I was at the local Wally this evening, picking up some preps as well as reg'lar groceries, and there was a sign on the banana shelf indicating they were out of bananas. No honey in stock. No kale. No asparagus. No spinach. A few kinds of cereal, none. Also, seems as if there is, in general, less stuff on the shelves, period. I'm still a little of a noob, so if anyone has some insight, I am all ears.
Food Inflation, Food Shortages And Food Riots Are Coming: 2013 Will Be A year Of Serious Global Crisis | InvestmentWatch Food Shortages Loom For America U.S. Food Prices 2013: Jeremy Grantham Warns of Coming "Dystopia" - Money Morning Why 2013 will be a year of crisis - CNN.com Drought is one factor- attached are several stories that have various pieces of information in regards to the food shortages we are seeing. There are a lot of bad signs of things to come with population growth around the world, ongoing drought and other factors contributing to your empty store shelves.
Plus, there are a lot of factors less nefarious which contribute to shelves being bare. Most notably, shipping could be held up due to strikes on the docks to plain old poor store management. Of course, the links Yard Dart offered have some credibility, too. Most folks won't even know it when it happens until it's too late. One minute, full shelves, a few hours later --panic.
My Wal-Mart had plenty of the above mentioned products yesterday. I am munching on a banana right now. As Brokor mentioned there a lot of reasons shelves could be bare. Keep an eye out and see what the long term trend is looking like. Ammo...thats a different story...those shelves were bare.
I was in the Walmart in Theodore, Alabama last Sunday and noticed the same thing. Most of the shelves in the grocery department had huge empty gaps. The loaf of overly-priced bread that I bought was stale when I go it home. They haven't had any ammunition since early November but that might not be related to the other shortages. Many produce items were sold out.
My local supermarket had a whole aisle empty. It was weird, I walked down it and it was eery. I think they were reorganizing and just didn't need as much shelf space. My Walmart is fine, they seem to be having shipping issues. I spoke with the deli guy when they were basically out of meat and he said they hadn't received warehouse deliveries. Unsure why.
The stores have also gone to a more "real-time" delivery system to cut down on overhead write-off's. This allows them to stock less of perishable foods like bread, fruits and veggies- selling out of them prior to the product going bad while in the store.
Biggest problem i see in this thread... You're BUYING kale? Spend $2 on seed... never pay for kale again.
I would love to have my own garden, but we live in an apartment with no space. My guerrilla garden (which I began thanks to some advice from fellow monkeys ) is in the ground, though. Taters and strawberries.
After a little thought, I think this seems like the most likely scenario. I'll tell you what, though....the missus was genuinely incredulous in wondering what was going on, and she knows how I think and operate, so she is a little worried. I then told her that all that food and stuff in the closet seems a little less ridiculous, now, don't it?
Excellent! Might as well get some kale in there too bro! It'll grow till the snow starts flying and is actually best after a couple frosts!
I'll definitely give it a try....I had no idea how hardy it was. May as well do spinach and arugula as well since I am about sick of paying $3.38 per container.
Wallyworld is the most advanced user of JIT (just in time) restocking. Most if not all of the US uses this system. Computers collect all the data during a period and then a restock order is sent and hopefully delivered on time. In the past Grocery stores actually had stock "in the back", now it's GIGO at a rapid pace.
Most of that wouldn't concern me, since, as the others have pointed out, it could be delivery issues, or plain old fashioned bad management. The honey I'd keep an eye on, since people do store it. If anything non-perishable starts disappearing, then it's time to worry.
Yeah, I was doing some late night shopping and saw five guys standing in line waiting for the stocker to bring out just two cases of asparagus from the new shipment. They bought it all up plus all the remaining carrots and snow peas. Just wait until this hits the socks and underwear aisle.
Just a little searching on the subject of food shortages for 2013 should raise alarm, however. It's undeniable that much of the world has seen the effects of a bad summer, even though the U.S. has escaped most of the effects. Sooner or later, there's a very good chance it's coming around our way. That being said, just watching the price trends alone for the past 3 years should denote how serious an issue this is. Even if, and I do mean "if" this doesn't reach epic proportions and shelves do not go bare, you can bet your last FRN that it's gonna get worse. Best not to rush to hasty conclusions too soon, though. We've been down this road before, only to realize it's just another fear induced story. But, preppers are generally covered regardless --and that's something to be proud of.
I am noticing that this JIT (just in time) restocking is spreading. More and more that the shelves the the local stores have bare spots. I see minimal supply on many items. When you see the canned soup section basically wiped out, it becomes alarming. Due to the extreme weather happening I do wonder what the shelves look like and if there will be shortages happening. The extreme cold has to be putting a strain on utilities. The roads are causing delays in delivery. If the stores do run JIT then shelves have to be getting bare with restock not happening soon. Does that make sense? How many times have we read that the stores have 3 days of food, well not anymore and with the holidays then sever weather, this just reinforces why people should have food storage.
JIT simply shifts the inventory responsibility from the distributor (or supplier) to the user. One can make the case that JIT reduces costs at the point of purchase. Anyone that calls themselves a prepper already knows to maintain an inventory at home regardless of where resupply comes from, and is already in the inventory storage mode, as they should be. I think JIT originated with the automotive assemblers and spread from there up and down the supply chain. Been wrong before, but JIT reduced the on site inventory requirements, and allowed the storage spaces to be converted into production facilities. Yes, there will be weather induced shortages, self correcting in the short haul as long as the weather interruption is also short term.
