Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

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Mudpuppy
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

atikovi wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 8:59 pm Rubber gloves. Hate to work on a car without them. Every place is out of stock now.
That's understandable. Disposable gloves are being redirected for medical purposes. Reusable gloves are probably having an increase in demand due to people having to clean their own houses and do their own household projects. The market for reusable gloves might stabilize soon, but I would assume disposable gloves will be redirected for medical purposes for quite some time to come.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by obafgkm »

hillman wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:24 am Jif Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

We've lucked out a few times, but it has been consistently sold out over the past four months.
I haven't been able to find Simply Jif peanut butter. Prefer to use that than natural on a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Also, Soy Boy Extra-Firm Tofu was nowhere to be found (until July 16 - yesterday) at Wegman's.

I had purchased a jar of yeast in late February because I had just run out, so I suppose it all balances out.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Kennedy »

Kraft SPIRAL mac 'n cheese
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ams-texas »

Nabisco Easy Cheese - American flavor (squirt cheese with the blue lid). After 3 stores finally found some at Walmart. Bought 6 cans.
.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ams-texas »

Nabisco Easy Cheese - American flavor (squirt cheese with the blue lid). After 3 stores finally found some at Walmart. Bought 6 cans.
.
Texgal17
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Texgal17 »

Mudpuppy wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:32 pm
atikovi wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 8:59 pm Rubber gloves. Hate to work on a car without them. Every place is out of stock now.
That's understandable. Disposable gloves are being redirected for medical purposes. Reusable gloves are probably having an increase in demand due to people having to clean their own houses and do their own household projects. The market for reusable gloves might stabilize soon, but I would assume disposable gloves will be redirected for medical purposes for quite some time to come.
I just snagged a box of 200 count nitrile disposable gloves, one size fits most, at Walmart in the medical supply aisle. I have small hands so they worked for me.....also, had trouble finding disinfectant wipes too.....
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by jebmke »

ams-texas wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:49 pm Nabisco Easy Cheese - American flavor (squirt cheese with the blue lid). After 3 stores finally found some at Walmart. Bought 6 cans.
.
I used it all to patch my driveway.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Yooper »

WASR-10, new. Seriously. I'd put off getting one forever, and for some reason decided to bite the bullet about a month ago. Can't seem to find them anywhere.
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tooluser
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tooluser »

Hens' teeth are as scarce as hens' teeth!
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tooluser
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tooluser »

jebmke wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:11 pm
ams-texas wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:49 pm Nabisco Easy Cheese - American flavor (squirt cheese with the blue lid). After 3 stores finally found some at Walmart. Bought 6 cans.
.
I used it all to patch my driveway.
Walmart is the best place to buy knock-off Easy Cheese. It's called Cheese Wow! and is every bit as convenient and delicious.
To purchase alongside the Stallion of Cheeses, buy the big bag of Bugles for about $3.00 and you can call it a week!
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ResearchMed
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

tooluser wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:19 pm
jebmke wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:11 pm
ams-texas wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:49 pm Nabisco Easy Cheese - American flavor (squirt cheese with the blue lid). After 3 stores finally found some at Walmart. Bought 6 cans.
.
I used it all to patch my driveway.
Walmart is the best place to buy knock-off Easy Cheese. It's called Cheese Wow! and is every bit as convenient and delicious.
To purchase alongside the Stallion of Cheeses, buy the big bag of Bugles for about $3.00 and you can call it a week!
After you patch the driveway with Cheese Wow! you could clean up with a ShamWow ?
If you can find one, of course...

RM
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Saving$
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Saving$ »

5/4 treated deck boards are impossible to come by - you can order now for late August delivery. Everyone is apparently replacing their deck boards at the same time that Covid is slowing down the supply chain, along with slightly higher than usual incidence of people building new decks. There is a slightly reduced supply of treated framing, but the problem is mostly deck boards...

For awhile, a decent laptop with Win10 Pro was 4-6 weeks out. Many people needed Win10 Pro to work from home due to corporate security policies.
Office chairs were in short supply - after a few weeks people working from home wanted to upgrade from the dining room chair...

Some cabinet shops claim to have slowed down due to social distancing.
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Tubes
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Tubes »

Saving$ wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:13 pm Some cabinet shops claim to have slowed down due to social distancing.
Cabinet shops have also been slowed by supply chain issues. Hinges are in short supply due to both demand, and production disruption.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by SpaghettiMonster »

That’s funny. I saw the title of this thread and wanted to post that I had a hard time finding an inflatable kayak. Then I click and see the first post!

