No shortages?

Bike parts, Try and buy some, you will be out of luck. I tried to pick up some spare tires/tubes for my bikes, and to my amazement most every size was out of stock, the shelves looked bare. I was only buying just for stock, I have lots of spares, but if someone was really needing them they might be sol.

Speaking of bike parts. Every 2 weeks our local bike shop puts out a tied up bundle of old bike tires for garbage. Anyone have any nifty re use ideas for them?

Add to the list: kids clothes!

Watched the kid getting out of bed this morning and though “I’m pretty sure those PJs weren’t as tight on you last night...” Mrs HP acknowledged that the kids clothes we bought earlier this spring shrunk (or the kid grew up again???).

Realizing that The Children’s Place is closing their brick and mortar locally, we went online and found the majority of what we looking for was sold out. Not one for going to the malls, we did the second worse thing (beyond malls) and went to Walmart. The kids clothing section was eerily empty! Odd XSmall PJ (not gonna work...) handful of kid leggings and of all the different sizes and style, only about a dozen T-shirts to pick from (none of them my kid’s size). Oh well, let’s go look at sandals, since them too shrunk... ONE MODEL! That’s it. Just like old Soviet days “you have a choice between this one and the same one!”

I guess I may as well open an Alibaba account and start cutting the middle men and order directly from China. If only I understood the sizing conversion...

Had to run into CT today and to my amazement, BIKES, bikes of every type in stock again!

so many back orders and empty spaces on anything to do with gardens.. my gosh.. a girlfriend is trying to find a sprinkler (not that I like sprinklers for the gardens but its not my garden.. must be nice to have that good of well and be a private well as the public are on no water bans already) and nothing no where..

Good to know on the bikes.. nice.. as for the cloths.. we have very limited supplies in our neck of the woods as well.. things are there but the type are limited.. the sizes are limited and the quote "sales" are last years normal prices and the normal are up for sure..

Locally its very noticeable that all the second hand shops are closed and that the stores do not have to adjust pricing and have very limited places to buy.. allowing them to up the prices.

My wife and I are looking at everything we will need for next springs garden
While lettuce, kale spinach..isn’t a must, I am looking at winter boxes and going one or two a go so we have some fresh greens over the winter and avoid shortages, higher costs and trips to get the stuff and of course needing to clean them for covid.

Since getting into ham radio, I've had an interest in building electronics.
I get all my components from China.
I know, buy Canadian etc...but I'm not paying $1.00 for a resistor when I can get them for pennies out of China.
Suppliers are now really really slow to fill orders and some are cancelling them altogether.
The excuse? Chinese parts suppliers are telling me that the mail is not working so they just won't ship.
Hmmmmmm...post is working fine on our end, and I haven't heard anything about China Post being out of service.
Wondering where the real issue is!

Since getting into ham radio, I've had an interest in building electronics.
I get all my components from China.
I know, buy Canadian etc...but I'm not paying $1.00 for a resistor when I can get them for pennies out of China.
Suppliers are now really really slow to fill orders and some are cancelling them altogether.
The excuse? Chinese parts suppliers are telling me that the mail is not working so they just won't ship.
Hmmmmmm...post is working fine on our end, and I haven't heard anything about China Post being out of service.
Wondering where the real issue is!

I ordered an item in March for an elderly Relative, I thought it was coming out of the U.S., turns out it was coming out of China, it took 9 weeks from the day it shipped out of China to the day it arrived in Vancouver (I still haven't received it, so I assume it's in customs), so there maybe some truth to what your hearing from your Chinese suppliers.

It might not be just China having a hard time shipping. I ordered beef suet from the UK, it shipped may 11th and I still haven't received it. They say June 30th it'll arrive.

Wabsey, Curious as to why you are buying beef suet from UK. A quick trip to the googler finds it available in Canada. Is it better, cheaper etc?

Here’s something to ponder and set your hair on fire. I wonder if actual ration cards or whatever the modern ID tracking version of it will be, will come to pass this fall?

Obviously there are big Iffffs’s involved with severity of any second or third wave but let’s assume for planning g purposes, there is a second and ( insert favourite deity) a third wave hits in spring of 21. We see shortages of all manner of food or goods now. Future waves of historical greater numbers infected, would in theorY worsen the current situation. Per history, when things get scarce, higher prices are also a side effect.

So to try and avoid runs on Wally mart......, help diffuse anger from the poorer not being able to buy some foods, I can easily see government issued ration cards of old.

It actually makes sense from a government perspective and will help diffuse some of the anger.

On a separate note, my wife and I are nothing a lot less choice and higher prices on Amazon for some of the product not even available from conventional brick and mortar stores

Here’s something to ponder and set your hair on fire. I wonder if actual ration cards or whatever the modern ID tracking version of it will be, will come to pass this fall?

