A few empty store shelves now in the UK

a reply to: Uphill

I have noticed a lot less variety on the meat shelves. All UK supermarkets.

originally posted by: Tulpa
a reply to: Uphill

Not doubting that this ping stupidity hasn't caused problems but did you notice which aisle that photo was taken?
In the middle of one of the hottest weeks this year I'd expect a lot of people to buy bottled water and soft drinks.
For all we know there's a guy with a pallet roller behind the photographer waiting to restock.

I'm sure there are going to be some shortages here and there but in a stage managed media pandemic world we need to be a little more suspicious of the continuous scare stories.

My local supermarket low on household cleaning and cereal.... Plenty of drinks and other things.

a reply to: Uphill

Coffee beans - not ground - not in the shelves in SE UK Tesco or Lidl.

Odd coincidence

a reply to: Uphill

There are shortages and panic buying will only make them worse , the pingdemic is largely to blame but the existing truck driver shortage has been made worse by EU drivers going home , customs checks due to Brexit are also taking longer slowing the International supply chain down.

The haulage industry is long hours and low pay , it's no surprise there's a driver shortage.

originally posted by: gortex

The haulage industry is long hours and low pay , it's no surprise there's a driver shortage.

Too right Gortex and they have tio do it full time concentration 100% no room for errors at all with lives at stake in their massive machines while the rest of us sort of work a little bit, have a blast / banter with the colleages a little bit, chat up the coleagues / try to, sneak off for a quick Benson and Hedges behind the wall with no CCTv a little bit. Lorry drivers just never get these luxeries they are in a very responsible trade

It was on the radio a few weeks ago, some driver phoned it said the whole thing suppressing the wages was a long term scam by Eddie Stobart but who knows yet it wouldn't surprise

a reply to: HawkEyi
That's a really good question. I don't yet know the vaccination status of those in the UK who received the ping.

a reply to: Tulpa You're right, that DW News photo is from the bottled cold drinks aisle, and it's now close to midsummer, so stocks of nonalcoholic drinks will be popular anyway.

a reply to: gortex

No. It's because they are getting pinged with the track and trace nonsense.

a reply to: gortex

You're playing it down whilst telling the truth but the truth is clear.

This has f#ck all to do with Brexit.

I appreciate that it's a tasty morsel to chew on and spit out but it's a big lie.

All of this was planned. Meticulously.

a reply to: burdman30ott6 Yes, the US supply chain has entered the "You Never Know" status, as in You Never Know If It's Going To Be There Or Not.

We recently shopped for automobile coolant. Our regular auto supply store was out of that item. A few weeks later, they were still out. So we started checking other auto supply stores, found some, and bought 2 gallons.

a reply to: Doxanoxa Yes, that reminds me I did see a news story that coffee beans are starting to be in short supply in several places around the world. Then a few weeks later we heard a news report on the car radio that US Starbucks coffee shops were starting to often be out of green tea and other items.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

You're playing it down whilst telling the truth but the truth is clear.

This has f#ck all to do with Brexit.

I appreciate that it's a tasty morsel to chew on and spit out but it's a big lie.

All of this was planned. Meticulously

If that truth is that you don't know what you're talking about then yes it is clear , I'm a Brexit supporter and yes it is partly to do with the driver shortage and drivers being stuck at ports while their loads and paperwork are checked because of Brexit , I've heard of drivers being stuck at Dover for up to 6 hours.

a reply to: gortex

I was referring to local transit. I have family in Wales and their local co-op which they depend on for small grocery shops has empty shelves because their delivery drivers keep getting pinged.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Which is why I said the pingdemic is largely to blame but there are other factors contributing to the shortages , supply chain problems plus panic buying , as seen last year with the great toilet roll shortage , are other contributing factors.

a reply to: gortex

Are they though? Are people really panic buying? Are you or anyone you know and if so why?

Personally I think the pinging and track n trace lark is the 21st equivalent of the air raid warning. There’s a real danger circulating which can and is bringing all countries to consider how best to survive.
Here in the U.K. we’ve experienced the Novichok attack on our soil, although small in nature and highly targeted it brought with it many questions on how to protect the population if a more concerted attack was planned.
The COVID pandemic has offered a real live scenario where infections multiple by transmission through close contact airborne and surface contamination.

It hasn’t surprised me to see governments throughout the world put 2 and 2 together and try and figure out how the hell they would cope with a biological event that is as contagious as COVID when combined with a toxin unlike Novichoc.

Social distancing, stay at home orders enforced by law, soon to be compulsory vaccination, track and trace. As I said, I’m thinking these are the 21st century equivalent of the air raid warning, a warning the air we breathe could be deadly.

a reply to: Wide-Eyes

Are they though? Are people really panic buying?

Not at the level seen last year yet but as products continue to be in short supply people will stock up to avoid being left without.

A ‘perfect storm’ of the current coronavirus NHS app ‘pingdemic’ and existing labour shortages in the haulier industry has resulted in a supply-chain breakdown and caused many British supermarkets to have empty shelves. This has prompted new worries that a repeat of early-pandemic panic-buying could happen again.

The Road Haulage Association has issued statements saying that the UK’s exiting of the EU has contributed to the shortage, with the industry already having a 60,000 shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers before the pandemic. Aside from Brexit causing a drop in applications to drive HGVs on UK roads, the testing at UK-EU borders has also been blamed, with lorry drivers having to pause their journeys to be tested.

Are you or anyone you know and if so why?

I didn't last year and I won't this year , this is a temporary blip in the supply chain that will be resolved.

Tesco last week reported that 48 tons of food is currently being left to rot as fresh goods meant for their stores are not being transported from the warehouses to the supermarkets due to this shortage of lorry drivers.
www.retail-insight-network.com...

a reply to: Wide-Eyes
I'm only one person, but I did a 'panic buy', I call it 'stock up' shopping a month ago because I can see worse to come. Now I just do a 'top up' shop as and when, and that is a very small shop.
Rainbows
Jane

Just a little follow up.
The BP garage which incorporates a M&S food shop I frequent has been low on goods on and off for past few weeks.
BUT TODAY....I popped in for a coffee and a couple of food stuffs and the shelves were basically bare!!! Even the wines/spirits and beer were basically GONE!
Hardly any fresh foods, actually there was more of that than anything else. Their ready meals, hardly any. I was lucky to spot a packet of crisps!!!
This is a busy garage, but out of fuel twice in as many weeks and now the food! It seriously looked that bad that there would be nothing left by the end of today!
Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: gortex

www.retail-insight-network.com...

That only reinforces my original point.

The lack of drivers is because so many of them are getting pinged.

That article mentions nothing about Brexit.