SDA Reader Survey: Shortages in Canada (And The US) – Bumped

Well, I promised an update and compilation — but with 300 comments and counting, I don’t know I can do justice to it.

A few that jumped out;

– I work for a military supplier; we are be told that on some of our crucial parts that Feb. of 2023 is now the ship date.
– For the last six months I’ve been trying to get my hands on a Playstation 5, but can’t find one anywhere due to a semi-conductor shortage.
I work at a Canadian Tire just outside of Ottawa. Here is a snap shot of some of the things disappearing: Oil and lubricants of all types and viscosity, some auto parts, solar panels and power inverters. That’s just auto parts dept. Auto service: tires are disappearing; all brands. According to the national tire distribution centre, many popular tire sizes and manufacturers are back ordered indefinitely.
– Local garage owner in Saskatoon said his supplier told him that winter tires will be completely gone by end of the month.
Ag tires too.
– I see all the tricks and symptoms in the grocery stores today – one product fanned 1 unit deep across an entire display to make the shelf look full, but nothing behind it; upside down boxes underneath the produce to make the bin look full; shelves that despite their best efforts have huge gaps and ‘holes’.(downtown Toronto)
– A 10 foot piece of galvanized steel service entrance mast for new electrical service went from 145.00 to 225.00 in 12 months. 12 foot sections are completely unavailable…
– My electrician has had breaker switches on order for over a year now. No word yet.
– lots of reports on unavailability of furniture and windows
– Paint store can’t sell any dark paint, because they are completely out of deep base.
– Wife works in housing industry here in Calgary. Homes are being sold SANS Dishwashers, Microwaves and amid a severe shortage of appliances.
– Cat litter and canned cat food, prescription diet dog and cat food, veterinary pharmaceuticals
– Hockey jerseys
– My local Independent didn’t have potatoes twice this year. Potatoes!
I run the parts department in a heavy truck shop. We are running low on things like brake drums, light bulbs, and Diesel Exhaust Fluid, as well as electronic sensors and modules…waited three months now for a remanufactured transmission for a Ram 5500, now going on two months for a For Powertrain Control Module for an F450, with no ETA in sight. My supplier for brake drums just got a trailer load, and on top of the price going up about 45%, there was a $90,000.00 “Container Fee.”
– On many of my jobs structural Steel has 9-12 month lead times. Bids on steel will only hold their prices for as little as 48 hours in some cases as the price is so volatile.
– I noticed Retailers here in BC cancelling flyer distributions lately because they don’t have the products listed in them. Inside knowledge.
– I work with close to 100 trucking companies of all sizes. Here’s what I’m seeing…
– I live in Houston, Texas.I work on a food truck. We’ve had trouble getting several items from our suppliers [Sysco and others], including hot fudge, plastic cups and lids, certain sizes of Styrofoam bowls, strawberries, and others.

Go grab a coffee and read them for yourself.

    Original post continues below.

Reader KW, via email;

I was looking to buy some ABS pipe. It’s the black pipe used for drains and sewers from a home. It’s is completely unavailable in my city in any length with a three inch size. I’m seeing more and more shortages in this town. The same is true for some kinds of electrical breakers.

Your website have a incredible verity of readers from around North America and in a lot of professions.

It would be fascinating for you to set up a comment section when anyone can share their experiences around the country with shortages. I notice that there is less that can be bought in stores. I wonder what other parts of the country are going through?

The price of the goods that are available are also going up fast. I guess “the budget balancing itself” and intentionally increased energy prices has led to inflation.

The comments are open for your observations and reports only, and please include your region or city. This is an informal survey – not a debate or discussion. Off topic and link dumps will be deleted.

Update: These comments are quite the read. I’m pinning this post to the end of the day, then will do an update and compilation tomorrow.

