A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Wednesday I went shopping. First time in about a month for a general shopping trip.
I go out more regularly for things like bread & milk.
First place I went was Sam's Club.
Was surprised because they had no Lysol Toilet bowl cleaner.
Never happened before?

So I went to a nearby Wal-Mart and same story. In fact, in the cleaning products aisle the shelves were mostly bare.
So I went to PUBLIX, same story.
So I went to Winn-Dixie, same story.

I was in Ace Hardware yesterday for other reasons & they had plenty.

I had read to expect a beer shortage because of a shortage of aluminium for the cans
but nobody told me about a cleaning products shortage???

We live in interesting times.

Haven't noticed any lately but a few weeks ago liquid hand soap was gone everywhere I checked. I have enough beer for the weekend so I should be good.

mozz wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:20 am Haven't noticed any lately but a few weeks ago liquid hand soap was gone everywhere I checked. I have enough beer for the weekend so I should be good.

I have enough beer for a Superbowl party.
"Country boys can survive." Hank Williams Jr.

Most things have come back to a somewhat normal level around here, although you certainly notice that a lot of specialty items not in stock - most manufacturers are concentrating on core products.

Bicycles and other outdoor recreation equipment is still pretty scarce and handgun/common rifle ammunition is completely unavaialble anywhere locally.

One item my wife and kids like that has been pretty much no-existent is Kefir ( a yogurt drink ).

I know Lysol wipes are scarce as all getout.

Every time I go, my wife asks me to check, and it is pretty much the only empty portion of the cleaning aisle at this point.

Yes, interesting times. "May you live in interesting times" is a known ancient Chinese curse
If you stocked up on bleach before the TP shortages, you can just use a bit of that for the toilet bowl.
But yes, we've seen "aluminum can" shortage (lately), which makes no sense as aluminum is among the most recyclable materials, to the point that recycled aluminum competes with smelted aluminum (of which there's also no shortage).

Shortages of hand sanitizer also made no sense. Various local whisky/vodka distillers were producing sanitizer from food-grade ethanol to make up for the shortage... BUT regular hand sanitizer is made from isopropanol, which is a byproduct of refining industry, which likely dwarfs the global food-ethanol capacity.

Our local Walmart at one point was selling hotel-type packaged toilet paper (with no branding at all on the wrappers).

I stared baking bread at home, only to run out of yeast and to discover that it's not available anywhere, except for 10x the price. No way, I made my own sourdough starter. Yeast is free - it is everywhere in the air, just needs to be "lured" with some food. Makes awesome waffles and pancakes.

But yes, I would expect rolling shortages that make no sense. Just to get us all ready for the coming Sovietization.

mickey wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:13 am I had read to expect a beer shortage because of a shortage of aluminium for the cans
but nobody told me about a cleaning products shortage???

We live in interesting times.

The whole point is for these things to be unexpected. To keep us sheeple on our toes, busy searching for necessities.

One more data point (I forgot). In spring a friend of mine wanted to buy a small chest freezer. Gone. Not available for months at any appliance dealer, online or retail. I don't know if that ever cleared up.

Gear_Junky wrote:Yes, interesting times. "May you live in interesting times" is a known ancient Chinese curse
If you stocked up on bleach before the TP shortages, you can just use a bit of that for the toilet bowl.
But yes, we've seen "aluminum can" shortage (lately), which makes no sense as aluminum is among the most recyclable materials, to the point that recycled aluminum competes with smelted aluminum (of which there's also no shortage).

Shortages of hand sanitizer also made no sense. Various local whisky/vodka distillers were producing sanitizer from food-grade ethanol to make up for the shortage... BUT regular hand sanitizer is made from isopropanol, which is a byproduct of refining industry, which likely dwarfs the global food-ethanol capacity.

Our local Walmart at one point was selling hotel-type packaged toilet paper (with no branding at all on the wrappers).

I stared baking bread at home, only to run out of yeast and to discover that it's not available anywhere, except for 10x the price. No way, I made my own sourdough starter. Yeast is free - it is everywhere in the air, just needs to be "lured" with some food. Makes awesome waffles and pancakes.

But yes, I would expect rolling shortages that make no sense. Just to get us all ready for the coming Sovietization.

because places like Michigan were not allowing for cans to be returned for a long while and people were just sitting on the $0.10 each. I guessing that interrupted the flow of recycling in many states.

mickey wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 9:13 am Wednesday I went shopping. First time in about a month for a general shopping trip.
I go out more regularly for things like bread & milk.
First place I went was Sam's Club.
Was surprised because they had no Lysol Toilet bowl cleaner.
Never happened before?

So I went to a nearby Wal-Mart and same story. In fact, in the cleaning products aisle the shelves were mostly bare.
So I went to PUBLIX, same story.
So I went to Winn-Dixie, same story.

I was in Ace Hardware yesterday for other reasons & they had plenty.

I had read to expect a beer shortage because of a shortage of aluminium for the cans
but nobody told me about a cleaning products shortage???

We live in interesting times.

Kinda hard to be surprised about a shortage of disinfectants during a global pandemic haha, everyone gets significantly more germophobic in times like these. I'm surprised this hasn't been a problem more consistently...I regularly see whackos selling Lysol and Chlorox stuff with a 10x-20x markup online.

honyock wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 3:42 pmbecause places like Michigan were not allowing for cans to be returned for a long while and people were just sitting on the $0.10 each. I guessing that interrupted the flow of recycling in many states.

