Food Distribution Network Under Stress

35 Replies to “Food Distribution Network Under Stress”

1. One of the beefs I’ve had with my neighbourhood Superstore is its inventory control. Often, I’d be in the store looking for certain items only to find them out of stock.

   I guess it’ll use the current situation as an excuse.

   1. Sometimes they have it in stock but has not yet been put on the shelves.

      1. Even so, that’s no excuse for letting an item run out. Proper inventory control involves identifying when stock is reaching critical levels.

         However, I’m not the only one who made the earlier observation. Loblaws, the parent company, is known for being sloppy with that sort of thing and investment analysts have noticed that.

         1. and then when they raise the prices to reflect warehouse inventory stocking people will again bitch! People also bitch about “Chinese junk ” when the cheap shit they buy falls apart, and can;’t grasp the simple concept that their price demand shopping is what causes the Chinese to build accordingly!

      2. Hami:

         TRUE. I don’t stockpile much but was in my block long neighbourhood supermarket early yesterday morning looking for a single litre of milk. There was NONE. However I could see the full pallets behind the glass doors. Returned two hours later and got the freshly stocked item.

         Said to my wife (we are both retired) the gig now will be a daily late morning-noon visit to pick up needed items.

         When everybody is at work. Oh, wait, damn ….

2. All I can report is that everything is quiet on the western front. I live in Richmond BC and shop at The Superstore on No. 3 Rd. Last night I found the store had been completely cleaned out of eggs, bread, milk, and fresh meat. Same thing with Save-On Foods and Safeway. That’s the first time ever that I have seen such a thing. But, by noon today, I checked all three stores and almost everything was completely back to normal. We have a deep bench supply chain. It is more resilient than we give it credit for.

   On another note, there is an article over at American Thinker about the coming re-alignment of the American supply chain and other changes that are going to happen because of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak
   that makes for interesting and encouraging reading. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/03/the_coronavirus_will_save_america.html#.Xm9FBM3D1lA.twitter

3. Let me add here that I grew up in wartime London (1940 -1945). We had some supply problems back then, too. But at the end we prevailed because that is what we do. Our culture has a deep and formidable bench. Kipling wrote about it: The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon.

   1. Our culture is no more. Show me a Mc Mac name anywhere in leadership, let alone male.

4. Oh, what the hell. It’s late and nobody’s looking: A joke –
   Old Man (OM) Do you like poetry?
   Young busty blonde (YBB) Ya.
   OM: Who’s your favorite poet?
   YBB: Dr. Seuss
   OM: Yes, I like him, too. Do you like Kipling?
   YBB: I don’t know. I’ve never kippled.

   1. LOL!

      1. Kipple? What that means?
         -asking for a friend

         1. Sophie kippled with Idris. Is that you, Juthtin?

5. I prefer shopping late at night. I make a round after visiting the parents at their assisted living. (Until they locked down the facility to all visitors this weekend.) (Yes, I am still worried they will catch the COVID-19 Wuhan Pneumonia from the staff.)

   The stores are quieter, and usually the lines are shorter. The poor, overtired, sqawling children are at home by then too. Since I shop in the outer suburbs and exurbs, I don’t risk interacting with the socially diverse late night drama troupe, Although parts of the high school crowd do often make a relatively well behaved appearance before 10 pm.

6. Costco’s model of inventory control appears to be working well.

   Loblaws’ model is failing utterly at the moment, but is likely fixable in a couple of weeks.

7. Went into Safeway hear in Calgary on Monday at 0715. Parking lot was 1/2 full. Normally there would be only a few cars. Stock was great. I got some coffee filters. Now I’m set for about four to six weeks (I had previously stocked up).

   Next morning I went to Shoppers Drug Store. Since it was closed at 0750, I popped into Safeway just to see.

   Major shortages; no toilet paper, no Kleenex, no frozen veggies. Frozen pizza, pasta sauce, and soup sections way way down.

   A good number of Safeway staff were restocking shelves. I approached them quietly and thanked each one individually for the work they were doing.

   Like bayouman4475 mentioned in the heading, they are some of the many people who are working hard to help us all in this time of need.

   Their efforts are greatly appreciated.