361 Replies to “SDA Reader Survey: Shortages in Canada (And The US) – Bumped”

  1. Usual dog food not available- went with a different brand- produced in northern Alberta and pup loves it.
    Cat is a senior, she is on a Weight Management type food, 17 pound bag is now $150 bucks. Twice the price from last time I purchased.
    I only bought it because I didn’t want to go find something else.
    She could survive on mice but winter is coming.
    Central Alberta

  2. I run the parts department in a heavy truck shop.
    We are running low on things like brake drums, light bulbs, and Diesel Exhaust Fluid, as well as electronic sensors and modules.
    I have waited three months now for a remanufactured transmission for a Ram 5500, now going on two months for a For Powertrain Control Module for an F450, with no ETA in sight.
    My supplier for brake drums just got a trailer load, and on top of the price going up about 45%, there was a $90,000.00 “Container Fee.”
    I imagine the lack of toilet paper will be less of an issue as the food runs out this winter.

  3. Went to look at a couple of new recliners, if we take the cover material on display, we can have them in April.
    If we want a different cover material, June/July (at best).

    Newberg, Oregon.

  4. insulin , was a two day wait . now a week. should be more right? we are all dying .

    lots of empty lumber racks in the yards.

    1. For people on AISH the Alberta government is increasingly switching over to no name brands as regards insulin.

  5. Dog food (canned and dry). Could not find my usual brands for most of 2021, they are now back at the same price for 1/2 the amount. One of the pups had an allergic reaction to one of the substitutions, so I will reluctantly pay the higher price. Ottawa.

  6. I don’t know if this means anything, but here in Edmonton, at my local grocery store, I’ve been noticing with more and more frequency of products being moved to the front edge of the shelves (which is normal), but with increasingly empty spaces behind them.
    Am I the only one noticing this? Or is it just my imagination?
    That and the ever increasing of prices. It’s costing more and more to live, in such a short period of time. Of course we all know why.

  7. Eastern Ontario:

    I wasn’t able to find a chain for my very run-of-the-mill chainsaw at any of the usual home improprement stores. Had to order a chain from one place and it took over two months. Had a fallen tree in my yard the whole time.

    I wanted to put a metal sheet roof on my house. The company politely told me to forget it because 1.) the metal is extremely hard to get right now and 2.) metal price has increased so much after the past 18 months it is entirely unaffordable. This was confirmed by a second company I got a quote from. So went with a different type of roof but parts took ages to be ordered due to supply chain issues.

    Talking to my folks across the Atlantic, I was told that American buyers are coming and snapping up much of the available raw materials (eg. wood, metals) and are willing to pay a lot which makes it hard to get for local companies.

  8. Mississauga, just west of Toronto

    4 month delay for a garage door from Home Depot. Ordered for my mum in early October, see where we stand by January.

  9. I like to have the occasional sip of Asbach Uralt, a nice German brandy.

    During the past year or so, the nearby grog shop tended to run out of it rather quickly and it would take several weeks for a new shipment.

  10. All the usual, pricewise: beef, pork, chicken up. Bought a brisket for Thanksgiving, $8/lb! For brisket! Dairy up & sounds like it’s going higher. Fresh veg wasn’t too bad but lots of local suppliers (Hutterites, et al.). We’ll see what happens later in winter when it starts getting shipped in (or not!) from warmer climes. Fruit prices were up, especially from BC. They couldn’t find pickers. Nearly every orchard we drove by had a “Pickers Wanted” sign, from Creston to the Okanagan.

    Gas prices (to the day a year ago), 45 cents/l higher!!! That’s right, filled up the truck a year ago at Costco for 0.899/l. Yesterday, same Costco, 1.349/l. Fucking crime. There needs to be a hanging. Matter of fact, several.

    Was at the Farmer’s Market last week (Princess Auto), talked to the cashier about potential shortages, she said they hadn’t seen any yet.

    Car lots low on inventory, used vehicle prices up.

    I watch Kijiji a lot, prices seem to be higher across the board but hard to nail that down.

    Haven’t experienced much for store shelf shortages yet, save for some ammo.

  11. Will need to venture through Home Depot this weekend to see.

    Eyeing up a new TV that I can broadcast from the IPad, visions seems to be well stocked.

    Costco is a smart retailer, they will stock items they have plenty of, and not leave bare shelves of missing stock, that’s regular practice. Doesn’t mean there aren’t shortages, just that they will fill their shelves with anything they have plenty of on hand.

    Maybe the fact that in Victoria, we are close to the port of Vancouver, stock items do not seem in short supply here, at least topically. More to look at and see impact.

