Product shortages in your area ?

[pacergal]

My local Krogers grocery pick up rarely has something completely out now--I allow substitutions and usually get what I ordered, may be a different brand or quantity.
Kroger brand peanut butter 16 oz was on sale for $1.00. I ordered one regular and one crunchy. Regular was out, substitution was their 64 ounce one!
We will eat from that jar for a long while

 

[Car-Guy]

The ammunition shortage appears to be easing marginally for the most common calibers (although I still can't find .45 ACP), but purchase quantity limits continue. God help you if you need something unusual. I would be spending a lot more of these excellent autumn days at the range if I could get the ammunition for it.

I reload most of my ammo or I have so much surplus of some (e.g. 9mm and 7.62's) I'll never run out.... (EXCEPT 410's.) I haven't been able to find any locally in almost two years. When I look on line they are out of stock. (Haven't looked seriously in the past few months). 410's are important to me since I carry a 410 handgun everywhere I go on my property for snakes, skunks, and other pests... I'm down to my last few boxes of 410's.... I may have to switch to a 22 pistol (I've got 10,000+ rounds of 22's) but that's much more dangerous for shooting at pests and I'll need to actually start aiming.

 

[ivinsfan]

My local Krogers grocery pick up rarely has something completely out now--I allow substitutions and usually get what I ordered, may be a different brand or quantity.
Kroger brand peanut butter 16 oz was on sale for $1.00. I ordered one regular and one crunchy. Regular was out, substitution was their 64 ounce one!
We will eat from that jar for a long while

That's awesome they swap out for on sale items. Walmart seldom has sales, they have really good everyday prices. Walmart subs out nicely too.

 

[Koolau]

I noticed a few weeks ago that Costco was limiting purchases of their Kirkland brand Psyllium Fiber Capsules to one bottle. Couldn't imagine why. Metamucil in bulk powder form was in abundance. NOW, the Caps are GONE. Not a one. No idea why a shortage of this supplement would be hard to stock. I hate using the powder and will only use the CAPs. So far, I have found Caps in drug stores, so I guess I can weather the storm. I just don't understand it. YMMV

 

[Amethyst]

Sam's carries their own brand of fiber caps. I don't like that the powders use sugar or aspartame. Neither belongs in anything we drink.

I noticed a few weeks ago that Costco was limiting purchases of their Kirkland brand Psyllium Fiber Capsules to one bottle. Couldn't imagine why. Metamucil in bulk powder form was in abundance. NOW, the Caps are GONE. Not a one. No idea why a shortage of this supplement would be hard to stock. I hate using the powder and will only use the CAPs. So far, I have found Caps in drug stores, so I guess I can weather the storm. I just don't understand it. YMMV

 

[Koolau]

Sam's carries their own brand of fiber caps. I don't like that the powders use sugar or aspartame. Neither belongs in anything we drink.

I'll check Sams as I do have a membership. I agree that adding sweeteners or flavors is something I don't want. Thanks.

 

[Another Reader]

This is what was recommended to me. The price has gone up $3.00 recently...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007729DS...k0_1_3&amp&crid=1GKHJB506AIX5&amp&sprefix=psy

Amazon sells it's brand of capsules with no additives for a reasonable price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0842T91S...3f-07ef-417c-9a24-5f68c0347cab&pd_rd_wg=flA6M

 

[Amethyst]

This may seem petty, but we flew Jet Blue yesterday (known for their snacks in coach) where the flight attendants were semi-apologizing because there were no pretzels, which everyone wanted, or much else.

They had only stale Cheez-its, some hard stale little cookies, and some kind of sesame bar, which no one in earshot wanted. It was like when your mom scrabbles in the back of the cupboard because everything good for your lunch box is gone.

 

[John Galt III]

Conventional automotive motor oil (not the newer, synthetic oil). My Walmart doesn't seem to sell it at all any more. A different Walmart had a shelf spot for it, but it was empty. I found a noname store brand of conventional oil at an auto parts store, for $2.99 a quart (that's what the sign said) and bought several bottles. At the register it rang up for $3.99. I got it for $2.99, luckily. Dodged a bullet! What bugs me is that even when the price of crude oil drops back to 'normal', the price of motor oil will stay at the same sky high prices. Can you say 'cartel'?

