Shopping and restocking updates

[daylatedollarshort]

I put a grocery order into Instacart several days ago to pick up tonight and they completely cancelled the order a few minutes before the pickup time. Not delayed, just cancelled and refunded my credit card. Then they sent me an email inviting me to reorder everything again and reschedule. I probably have as much chance of getting my next order delivered by them as Charlie Brown did with kicking the football held by Lucy.

 

[yakers]

my wife ordered a couple pounds of yeast on Amazon that arrived yesterday, its a brand americans are less familiar with: saf-instant

We were in Safeway in Mountain View on monday, pretty well stocked, no yeast, the liquid soaps were gutted (i took the last three refill bags to leave the entire shelf area stripped, but bar soap was plentiful. Paper goods were completely gone, like an entire giant empty aisle. Pasta was heavily depleted but had more variety still than our shopping trip back on the 16th. Mexican coke was sold out (Sob), but other sodas were generally no more depleted than an average day. We emptied the store of their supply of Gazella (my wife's preferred Vinho Verde), but that's a normal every couple of weeks thing we do their stock.

People were not doing a good job of social distancing, I was glad for our vogmasks and wished we had eye protection, but the burning man boxes are at my friends' house in their shed so...

Got a bunch of N95 masks leftover from burning man, also goggles, even a confined space respirator, probably scare the store/hospital staff if I wear that one. Oh, some fire dancing would enforce social distancing

 

[Retire2013]

A month now and I still can’t get any paper products like toilet paper, napkins and paper towels, nor can I get flour, yeast, Tylenol, aloe Vera gel, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and done other stuff.

I had better luck finding Tylenol, Advil, etc. at Walgreens or CVS than at Costco or grocery stores. At least this is true in Southern CA. Not sure about your area.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Got a bunch of N95 masks leftover from burning man, also goggles, even a confined space respirator, probably scare the store/hospital staff if I wear that one. Oh, some fire dancing would enforce social distancing

yeah a fire staff would probably get you the six foot spacing pretty easily.

 

[braumeister]

Kroger yesterday morning had at least some stockage of TP and paper towels, even some sanitizing stuff, but there was only one package of facial tissues in the (very large) store. We needed some so I bought it.

In general, they have been doing a fantastic job of keeping things in stock.

 

[meleana]

My wife went to her doctor for an annual checkup. On the way home, she stopped by a Dollar Tree store, and it happened to have some hand sanitizers. Score! Limit 2 per buyer.

Her sister in her daily phone call from San Diego said she finally saw the line at her Costco short enough to go in for the first time in a few weeks. Still no rice and some other things.

Your wife's doc is doing annual check ups? Not in this part of the country. You can't get a doctors appt to save your life unless you have COVID19. They are not scheduling annuals, no screening tests, nothing. They will do phone calls if needed.

 

[Venturer]

My Granddaughter was bitten by a stray cat last saturday. They took her to Dr. who gave her antibiotics and sent her home. On monday the place was swelling and red so back to Dr. who sent them to ER for rabies shots. Poor kid got 7 shots and was a trooper. 8 yrs. old and no tears. They had to go for second of 4 rounds of shots yesterday and stopped by Costco on their way home. They picked us up some items and restocked for themselves while there. They got TP and PT as well as plastic knife/fork sets,a bunch of meats basicly all they needed. They spent over $500 but it was because they had waited so long to get stuff because of this crap. They had to wait outside to get in as well as stand in line to pay but she said it was worth it because they are ok for a while. She called her mother to ask what we needed while they were in line. When she dropped ours things off she said now you won't have to go out for anything either! Heh heh heh she can be a bossy girl at times,but she just worries about her old parents.

 

[athena53]

I only have a few rolls of paper towels left and none are in the stores locally so I have been bidding on a pack 6 Bounty paper towel rolls on eBay. Bidding just got to $55 so I guess no paper towels for me. I will have to use some old torn up t-shirts for cleaning.

I have maybe 1 roll of paper towels left but I pretty much use them only for wiping out my cast-iron pan (which I use almost daily). My rag supply is used for cleaning- have done that for years.

I'm just grateful I scored a pack of toilet paper at Costco 2 weeks ago- I think I'm down to 2 rolls from the last package I bought.

When this passes (and someday it will) I'm going to make a list of things I must have on hand if I don't have access to a full selection of groceries for 2 weeks.

 

[MichaelB]

Some posts were removed. This thread is about shopping and grocery availability, not politics.

 

[KB]

When this passes (and someday it will) I'm going to make a list of things I must have on hand if I don't have access to a full selection of groceries for 2 weeks.

I suspect many people will change their normal grocery shopping habits after this passes.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I know I’ll continue to keep the freezer fully stocked in the future. DH will no longer complain that I buy too much stuff.

 

[statsman]

When this passes (and someday it will) I'm going to make a list of things I must have on hand if I don't have access to a full selection of groceries for 2 weeks.

Other than a couple of minor items, DW and I were prepared without really trying. Live through a 7.0 earthquake (Loma Prieta) where you lose power for over 24 hours, and you learn to be prepared for loss of grocery stores and clean drinking water. I think the same could be said for people preparing for major hurricanes. The shortages in the past month were entirely panic induced.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Other than a couple of minor items, DW and I were prepared without really trying. Live through a 7.0 earthquake (Loma Prieta) where you lose power for over 24 hours, and you learn to be prepared for loss of grocery stores and clean drinking water. I think the same could be said for people preparing for major hurricanes. The shortages in the past month were entirely panic induced.

+1.