Ah, yes, I see, didn't think of that. I guess the melting furnaces would not destroy the virus (which cannot "survive", more accurately "remain viable" in most environments for extended periods of time as it's not a living organism). Right.

Down here at supermarkets where they sell bulk corn on the cob your are forbidden from shucking (peeling) the husks. But cash payments are still ok in most places (I am not anti-cash, just pointing out the sillishness).

One begins to wonder if this whole thing is not a giant social experiment.

My Publics here in Titusville Fl was out of 4 cup coffee filters for a month. Walmart too. Staples had plenty. Go Figya'

LightWingStudios wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:22 pm My Publics here in Titusville Fl was out of 4 cup coffee filters for a month. Walmart too. Staples had plenty. Go Figya'

coffee filters, what are those? my french press has a steel mesh filter, it just rinses out

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of hand sanitizer or alcohol around here anymore, but there was none to be found for about four months, and I couldn't believe it was taking that long for the manufacturers to catch up. I had an abundant supply (I'm one of those whack-o, crazy people who are prepared for stuff like this), so it didn't really affect me, but everything runs out eventually, and I started to wonder if the shortage would outlast my supply.

The thing that gets me is that everyone's still over-charging for it (I mean everybody, not just mom-and-pops, and convenience stores), even though it's no longer in short supply. This is a commodity that used to cost 99 cents for a 20 oz. bottle, now you pay 4.99 for a 16oz. bottle at my nearby supermarket.

It didn't take as long for toiler paper and paper towels to come back, but that took longer than I thought it should have too, and now there are fewer choices, and everything is in bulk (at least at the grocery store I shop at). You can't buy a 4-roll pack of toilet paper anymore, or two rolls of paper towels. It has to be 12 rolls of TP and 8 rolls of PT minimum.

I've noticed certain items disappear for a while, then come back, only to disappear again... But what @Mickey is talking about makes me uneasy. When you can't find something in the first couple of places you look, that can be coincidence, but when you can't find it anywhere, that would make me wonder if something's going on that I'm not aware of. Especially something as random as bathroom cleaning products.

Yep. Inelastic demand. In some situations it's not the general availability/abundance, but rather a case of "if you need it, you'll need it in a hurry" type deal.

I am 100% certain that there's lots of things we're not aware of that are happening, all at once. "Just In Time" supply model is very fragile even to just natural, non-deliberate, non-orchestrated strains, much less a deliberate dismantling. The first wave subsided somewhat, due to "some" cushion in the capacity. It may not happen the same way again. Oh, and people who thought you were "crazy", the same people who later said you were "right", once things appear to get back to normal, their normalcy bias will be reinforced much stronger and they'll think you're crazier than they thought, because you were "proven wrong".

As for the new higher prices... my observation is that gasoline prices were jacked up in 2005 (IIRC) due to hurricane Katrina and they have NEVER returned to those pre-Katrina prices, at least not until hurricane Korona.

I don't have to know exactly what's happening or why... to know when the populace is being gaslighted. But gaslighting only works when it comes from a trusted source. Once that trust evaporates, gaslighting becomes impossible to maintain.

Only thing persistently still missing here that I’ve noticed is everything that contains bleach.

Aside from this year does anyone remember seeing a blank spot on a shelf before. My vons have actually removed shelf space and reconfigured. Not sure how much less plus lots of blank spots.

Empty shelves can always be masked/hidden with tastefully arranged pyramids of baking soda or salt packages, canned seaweed salad or matches (just ask the Soviets). Empty stomachs - not so much. It was interesting to watch back in April (I think) how people were discovering generic canned foods and other items.

It has taken me almost a month to find dry-fit polo shirts in my size. I wear them to work. I needed new ones and have been checking all the local stores every weekend for the past month. Finally this weekend after checking out 3-4 stores, I found some at Target. I don't wear an unusual size, probably the most common at a men's large. I could find plenty in men's small or medium but never in large or extra large. I don''t like to buy clothes online either.

Gear_Junky wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:09 pm
Our local Walmart at one point was selling hotel-type packaged toilet paper (with no branding at all on the wrappers).

The Walmart by me briefly had those too after not having anything for over two months. They were like toilet paper appetizers...

tobijohn wrote:

Gear_Junky wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 12:09 pm
Our local Walmart at one point was selling hotel-type packaged toilet paper (with no branding at all on the wrappers).

The Walmart by me briefly had those too after not having anything for over two months. They were like toilet paper appetizers...

Bum appetit!


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voodoorat wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 1:07 am Only thing persistently still missing here that I’ve noticed is everything that contains bleach.

FYI: The liquid chlorine that pool supply stores sell is the same stuff as laundry bleach, just four times as strong (12% vs 3%). It's also usually available in one gallon jugs at Lowes/HD/Walmart with garden centers...

It's not a social experiment. It's likely a shortage of key ingredients ( or finished products) from overseas.

I went out yesterday to run errands, including buying a Dewalt palm sander, which is a normal stocking item for Lowes and Home Depot. I didn't check stock before going, I just assumed if it wasn't at one it would be at the other. Turns out it was at neither of the ones nearby, and subsequent online checking of area stores showed it was in very short supply overall. I'm guessing that's due to people stuck at home suddenly turning to furniture and cabinet refinishing projects. Ultimately, all was not lost, the online behemoth still had several (although not many) in the area warehouse.

I had to go to 3 different stores earlier this week to get styrofoam cups... STYROFOAM CUPS???

Oh, and the “national coin shortage”...