Living in rural Kansas, we have not had as many empty shelves as the large cities. All but the poorest have large pantries and have been drawing down their stocks when something they need is not available. People are thinking ” Do I really need that?” when they see the price increases. They are also deferring purchases hoping the much anticipated repeal of the 6.5% state sales tax on groceries arrives before the next round of price increases.
At Wally World we have managed to get stuff on the shelves, but there may be only three or four options instead of a dozen. We can keep soda on the shelves, just not always the popular ones. Some items are here today, gone tomorrow, and might be back next week or even next month. We are drawing down stock in the back room more often than usual this time of thebasis.
We are getting one or two fewer trucks a week than normal because stuff is not getting to the warehouses on a regular basis. We also have a bunch of people out on WuFlu leave. If every level of distribution has the same problem with absenteeism we do, the supply chain will snap at some point, but there is still a little slack in the chain.
Footyfried 