Lived through the blizzard of 78 where the state was completely shutdown and major highways like 95 and 93 closed for over a week. That created shortages in the few grocery stores that managed to open. With no cars allowed on the roads, we had to walk 5 miles to the closest open grocery store to get formula for our 6 months old son.

Since then we are always prepared with 2-3 weeks of food and supplies.

 

[TrvlBug]

Other than a couple of minor items, DW and I were prepared without really trying. Live through a 7.0 earthquake (Loma Prieta) where you lose power for over 24 hours, and you learn to be prepared for loss of grocery stores and clean drinking water. I think the same could be said for people preparing for major hurricanes. The shortages in the past month were entirely panic induced.

We are always prepared living in EQ country (SF Bay Area). I will fine tune our supply by adding canned veggies to our stash. Each Christmas, I refresh our pantry and pull previous years' purchases and give to the food banks.

 

[TrvlBug]

I've just started my online orders for non-perishables. I'm hoping the price gouging I'm seeing for my first item is somewhat unusual . I finally found a canned food my kitties love. Chewy is out of stock, only one of my local grocery stores carry it. Amazon has it at 3x Chewy's and grocery prices . Sorry kitties, but I refuse to pay those prices. If not in stock at Chewy's or grocery store, you'll just have to do without it for a few weeks/months.

 

[jcretire77]

As I was walking into Albertsons yesterday at about 1:30 in the afternoon I noticed a woman walking out with TP. What the heck? I thought that I had found the Holy Grail. There was a display of paper towels and toilet paper. There was about 1/3 of the tp left. I asked the cashier as I was checking out and she said that it was what was left from the early morning senior run that typically strips the store like locusts. I may have embellished her words a bit. Pretty crazy when that is the highlight of my day.

 

[harllee]

The pack of 6 Bounty paper towels that I was bidding on on eBay finally sold for $66 (that included shipping). I actually can understand the run on paper towels better than toilet paper. I think people are using more paper towels for disinfecting. I will be using old rags for disinfecting myself. One lesson I have learned for the future--always have 2-3 month supply of everything essential.

 

[ivinsfan]

The pack of 6 Bounty paper towels that I was bidding on on eBay finally sold for $66 (that included shipping). I actually can understand the run on paper towels better than toilet paper. I think people are using more paper towels for disinfecting. I will be using old rags for disinfecting myself. One lesson I have learned for the future--always have 2-3 month supply of everything essential.

Boo on Ebay for not stopping that crap. OTOH you can't fix people who act irrationally.

 

[brewer12345]

Boo on Ebay for not stopping that crap. OTOH you can't fix people who act irrationally.

I think killing sales of such things on ebay is a terrible idea. Masks and sanitizer I can kind of understand as these are critical supplies you do not want to encourage hoarders to accumulate. TP and PT? Not so much. I would rather have the opportunity to buy them, albeit at an inflated price. Nobody HAS to have these things, so if you don't like the price then don't buy.

 

[ncbill]

Read an interesting article today which pointed out the TP "shortage" is what we should have expected since we're making everyone stay home (can't take a **** at work, etc.)...so one manufacturer expects a 40% increase in demand for residential TP.

And since commercial & residential TP are two very different products (e.g. commercial is thinner & comes on those giant rolls) they're made on different production lines which don't have the ability to switch between the two.

 

[ivinsfan]

I think killing sales of such things on ebay is a terrible idea. Masks and sanitizer I can kind of understand as these are critical supplies you do not want to encourage hoarders to accumulate. TP and PT? Not so much. I would rather have the opportunity to buy them, albeit at an inflated price. Nobody HAS to have these things, so if you don't like the price then don't buy.

I didn't say they should kill them but a little watchfulness for price gouging would be helpful. but I see your point of view, I guess it's not Ebays job to protect people from themselves.

 

[ivinsfan]

Read an interesting article today which pointed out the TP "shortage" is what we should have expected since we're making everyone stay home (can't take a **** at work, etc.)...so one manufacturer expects a 40% increase in demand for residential TP.

And since commercial & residential TP are two very different products (e.g. commercial is thinner & comes on those giant rolls) they're made on different production lines which don't have the ability to switch between the two.

Except there really isn't a shortage is there, people are worried about a shortage and stacking months worth of TP in their basements.

 

[harllee]

Except there really isn't a shortage is there, people are worried about a shortage and stacking months worth of TP in their basements.

Well there is a shortage to me if I am actually running out of something like TP or paper towels, to me it is a real shortage. I would have paid up to $50 for the paper towels on eBay but once it got over that I gave up. This is capitalism at its purist based on supply and demand.

 

[brett]

Went shopping yesterday. First time in 10 weeks. We have been in Mexico, then came back to 14 days of self isolation.

Costco in our area are doing a fabulous job. Waited 10 minutes to get into the store. Found just about everything on our long list-minus a few fruits and veg.

Lots meat, dairy, bakery, etc. Stacks of toilet paper, paper towels. Food area was just about closed down. Tire shop was working.

I went to another store. A large grocery chain. They were not nearly as well set up as Costco in terms of offering cards that had been wiped down, limiting how many in the store, protections for their staff and customers etc. The differences were very noticeable.

 

[ivinsfan]

Well there is a shortage to me if I am actually running out of something like TP or paper towels, to me it is a real shortage. I would have paid up to $50 for the paper towels on eBay but once it got over that I gave up. This is capitalism at its purist based on supply and demand.

I understand your point,my comment was to the fact it's not a manufacturer issue it a stockpile in the basement issue..