Pandemic fueled supply line shortages plague economy
By JOSH RESNEK
knew I was in trouble two weeks ago when I ordered a half-pound of pastrami to be told by the woman behind the counter at Stop and Shop: “Sorry, we’re out of it and there won’t be any coming in soon, either.”
So I did a switch. I left Stop and Shop and went to my favorite fish market and ordered fresh crab meat. “Sorry, we haven’t had fresh crab meat in weeks,” the woman behind the counter told me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The fuel is too expensive to take out the fishing boats. There aren’t enough men to man the jobs on the boat. There aren’t enough employees at the processing house to shuck the crab and to can it, and there aren’t enough trucks available to deliver it. Bottom line, no crabmeat for you. Why don’t you buy some Gulf Shrimp?” she said to me.
We have all heard news stories about shortages of chips for cars that have caused factories to shut down.
There is a shortage of new cars to sell which has caused the price of used cars to fly through the roof.
Home prices have sky- rocketed as not as many new homes can be built because the price for wood has gone way up.
Homes for sale are outrageously high priced. Of course, if you sell your home you have a pile of money these days – but then – where do you go?
I know a younger couple looking for a home to rent. Well, there are literally no homes for rent and one home this couple recently found for rent, has 25 applicants! The rent is $5,000 a month.
The pandemic slashed demand. Now that demand has returned, the supply chain is broken and unable to fill the giant voids that exist with a variety of prod- ucts at the supermarket.
At the gas stations, we are finding prices soaring because demand is so high and production cannot keep up. In places like England, there is plenty of fuel at gasoline storage facilities but not enough trucks and truckers to deliver it.
How long will this last? No one can say. Inflation is the curse for our economy.
Heating our homes will be expensive this winter. Filling up our automobiles with gasoline is already an outrage. Row after row of empty shelves abounds in nearly all our major supermarkets and smaller groceries.
We are all finding out how high the cost of the pandemic was to us.
Supply chain problems are real.
When is Boar’s Head going to bring my pastrami to the grocery store again?