Tesco is out of stock for everything - we’re doomed!

[Nowisthesummerofourdiscontent]

Logged onto the Tesco site this morning to book a slot for early November. Everything is showing out of stock! Perhaps they know something we don’t…
Apparently they only have one type of red wine to sell (Malbec) and that’s out of stock, too. Gonna be a long and hard winter.🙁

Oh dear.

The assistant must be living with head in sand.

There is no flour because there is a worldwide shortage of wheat.

One of the biggest producers of wheat is Ukraine.

Same current issues in Germany. This is a good article that explains some of the reasons for empty shelves.

newsrnd.com/life/2022-10-16-empty-supermarket-shelves--these-are-the-products-that-are-currently-most-affected.HkYyVlFQj.html

No its not cultural stuff that it's bad for. It's worse than that. It's basic products too. Surprisingly so.

That was my first thought too. If there is no more helium, how the hell are MRI scanners going to work. Although I'm not sure, but I think I read that the medical grade helium is different to the stuff they use for balloons.

I alos agree with a pp.if a product used to be unavailable it would be down to a late delivery on the day or a few day wait simply for non reasons that happen in the grocer industry.now though production isn’t happening like it was,it’s costing more,negotiating what brands to get due to cost is making waves and resentment in stores.the war,weather,availability just isn’t what it was.and that’s in other countries.in the uk you are next level fucked because of brexit.
so things are being discontinued.and or unavailable for greater length of time,sometimes months.this never happened before.
oh and ganadd to that lack of drivers now too and border crossing troubles.

I could say the same about my nearest Sainsbury. I had this exact issue and got fed up so moved to Tesco where everything has been very smooth.

Leaving the EU was ridiculous..I voted to join the Common market in the 70s...I've always been pronEU. Brexshit is destroying the EU.

I hadn't really noticed it between stores because I tend to go to one regularly and others in passing (my life is such that Tesco is my happy place). I've noticed that some things online are not available in store and vice versa, apparently because deliveries are from a Central Hub. I've mainly noticed it in the gluten free stuff.

Back in the 80s, before scanners, I worked in a Co-op and you had to look up the prices before pricing goods with a pricing gun. The prices were different depending on the size of the store. I wonder if that is the same still.

I suppose I could have posted a picture of the choice of courgettes in my (French) supermarket, having round and 'courgette' shape varieties on offer at least. Photographing vegetables in the supermarket is a bit eccentric though, and besides the Brussels sprouts were winking at me to buy them instead. Then there is the 5 or 7 varieties of tomatoes to chose from. I just buy the cheapest as I cook with them. Things like Heinz baked beans are often very low stock. Mind you they were only allocated about a foot (30.5cm) of shelf space anyway as they are a 'foreign food'. 6 jars of Roses lime marmalade is the usual stock. I bet the supermarket knows the handful of people that actually buy it personally!
For other reasons I steer clear of the varieties of tripe in jars (plenty of stock). Prepared escargots also stay in the freezer/chiller too!
Today is 'large strike' day in France I wonder what the result will be. The 'demands' of the protest in Paris on Sunday seem quite reasonable to me, as most of the demands seem pretty measured. Things like ensuring a liveable minimum wage, holding back on the proposed age change before receiving pensions (by a couple of years) and so on.

Its also a problem for the food industry - its used in the slaughter of certain species.

I have 3 small supermarkets near me but tend to go to the Sainsburys as that is just around the corner. I am too lazy to go to the big ones )a mere bus ride away!!),

I have noticed empty shelves, in fact I tend to go to the local green grocer (not much difference in price unless you go for organic). There is only me to feed so I don't have to buy much. Though even they were out of my breakfast blueberries (gasp!).

Most of the shelves are full of Christmas stuff now and Halloween. Not helpful!

East anglia area and I went to Sainsburys last night. It was pretty well stocked, but not to the same levels as before covid.

I am in NZ and order my Mum's shopping who is in the UK, on Tesco - they appear to have stopped having magazines on the on-line site. Does anyone know if this is temporary or permanent?

Things like Heinz baked beans are often very low stock.
I'm in Italy and used to buy baked beans from our Asian supermarket but they told me they're not importing from the UK anymore as it's too much hassle since Brexit. 😫The only shops that sell them now are the luxury food shops - with luxury prices.

Weird - that article just consists of this picture and caption repeated , with advertisements in between

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Jeez, I’ve never seen so much love for the Courgette. What does everyone cook with them?

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Catfood patchy in my local Tesco and has been for weeks.

With ground coffee and toilet roll, it's that frustrating thing where the cheaper stock sells out quickly and isn't replenished.

Erm....😜

It’s permanent as Tesco stores have scaled back on the magazine space and range.

I like them so much I often just slice them and fry lightly in a bit of butter, and eat along with other veg. Or I may use them in a tomato-based vegetable stew. Delicious.

Ah, grant you it's not the best layout for an article but I had paragraphs of text too explaining the issues - have you tried retyping the address in?

I think that Tesco were scaling down their range anyway before Brexit/Covid. Aldi keep costs down by carrying a reduced range and I think that Tesco were buying into that model. I suspect that there are more gaps than they had planned for, but there was always going to be a reduction.

And I think that before Covid, they were hoping to scale down the online stuff. I heard that before Covid, deliveries ran at a loss. The Clubcard Extra can only be used instore and they dropped the online clothes and a lot of the online homeware/electricals that they did once.

Tesco got their fingers burned in the last few years trying to expand into Asia. Also trying to tie in with European supermarkets as well I think. THEN Brexit followed by Covid will have been hitting at least the 'back office' operations hard. Getting fresh food delivered across La Manche with undefined new paperwork, reduction in drivers (local due to Covid and 'international hindered by Brexit) will all be taking their toll. So it is a whole range of factors and now you can add the worldwide pressure on foodstuffs due to over hot summer and grain from Ukraine, I suspect there are a lot of very busy people that we can't see.