But yes, I was looking at the $150-200 range and they are sold out everywhere. Eventually I found a nicer more durable, but more expensive one ($450) at a little store in Maine that shipped out that same day. It’s been surprisingly easy to use.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by chemocean »

Screen mesh for repairing window screens.
The DYIs are getting to the bottom of their 'to-do' list
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by mkc »

InMyDreams wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 11:14 am
Tubes wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 5:40 am Still no yeast at the stores we do curbside pickup. Yeast prices on Amazon have gotten better, almost normal, at bulk sizes. There's a brand they sell called "saf-instant." Never heard of it. Tried it, and it works great.
You could also ask your local bakery if they will sell you some of theirs. Some health departments allow it, some don't. Of course, it will be the larger package. I also bought flour from my local bakery.
I have a family member who owns a wholesale baking operation. The problem (apparently) has not been a shortage of product, but a shortage of consumer-packaged product. IIRC, something like 95% of the mills' production goes into food-service sized packaging, and only 5% into consumer packaging - the production lines just aren't designed to scale up for consumer packages.

In some states, a food business is required to have a licence to repackage (at least in NYS where he is they do). His bakery has been able to repackage flour and yeast to sell at smaller markets in his area. He isn't set up to do retail, so he wholesales it to the local markets and they sell direct to consumers. Fortunately, they all seem to be a good bunch and no one is pricing these staples higher than what the supermarkets would if they carried them :happy
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

mkc wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:38 am I have a family member who owns a wholesale baking operation. The problem (apparently) has not been a shortage of product, but a shortage of consumer-packaged product. IIRC, something like 95% of the mills' production goes into food-service sized packaging, and only 5% into consumer packaging - the production lines just aren't designed to scale up for consumer packages.
This seems to be a pretty common reason for the supply issues (shift from bulk/industrial to consumer demand), along with supply chain disruptions and increased demand. It would also be interesting to see how utilities are noting the shift in usage, and I wonder if residential areas with older infrastructure are stressing that infrastructure to the point of breaking.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by shorty313 »

Silk McCue wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:04 am
delamer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:37 am
Silk McCue wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:31 am Claussen Whole Garlic Dill Pickles

The struggle is real.

Cheers
My giggle for the day!

(They sound delicious!)
Glad I could bring a smile to your face.

They are delicious. Claussen Pickles are sold in the refrigerated section of stores because they aren't heat treated or pasteurized.

I didn't know this before I just Googled them, but Epicurious rated their Dill pickles number one followed by Ba-Tampte (also refrigerated and which I am eating in the meantime, but clearly not the as good as Claussen).

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advic ... de-article

Cheers
Claussen is our favorite and it was out at our grocery this week!

We are having difficulties getting pressure treated wood. Guess everyone else is building decks too.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by OldOne »

Thick-sliced pepper bacon from HEB (HEB brand). Best bacon I have ever eaten.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Colorado14 »

There appears to be a graham cracker shortage at local grocery stores, Target, Walmart and online. Chocolate and marshmallows are widely available so I am uncertain if there is s'mores related or not. We had a good laugh at this as we were unaware that this shortage was going on. The staff at Kroger was well away of it and suggested using waffle cones in place of the crackers.

I do have some single serving graham cracker mini pie crusts available to share at the right price. :-)
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Lalamimi »

Skinny Syrups - at least in Caramel Pecan (its a Keto thing)
1" chlorine tablets for above ground pool ( that I thankfully bought last year). They are sold out of pools so they are sold out of the tablets.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by alfaspider »

Lalamimi wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 5:30 pm
1" chlorine tablets for above ground pool ( that I thankfully bought last year). They are sold out of pools so they are sold out of the tablets.
Regular household bleach works just as well.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ralph124cf »

I hadn't been able to get rubbing alcohol since February, but I finally found some at my local CVS pharmacy (two bottles left, rationed one to a customer).

Ralph
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tooluser
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tooluser »

Colorado13 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 4:39 pm There appears to be a graham cracker shortage at local grocery stores, Target, Walmart and online. Chocolate and marshmallows are widely available so I am uncertain if there is s'mores related or not. We had a good laugh at this as we were unaware that this shortage was going on. The staff at Kroger was well away of it and suggested using waffle cones in place of the crackers.

I do have some single serving graham cracker mini pie crusts available to share at the right price. :-)
I bought some Mexican "Cuetara Tostas" crackers at the 99 cents store, thinking they were Ritz knock-offs, as implied by the picture on the box. But they are actually graham crackers, just round. I have been making mini-S'mores with them on my gas stovetop for the past month. "Maria" cookies would also work. I recommend milk chocolate for the S'mores, dark chocolate does not soften enough.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by stan1 »

This is crazy but at our local grocery store the first empty spot on the shelves and the spot that still is mostly empty goes to: Chef Boyardee and Spaghetti-Os.

I'm not a buyer of those, but it is now up to 4 months of empty shelving -- long after Lysol, Charmin, and Bounty products are back in stock.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by TheDDC »

Yooper wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:14 pm WASR-10, new. Seriously. I'd put off getting one forever, and for some reason decided to bite the bullet about a month ago. Can't seem to find them anywhere.
Guns of all varieties are scarce. AR-15s are scarce especially. I was trying to match a friend of mine up with one and finally found a buy on a Diamondback AR online. I would be surprised if it was actually a correct in stock listing. Actually the same listing is now showing as out of stock mere hours later. Wow.

