by Robert Wheeler
Just a few days ago, I wrote an article (The Supply Chain Is Broken and Food Shortages Are HERE) detailing the disruptions to the US supply chain and explained how food shortages are coming to the United States. In fact, I pointed out how they are already here, but many Americans simply don’t know it yet.
After all, mainstream media hasn’t been telling them about the disruptions to the supply chain as a result of COVID lockdowns and questionable strikes nor is it telling them about how many crops have been destroyed as a result of wildfires in the West of the country, straight-line winds in the middle, or flooding and hurricanes in the south.
The mainstream media says the supply chain is just fine.
The mainstream media has been largely silent and has focused more on telling its readers and viewers that the supply chain is just fine.
That is, until recently.
An article from CNN: “Worried about more shortages, grocery stores are stockpiling goods,” starts out: Grocery stores across the United States are stocking up on products to avoid shortages during a second wave of coronavirus.
The article goes on to say that most household items, like paper towels, Clorox wipes continue to be difficult to keep in stock. This is due to people stockpiling the items due to the COVID pandemic. People are cleaning and sanitizing their homes much more often, hoping to keep the virus away. Stores nationwide are stocking up in preparation for not only a second wave of COVID but also for the coming holidays.
The CNN article states:
That’s why Southeastern Grocers bought its Thanksgiving turkeys and holiday hams over the summer, months before inventory planning normally begins, the company’s CEO Anthony Hucker told the Wall Street Journal. Associated Food Stores started stockpiling cleaning and sanitizing products so it always has inventory in its warehouse, and with cold season around the corner, grocery wholesaler United Natural Foods has already loaded up on herbal tea and cold remedies, the company told the Journal.
Early on in the pandemic, grocery stores were focusing on stockpiling weeks of supplies for shoppers, but now food sellers are focusing on the long-term, aiming to stockpile supplies for months instead.
Grocers have been stocking “Pandemic Pallets” to prepare for the second wave
What is a pandemic pallet?
Grocery stores are stocking pallets with items they fear may run low in the coming months. Keeping these pallets stored in the warehouses, most of them are stocked with cleaning items and paper products, cold medicines, dry goods, and food staples like rice, pasta, and legumes – all the things that they ran out of quickly the last time around. And, with the holidays right around the corner, many stores are stockpiling holiday foods like cranberry sauce.
An article published on Business Insider reported:
“Pandemic Pallets” are gaining more traction, with grocers preparing for worst and stocking the wooden storage structures with items that could be in high demand around Thanksgiving, and even Christmas, according to the Wall Street Journal. The goods being stockpiled on the pallets range from cleaning supplies to dry goods, the report said.
While the pallets vary in nature, their overall purpose remains the same: ensuring grocery stores will be able to handle demand if shoppers begin to “panic buy” as they did in March if COVID-19 cases spike in the winter. In the past week, coronavirus cases have risen in 21 states, as reported by CNN. In countries abroad, a second wave of infections has led to the return of lockdown orders.