"sony1492" (sony1492)
03/18/2020 at 15:41 • Filed to: None
2
46|
"sony1492" (sony1492)
03/18/2020 at 15:41 • Filed to: None | 2
| 46 |
A little backround, as mentioned elsewhere I’m a grocery clerk (order product, stock shelves) working at a midsize store with roughly 80 employees in the North of Cali.
Photo from a few days ago, things are going to be worse moving forward.
Things arnt looking great, today our primary supplier essentially didnt ship out the load, of 10 pallets we received 2. Naturally the supplier is incredibly overloaded and dosent have enough trucks to haul the weight that stores are ordering. Judging by photos of Portland and other grocery stores it’s likely that our product will continue to not show up.
As a result we are being asked to only order roughly 600 items for the store per day. For perspectitive our ideal order would put us over 2000 items. Things like Gallon jugs of water are selling out from pretty much all suppliers.
With this amazing news we had to have a legitimate talk about what products to order that will keep people alive. For example, water is selling out so we are going to stockpile off brand while we still can. Same story with canned goods and sale items.
Came into work this morning to see we have altered hours and sick leave policy among other things. Every day brings a new memo with policy changes.
The quarterly inventory has been canceled aswell
This food crisis may all be in our heads but we are rapidly turning it into a reality. The supply chain cannot keep up.
notsomethingstructural
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:48 |
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inventory 3/18/20
paper towels: none
toiler paper: none
kleenex: none
ramen noodles: none
hot dogs: none
hot dog buns: none
pre-packaged fruitcakes: 27
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:48 |
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“WE HAVE NOTHING AND WE'RE GONNA DIE!" - suburban middle class family who already has a six month supply of something they want to buy even more of.
haveacarortwoorthree2
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:50 |
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Psst, over here. Hey man, I heard you work in a grocery store, right? Whatta it take for you to hook me up with some of that sweet, sweet TP?
Svend
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:51 |
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We’ve reduced our store opening hou rs to 6am til midnight.
My sister is low on toilet rolls and my neighbour who was asking how we are, turns out she lost her on the trains job at christmas, so I said I’ll get her some toilet rolls and hand soap (but I’ll add a load of canned goods, etc... ).
Thankfully we’ve a lot of protections already in place and more coming in.
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sony1492
> haveacarortwoorthree2
03/18/2020 at 15:53 |
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None exist, you can buy some napkins tho
Notchback88
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:54 |
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It’s the weaknesses in the supply chain that has me worried. Because ownership of groceries and suppliers is fragmented, there isn’t much redundancy within any given chain. It would take major consolidation (or nationalization) to streamline food throughput. I don’t know if our country can handle that.
If and when the National Guard activates, it will likely be any unit with trucks (LMTVs, HEMTTs, etc.) and especially logistics units.
If things get really bad and water sanitation facilities start failing (due to lack of maintenance and operators), then you’ll see the Guard/Army start pulling out the water purification units. We’ve got some pretty robust equipment that could help a lot of people.
I’m in aviation
, so I don’t see us being able to do much, other than moving supplies to remote areas and VIP transport for doctors and such.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/18/2020 at 15:55 |
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A friend of a friend would eat a simple bowl of rice for lunch every day. When asked about it, he would say, “a billion people survive on less, why shouldn’t I?”
We are spoiled with all of our food options. We can live a long time on just rice & beans, supplemented with some vitamins.
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sony1492
> Svend
03/18/2020 at 15:55 |
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H opefully it mellows out, but will it really if people start dying loc ally?
ClassicDatsunDebate
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/18/2020 at 15:56 |
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Because they ran out of Lunchables
RallyWrench
> TheRealBicycleBuck
03/18/2020 at 15:58 |
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This. I’ve been eating a single bowl of cereal for lunch for years now. But I’m more worried about keeping my kids fed and growing than myself.
facw
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 15:58 |
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Last time I was at Trader Joe’s they were begging customers to bring their own bags, because they couldn’t keep theirs in stock.
I wouldn’t shop at a store with a “no backp acks” policy.
The Attendance for sick staff section is some truly American bullshit.
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sony1492
> TheRealBicycleBuck
03/18/2020 at 15:59 |
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Bmeans and rice are rapidly becoming unavailable, all that’s left are a few 1lbs bags of beans and 1lb bags of wild rice
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TheRealBicycleBuck
03/18/2020 at 16:02 |
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Amazingly, frozen vegetables and chicken were in ample supply at my local store, and still are. Same with rice.
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sony1492
> Notchback88
03/18/2020 at 16:03 |
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I could see the government mandating distributors over a certain sales size to keep a given amount of inventory on basic items, hell they make stores do that for WIC items already.