8. Remember that if you are buying in bulk, it puts way less strain on the supply chains.
   Delivering and selling a 50lb sack of flour, or 20lb sack of rice, costs 1/2 of the retail packaging in the store’s bottom line. They know when you need what, they make more $$ at a lower price, and you save big on the price, gas, your time, and all incurred costs normally below the radar of everyone.
   This is why I am saying that limiting purchase makes no sense. Unless people are stupid and throw away food because of spoilage, selling as much as everyone needs puts less strain on the stores. COSTCO is the proof.
   My family has been buying bulk for the last 10 years. We are the greenest household in the subdivision, judging from the amount of garbage we generate vs. the rest of population.
   So much for enviro-nazism!

9. I hate being right sometimes. I already had a fair bit of food ahead. I try to keep about two months more on hand than I need. Due to Wuhan Flu reports early to mid February I started stocking up even more. We also added freeze dried food to the collection. I’m good. When we heard our glorious leader announcing he would protect the food chains so we didn’t need to worry, my wife and I decided to expand our garden space in case this continues. We have started double the usual amount of pepper and tomato plants and bought extra seeds. Fishing is a great activity that doesn’t put you at risk if you pick your spot. People say we’re crazy. They said that when I first started saying Wuhan flu was going to be bad.

10. “Several factors have increased retail market demand for food products and non-perishables. People stocking up, kids out of school, some panic shopping (example toilet paper) and now curfews/quarantines have people purchasing more for ‘meals prepared at home’. Add in a level of closed restaurants and the demand on retail food markets is severely stressed.”

    I’m not panic shopping. People are at home so they use more toilet paper, so the shelves get naturally empty in a JIT world. Finland is full of forest like Canada, but still the stores may be empty of it at a given time.

    In Finland, there is no much panic, people are teleworking as much as they can, schools are mostly closed, daycares are almost closed, so people stay at home, make food at home, and will carry a lot of groceries home from the local supermarket.

    The bad news is I have cough, I’m 49 and have high blood pressure. If the health care crashes, I might be dead too soon.

    The local CBC has reduced climate (disaster) “news” lately, but not completely avoided them, they still think it matters in this catastrophe.

11. Justin Burch, I don’t know what you think you’re right about. I don’t criticize someone for stocking up, but our stores don’t appear to be emptying any time soon. A week or two ago, fist fights were breaking out between customers who were grabbing toilet paper. You would note that you can buy as much toilet paper as you want today, anywhere.

    People are running in and buying bread, meat, milk in huge quantities. And the next day those items are all restocked. Unfortunately it makes for more media clicks to tell the story that there are issues with buying food or goods. That doesn’t make it true. Remember those Costco lineups on the weekend? Its Wednesday and those lineups have largely gone away. But people are easily persuaded into being scared and taking resulting actions.

    Brian Lilley predicted that all non-grocery stores would be forced to close. Not yet.

    Glad youre planting more peppers and tomatoes. I do so too. When you can pick those items in August, we will all be remembering that weird toilet paper hoarding exercise as a weird blip. Ironically, about the time that you are eating your tomatoes and peppers, the toilet paper hoarders will have to restock.

    I do have the advantage of having a great deal of deer meat in the freezer in case the zombie apocalypse takes over,

    1. I’m right because I didn’t buy anything I wouldn’t use anyway so its not wasted. I’m right because by starting in advance, I also only did my extra stocking up on specific items while things were on sale. They rotate sales on a regular basis so I stocked up on toilet paper while it was on one third off at Walmart. I’m right because I was able to avoid all the panic buying crowds. As for my garden, whenever the government tells me I don’t have to worry about something because they are taking care of it, I start worrying. Worst case scenario is I share some extra produce with my neighbours who don’t do any gardening. I hope I am not right about the food supply chain possibly being disrupted. At this point the only way I can be hurt by my preps is deflation or being robbed.

12. This is an excellent opportunity for truckers hauling essentials to not request, to finally INSIST on decent pay and benefits (including guaranteed rest breaks—the soyboys will get their avocados when the men get around to it).

    Pretty sure they can ask for their pay to be tripled for the duration. What does Silicon Valley call it? Right. “Peak pricing.”

    1. Truckers are paid well, and the ones in my family have great benefits.

       Most of the prefer long hauls with as little breaks as possible. It’s better to unload a refrigerated truck ASAP. Also, they like to get home sooner.

       But more importantly, most of the truckers I’ve known are patriotic and just plain good people. They have a sense of duty, and wouldn’t want to price gouge people for groceries in a time of need.

