sweasel.com

Odd shortages? Well, here’s one I can’t figure out. We have a rather elaborate but amazing Mosquito trap that uses sweat-stink baits and C02 to lure them in. We just got it and emptied our first 25 pound C02 tank. When I went to get a refill (you swap tanks like propane grill tanks), no supplier in the Dallas Metro area had any CO2 and we have to wait a full week to -perhaps- get another tank. Wait a full week. In the United States Of America.

Is our Democratic administration reducing the consumer supply of greenhouse gases? Is Coca Cola next?

I haven’t done any general scanning for shortages, but have noted a few products commonly on my shopping list that have been in poor supply. “Sports drinks” such as Gatorade have lots of empty space on their shelves, as has canned cat food. (Fortunately, our cats are now very happy with 100% high quality dry food of which there has been lots.) And one particular oddity: Sriracha hot sauce has been on-and-off out of stock.

We usually have intermittent shortages, being an island chain in the west Pacific, but . . . we have noticed increasingly extended and alarming shortages of anything that is imported, or anything made locally of imported raw materials. Is it due to actual shortages, or shipping costs, or to rising prices? Unknown, but it’s making our diets increasingly boring.

Not to mention that costs have increased 20-25%, for nearly everything. Ugh.

I hope China lives up to it’s threats RE: Pelosi, and Desantis is the next president, so we can get these idiots out of Congress and the White House.

As far as the idiots in this country – not much to do about them, as the idiots voting love to vote for idiots running.

We stayed in a holiday cottage in Rye Foreign once. The nearest supermarket was Jempsons and it was very good. Made a change from Tesco and Waitrose. What I remember particularly is that the man apparently in charge of the deli section was continually singing hymns. That was about 20 years. He has probably retired now.

Never actually stopped stocking ahead since the pandemic. Our idiot Prime Minister here in Canada wants to follow the Europeans and cut nitrogen for no good reason. The ulterior motive is to put small farmers out of business so Bill Gates can buy their land cheap. The only good globalist is a…well, I won’t finish that sentence.

I tried to quit drinking coffee once cuz my heart was skipping a lot, had a brain tumor of a headache, one cup and it went away. Not as hooked as I used to be, 2 cups of instant coffee per day, that’s it. Stocked way ahead on coffee, that’s for sure…if nothing else it’s an inflation busting move.

Prices on everything are crazy…that’s the true cost of 2 years of worthless lockdown. Some people are still wearing masks like they’re terrified.

Ah, yes, @QuasiModo. There’s no shortage of masks.

Shelves that were fully stocked under President Meantweet are now often partially stocked. Twice I’ve gone to Costco and seen empty space on the three story racks in the edibles section. That was a new one on me the first time I saw it.

And I can’t get my kalamata olives! Woe is me.

I summarize the administration’s view on short supplies and bigger prices thusly –

“when we took over we decided to give you fifty lashes a day for the goid of the planet. In retrospect, and with the looming midterm election coming up, we’ve graciously decided to reduce that to 25 lashes a day. You should be grateful we’ve reduced the number, and remember to vote for us in November because we’re so good to you.

Oh, and in case it’s not understood, THIS US NOT A RECESSION!”

In Los Angeles area not really…. though last flu (*cough cough…. koevit) season there weren’t any ricola to be had

It’s randomly unstocked here.
Yesterday the potato chip aisle was empty, meat cooler filled. The other day, no granny smith apples, but plenty of other types.
You never know what they’ll be out of.

@Durnedyankee — You remind me of a favorite quotation from an old friend.

The government is good at one thing. It knows how to break your legs, and then hand you a crutch and say, ‘See if it weren’t for the government, you wouldn’t be able to walk.
― Harry Browne

I have been prescribed a CPAP machine for my severe obstructive sleep apnea. (Yeah, sucks to be me). I was told today there is a wait of 3+ months before I might actually get one.

WTF?

@The Neon Madman — You might try calling New York and New Jersey nursing homes. They may still have some second hand ones sitting around that haven’t been used for a year or two. :-/

The price of our coffee is going through the roof—bought via Amazon—so that worries us. Frequently my favorite brand of orange juice is not in the cooler. Or Bigelow’s Constant Comment decaf tea bags. Why it should be unavailable is a mystery. I’m thinking about growing my own tea trees. I know that sounds crazy in the TX panhandle, but we have a just-the-right-size covered breezeway between the house and the garage, that we are thinking of converting to a lighted/heated growing zone. (Because a 70 mph straight-line wind flattened our new greenhouse last spring.)

@The Neon Madman. Resmed, the outfit that made my CPAP/BIPAP, is in Australia, so if it’s going by ship, a delay is not a surprise.

My advice is to start stocking up on everything while you still can, and don’t forget firewood, coal, propane…. whatever you use for heat. It’s going to be a long, cold winter.

As a younger man, when the world seemed somewhat sane and before we started this “We are the world, I’d like to buy the world a Coke” stuff, I always jokingly told people “invest in automatic weapons and ammunition”.

I don’t find it so funny now.

In our town we have a Kroger, a Safeway, and a Wally-World. I know people who work in all three. All three used to be open 24/7. Now they are closed from 10:00 pm overnight. They used to each get at least one semi a night. Now they each get maybe 3 a week. All have intermittent shortages of goods and foodstuffs witgh no rhyme or reason. The store staff can only order what they need. They have no idea what they are going to get till the truck gets there. We have learned to keep our pantry stocked, and also I have a LOT of distilled water stored. We have some medical devices that require it, and after one week when nobody had it, I decided to increase my stock.

It is going to get worse. Right now, prices on meat are good. That is because farmers and ranchers are reducing their herds because due to government policies it is sure there will not be enough fodder to keep them alive through the winter. And probably there is going to be a shortage of various food grains also by spring. Keep thine codpieces buttoned. It is going to get hungry out. Especially in urban areas that in good times only have a 3 day supply of food in warehouses and stores depending on constant resupply. These are not good times.

Subotai Bahadur

We did our tri-monthly medicine shopping yesterday. We could get everything except for blood pressure meds in full – only 21 pills out of a requested 90. So now we’re in full hunt & nag mode for the next three weeks until the script is fulfilled.

Ugh. Of all the things to have shortages in, medical items are the most disheartening.

It’s things like the distilled water, medicines, baby food and formula, and even pet supplies that people forget.

When I say people, I mean the asshats in Washington.

Tires. What ever kind of tires that you use, including bicycle. If they are imported into the US, you need to consider your potential need now, and act accordingly.