When the national guard starts stepping in we will be in a much more serious area, I cant see the government forcing stores closed. Then again we are in extraordinary times
DipodomysDeserti
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:03 |
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If your area has to ship in water to keep people alive, you’re already fucked and I would locate to somewhere else. This is coming from a guy who lives in the middle of the Sonoran Desert and is studying water management.
If people are just panicking and thinking they need to buy bottled water, you’re fine.
ranwhenparked
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:06 |
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Prediction: it won't mellow out until restrictions are lifted, until then, everyone will still be stuck in a panic mindset.
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sony1492
> DipodomysDeserti
03/18/2020 at 16:06 |
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P eople are panicking, it's in the lower portion of the pnw. Not sure why they think they will need the water, or they think this will get bad enough for utilities to shut down.
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sony1492
> facw
03/18/2020 at 16:09 |
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“ Monitoring attendance closely” and the b it about pto affirm my decision to quit in the near future. (also: pay)
Why not, with the backpack policy?
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DipodomysDeserti
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:10 |
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TBH if people are afraid of utilities shutting down, they should be buying guns, not water, because that would be a “end of society as we know it” type situation.
ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:10 |
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Gotta be a tough time to work in a store. Especially if you’re concerned about random people coming and going and having to work closely with them. Hope you’re keeping up good hygiene , even around coworkers as you won’t know if someone is a carrier who isn’t showing symptoms (/yet).
As consumers we all need to chill the hell out. Yes be concerned about the virus, practice good hygiene, and be serious about social isolation, go out only for things you really really need. Give the supply chains some breathing room. I bet we all have a TON of food in our pantries just sitting there that we could get by with just fine.
As for TP, I’m hoping this will result in an uptick of people installing hand bidets and reusable cloths. I’ve had one sitting around, going to actually get around to installing it.
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sony1492
> DipodomysDeserti
03/18/2020 at 16:11 |
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If this keeps up I'll be buying a hunting rifle.
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facw
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:12 |
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Because backpacks are a convenient way to carry things, including groceries. Also because I don’t especially like being treated like a criminal.
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sony1492
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
03/18/2020 at 16:19 |
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This is revealing people’s real agendas about TP and the closet bi det owners
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:27 |
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Are we talking pinto beans? What other bean options are still on the shelves? How are your canned supplies holding out?
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/18/2020 at 16:29 |
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When I went yesterday, i n the meat section, there was high-end beef and expensive fish. I found some ground turkey and some chicken, but everything else was gone. No eggs. No TP (of course). No bread.
My wife bought the things she needs to make bread, so I’m expecting the bread machine to come out of the cabinet this week.
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sony1492
> TheRealBicycleBuck
03/18/2020 at 16:36 |
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Bulk bins of every common bean and rice are empty, 20lb bags are unavailable, 1lbs bags of black beans and pinto are a single row each so less then 12 (they are $6 per bag is why).
C anned goods sold out all thoughout last week but got an incredible amount of food in yesterday (10 pallets) so we still have a bit on the shelves, thoug h they are not full. Today was the first slow day in at least a week, but it may pick up in the afternoon. Maybe people are being more cautious now? Maybe they feel they have enough food?
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ranwhenparked
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:40 |
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The only way for utilities to shut down would be if prolonged containment measures provoke a civil disturbance and people start rioting and breaking shit. Which, I guess, is in the realm of possibility, but certainly not an immediate concern right now.
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facw
> DipodomysDeserti
03/18/2020 at 16:43 |
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This is the correct answer. I mean I don’t think anyone needs to be buying guns (though people are doing that too), but if we were really heading for large- scale utility shutdowns that might be wise. But honestly we got lucky, this may kill a million people in the US (maybe even two or three times that number), but that’s still a small sliver of the population, and most of those deaths would be retired people, who aren’t keeping anything running. It shouldn’t be anywhere near enough to bring down society.
As much as things suck right now, they could be a lot worse if we were dealing with a novel E bola virus rather than a novel coronavirus. Hopefully lessons will be learned so that next time we can react more effectively, whether soon or decades out.
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facw
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:46 |
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My dad was apparently able to pick up a bazzilion pack of Charmin at Costco this morning (and I mean like mid-morning, not right when they open). Helps that they were being sold “ limit 1" so hoarders couldn’t do quite as much damage.
