Post actual shortages here.

[JohnLudi]

This DOES seem like a good idea.

As shipping seems to be grinding to a halt, it may be a good idea for members to post any actual shortages they are seeing in their normal day-to-day (not online) environments.  So, ideally, this would be based on what you've experienced yourselves and not something you read online or heard from a friend of a friend.

It would be a way for the rest of us to have an up to date heads-up on items that we may want to stock up on in the event they disappear off the shelves in some locations before others.

So here could be a place to do it.

Mods: move this if you think it belongs elsewhere.

[JohnLudi]

Actually...I'll start as this totally slipped my mind.

I doubt this has as much to do with shipping as it might have to do with people wising up (the tiny fraction of people who are capable of doing so):

While I was at WalMart looking for the non-available winter wear, I stopped off where they normally keep the home canning supplies (I wanted some canning wax)...the shelves were pretty much empty...just a couple boxes of pectin.

I asked a guy working there if they had any canning wax and he said "all that stuff there has sold out in the past few weeks and we haven't got any more in yet".

Hmmmmmmmm...

[guitarguy423]

my wife reported a shortage of John Deere customers.
Their factory 'peak season' that starts now just got cut in half.
Dealers cannot move inventory.

That'll be the biggest shortage of all: customers.

[trukfixr]

    Went to the local potato shipping warehouses - 14 of them - trying to round up some work (have had only 1 call in 22 days).2 were shut down,there was only 1 truck loading at 1 warehouse.The rest were truck free.Was told by workers at one place that they had 10 empty bins (100 truckloads) less than normal.That's just 1 warehouse!Was told harvest was bad,many farmers decided they couldn't afford to plant this year.Peak potato's,anyone?

[forager]

My local supermarket in Northern Michigan hasn't had dry beans the last few times I shopped there. Only started looking for beans there about a month ago. Maybe they never carry them, but I would find that odd. Michigan has a near record low production of dry beans this year as well.

 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mda/drybeanrprt_251851_7.pdf

[tmulk]

Absolutely no Fruit Fresh to be had anywhere in our city.  Amazon can't even get it (for those unfamiliar with canning methods, Fruit Fresh is Absorbic acid, used to prepare fruit before canning, to keep it from browning).  This in my mind is definately a sign of the times.  One of our large groceries, (Dillons Food Store) says they have been out for weeks, can't get it in, but keep ordering it anyway.  Amazon has fruit fresh for veggies, but not for fruit. 

If you can and cannot get fruit fresh, you can use lemon juice instead, or a vitamin C tab mixed up in some water, to preserve the fruit and keep it from darkening.

This tells me that many, many, many people have woke up to the fact that something is going on, even if they don't really get WHAT that something is, and many are canning now, possibly for the first time in their lives.

A sign of the times.

[Air Colorado]

Northeastern part of Boulder County Colorado - for the week staring Oct 26:

- Any large pressure canner/cooker (I found ONE - the last one)
- bulk rice packaged over 10 lbs
- Odorless lamp oil (premium price if found)
- Pressure cooker spare parts (seals, gauges)

The list goes on I'm sure, but these are things I had trouble finding myself. I'll add as my wife or I notice others...  Of the above, I'm sure some of it is simply that various stores don't normally stock a bunch and suddenly there's demand. The rice is perplexing though.  I had to grab up four 10 lb bags but that was the last of it at King Soopers anyway.

[builder0005]

Did notice at the local walmart that they were out of mason jars. But just found junck dealer with like a thousand in the attic am going to talk to the owner and see how much they want for them all sizes. Also noticed that the local target is facing all the toys in the toy dept with alot of space behind doesn't look good for christmas.

[honey]

Good idea!

Could this canning supplies stuff be seasonal? I panicked twice this fall on "shortages", and both were probably seasonal - once BP-5 was out of stock at my usual suppliers, I was told this happens every fall because the alpine huts are storing emergency rations for the winter (but if they know that happens every year, why don't they stock more?). The other time, October 7th panic, I could get no flour, sugar or iodized salt and grabbed the last packs of coffee and dry yeast at the local supermarket. Might have been nothing but the first round of soccer-mom-baking-frenzy? I regret now that I didn't ask, but that stuff (apart from the coffee, of course) is not usually shipped from overseas (one hopes …)? It was scary, anyway.

[Ecotopia Now]

Did notice at the local walmart that they were out of mason jars. But just found junck dealer with like a thousand in the attic am going to talk to the owner and see how much they want for them all sizes. Also noticed that the local target is facing all the toys in the toy dept with alot of space behind doesn't look good for christmas.

I worked at Target for eight years, and that is pretty standard practice this time of year.  They hold the toys in the DCs then push them out to the stores in massive quantities so that the stores don't have to store them until "shopping season" starts.  They aim to stuff the stockroom in the weeks leading up to black friday.  The replenishment this year will probably be light, so if there's something you really want, buy it when you see it.  I shop the year ahead when the toys go 75% off, and am bummed that there probably won't be much left when its that cheap.

As for home canning, I currently work in a bookstore, and we had customers every day looking for books on canning.  I've never seen such demand!  We also have sold more than usual amounts of the "eat cheap" kinds of cookbooks, the back to basics no frills cooking.

[tmulk]

I've never, in my lifetime seen every store out of fruit fresh.  And the fact that Amazon is out too, is worrisome.  I don't think it's seasonal.

[731]

Okay, I give up.  I can't stand it any longer.  It was I who bought all the Fruit Fresh.

[Arabi]

You may want to try Frontier Herb Co-op for your bulk asorbic acid. They sell both whole sale and retail bulk herbs/spices, pretty much anything. Its listed as citric acid, 1# pkg $9.90 US

Here's the link.
http://www.frontiercoop.com/

I've been dealing with them for about 10 yrs now and have never had a problem.

[Winston]

Today I went down to my local supermarket and what do you know all the shelves were totally empty

Thats normal as I live in Zimbabwe you can however find anything you want on the black market, crisis can = opportunity if you are awake

[Aelah]

Haven't noticed shortages here yet. Shelves are fully stocked, but Costco had one heck of a line for gas today ($2.47/gal). The thing that struck me though, nearly all the vehicles were turning off their engines while waiting. It was oddly quiet for such a huge line of vehicles.