Obviously there are big Iffffs’s involved with severity of any second or third wave but let’s assume for planning g purposes, there is a second and ( insert favourite deity) a third wave hits in spring of 21. We see shortages of all manner of food or goods now. Future waves of historical greater numbers infected, would in theorY worsen the current situation. Per history, when things get scarce, higher prices are also a side effect.

So to try and avoid runs on Wally mart......, help diffuse anger from the poorer not being able to buy some foods, I can easily see government issued ration cards of old.

It actually makes sense from a government perspective and will help diffuse some of the anger.

On a separate note, my wife and I are nothing a lot less choice and higher prices on Amazon for some of the product not even available from conventional brick and mortar stores

Well, it is with caution I disagree with you on the ration card forecast (regarding food). I say with caution as a great deal of what you have forecast has been bang on, though only so with the glasses of hindsight has it shown to be so.

The problem that led to shortages, while multiple, the prime one was the failure to impose purchasing limits at the retail level as panic griped. It was aloud to be open season on purchases for a week or two. People were buying everything out in quantity, needed or not. The government wasn't needed to correct this, retailers did themselves. After a couple weeks they took point and placed limits on purchases that they could enforce at the till. Once they did this, the turn around began (slowly). I will say from my area within two weeks on the placing of limits. So there was roughly a rough month of hit and miss on availability then slowly stock began being available and staying in stock. I just don't see government rationing being needed, or coming in the future. Maybe I will eat these words.

Mr, peppercorn. Here’s why I say ration cards ( some gov form). What you say is to a great part accurate. There was some temp bulking up and then store limits were put in. As to product being available,mmmmm not from what I can see in eastern Ontario, but let’s put that aside for now.

Here’s what I have found and have at times, admittedly taken advantage of to avoid the limits.
You can order pickup at Walmart and yes your limited in not only quantity but per above, even in what’s available. So to avoid limits, you order under dear wife’s name, then your name/ different email works. Then you can also walk into the store. Now I can hit a few stores one after the other in an hour and fill up the rear of a pickup with food and I could do so every day of the week if desired and repeat. . I can also hit surrounding towns. week after week until I run out of moneys.

So iffff my guess is correct and we do get wave 2&3; farms, distributors, processing plants, canneries, Plastic container companies,truckers, distribution chains ... Will all feel the increased pro rated impact as this tiny episode, then I am guessing, shortages will be higher. you will have the entrepreneurial sprit of a modern day black marketer or those with funds to pay high prices or to actually hire people to go shopping and stand in lines for them ( I know people in montreal who did just that/ hired a guy to take orders and stand in line to pickup and deliver.) you will have people showing up and there will not be any butter, meat, rice etc available and as we all know, once the rush or panic is on, stuff happens fast and furious.

Just simple human nature, Also the fact that people have and will have even less disposable income in the fall and winter ( new winter boots , coat, winter tires, need a new battery for the car.... and all the demands of living in canada with growing families or just plain old parts needing to be purchased for the winter will suck at everyone’s bank account. Oh and school supplies are a big draw on young families as well.

As to shortages, I am also seeing fewer and fewer products available on Amazon....

Just a guess based on past job experiences and observation of myself and my fellow peoplekind. truth be told the Monday morning quarterbacking is a simple method of validating a guess being accurate or a miss. I try real hard to keep personal opinions out of what I am trying to guess at. I look at history, reading of my fellow man, current political trend, what’s not talked about in the media ( and boy Or girl, is there a ton not being mentioned in the news about all the things going on)

So yah I see shortages, I see people gaming or being able to game the current process and ifff it gets worse and the government wishes to avoid some ugly chaos,I think they will have to find some way of either directly limiting purchases or put the initial onus on the stores to do just that, but current method would not limit purchases of those with money to game it. Will it ever?, no, but I feel if things get as bad as they could, I can see the gov taking a former hand in who gets what

Now here’s a real fun thought to ponder while working hard to keep oneself and their family in food, would they ever come looking to the farms like they did in the war to try and monitor what one is producing on their private property? You have hens, a cow that was pregnant... where is the offspring good sir! Look to history for the answers to today’s questions, a little different in looks perhaps, but fundamentals are constant

Read in the states, that there are 200 medications experiencing increased shortages. Sadly they didn’t list.

Filled a number of prescriptions two weeks ago and still only giving out one months worth. Pharmacist said they may change that to three months In July. Hard to get specifics out of people or agencies. That tells me there are still shortages and gov is afraid of those trying to stock up. Makes sense that meds are suffering the same labour or material shortage that other industries are.

Aside from items held up due to plant shutdowns that are more/less specialized (RTU's, etc.) most consumer goods are now back to normal in SW Ontario. You still can't get n95's, but pretty much everything else is stocked and on shelves. From Dollar stores, to grocery stores.