Stores running out of goods? No Credit

reply to post by amatrine[/url]The Ghost Fleet Of the Recession.


You should have a look at a thread by Loam :
The ghost fleet of the recession

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

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This picture speaks for itself.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/efe9d6ff6226.jpg[/atsimg]

Are you serious? I'd like to know what percentage of the world's cargo ships those few boats would be.

Also, here in Michigan, everything is normal at the super-markets. In fact, Meijer's has recently done an absolutely amazing re-modeling job in the Ann Arbor (Jackson Road) store. It's by far my favorite super-market, for both it's size and selection of goods.

reply to post by amatrine


This is just a part of the "financial chain" where weakness shows late.

A large store buys in from cheap suppliers, but invariably, cheap suppliers keep their costs low by running on a shoe-string budget, so when the economy suffers, they need urgent help. The banks are not lending to them, so they have to cut back on staff. They can't order materials to manufacture their goods either, because the same is happening to their suppliers, and so on...

This is just starting now because there's been a backlog of goods built up by large stores on the "sales expectation" or on forecasts of future sales. Now those stocks are running out.

Basically, producers and manufacturers cannot afford to create goods in the numbers they were, so the large stores are running low.

Transport companies have been having problems for years, so this is affecting them badly, especially in Europe. Obviously if the deliveries are not frequent, or stop entirely (due to a smaller transport company going under) this will affect everything from bananas to bedding.

But, don't worry, the economy is back on track, all the politicians are telling me so. It must be true!

reply to post by UmbraSumus


With employment, as low as it is most people were planning on regifting or making gifts. Christmas giving is reciprocal; meaning many unemployed people will refuse to accept gifts, because they can not give equally.

havent really noticed it so much in the food or retail side of things, but being a plumbing contractor, dont think that you will even get a 3/4 black iron union within 3 business days. my god any kind of metal parts and plumbing fixtures are all on 3 to 5 week orders. here is a funny story did a underground gas job, which i only needed 3 sticks of piping, it took me to go to over 13 plumbing supply houses to get the very last chunck of machine coated 3/4 inch black iron pipe. what is funnier they werent plan on reordering it.
btw idaho here!

Yes! i thought i was the only one seeing this, walmart harissteter . i new this was comming but to see it start happening is crazy so that means the worst is almost here

reply to post by UmbraSumus


well its all made in china any way that garbage , you remember what happen last year with china trash they tried to kill our pets and kids yeah let them ships stay right thier

I didn't make the mental connection to transportation before, but since it was brought up...

I still maintain contact with my truckin' buddies even though I don't drive a truck at present. Here's what they are telling me:

• Trucking companies are cutting back on their fleets. There are now hundreds, maybe thousands of new trucks without drivers and no plan to put drivers in them. They just sit in the terminals waiting.
  
  
• Driver incentives are being cut back. Vacations at Celadon were recently cut in half, several companies have asked drivers to take rate cuts, and several companies are no longer allowing home time while in the truck (drivers have to use personal vehicles to move from the terminal to their home).
  
  
• Fuel is being tightened up on. In addition to making drivers pay for their home time commute, most companies now have anti-idling incentives (although there is still a lack of APUs on the trucks
  ), use computerized routing, and use computerized fuel stop planning. I doubt the latter two actually save any fuel, but they apparently make the companies feel like they're saving something...
  
  
• This is apparently to offset low amounts of freight. There is still freight, but a lot of companies are hurting because the freight is sporadic at best. Of course, this is hurting the drivers as well. I am hearing of teams that make less miles per week than I used to make solo.
  
  
• In order to keep even the sporadic freight, many companies are now taking cuts in their rates as well, another reason why driver pay and benefits have gone down.
  
  
• Everyone is cutting their driving force back. There are still decent driving jobs if you have a clean DAC, if you have a perfect MVR, and if you have a great reference from previous employers. Anything else and you need to find a temporary career until this blows up... er, I mean over...

It appears that the shortages may be happening all over and just not yet becoming noticeable in some areas yet.

Oh, and for the poster who mentioned WalMart aisles being larger, I have noticed that here as well. The floor displays are occasional instead of being a regular feature as well.

TheRedneck

We have no shortages on anything here in the sunny south east.

We also have a growing season 11 months out of the year. We could probably grow something in January but who wants to garden all 12 months of the year.

And Florida grows some fine beef. We have chicken farms, pig farms, and nut and fruit growers within a 200 mile limit of my home. And the fresh rivers and Atlantic ocean are good suppliers of seafood.

If you have one arm, one leg and one eye and are able to get around on a crutch there should be no reason to starve here in God's country.

There is also an abundance of distilleries around these parts and a the homemade stuff is everywhere.

Now who won the civil war? I say this because the Yanks keep coming south and buying our trinkets and keep us well supplied with cash to purchase anything available.

Yes, even our brothers and sisters from Canada are frequent visitors here.

I believe the south will be the last to have problems with having empty shelves.

Y'all come on down there's plenty of room and help wanted signs on store windows.

Originally posted by ualredyknow
Yes! i thought i was the only one seeing this, walmart harissteter . i new this was comming but to see it start happening is crazy so that means the worst is almost here

I suspect the "remodels" at Wal Mart are more about the problems in shipping overseas (i.e. from China) and less about credit, which I'm sure is not a problem Wal Mart has.

There are a few ATS threads about the shipping crisis.

reply to post by dizziedame


Florida is right behind California with state financial issues. Its not as gravy as you would make it out to be.

Well, if your loving government cared, they would recommend people to grow their own food...

But no. You all have to work to pay for gas so you can go to work again, so you can buy overpriced food you could be growing yourself... Wonderful!

