Bit of a rambling comment follows.
One of the problems is that all we have right now, I think, are anecdotal reports. I know there have been posts and photos here. I've posted about what I've found in my local stores. No toilet paper, paper towels, canned beans and vegetables, frozen fruits and vegetables, disinfectant wipes, rubbing alcohol, bread. Others are posting photos of entire aisles cleared out.
Now, today, I read somewhere (here on DU, somewhere else, e-mail?) an open letter from the CEO of Kraft/Heinz saying there's fundamentally no long-term shortage, that they are looking at additional suppliers, and they're working hard to get their products to the retailers. Another CEO letter came today from the head of one of my local supermarkets pretty much saying the same thing. That's all well and good, and I sort of believe it. But still the shelves are bare.
So all we are left with are anecdotes of shortages and promises that there are no shortages, and if there are they're working to sort things out. This is very frustrating. I just looked it up and there are more than 38,000 supermarkets in the US. They're under no obligation to report their shortages to any central location. Also, I don't know how wholesalers allocate their inventory. I mean, are high income zip codes given priority because they can move more product in such areas? What about military commissaries and exchanges and such? Are they running out of TP and canned goods? These are issues we have not really had to think about for a very long time (if at all, come to think of it). But I wonder if the pandemic modeling that has been done has taken food issues into account.
Bottom line, from my perspective, is that unless inventory is restocked relatively quickly and more frequently, at least for now, we're going to have more runs on products because we believe/know that they are going to be out of stuff pretty quickly again.
On the plus side, and I've mentioned this before, the stuff on the perimeters of my local grocery stores are mostly pretty well stocked: fresh produce, meat/fish, milk, dairy, and deli. Granted, the supply chain for refrigerated goods has to be different. But, on a macro level, no one is going to starve until "They" tell us we can't even go out to the grocery store. Yes, I know, this may be irrelevant to low income people for whom fresh food is something of a luxury.
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