50AMP 220/240volt line that generally connected to your dryer by itself. You can find this info on your breaker box for the AMPs.

Most appliances have Watts or Amps used.

For simplicity sake 100 watts = 1 AMP.

All major appliances have a starting power and its normal running power.

Starting power is the power that it takes to power up an item. This amount of power is not generally posted on appliances. Most older Appliances have a higher starting power than the more modern ones. Starting power draws more amperage in it's initial start up. A spike you might say.

The reason I am posting this is because when you measure how many appliances can be ran on any given time, most people do not take into count the starting power. This is why many of times people have plugged certain equipment into a line, even though they measure it and suddenly pop a breaker.

My rule of thumb is that on a 20 AMP line I try to make sure that the maximum amount of usage is @ 18 AMP's giving me 2 AMP's for spikes when an appliance turns on. This reduces the chance of popping a breaker by a sudden spike when all appliances are online.

Also make sure that you do the math on how many appliances you can start on the line you have them on. If the appliances you use, in total are us more amperage than what your electrical line is rated for, then make sure you stagger your appliance usage.

And of course remember what appliances are using whatever line they are on. Saves the headaches down the road

 

[Nate Higgers]

I keep hearing complaints of an inability to get workers at businesses.

Fucking WHY? Is it just that stupid antiwork subreddit putting worms in people's brains?
After eleventy years of pandemic lockdowns you'd think a lot of folks would want a job just to have something to do.

I can help answer a bit of this as I am the target age range:

1. Companies are still picky as fuck. They may say they are struggling, but I have spent this last year applying for both a minimum wage position (to get through last year of college) and internship positions within the very open tech field (according to my dad who works in marketing for such). You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get work still, and I am someone with a good record, with quite a few jobs on my resume. Even applying for like Chick-Fil-A a year ago, they still wouldn't communicate.
2. Parents also impact it. Zoomers come from Gen X, which is a pretty well-known party gen. From my experience, they tell their kids to not work even though they want them to. Basically, they want you to work like 10 hours a week because you should really be out partying instead or doing "x" school activity. In a decision between sports or minimum wage, parents will lead their kids towards sports. Basically, we turned school into an enterprise that gets free labor off kids with threats of being unfit for college if you don’t waste your young adult life on extra-curriculars, so school shoves out work.
3. Burn-out Zoomers. I have experienced these since high school. Many Zoomers are burn-outs, giving up an any sense of improvement or living life past playing video games in their room. Given how bleak the world has been for young people since the millennial generation, it is no surprise a gen would grow to be disillusioned with it.
4. Covid requirements - pretty self explanatory
5. Economy, with prices getting so high, most wages cannot cover shit. It doesn’t help that many made more off government money than from work during Covid.

I hate to sound like a clueless disconnected boomer but there’s plenty of work to be found right now in construction/the “skilled” trades (if you’re willing to tough it out).

In my area there’s a ton of projects going on and all the trades (plumbers, HVAC+tinners, electricians, welders, concrete workers, GC’s) are rotating their crews between several projects at once to keep up production with the deadlines.

Of course for someone who’s just trying to get through the last year of college this might not be a realistic option. You can still earn a paycheck when times are lean if you’re willing to work with your hands (and destroy your body) though.

 

[Basic Blonde Boy]

I hate to sound like a clueless disconnected boomer but there’s plenty of work to be found right now in construction/the “skilled” trades (if you’re willing to tough it out).

In my area there’s a ton of projects going on and all the trades (plumbers, HVAC+tinners, electricians, welders, concrete workers, GC’s) are rotating their crews between several projects at once to keep up production with the deadlines.

Of course for someone who’s just trying to get through the last year of college this might not be a realistic option. You can still earn a paycheck when times are lean if you’re willing to work with your hands (and destroy your body) though.

Luckily for me I have two jobs going on this summer already. It took a little bit, but I landed a job at a library which is pretty much the best wagie position there is. Before that, I had worked at a pizza joint for 4 years and could have stayed, but with friends leaving I thought it would be a good opportunity to expand the resume, it just turns out that job searching is not easy even with the “workers shortage”.