  12. Chemainus – Vancouver Island. Have a 10″ Skil table saw. Been trying to get insert (around blade) for almost 1 year. Have spent hours on phone. They have lots in stock but will only sell to dealer. Dealer can’t get one. Talked to lady who lived in s-Ont worked from home on computer. She confirmed that there was plenty of stock but could not sell in to Canada. Like my table saw but will never buy another Skil product.

    1. Buy it and have it shipped to a broker warehouse, on the border. Then you hire a shipping company to bring it home.
      This is common practice for many products that don’t ship outside the Continental US.

      Out in BC, Can-Am is one such entity in Blaine Wa. Then the bonded shipper based in Sidney BC goes back and forth delivering goods, for a nominal fee.

      Easy peasy.

  13. Location: Richmond, BC. The Superstore located at No.3 Rd. near Alderbridge Rd. The other day I noticed increasing gaps in the stocking of shelves. I got hold of the manager and asked him if he was having supply problems? He said the problem was the same up and down the supply chain: finding people who want to work. He has a warehouse full of stock but can’t find people to restock the store’s shelves. Why is this happening? It’s because the government is paying enough money to people so that it is not worthwhile to go to work. My prediction is that if the Liberal government stays on this path for very long they will weaken – if not destroy – the work ethic. The Liberals are like children playing with matches. In time they will burn the place down. Unexpectedly, of course.

    1. Local lawn cuttting company told me that they had a really hard time finding employees both this season and last season. The employees I saw were 30+ years old, none of the usual students who work for the summer. Same company does snow removal and are cutting back on the number of driveways they clear for this reason.

    2. No, it’s a plan, not an accident.

      UBI. Look at the idiots that voted Liberal, strictly because of CERB and Free Munny to float their businesses.

      Bribery.

    3. Blackfox.

      You’ve nailed it 1000%
      Paying folks to sit on their ASS is perfectly inline with DESTROYING the Entire Western Economy ….. so as to have the rubble required to Build Back Better.

  14. This is just acid right far white wing patriarchialist complaining, if you ask me. I live in Toronto, the place around which the Sun revolves. No shortages here. I can get free crack pipe, condoms, and lube at pretty much any shelter. More and more weed stores open up every day. Great prices! One opened up across the street from one of my Yonge and Eglinton condos! Oh, you smug fascists, they can deliver the weed, too. Plenty of diversity in having meals made up and delivered. Who needs groceries? As for all this internal combustion fetishism, Toronto has an efficient and swift public transit system to get people around town; most of the stations have roofs, so you never get wet or snowy. Maybe you rednecks should have demanded a decent public transit system for Saskatchewan, instead of being selfish and stopping at our magnificent public health care system.

  15. Hahaha, rich territory here.
    I live in Toronto, I’m an Architect, Just got divorced, sold my home and am now renting, thank God I locked in a deal where utilities are included in my rent. Some protection from fast escalating energy costs.
    20 lb tank of propane at my local has been $20 for years, it’s now $23, this is at an independent who fills it for me, buy a prefilled swap tank and it’s 1.5 times that cost.
    On many of my jobs structural Steel has 9-12 month lead times. Bids on steel will only hold their prices for as little as 48 hours in some cases as the price is so volatile.
    Timber has come back down so now it’s only 50% higher than 2019, not 200% as the mills are getting back up to speed pumping out more product.
    Just went to visit a window supplier the other day. He said they had to get out of doing aluminum because they simply couldn’t get the product any more for alu-window frames so now he’s only doing Vinyl.
    White collar Labor costs in the City are up 30% from two years ago, it’s an employee’s market, they can ask for more, they are asking for more, if you don’t pay, they walk and the competitor across the street WILL pay the rate if they want to stay in business. (This is for Architects and drafts people) The big offices are picking up a lot of infrastructure work and can afford to over pay so they are hollowing out the market of all available staff which put tons of pressure on us smaller operators.
    The cost of concrete forming in Toronto is insane right now, those guys have every major project by the balls and are charging a mint to even show up. If a project is too small, say less that 100,000 sf, they won’t even bother bidding on it. We know we have labor coming from as far as Sudbury to work in the City and our projects outside the City can barely find labor to make them happen. Add in an epidemic of opiate abuse on the job sites to lower productivity and drop reliability and costs escalate more. Lot’s of burnout happening and a lot of the old guard has retired leaving big gaps.
    All manner of things like light fixtures, insulation, you name it from China is on the slow boat or the never boat, we are constantly having to find replacement specifications for things in our projects to push them across the finish line.

