Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

[MadHungarian]

On the plus side, the Fe$tool TS 75 Tracksaw is finally available again!
Of course it's not like i can afford any lumber, to cut with my new tracksaw. Or the gas to pick up that lumber. But who worries about little details like that...

[tooluser]

Frozen Brussels sprouts.

Such a shame. I grew up on those. I had never seen a fresh Brussels sprout until I left home and moved 2000 miles away. I have always liked them, but fresh are better and more versatile. A 2-pound bag is regularly available at Costco!

Around me there has been a shortage of pre-prepared frozen breakfast items for the past year or so. They are never completely out of all of them, but the shelves are always only half full. I don't buy many of these, but it's jarring to walk down a fully stocked freezer aisle that is always half empty in that one spot.

[MrWasabi65]

magnesium glycerophosphate - as far as I can tell, only manufactured by one company located in France. Before 2021, was stocked at many grocery and drugstore chains - now, not to be found

[Mudpuppy]

Frozen Brussels sprouts.

Such a shame. I grew up on those. I had never seen a fresh Brussels sprout until I left home and moved 2000 miles away. I have always liked them, but fresh are better and more versatile. A 2-pound bag is regularly available at Costco!

Around me there has been a shortage of pre-prepared frozen breakfast items for the past year or so. They are never completely out of all of them, but the shelves are always only half full. I don't buy many of these, but it's jarring to walk down a fully stocked freezer aisle that is always half empty in that one spot.

On the Brussels sprouts, fresh on the stalk supposedly tastes even better and lasts a bit longer, but I rarely see that option in the store except during the holidays at Trader Joe's, which coincides with the prime harvesting season. Of course, they take up more space when on the stalk, so that's probably why they sell the sprouts without the stalks most of the time. Still, it would be nice to see, as it's supposed to have far more benefits. I also think kids would find Brussels sprouts a lot more fun and interesting if they saw them on the stalk prior to being cooked.

On the frozen breakfast items, I hear you. It took ages for my local stores to get the regular sized Eggo frozen pancakes back in stock. The other brand of frozen pancakes was very dry and the Eggo mini pancakes are just more annoying to me than "fun sized". I finally found the regular size the other week and had to restrain myself to buy a single box, so I didn't take up all the freezer space with Eggo boxes.

[coalcracker]

Iodinated contrast agents (used for CT scans and cardiac caths) have been affected by production shutdowns in China. My hospital system is, quite literally, rationing our remaining supply. I've been getting daily calls asking if it's OK to skip contrast injection on a CT in which it would normally be used. We are doing emergency CT scans without contrast whenever possible.

Supposedly production will resume sometime in June, but at least our healthcare system will be very low or out of contrast before then. I'm not holding my breath. This will have a negative impact on patient care, if it hasn't already.

[homebuyer6426]

Still can't find the cheaper and more delicious white grapefruit juice at my grocery store. Used to drink that by the gallon, but the red stuff doesn't taste good to me.

But, the inflatable pool I've bought several times is finally down from it's ridiculous 4x price rise. Ordering one today while I still can. Much cheaper than air conditioning, and more relaxing!

[Atgard]

Still can't find the cheaper and more delicious white grapefruit juice at my grocery store. Used to drink that by the gallon, but the red stuff doesn't taste good to me.

But, the inflatable pool I've bought several times is finally down from it's ridiculous 4x price rise. Ordering one today while I still can. Much cheaper than air conditioning, and more relaxing!

I noticed anything relating to above-ground pools (including vacuums, leaf skimmers, etc.) was marked up to, as you say, 4x normal price for a while in Summer 2020. Not sure if it had anything to do with a shortage, or just legalized price gouging.

[jadedfalcons]

Still can't find the cheaper and more delicious white grapefruit juice at my grocery store. Used to drink that by the gallon, but the red stuff doesn't taste good to me.

But, the inflatable pool I've bought several times is finally down from it's ridiculous 4x price rise. Ordering one today while I still can. Much cheaper than air conditioning, and more relaxing!

I noticed anything relating to above-ground pools (including vacuums, leaf skimmers, etc.) was marked up to, as you say, 4x normal price for a while in Summer 2020. Not sure if it had anything to do with a shortage, or just legalized price gouging.

It was price gouging. I'm far from an authority figure on pool stuff, but I do have a 10' section of pool supplies at the end of one of my lawn & garden aisles. Supplies are still really short, but cost hasn't really gone up all that much in the last three years.

A fantastic example is a Royal Canin Bulldog food I sell for $81.99 a bag. I'm out of stock (pork shortage.) Chewy has it for $93.99 a bag. Out of stock as well. There's a third party seller on Amazon selling it. $158.23. In stock. Guess you can get what you want if somebody wants it bad enough and you're the only one who has it...

[Mudpuppy]

A fantastic example is a Royal Canin Bulldog food I sell for $81.99 a bag. I'm out of stock (pork shortage.) Chewy has it for $93.99 a bag. Out of stock as well. There's a third party seller on Amazon selling it. $158.23. In stock. Guess you can get what you want if somebody wants it bad enough and you're the only one who has it...