Right now I am working at the library and a camp position as I prepare to get an internship through a school program this fall.

Good option for though, just not one for me. I am pretty set, and even if not, I believe my pre-existing conditions pertaining to back and heart would make it a no go for both parties.

 

[Blobby's Murder Knife]

I recently bought this book called No Grid: Survival Projects. Just flipping through it, it seems fairly comprehensive. Shows you things like how to build a rainwater catchment system, a biogas digester, a smoker out of an old barrel, a water filtration system, etc.

 

[trailcamwhore]

I hate to sound like a clueless disconnected boomer but there’s plenty of work to be found right now in construction/the “skilled” trades (if you’re willing to tough it out).

lol no

I live in a near-zero % hispanic area and no construction/contracting company will hire any white or black American citizen for anything under any circumstance. All illegals, nobody else.

My "compound" is still half made so I've been hiring all through the recent weirdness, and literally every company I hire, when the owner shows up to bullshit and check on things, it's the same story. That sector's small business owners are fully mentally owned by the "conservative anti-Americanism" of our (gen x, millennial) youth, the idea that every American is simultaneously too lazy to work and totally blasted on meth. Contractors are, de facto, "woke" (but they still reject blacks). They will not, for their entire lives, ever hire anyone who looks like a statistically average American.

White boys should kill them, not beg them for jobs.

 

[Nate Higgers]

lol no

I live in a near-zero % hispanic area and no construction/contracting company will hire any white or black American citizen for anything under any circumstance. All illegals, nobody else.

My "compound" is still half made so I've been hiring all through the recent weirdness, and literally every company I hire, when the owner shows up to bullshit and check on things, it's the same story. That sector's small business owners are fully mentally owned by the "conservative anti-Americanism" of our (gen x, millennial) youth, the idea that every American is simultaneously too lazy to work and totally blasted on meth. Contractors are, de facto, "woke" (but they still reject blacks). They will not, for their entire lives, ever hire anyone who looks like a statistically average American.

White boys should kill them, not beg them for jobs.

Most of the tinners/HVAC dudes and plumbers on the sites I work on are white. Don’t know if you consider Greeks white (lol) but I even encountered a from-Greece-Greek-dude who works for the controls sub

 

[Ow The Edge]

Just a little tip for anyone worried about being short of flour, which should be most of us: hardtack is really easy to make and keeps for months in the right circumstances. All you need is wheat flour, water, and salt.

 

[FAQnews Correspondent]

Just a little tip for anyone worried about being short of flour, which should be most of us: hardtack is really easy to make and keeps for months in the right circumstances. All you need is wheat flour, water, and salt.

They should have at least come up with a more appetizing name though...

 

[Ow The Edge]

They should have at least come up with a more appetizing name though...

Ship's biscuit was the original name. Hardtack was acquired during the American Civil War, and it stuck.

 

[1Tonka_Truck]

Pool's Closed

View attachment 3372242

Weird how nobody wants a job that ceased to exist for 2 years.

 

[The Ugly One]

Here's why jobs are open where I work.

What we need: high-skilled person fluent in 1s and 0s
What we can pay: About 1/2 what you get at one of the FAANGS if you pass a coding boot camp, and 1/3 what you would get if you actually have the skills and experience we need.

Now, you might say, "lol just pay more."

Ok, so lol, we just pay more. Maybe we pay 15% less than the FAANGs. Congratulations, we are now bleeding red ink and will need to double our prices across the board to stay afloat. Assuming nobody dumps us and goes with a competitor. Which they will.

We don't get people to click on ads. We just provide mission-critical software without which certain industries you rely on to exist could not function. Personally, I think we're in the inflation phase those Austrian goobers called the "crack-up boom," where the years of illusory prosperity are starting to turn into everything just collapsing all together.

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

Spotted at the store:



Nothing important, just junk food, but the sticker says due to supply chain issues it may have a random number of chips vs cheetos or whatever, instead of what's on the box.