    Went sailing this summer for my annual cruise, costs at every marina we went to were up by not less than 50% from 2019.

    My kids has been on the hunt for a high end graphics card for his computer for 12 months. Not a hope in hell of getting one as all the bit coin miners snap them up, if you can find one from a reseller they are $2000. This is causing us headaches in the office when we need to replace or upgrade machines for office staff.

    And of course housing costs in this City are totally off the hook, 30% year over year gains are exciting for homeowners but they are a disaster for everyone else. Almost all my staff now do remote work because they can only afford to live 50 km from the core of the City. You cannot buy anything bigger than a garden shed for less than a cool Million now in the City, only exception being small condo apartments. Single family dwellings for the middle class average about $1.4M currently. Oh, don’t forget the land transfer tax with that.

    Gas currently hits $1.495 on Friday afternoons regularly for two months now.

    Anything not bolted down in the downtown core can and will be stolen by the homeless folks to build their shelters. We’re not allowed to shoot them.
    Stock levels in stores are wildly variable. Not too bad. Damn glad I was a prepper going into the Lock downs, it made my life very much less stressful, now I am getting ready for phase two laying is supplies to act as a shock absorber to supply disruptions around here. Doing all my Xmas shopping now to avoid the dissapointment later.

  16. Took 5 months to get a 20KW backup generator (Cummins) installed here in Texas. Maybe not parts shortage related, but an insane demand after what happened last February in Southeast Texas.

    Certain building materials are in big demand or backorder. Large diameter PVC used in subdivision construction for residential water mains and sewer line construction takes weeks to arrive. Prices have skyrocketed. A type of pipe we use in my profession that used to be $2.00/per piece for years is now almost $10/per piece.

    And cat food shortages, of all things. Petsmart shelves empty of everything except the insanely expensive “gourmet” crap. Fortunately kitty has been on a raw diet for many years and doesn’t care for the dry or canned garbage.

    Let’s go Brandon.

  17. Bought a Danby small portable dishwasher at my local Home Hardware Furniture store, August of 2020. It was defective: only had one cycle, “Rinse and Dry”. Official Danby repair guy, after 2 hours and many calls to Danby, said Home Hardware needed to replace it. (I shoulda read the reviews. It’s a Thing with them.) Still waiting. Western Manitoba.

  18. Calgary, 15 amp Siemens breakers are in very short supply. Between Lowe’s, Home Depot and Peavey Mart I found 3.

    1. For those looking for electrical components, try an RV parts store. RV’s have 120V systems in them and the RV parts store carry the breakers, etc.

  19. Antony & Cleopatra cigars.
    I live in SK but buy from a small shop in Missoula MT.
    (Where I live there are 30 pot shops and one store you can buy cigars.)

  20. My husband and I own a bike shop on Vancouver Island and we took deposits for bicycles (some on order months for almost a year now!) and now the MSRP’s for those bikes have increased substantially due to the expensive shipping containers, and other increased costs for the manufacturers that are trickling down to us retailers. As a result, we lose our profit margin because we still have to honour the original sales price when we took the deposits.

  21. My local Independent didn’t have potatoes twice this year. Potatoes! Never had a problem like that in the past.

  22. You could fire a cannon through the Ford, Honda, and Chevy dealership lots in Okotoks, Alberta and not hit a thing. Salesman at the Honda site said back in August that you can’t get anything other than trucks delivered, and even that was getting iffy.

  23. Maybe this is related.

    Trapper Gord is an outdoor/survivalist store located roughly halfway between Grande Prairie and Valleyview, a few minutes drive out of Debolt, Alberta. I pass by there each time I drive to and from my house in B. C.

    I noticed that it seems to be doing a lot of business even on Sundays. I think it’s much busier now than it was when I made my first road trips to the house 4 years ago.

    Coincidence?

    1. Know a number of people who always keep a three to six month supply of 25 year emergency food on hand. Apparently it is getting difficult to source that as well.