[edit on 4-10-2009 by Time=Now]

reply to post by Jessicamsa


Where in Kentucky? The Danville Walmat has plenty of everything. No empty shelves. They were out of Zesta Saltines last week, but the shelves weren't empty, just other brands filling the space. Today, though, I bought my beloved Zesta Saltines.

One thing I do want to note, though. Usually, this time of year the men's clothing section is filled with long sleeved shirts, but T-shirts are still hanging on the racks, as well as short sleeved shirts.

reply to post by Miraj


DICKS! They made me mad as hell. I went for a spare set of under armour - gloves $45, cold weather shirts $60, jacket $80, hat $30. I went up to the counter and told them they were insane. I took pictures with my phone, (security didn't like me at this point) and went on Ebay and bought every item for under $80 total!

The merchandise stores I don't see a lot of traffic in, shelves are full. No problems at the groceries either. Ma and pa shops are dropping like flies, I support em where possible but they are to damn expensive.. on the weekends every bar and club I'm at has a line out the door.

And I live in a city at the top unemployment too.. but only certain areas seem more effected than others. Imo a lot of it has to do with unemployed people going on benefits at the same time, and will run out at the same time.

I'm fortuneate enough to get me self a crappy job, but hey its 40 hrs a week which is damn near unheard of these days.

I can't imagine Walmart would have trouble with their line of credit. Most likely the ship from China is late.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Tennessee here, yes I have noticed the empty shelves. I took my mother in law shopping last week and we could not believe it. My regualr grocier was out of spaggetti again, and cabage, there was no cabage? I have been noticing times of sporatic shortages in everything from vitamins to tuna. I am relieved I am not the only one noticing most folks look at me like I am nuts when I mention it.

Hey there fellow Redneck... LOL... My husband is a truck driver and has been for 17 years and he is out of work and cannot find work yet (its been almost a year). He has a perfect record, he was a good employee, never missed work and he was loyal he only worked at 3 places his whole life. Point is if he can't find work trucking or in the construction field then I cannot imagine anyone being able to find work. He has so many connections in both industries we never imagined him of all people without work.



[edit on 5-10-2009 by Melissa101]

Empty shelves are a classic sign of economic decay: Weimar-Era germany, Post-WWII Austria, Argentina...not to mention more dire straits, like Zimbabwe.

The Soviets used to wait in line two hours to buy whatever the grocer had that particular day. Sometimes it was salted ham, sometimes canned tuna, sometimes just good ole' fashioned bread and salt. Soumetimes you never knew what dinner was going to be till you got to the head of the line. And while you were waiting in line, you could always read the Pravda...what passed for the Mainstream Media back in the USSR. "Good news, comerades! Bauxite production at the People's Smelting Factory #267 is up 599%! Prosperity keeps climbing!"

Starting to sound a little uncomfortably close to the direction we're headed, isn't it? We ain't there yet, but give us 3-5 years and it might sound even more familiar.

This is the time of year when everyone is doing all the Christmas stuff,' he points out. 'A couple of years ago those ships would have been steaming back and forth, going at full speed.

But now you've got something like 12 per cent of the world's container ships doing nothing.' Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

12 % of the world shipping fleet anchored, possibly rising to 25 % within two years .

Some experts believe the ratio of container ships sitting idle could rise to 25 per cent within two years in an extraordinary downturn that shipping giant Maersk has called a 'crisis of historic dimensions'. Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

This time last year, an Aframax tanker capable of carrying 80,000 tons of cargo would cost £31,000 a day ($50,000). Now it is about £3,400 ($5,500). Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

From $ 50,000 a day to $5,500 a day .........

Originally posted by amatrine
Anyone else seeing this?

The last two months the stores here have been going from bad to worse.


Now I wanted to buy a comforter for my bed. Wallmart had a total of 6 bed spreads in the entire store, shelves empty. I asked, and they said there would not be another restock for a month! So I goto kmart, same thing, empty shelves. I finally found one at Frys home store.

My my how you are suffering you poor old American Thang!! My God, your Country per head of population, has been consuming more resources than any other Nation on Earth. 25 obscene per cent to be exact. Try living in Ethiopia or Bangladesh and see how its like to survive. They have nothing.

Originally posted by stevegmu
I can't imagine Walmart would have trouble with their line of credit. Most likely the ship from China is late.

What people are missing here is that Walmart doesn't manufacture all of what it sells, does it?

Even if it has a "Walmart" label on it, it's likely manufactured by a small company and then packaged for Walmart.

It's all very good saying Walmart are not having financial problems themselves, but what about the smaller companies they buy in from? They are having financial problems.

The Ma & Pa stores going under in large numbers are the same sorts of companies supplying the big chains. They can't secure the money and credit to buy materials for manufacture, and they are having to cut back on production.

Walmart makes orders in bulk based on expected sales, so they may even be deliberately cutting back on specific items based on a previous forecast that they won't sell many in a struggling economy.

Then you have the shipping and haulage companies cutting back too, or simply going out of business.
This affects everyone from manufacturing companies to the bulk buyers like Walmart.

Walmart will have stock in some regions, probably in locations where their stores are larger and sales higher in the past. But there will be an availability problem on a lot of goods simply because of all the factors that caused businesses to cut back or go out of business a couple of months ago.

If anyone can find data on when small business closures were at a peak, you'll see a pattern. If in July/August there was a peak of businesses in manufacture going under, supplies of their items will be missing from the shelves of the larger retail chains who buy from them a couple of months later, unless they found another supplier.

Produce growers will face similar problems but their time scale is different so that would be seen more immediately.

It's really just common sense. If the smaller businesses are struggling to make ends meet and going under in record numbers, the people who buy from them will face a shortage. Walmart is nothing more than a middle man, buying in bulk from them at low prices and selling on to you.