LogFAQs > #964303653

I bought some on Monday. I've only noticed that low-salt Lays have been missing for a couple weeks where I shop.



Nichtcrawler X posted...

Many (seemingly) random shortages as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Nope.

They've been happening on and off for a couple years now, mostly as the result of the shipping problems that were exacerbated by Covid. My local store literally has signs up apologizing for stuff being out of stock and pointing out that it's not their fault.

Sometimes something will be in stock for weeks/months at a time, only to vanish off shelves for a couple weeks. Sometimes stuff will be missing for months. Mainly depends on how popular it is, and what it's overall production chain looks like. Because of modern day production methods, if one link in the chain fails, the entire chain fails almost immediately.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing

A bunch of stuff has also changed a bit because of this. The relish I usually buy has gotten more watery, and the ketchup I usually buy has gotten thicker - I'm assuming it's because they had to alter their recipes or start using ingredients from different suppliers to replace former ingredients that became unavailable (especially since the relish disappeared entirely for a few months). The produce brands my local grocery store stocks seems to change on a weekly basis now (including brands I've never seen before), because global shipping has sort of become an unreliable mess.

As much as a lot of people are convinced that Covid is "over", it's still causing problems in multiple ways. And the problems it's already caused in industry and shipping aren't really fixed yet (if the shipping problems ever get fixed - because they not really caused by Covid as much as just made worse by it).