  24. Shortages haven’t been too bad in southern Alberta for our family and friends, although wait times for delivery of some construction items is getting noticeably worse. Inflation, howeve, is much worse than officially reported.
    Even food banks have been getting worried about their stock. One wonders about the distribution of food banks across the country…

  25. I guess a container load of Lenovo parts got through. I received my order and the courier said he had been delivering Lenovo parts all morning.

  26. I normally work in Calgary as a plumber/gasfitter.
    Have been working in Edmonton with a reno company, and they pay us an hourly to go to suppliers to source whatever we need.

    Speaking with west Edmonton Emco counter staff 3 weeks ago, the multiple items they couldn’t supply included abs pipe of various sizes, (I think it’s made in Canada!) and the final yellow jacketed stainless steel supply connection to gas water heaters, gas dryers, small furnaces. Told they’ll be back by 2nd quarter of 2022

  27. Eastern Ontario
    In August I tried comparing winter tire prices so I could prepare my fall budget. Canadian Tire was sold out of all but the most expensive Pirellis as was Costco. I called my regular tire shop and asked what the supply situation was like and he answered in one word; “bad”. He did manage to find a set of Michelins that had been sitting in a warehouse since 2016 so the car has ‘new’ tires but my SUV doesn’t.

    Last weekend, I had my neighbour’s Chevy on my hoist to change a headlight (you have to remove the wheel and the fender liner to change a headlamp bulb, way to go GMC!) and noticed the transmission was leaking. There were only two litres of Dexron VI transmission fluid at Canadian Tire and the shelves were mostly empty except for the high-priced stuff for high-priced European cars which rare in this area. The motor oil shelves were also half empty, which I cannot recall ever seeing before.

    1. Al…DEX VI is garbage.
      06 LBZ here….with 603,000 on the clocck
      Suggest you Go to Transynd, far better Product good for 160K Kms before service
      And good to -65F

      Des VI is only good to -35C no more…
      We had issues here in winter of 06 with hundreds of LLY’s and LBZ’s up North blowing their TQ’s due to sluggish fluid…while on engine hi revs (1000rpm) to warm up motor and trans…DEX VI was the issue.

  28. I am something of Mr. Mom in my household. I do all the grocery shopping and cooking (my wife loathes both). I do most of my shopping at my local boutique Grocery Store, Diablo Foods. But mostly for just their top quality produce. They don’t appear to have ANY supply problems (although the mushrooms have been scrawny and disappointing recently).

    In the last couple of months, my local Safeway has been slowly emptying their shelves of all their popular items. Just yesterday, the paper products shelves were completely empty … nothing there at all. Bare shelves. And every POPULAR item, for example; regular Wheat Thins crackers are GONE. Haven’t been able to buy a box for weeks. All I can buy are awful “flavored” Wheat Thins … “Tomato-basil” Wheat Thins.

    Same thing with my wife’s favorite Milano cookies. None of her favorite flavors are available … no Mint, no Rasberry … only double dark chocolate. Maybe this is a “Safeway” problem as they try to shove their slow-selling inventory off on everyone ?? But it is highly annoying.

  29. I’ve contacted my local MP, there has to be talk of extending the Wage Subsidy. I run a construction company, 12 employees, we’ve been 2 days a week with no work waiting on material, and, it’s only going to get worse. An ironic reason for one project, specialized paint for steel and alum is in short supply, the same chemical that bonds the paint to either substance is used for EV Batteries, guess what gets priority? Being told the Magnesium issue will cause more issues in the Spring, Magnesium is a main component of Alum. The very same people who are handling the CV19 response are the same ones who are managing our supply chain. There is no such thing as a competent Left or Right govt.

  30. I’ve been trying for a few weeks to buy a high-back office chair from Staples. Non available and they won’t sell me the store model.

  31. Huron County, Ontario.

    Ordered a new mattress from Sleep Country. Queen. Took two months to take receipt of delivery. Ordered early August; received late October.

    Still waiting on a couchset from Tepperman’s. Week 5.

    1. I’m looking at buying a Raspberry Pi 4, but I’m not sure about the availability from the place I’m planning on ordering it from.