13. Another reason grocery markets will be under strees: people are not going to restaurants, and are eating all meals at home.

    Here in Fredericton we have lots of retail space, given a small population of 50,000. From phoning people for info, our Cosco store has been a madhouse. But my wife went to other grocery stores on Monday, spending $600 to finish off our stocking-up shopping, and there were no crowds at all, only one or two shoppers ahead of her in the checkout lines. And nearly everything she wanted was available.

    I think the problem is not shortages at grocery stores, but that people fear going out to shop. My wife and I will be home-quarantined for two months with no visitors. Save tor a few walks on our nearby streets, and playing in our fenced-in yard with Jack our dog.

    1. playing in our fenced-in yard with Jack our dog

       lt’s good to see you’ve remembered what’s important.

14. I went out a coupla days ago to get some bread/milk for an old gal I know. I called her and asked her if she needed anything. She said she had milk but it was sour. Anyway I ventured forth and went to 2 small town grocery stores. Nothing.

    Hit the convenience store. Milk, bread, TP, hand wipes…they had it all – ha

    1. The power of a National chain’s distribution network.

       That’s nice of you to shop for your neighbor. I live on a wonderful little cul de sac of about 24 homes and all of my new “young” neighbors have offered to shop for us oldsters (I’m now the 2nd oldest person on our street). But I’m not dead or incapacitated quite yet, so I just thank them for their sensitivity and care.

    2. I’m in downtown Toronto. Went to two grocery stores today. Some items – big bags of potatoes and onions, pet food, and yes, still, tp – were bare, but almost everything else was fully stocked.

       I’ve always been a pessimist, so I have kept 8×12 packs of tp in the garage for years (along with paper towel, garbage bags, and other household stuff). I have a nicely stocked pantry at all times. We got a separate freezer a few years back, and it’s full. I’m going to continue to shop for fresh meat, veg, bread, and milk every couple of days until either there’s nothing there, or we’re back to normal.

15. I know a buyer in a moderately sized chain and they’re being shorted on all kinds of things already. This orderly shutdown has just started too so who knows where this is going. Glad I prepped weeks ago when idiots were saying “just a flu bro”.

16. 1 USD = 1.45310 CAD

    I’m doing all my shopping in Canada now ! To offset my losses in the stock US stock market. I’ll be coming out $$$-ahead! Thanks PM “don’t call it a Chinese virus”! Thanks UnMe! Brilliant work!

    1. There’s a reason the Canadian dollar was nicknamed the “Hudson’s Bay peso” in the mid-1980s.

17. the dirty little secret about the J.I.T. model in japan is . . . . .
    is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the DISTANCES involved easily permit it.
    and the weather.
    and the transportation system.

    have they found out how to turn a sows ear into a silk purse yet?

    I gleaned this from a production mgmt. course about 25 yrs ago.
    some t’ings doan change.

18. Keep in mind that there is another side of the food distribution industry – my nephew drives for a company that delivers food to restaurants and he’s not sure how much longer he’s going to have a route. He’s in the same boat as the waiters and the cooks and the dishwashers.

19. I stopped at Coop after work yesterday. They had canned tomatoes, milk, only frozen veg was sliced carrots, so I took a bag of those. And they had cat litter too.

    I asked one of the staff, he said shop in the morning if I had to have exactly the thing ie. green giant brand peaches and cream corn only.

    But I am just not that picky. I buy what’s on sale, or wait.

20. When you consider everyone is out to buy twice as much as usual all at the same time one should expect shortages. Assume that everybody buys for one week at a time. Suddenly everyone is told to buy 2 weeks worth of groceries today. Everyone rushes to the store to buy except the store is set up to handle one week shoppers not 2 week shoppers. Yes the store is out of a lot of stuff but as the rush dies down in the next few days (everyone has 2 weeks of groceries) the stores will return to normal. I noticed today having been in two stores that there is lots of food available. Since the schools are closed and we have the grandkids we were debating what to get for supper. We could have chili or pork chops. Hamburger lots in the cooler ditto pork chops. Now comes the real test do they have canned beans. Oh yes there are lots of canned beans available. The first store we were in had a big sign on the front door limiting quantities purchased of things like fresh meat and TP but both were available. I have to laugh at silly panics like this one. All because some clown at the WHO can’t do math or statistics.

21. As for meat, canned is generally always available. Especially the sardines and herrings that high mucky mucks refuse to eat.