 

[Amethyst]

The local place where we take our car, still offers conventional oil changes. We switched to full-synthetic, though, some time ago.

Conventional automotive motor oil (not the newer, synthetic oil). My Walmart doesn't seem to sell it at all any more. A different Walmart had a shelf spot for it, but it was empty. I found a noname store brand of conventional oil at an auto parts store, for $2.99 a quart (that's what the sign said) and bought several bottles. At the register it rang up for $3.99. I got it for $2.99, luckily. Dodged a bullet! What bugs me is that even when the price of crude oil drops back to 'normal', the price of motor oil will stay at the same sky high prices. Can you say 'cartel'?

 

[Gumby]

Yeah, I haven't used non-synthetic oil in probably 25 years. And, in my opinion, if you're that concerned about the price of motor oil, you're cutting your retirement plan too fine.

Regardless, the cheapest place I've ever found motor oil is at Walmart, in the 5 quart jug.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yeah, I haven't used non-synthetic oil in probably 25 years. And, in my opinion, if you're that concerned about the price of motor oil, you're cutting your retirement plan too fine.

Regardless, the cheapest place I've ever found motor oil is at Walmart, in the 5 quart jug.

As a producer I think JG III point isn't about the price of oil but the disruption from what we used to call normal price adjustments. We use a lot of products that used to be priced by supply and demand and would rise and fall in tandem with the raw markets. This seems to be changing and isn't correcting as much as can be expected. This leave us pretty vulnerable to markets. Weather used to be our biggest wild card in farming but right now it's this seeming imbalance in pricing our inputs.


Time will tell if this a one off or the way of the future. When we have all our 2021 inputs priced out I might start a new thread on this subject.

 

[Gumby]

I understand your point, but I have noticed over the course of my entire life that when it comes to petroleum products of any sort, the price always rises rapidly and falls slowly. The producers, refiners and retailers want to milk that increased profit margin as long as they can.

 

[ivinsfan]

I understand your point, but I have noticed over the course of my entire life that when it comes to petroleum products of any sort, the price always rises rapidly and falls slowly. The producers, refiners and retailers want to milk that increased profit margin as long as they can.

Spot on and perhaps the falls will cease happening. A slow fall is par for the course..

 

[travelover]

Yeah, I haven't used non-synthetic oil in probably 25 years. And, in my opinion, if you're that concerned about the price of motor oil, you're cutting your retirement plan too fine.

Regardless, the cheapest place I've ever found motor oil is at Walmart, in the 5 quart jug.

Amazon and Costco both sell their own brand of synthetic oil.

 

[Popeye]

The ammunition shortage appears to be easing marginally for the most common calibers (although I still can't find .45 ACP), but purchase quantity limits continue. God help you if you need something unusual. I would be spending a lot more of these excellent autumn days at the range if I could get the ammunition for it.

If you want a case of 1000, this guy usually has something.

https://www.ammoman.com/45-automatic

His prices were always good in the past but I haven’t bought in years. The prices I saw on the .45 acp shocked me. My closet is worth about double what I thought!

 

[ERD50]

I understand your point, but I have noticed over the course of my entire life that when it comes to petroleum products of any sort, the price always rises rapidly and falls slowly. The producers, refiners and retailers want to milk that increased profit margin as long as they can.

Spot on and perhaps the falls will cease happening. A slow fall is par for the course..

I dunno, but eyeballing these charts it looks to me like the falls are about as sharp as the rises.

Our memory (and perhaps personal bias) can influence what we think we know.

Though I'd think that usually, a sharp rise is typically due to some sudden crisis - a refinery goes down, hurricane, disruption in the distribution system? The price will go up immediately, as everything in inventory is now worth more, because we now know supply is constrained. But I'd also expect that it typically takes some time to recover. A refinery probably doesn't come on line at 100% right away, etc, and the inventory has to be rebuilt, so I guess I would not be surprised if some declines were a bit slower than the rises.

