Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Edward64
he only "shortage" I've seen is less than fully stocked Progresso/Chunky soup. Nothing else that I typically buy including fruits, vegetables, tp/paper towels, eggs, beef/chicken/salmon etc. So all good here in northern Atlanta suburbia.
Maybe its the grocery store. I shop at Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Target. I can believe the smaller chains or corner mom-and-pop stores may have less inventory.
|
Less than there were before, but there are shortages around here at big chains like Walmart and Meijer. I probably notice it more as a professional shopper, but beef and chicken are less available than pre-pandemic, some other staples. Not always out, but pretty regularly.
I think part of it relates to what RainMaker said. I think some businesses have just discovered that customers won't make them pay a price for shortages that is high enough for them to make corrections. I don't think we ever go back to 'the way it was' in this among so many other aspects. Customer anger rarely goes to the supplier, even when it's their fault (and that's not always the case). People aren't sophisiticated enough in general to pin the blame where it properly goes or to even care to do so, which sort of feeds into QuickSand's point. It feels like a failure even when the people 'held responsible' have no reasonable control over it.
Such is the nature of modern free societies.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by RainMaker
Even during the pandemic, it was the short-sighted decisions of companies that led to shortages.
|
Not entirely. It's a lot more complicated than that. There were literally businesses who were closed by government order. I think a lot of that was wise decision-making, but that's certainly not the businesses' fault, and it's inevitable that reorganization and chaos in the labor market would happen to a degree afterwards even if all businesses made good choices (which many didn't of course). Things like aluminum shortages because the normal cycle of the economy was disrupted were just things that happen in a major disruption. It's not government's fault, and it's not the fault of businesses. It's just what happens - the only thing to really blame is the virus itself, but of course that's not a divisive enough target to satisfy most people.