Remember the shock at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, of encountering bare shelves in grocery stores? Shelves that should have held Lysol and other household cleaning supplies? Shelves completely empty of toilet paper, of all things, and people then "hoarding" toilet paper? Then there was a brief time when meat was in short supply ... and then we all hailed food manufacturing plant workers and truckers as "front line workers" keeping the goods coming.
The ongoing global supply chain disruption is becoming a bona fide crisis. Already, strains on the supply chain are prompting many of the nation's biggest food manufacturers to give a heads up to giant grocery store chains that they are going to have trouble keeping up with demand, CNN reports.
Basics, and popular items, too, like McCormick gourmet spices, Ben & Jerry ice cream and Sour Patch kids candy are, in all likelihood, going to be hard to come by, CNN says.
This news comes on top of increasing reports that parents who want to make sure Santa Claus comes through this Christmas, need to go out and shop for toys and even Christmas trees -- now.
As CNN puts it, "These latest trends mean that stores won't have all things for all customers heading into the holidays, and shoppers may not be able to find some of their favorite products, flavors or niche items."
It remains to be seen how extensive the supply chain disruption could become going into the holiday season. According to the WSJ, there are more than 467 cargo ships from China outside major U.S. ports.
Last week, Amazon surprised retailers by annoucing it was jumping onto the holiday sales bandwagon with Black Friday deals. These holiday bargain offerings traditionally have started the day after Thanksgiving--but in recent years, as competition among retailers has heated up, they have begun as early as Thanksgiving Day at many retailers.
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