But it seems off to attribute it to greed. If the oil companies had the power to move prices above the free market supply/demand, why wait for a crisis and a spike to take advantage of it? Why not $5 gas today in the Midwest?

-ERD50

 

[ivinsfan]

ERD50, that's a gas chart but I don't remember pump prices getting anywhere near the price of that low. We were unable to price either gas or diesel anywhere near those lows.


Nothing for bulk delivery anyway. My DH tracks pretty closely. Now one might say that the fall happened so quickly that the inventory on hand was at a higher cost to the sellers.

But that means they held firm and wouldn't honor the current oil price. This is just something DH and I have been chatting about in regards to how long we want to keep playing the farming game in real life.

 

[Gumby]

If you want a case of 1000, this guy usually has something.

https://www.ammoman.com/45-automatic

His prices were always good in the past but I haven’t bought in years. The prices I saw on the .45 acp shocked me. My closet is worth about double what I thought!

I'll take a look at his site, but I have found that some on-line sellers will not ship to Connecticut, because you need a permit here to buy ammunition and they don't want the hassle of dealing with verification.

 

[Popeye]

I'll take a look at his site, but I have found that some on-line sellers will not ship to Connecticut, because you need a permit here to buy ammunition and they don't want the hassle of dealing with verification.

He won’t ship to California or Massachusetts. Otherwise , idk.

 

[braumeister]

He won’t ship to California or Massachusetts. Otherwise , idk.

I bought quite a bit from him years ago. Recommended.

 

[ERD50]

ERD50, that's a gas chart but I don't remember pump prices getting anywhere near the price of that low. We were unable to price either gas or diesel anywhere near those lows.


Nothing for bulk delivery anyway. My DH tracks pretty closely. Now one might say that the fall happened so quickly that the inventory on hand was at a higher cost to the sellers.

But that means they held firm and wouldn't honor the current oil price. This is just something DH and I have been chatting about in regards to how long we want to keep playing the farming game in real life.

Another chart at this link, but I gotta run....

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPMRU_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W


-ERD50

 

[ivinsfan]

I'm just recounting we tried to lock in farm fuel needs with bulk on farm delivery and we couldn't buy at chart price on the low end. Your charts don't help me�� my story isn't changing.

 

[Gumby]

Follow the links in this article (especially the Peltzman and Borenstein papers) to read research confirming that retail gasoline prices rise more rapidly than they fall. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/co...-go-much-faster-they-come-down-flna6c10406745

 

[ERD50]

Follow the links in this article (especially the Peltzman and Borenstein papers) to read research confirming that retail gasoline prices rise more rapidly than they fall. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/co...-go-much-faster-they-come-down-flna6c10406745

Thanks. Reading the article, the author references studies that show a slow decline may be due more to consumer behavior, rather than 'greed' on the gas station price setters:

... Matt Lewis, an economist at Ohio State University, has been studying gas prices for more than a decade. He's considered some of the usual allegations, like pricing fixing and collusion among stations. He doesn't entirely discount those, but he thinks he's found a better explanation for the fast rise/slow fall phenomenon. Here's his theory in a nutshell: When prices fall, consumers are so relieved that they stop shopping around for the best price. That eliminates the normal downward pressure on gas prices and allows stations to squeeze out a few more cents of profit while prices slowly fall.

"Consumers shop around more intensely when prices are going up. When they are falling, they don't shop around as much," Lewis said.

The last big gas price shock -- the speculation price bubble of 2008 -- created a perfect opportunity for Lewis to test his theory. Consumers can use GasBuddy.com to search for the lowest gas price in their area. As prices soared in the first half of 2008, Lewis charted a similar spike in GasBuddy.com traffic. When prices fell that fall, GasBuddy.com Web traffic fell, too -- showing gas shoppers became less interested in shopping around while gas prices waned. ...

An I don't interpret "squeeze out a few more cents of profit while prices slowly fall." as "greed". Every business seeks to maximize profits, and is free to try to get the highest price the market will bear. Or they can try to undercut their competition and make it up in volume. Their choice, and the customer has a choice too. It's just business.

-ERD50