Summer shortages, anyone worried?

[Littlemoons]

Hearing a bit about fruit pickers shortages, tomatoe shortages, hgv driver shortages

@Bargebill19 I've been prepping since 2019 so have always had a rolling supply; particularly helpful during the first lockdown! We had at least three months worth of tinned and dried goods, medical supplies and trumpet noise toilet roll. We then stuck to local suppliers and avoided being a strain on the supply chain whilst things were temporarily chaotic. My local supermarkets were hammered by panic buyers.

I suppose I stockpile - never really thought about it. But I’m always worried that a car will breakdown, I will be ill and in winter, getting snowed in! Habits from childhood as our loft was stocked like a cash and carry!

@Bargebill19 Absolutely the same, my grandmother was very good at having supplies in. However my DM was the opposite, and we had very little resilience to unexpected events (bad weather, shops being closed, sudden payout) because we were pretty poor, and didn't have the financial means to do so. I feel much more secure developing that resilience.

It's really good to get insider knowledge...

I am running down stocks a bit to fit within the available space but still have a lot stashed away.

I will have a permanent small stash of shelf stable stuff going forward, I think. Always good to be able to ride out unexpected events if possible.

It is appearing in mainstream news now. (Local paper carrying a generic national story and on radio)

It’s not being helped by the very inefficient way that some planners use drivers hours. Yep turn up for work at midnight get first load at 5am 😤. Or, some food retail warehouse insisting that a lorry cannot empty all its fresh stock on to one bay, wanting instead the lorry to be moved from bay to bay depending on which pallet is next to be unloaded. So a tip takes hours instead of half hour turn around max. Wasting precious drivers hours.
The latest is that supermarkets will charge suppliers for late deliveries- even if it’s just bu mere minutes. So guess what - food suppliers will not supply them.
Total utter madness. Doesn’t help trying to get a quick, slick supply to stores does it?

I have just tried to book an Ocado delivery and for the first time in months it is booked up again! I know there was a problem with their London warehouse but I dont think that will effect us here. Are we going back to more and more relying on food deliveries now or are there simply fewer slots left?

It’s the second fully automated warehouse to go up in flames. Are the robots revolting?!

Bookings might be going up as people book them on their holiday rather than go shopping? Another one of the big four has seen a huge dip in bookings as people go back to shopping in store. So to make it cost effective, they will block some slots - it’s better to have a van go out full rather than several going out a quarter full. (As an example).

Empty shelves photos in the press today

Yep I saw the media seemed to be really starting to pick up on the whole empty shelves thing, am hoping that doesn't lead to a thundering hoard of people panic buying again, that was not fun last time. A friend said Lidl was very patchy and my local M&S seemed fine so perhaps it varies a little from shop to shop at the moment.
I've maintained my store of long life shelf food although some got eaten in the past few months, I am trying to now replace double whenever I use something.

The media love to whip people into a frenzy.
Every year there are struggles to get fresh produce to shelves. When the weather suddenly turns warm and people suddenly want salads and bbqs. Even on good years the restocking isn’t instant, the supply chain takes time to restock - usually just in time for the weather to turn! Yes, this year there are added pressures but - The media fixation with this isn’t going to help. It’ll be like last years loo roll and pasta frenzy.

Why is there more discussion on the side ofn board about this than on here?

@Makemineamediumone

Why is there more discussion on the side ofn board about this than on here?

I think perhaps most people who frequent this board regularly already have supplies in. The board was very busy leading up to the brexit related changes in January. There's a limit to how much conversation can be had about it, possibly.

It's one of those. Since this board was made for us, it's mainly people who are currently or interested in being preppers who use it. Those people are people who prep for a specific concern or a current issue.

During the run up to lockdown last year it was very busy on here with people who had read the signs in the media, social media etc and had prepared before lockdown. These people, including myself, then didn't have to worry so much about shop shortages.

Alot if people don't really know this board is here or they think we all have tin hats on worrying about a zombie apocalypse. (although the cdc says if you are prepared for a zombie apocalypse you are prepared for anything)

Government's recommend that you have at least a 2 week stock of food and 2 weeks of water in case of any emergency that might happen. I wish more people were prepared.

Since beginning of last year, although we always had some some extra supplies in, I have kept it one notch up from that again.
To me, the world seems generally more unsettled, and the UK being especially so, so I intend to permanently keep stocks higher.
A bit of a pain as regards storage, but better than any alternative.
Also, no one can then complain about panic buying.
Personally, the times I dont buy, are when the panic buying is happening.

What's the side ofn board? I can't see anything obvious or work out a reasonable typo, sorry!

Other msg boards

Thanks, couldn't work it out either.

More reports of shortages on the news. Mainly patchy though so eg: no bottled water was mentioned. ( We found that missing too recently) (we'll just drink lemonade and fruit juice then)

The coffee harvest was hit by a big frost in S America so expecting prices to rise there.

Ie price rises for coffee here.

Really being affected at work with supply/delivery problems and I’m NHS. No good at all.

Oh no Ezzie, not good at all.

On the news again today.

Am aware of shortages of certain things due to working in food industry, but really noticing lately on my online shop.

Tonight i cannot find diet coke cans, of all things! Can get bottles but no cans of it ( i know its bad for me but whatever!) and its been this way for two weeks. Currently housebound so can’t see if its the same in stores.

New to this and probably should start my own thread but hoping OP wont mind me digging backing. Interesting about being prepared for 2 weeks as mentioned above, never thought about this before. Do you have huge amounts of storage? I live in a flat so barely have space for that amount of food and water! Eek!