  32. Well, one thing these shortages has done to me is that’s it’s forced me to be a little more innovative and more on the compromising end of the scale. For instance – I do rebuilds of various things and if the holes calls for a 1/4×2 inch bolt and I don’t have one on hand but do have a 5/16 x 2.5 I’ll look to see if the holes can be drilled out provided I don’t disturb the structural integrity. So out with the hacksaw, drill press and taps. Whereas before I wouldn’t hesitate to get in my truck and get what I needed which may or may not have been on the shelf and probably isn’t now. (And you know, you can’t buy just one bolt, no…you must buy five)
    More jack in my pocket and I get to stick it to the Billes family for one day.

    Yes, I know this kind of advice doesn’t help our friend with the ABS pipe problem and I feel his pain, some jobs are pretty specific and there isn’t wiggle room.

  33. Two teenager sized bed sets back in May. Partial assembly required, but most (metal) hardware pre-placed for easy assembly.
    One was delivered in a month. The other was delivered in 3 months. Mattresses were ordered immediately after bed setup (from a different supplier), and delivered the next day.

  34. Oh…just thought about it, was looking at upgrading my thickness planer to a Dewalt, 3 month wait and that was back in June. Not sure about now.

  35. Victoria. A few imported foodstuffs that haven’t been available for a year:
    – Claussen’s dill pickles (and very few of any others in the cooler cabinets)
    – Taste of Thai Chili Garlic Sauce
    – Cross & Blackwell Mango Chutney
    Lots of domestic items pretty scarce too, e.g. Breyers Family Classic Chocolate ice cream, Listerine Smart Rinse, almost anything just a bit unusual that isn’t a house brand.

    1. Yes, virtual breadlines.
      Progress is awesome. Except it will likely cost 3X to extract that juice from the wall shortly.

  36. I’m mostly trying to build up my stores of non perishable food, drinking water, firearms/ammo, etc. In Canada you can still get ammo for now, but who knows how long that will last.

  37. Business lounge at Toronto Pearson. Canada travel. No newspapers. Must be double jabbed to fly. Food is shut down. Attendant will make you a coffee and give you a yogurt. Airport is packed. Same in Montreal. Packed. But you can take your mask off to drink your coffee.

  38. I noticed Retailers here in BC cancelling flyer distributions lately because they don’t have the products listed in them. Inside knowledge.

    1. Interesting, last night I spotted what my youngest wanted for Christmas in the just-delivered Walmart flyer (Nintendo Switch OLED). I knew that it would be an in demand item so I went online to place the order. It was listed as “low stock” and when I tried to put it in my cart it would not allow me to. It also did not show the sale price, just the regular price. So it is obviously sold out….the day the flyer came out.

  39. Okanagan

    Ordered a Toyota Rav 4 in August.. given an estimated delivery date of Oct-Nov.
    Dealer phoned up recently and said colour and model no longer available and i’d have to take a different one or wait till the 2022 model arrives in Jan or Feb at the earliest. So the wait continues.

    And good luck trying to get any construction projects done around here in a timely fashion. I’ve been trying to price a new roof for a while now… quotes are either never delivered or amount quoted is three times what it would have been two years ago. A friend of my in construction tells me that even developers can’t get roofs delivered.

  40. I do sales and estimating for a distribution/construction company in Winnipeg. Our lines include window film (solar/security), roller shades, FRP, washroom partitions & accessories, ceiling tiles & grid, acoustic treatments and wall protection from some of the biggest manufacturers in North America.

    Prior to April 2020, lead times on most items ran 1-6 weeks (depending on the products) and price increases were around 3-5 points annually.

    Right now lead times are at 8-20 weeks (depending on products), and some are just not available due to material shortages. We’ve seen price increases (almost quarterly) 5-8 points and our quotes have gone from being good for 90 days down to 30 just due to volatility in pricing from our manufacturers. We’re advising our distribution network to allow for quarterly escalators of about 5% for projects that require delivery more than 6 months out….

    On the other side of the equation, I have never seen the construction industry in this province busier. I’m closing 15-20 jobs a week with no end in sight…..

  41. Meat selection has been dicey of late, and very expensive.
    Tenderloin the other day was almost $90 a Kg.
    In fact, the select tenderloins in the glass display were advertised as $49 a POUND. Nice attempt at fooling the unobservant.
    Also, I note general increased prices for most food in the Kelowna stores, and sometimes stock is skinny.