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sony1492
> facw
03/18/2020 at 16:49 |
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Dude came in today and took 4 cases of our local water brand, leaving us with just 1 for everyone else. The supplier has 4 pallets to their name to serve the 80,000 people in the immediate area
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ZHP Sparky, the 5th
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 16:56 |
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What’s there to be closeted about owning a bidet? I grew up with them so it’s absolutely the norm for me - way cleaner than rubbing a piece of dry paper on your butt and calling it a day :P
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sony1492
> ZHP Sparky, the 5th
03/18/2020 at 17:00 |
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I just never knew how many people had them until now
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sony1492
> facw
03/18/2020 at 17:02 |
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Its this outbreak, combined with where the economy's headed, combined with the competency of our POTUS.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 17:15 |
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Let’s hope they have enough food . I’d like to get back to a more normal mode of shopping. We have enough staples to last a while if there’s really a food shortage , so I’d like to get back to more rational shopping. The truth is that our nation has an excess of food. If the distribution lines get messed up long-term, then we might have a problem, but short term glitches are surmountable.
Brickman
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 17:35 |
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Looks like you got plenty of salsa. I bet no tortilla chips.
vondon302
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 18:03 |
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Crazy times. I work in a auto parts warehouse and we’re seeing cracks. So you got to be seeing some shit.
Thanks for the post!
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sony1492
> Brickman
03/18/2020 at 18:07 |
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All the salsa is expensive so it never moves
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Svend
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 18:46 |
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Just got back from work (not working, needed toilet rolls for neighbour and my sister) but store is limiting one pack of toilet rolls per customer, whether the pack size is a two pack or 24 pack. They were all off sale but I cheekily got a pack from out back.
I gave the pack to my neighbour and got her some food, cakes and bis cuits. The fresh meat aisle was nearly empty.
of course I got some stuff for me.
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sony1492
> Svend
03/18/2020 at 18:53 |
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“ Just picking up 1 single box of 4 12packs”
Go od of you to look out for your neighbors, I see you got the essentials of primarily chocolate. Also lychee juice sounds delicious
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Svend
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 19:31 |
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Lol. I play by the books so when it said one pack of toilet rolls and no more than three of any given item per customer, I stick to it.
Well she lost her job at christmas (she only told me today), it’s the right thing to do.
Really chilled lychee juice is fantastic. So refreshing.
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DipodomysDeserti
> facw
03/18/2020 at 19:33 |
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I don’t think we know enough about it yet to gauge how many people it will kill. Assuming China’s numbers are true, I don’t think it’ll kill anywhere near a million people in the US this year.
People don’t really think about how vital utilities are to our way of life, and how affected we would be. For example, there’s a nuclear power plant fifty miles from Phoenix that uses wastewater for cooling (it’s in the middle of the desert). If the taps shut off it would probably melt down.
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facw
> DipodomysDeserti
03/18/2020 at 19:49 |
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We can hope. Killing a million people would be 40% of the population getting it with a fatality rate of 0.8 %. Both numbers are quite possible. The stuff I’ve read says we should expect 40-70% of people to get it. South Korea has been one of the best in the world at handling this crisis and last I saw their fatality rate was 0.8%. In Italy, it’s more like 6.5%. This is why we are seeing all this social distancing talk. We can’t do too much about the fatality rate (besides keeping cases down to not overwhelm the system), but if we can limit transmission, at least in the short term we can hope to keep the number of cases way lower.
Ultimately though, we need a treatment, or it’s going to be bad eventually. A vaccine is still months and possibly years away, if we get one at all (I believe there’s never been a vaccine for coronavirus, which implies that it’s tricky, but the stakes have been lower before, and tech is advancing). There’s some hope that existing anti-virals and even anti- rheumatoid arthritis drugs may be helpful, and those are already known to be safe, so they can immediately start testing for effectiveness, and may be here sooner than a vaccine.
Regardless, my point is that even with a real ugly scenario causing great suffering and loss , it shouldn’t impact basic utilities, so stocking up on water is probably poorly considered.
MUSASHI66
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 20:44 |
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My parents lived in a city in Bosnia which was basically surrounded for a few years, and then we all lived in Serbia during the embargo and really sucky economy. This feels familiar and it’s giving me ptsd. On the other hand, the way the stores look is nothing like what they did back home. Northern Colorado was low on TP for a few days, but the shelves are essentially full everywhere. The way the shelves were back home... you guys really don’t want to know what it was like, especially with constant blackouts and no gasoline at gas stations.
BaconSandwich is tasty.
> sony1492
03/18/2020 at 21:46 |
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I was sent to the store for a few things this evening. Some shelves were right empty, but I can't blame people. We're just at the cusp of everything being locked down. Premier of Alberta has said there's to be no gatherings over 50 people. And we're expecting this to last another 4-6 weeks. We'll be fine, but it'll still be an interesting month or two.
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sony1492
> BaconSandwich is tasty.
03/18/2020 at 22:13 |
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At least stores should have stock back by the second month
Nauraushaun
> sony1492
03/19/2020 at 06:36 |
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What’s the deal
with buying water? Isn't that like buying air?