Just odd and one of those little things that points to a catastrophic fuckup looming down the line.

Also saw one of those big bags of generic cereal that used to be $2.99 going for $7.

 

[PotatoSalad4711]

Spotted at the store:

View attachment 3379053

Nothing important, just junk food, but the sticker says due to supply chain issues it may have a random number of chips vs cheetos or whatever, instead of what's on the box.

Just odd and one of those little things that points to a catastrophic fuckup looming down the line.

Also saw one of those big bags of generic cereal that used to be $2.99 going for $7.

I used to buy those because they’re perfect with a sandwich for a quick lunch, but the price has sky rocketed. Also, I noticed they don’t come in a giant plastic bag anymore but a box which is probably due to plastic shortages.

I switched to a cheap brand of chips called Always Save. You can get a big bag for $2.50, and they taste good compared to other brands.

 

[Sneed's Feed And Seed]

How do the rich taste?

Like kuru; don't do it, you'll end up with a divot in your tongue like Hillary has.

 

[Nate Higgers]

Spotted at the store:

View attachment 3379053

Nothing important, just junk food, but the sticker says due to supply chain issues it may have a random number of chips vs cheetos or whatever, instead of what's on the box.

Just odd and one of those little things that points to a catastrophic fuckup looming down the line.

Also saw one of those big bags of generic cereal that used to be $2.99 going for $7.

I used to buy those because they’re perfect with a sandwich for a quick lunch, but the price has sky rocketed. Also, I noticed they don’t come in a giant plastic bag anymore but a box which is probably due to plastic shortages.

I switched to a cheap brand of chips called Always Save. You can get a big bag for $2.50, and they taste good compared to other brands.

I started buying a few apples rather than those boxes of “lunch sized” chips to pack with my weekly lunch for work…It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to actually pay attention to the whole “junk food better for poors bc more calories for less money” meme argument. I’m sure one little fist sized gala apple doesn’t have the same calories as a “fun size” bag of cheetos but it sure as hell doesn’t have the same amount of salt and fat.


Retarded ETA: I posted about this in another thread on A&H but it’s worth discussing here as well:

Food prices are getting higher not just because of diesel prices but because of fertilizer (namely potash) prices. Potash is a key ingredient in fertilizer production that is mined from countries like Canada, the US (to a lesser degree; we don’t have a lot), Belarus, and Russia. Potash can be made small scale by literally just boiling some wood ash or something but the amounts required for large scale commercial farms usually means it’s more sensible to mine it out of the earth and process it in metric tons. Potash also is a key ingredient in things like Gatorade and some types of glass.

After the whole thing in Ukraine, whatever happened there, potash market prices skyrocketed in a yuge way. Another post ITT mentioned that Russian fertilizer/potash might be exempt from the sanctions (big if true) but considering Russia is in one of the top five potash mining/exporting countries, it still tracks that the market price would go up. I’m economically illiterate but maybe it’s to compensate for lost revenue from other exports being sanctioned or something I don’t fucking know. The diesel used to run the equipment (mining trucks are giant) and transport the finished product is obviously another factor that’s contributing to the price. Anyway here’s a graph and some images, line go up:

The price has literally fucking doubled since the final quarter of 2021.

-regards, fertilizer jew

 

[the fall of man]

West Virginia Charges Banks For Breaking Anti Boycott Law
archive

The buried lede:

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been outspoken in pressuring corporate leaders to commit to investment goals that will undermine reliable energy sources like coal, natural gas and oil under the guise of helping the planet, but at the same time he’s pouring billions in new capital into China, turning a blind eye to abhorrent human rights violations, genocide and that country’s role in creating the COVID-19 global pandemic,” Moore said in a January 17 press release explaining the decision.

We have a name behind who's pushing the admin to kill drilling - BlackRock, who's functionally part of most western governments, is causing oil suppression, which cascades into most other shortages.

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

Is it considered prepping if things are going fuck-shaped?

What you call prepping is starting to sound more and more like common sense.