    1. I haven’t bought beef for the last year. Simply too expensive here in the SF Bay Area. Its getting cold, and I want to make make some rich Beef Short Ribs. But I won’t pay $11.99/lb for fatty beef bones. Sheesh. Maybe I’ll try Lamb shanks … but the wife won’t eat any meat from “cute” animals.

  42. Very short supply of non-crazy women aged 50-55 on Match.com.

    More seriously, observations from Cambridge, ON:

    Less selection and stock of all meats and fish in discount stores like Walmart, Food Basics, and the like. Higher end stores — Sobey’s, Zehrs — have better selection. Meat prices are up everywhere — I’d guess 25% to 40%, but can’t think of examples. Frozen sole fillets, which I use a lot of, are definitely up 30%. Packaged bacon seems to contain much less bacon than previously – 354 g packages when I am sure that they used to be 450 g or more. Piller’s and other brands of kolbassa/Polish sausage are up 20%.

    Canned store-brand beans, lentils, chickpeas are up 20% or more. What used to be 99 cents is now at least $1.20 or more per can. If my math on the percentage is off, let me know!

    Dairy is getting insane with store-brand butter at almost $6 (if I recall correctly). When butter and cheese blocks are on sale, I stock up and freeze.

    Produce seems to fluctuate. Peppers, cauliflower, zucchini are sometimes not available or are of low quality. Produce quality was actually greatly improved during the lockdowns last year — discount stores were getting much better quality produce because it was not going to closed restaurants. I’ve not really paid attention to produce prices.

    Canned dog food has been having availability problems for months. Sobey’s store-brand stuff was out of stock for weeks at a time. Am now seeing the same for Pedigree brand food. Just as well, as the dog needs to lose some weight and I’ve moved him to a diet dry food that he seems to like.

    Gas, of course, is insane. When gas “drops” to the dollar-thirties at my local Pioneer station, there’s a line up out onto the street.

    How about fast food? Stopped at a Firehouse Subs place and walked right out on seeing that 12″ subs are $13 to $15. McD’s ice-milk-and-kaolin sundaes are now over $3. Harvey’s no longer includes relish when one orders “everything” on a burger; they don’t charge for it, but you have to ask for it. Local sushi place is still a good deal if one pays with cash.

    All that said, it’s the lack of non-Karens on the dating sites that really bothers me most.

    1. Yeah my 24 year old kid says the same. Too many moonbeam SJW hippie feelings grrrrrrls.

      He filters them out by putting PUREBLOOD in his profile…….he’s getting some flak for it, but it erases the Karen’s and scolds right off the bat

  43. Sodom on the Rideau, aka Ottawa

    Did the groceries this AM at the local Metro. Shelves, meat coolers, dairy, etc all full. A few odds and sods missing, but it seems that whenever I find an item I really like, the store stops carrying it. Prices are up on many things, but I get my meat and veg home delivered from local farms. Don’t shop or go out much, so I can’t speak for other places. But I ordered a fairly expensive photography gadget, sort of an AI brain for a DSLR (photo is one of my hobbies) back in spring. Supposed to be delivered in June, then September and now they say November, but didn’t specify which year. Wife tried to renew a prescription two weeks ago. Was told by pharmacist they didn’t have it & didn’t know when, if ever, they would get it and would she please see her GP for a substitute. Then, a week later, without warning, the pharmacy called back and said they got the stuff after all.

  44. IKEA: Calgary

    Doing reno’s on our 2003 Citation 5th Wheel.
    Removed all the valances and Day/niter shades – replaced with curtains – gained me some 300 lbs of LESS weight
    Go to Ikea for curtain hardware…?? Feb Mar 2020 maybe…found some online @ IKEA.com surprisingly and got em in week.??

  45. WalMart stores in Calgary, Airdrie, and Olds; none had Zest bar soap, which is the only product that works in my hard well water. Finally got some from Pharmacy in Three Hills, but they had to special-order it.

  46. I want to turn in my Lexus for a hybrid Toyota (thanks for the green tax Blackie) anyway, there is an 8 month wait. No snowmobiles or Triton trailers available to buy either. That leaves gold silver and cryptocurrency left to purchase.

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