In this particular situation, I'd be concerned about not just price gouging, but selling expired, near-expired, damaged, or counterfeit goods. But then I'm very reluctant to buy anything consumption-related (food, supplements, etc.) from Amazon unless it ships directly from the manufacturer. The storage conditions alone are variable enough to make me reluctant (I've received hair conditioner where the oils had gone rancid from Amazon repeatedly in the past), much less the counterfeit concerns.

[DVMResident]

Iodinated contrast agents (used for CT scans and cardiac caths) have been affected by production shutdowns in China. My hospital system is, quite literally, rationing our remaining supply. I've been getting daily calls asking if it's OK to skip contrast injection on a CT in which it would normally be used. We are doing emergency CT scans without contrast whenever possible.

Supposedly production will resume sometime in June, but at least our healthcare system will be very low or out of contrast before then. I'm not holding my breath. This will have a negative impact on patient care, if it hasn't already.

CT contrast agent shortage is hitting our group as well. Really painful.

It’s reminds me of the saline shortage a few years back. I was just in shock and thinking “how did we run out of salt water?” Signs of saline shortage are coming back. Our supply chains depend on such few and specialized suppliers in ways I can’t comprehend.

[likegarden]

I always go shopping at Walmart for our family of 4 adults and notice a shortage of facial tissue boxes. Last time I saw several large size ones on metal shelf 4 and climbed up there in spite of my arthritis. It seems that labor can not be found easily, causing shipping problems. One day there was only a single employee here at one McDonalds.

[Sagefemme]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

[stoptothink]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

I've heard some horror stories. Apparently stores are beginning to put baby formula behind locked counters because theft is getting out of control.

[Sagefemme]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

I've heard some horror stories. Apparently stores are beginning to put baby formula behind locked counters because theft is getting out of control.

And I think some legislation is being pushed through to stop price gouging. There are those who would seek to profit from this awful situation, of course.

[homebuyer6426]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

I've heard some horror stories. Apparently stores are beginning to put baby formula behind locked counters because theft is getting out of control.

And I think some legislation is being pushed through to stop price gouging. There are those who would seek to profit from this awful situation, of course.

It is often not easy to distinguish price gouging from normal market forces of supply and demand. Especially in a time of supply shortages. The definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

[stoptothink]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

I've heard some horror stories. Apparently stores are beginning to put baby formula behind locked counters because theft is getting out of control.

And I think some legislation is being pushed through to stop price gouging. There are those who would seek to profit from this awful situation, of course.

It is often not easy to distinguish price gouging from normal market forces of supply and demand. Especially in a time of supply shortages. The definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

We are seeing countless examples of this right now; "price gouging" clearly is not as simple as some want us to believe.

[ScubaHogg]

Infant formula! I read that parents are diluting the powdered formula to make it go further, and driving hours to try to get formula. This is truly alarming.

We are insanely thankful ours just graduated from formula.

[jebmke]

This is an odd one. I live in farm country. I've heard a couple of farm types say that there is a shortage of composted cow manure which they use to increase organic matter in the local clay soil.

[homebuyer6426]

This is an odd one. I live in farm country. I've heard a couple of farm types say that there is a shortage of composted cow manure which they use to increase organic matter in the local clay soil.

I have heard fertilizer is having a shortage (12% of US imported fertilizer comes from Russia), maybe manure is being used as an alternative as it provides some nutrients too.

[jebmke]

This is an odd one. I live in farm country. I've heard a couple of farm types say that there is a shortage of composted cow manure which they use to increase organic matter in the local clay soil.

I have heard fertilizer is having a shortage (12% of US imported fertilizer comes from Russia), maybe manure is being used as an alternative as it provides some nutrients too.

Could be; they also use a lot of chicken litter (this is "Big Chicken" country). Don't know how the culls due to avian flu are affecting the chicken population. Obviously if that is dramatically down, the quantity of litter would be down too.

[tim1999]

Golf push carts.

Update on this one. The shortage is over. I think the manufacturers over-rebounded a bit from the shortage and the brick and mortar as well as online stores seem to be completely stocked with some sale prices available. I think everyone who never had a push cart and wanted one since the start of the pandemic probably now has one already, so sales are basically to people upgrading or to replace old broken ones. I've also noticed a ton of dirt cheap (<$70) junky Chinese push carts have come on the market in the last year or so.

[quantAndHold]

Shredded carrots. For weeks now. We have had to grate our own carrots.

The horror!

[firebirdparts]

This is an odd one. I live in farm country. I've heard a couple of farm types say that there is a shortage of composted cow manure which they use to increase organic matter in the local clay soil.

I have heard fertilizer is having a shortage (12% of US imported fertilizer comes from Russia), maybe manure is being used as an alternative as it provides some nutrients too.

I bet so.

Fertilizer will be short world-wide for some time, as long as everybody is mad at Russia. Basic chemicals in Europe depend highly on russia, and they're going to buy ammonia from everywhere else. It's a global commodity and it'll be short everywhere. One good news item there is that all these solar/wind-powered electrolysis green ammonia plants being built will actually be profitable if they can get online while the price is still sky high.

It just makes you realize there sure are a lot of things that have to go right to avoid starving. A bunch of them.