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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Colorado14 »

tooluser wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:12 pm
Colorado13 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 4:39 pm There appears to be a graham cracker shortage at local grocery stores, Target, Walmart and online. Chocolate and marshmallows are widely available so I am uncertain if there is s'mores related or not. We had a good laugh at this as we were unaware that this shortage was going on. The staff at Kroger was well away of it and suggested using waffle cones in place of the crackers.

I do have some single serving graham cracker mini pie crusts available to share at the right price. :-)
I bought some Mexican "Cuetara Tostas" crackers at the 99 cents store, thinking they were Ritz knock-offs, as implied by the picture on the box. But they are actually graham crackers, just round. I have been making mini-S'mores with them on my gas stovetop for the past month. "Maria" cookies would also work. I recommend milk chocolate for the S'mores, dark chocolate does not soften enough.
Thanks for the tips! It's nice to have some substitutes.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by mkc »

Colorado13 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 4:39 pm There appears to be a graham cracker shortage at local grocery stores, Target, Walmart and online. Chocolate and marshmallows are widely available so I am uncertain if there is s'mores related or not. We had a good laugh at this as we were unaware that this shortage was going on. The staff at Kroger was well away of it and suggested using waffle cones in place of the crackers.
One of the BBQ guys I follow, Max Goldwyn (aka Meathead of AmazingRibs) posted about doing s'mores with smashed Krispy Kreme donuts in place of the graham crackers. My teeth hurt just thinking about it ;-)
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by moladybug »

I’ve had a difficult time finding Betty Crocker muffin mix - mostly the blueberry type, but also the cinnamon streusel. I thought everyone was making banana bread or sourdough bread - muffins too??
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Kenkat »

stan1 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:23 pm This is crazy but at our local grocery store the first empty spot on the shelves and the spot that still is mostly empty goes to: Chef Boyardee and Spaghetti-Os.

I'm not a buyer of those, but it is now up to 4 months of empty shelving -- long after Lysol, Charmin, and Bounty products are back in stock.
Not crazy at all - between existing demand from college students and the apocalypse, there’s no possible way to meet demand. Frozen pizza and ramen noodles had a similar problem but that has seemed to stabilize.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by 7eight9 »

Coins. I was in Smith's this morning and they had a sign that they weren't giving change. Found the article below. Looks like they started a couple of days ago.

Kroger and other grocery stores are no longer giving customers change due to the coin shortage sweeping across the US
https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger- ... age-2020-7

Anyone who lives in Wisconsin who has a bunch of coin laying around can make an easy profit by turning it in to Community State Bank.

[WI] Community State Bank: Convert $100 In Coins & Get $5 Bonus
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wi-commu ... t-5-bonus/
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ClevrChico »

I haven't been able to get shrimp for weeks at multiple stores.

Baking yeast is hit and miss.

Good toilet paper ordered online at reasonable prices has been difficult. I scored some today after looking for days.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

ClevrChico wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:22 pm Good toilet paper ordered online at reasonable prices has been difficult. I scored some today after looking for days.
My motto with TP is that any TP is good TP these days. I'm still working on the last rolls of the package I bought in February, but I also purchased single-ply TP a few weeks ago, then was able to get double-ply with my grocery order the other week. Neither were the brand I prefer, but I'm not being choosy on this item at this time.

What I am not looking forward to trying to find is hand soap. I have a pretty bad contact allergy with scented soaps and certain industrial soaps. Back before work-from-home, I had to bring my own soap to work because the work soap turned my hands bright cherry red. And it doesn't take much for that allergy to kick in. I forgot to take soap for a day business trip and ended up with cherry-red hands from their industrial soap.

I'm down to my last month of fragrance-free hand soap from the brand I know my skin can tolerate. I can't find it in stock anywhere. I'm going to have to take a risk on some other fragrance-free hand soap and hope my skin doesn't get upset with it.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:37 pm
ClevrChico wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:22 pm Good toilet paper ordered online at reasonable prices has been difficult. I scored some today after looking for days.
My motto with TP is that any TP is good TP these days. I'm still working on the last rolls of the package I bought in February, but I also purchased single-ply TP a few weeks ago, then was able to get double-ply with my grocery order the other week. Neither were the brand I prefer, but I'm not being choosy on this item at this time.

What I am not looking forward to trying to find is hand soap. I have a pretty bad contact allergy with scented soaps and certain industrial soaps. Back before work-from-home, I had to bring my own soap to work because the work soap turned my hands bright cherry red. And it doesn't take much for that allergy to kick in. I forgot to take soap for a day business trip and ended up with cherry-red hands from their industrial soap.

I'm down to my last month of fragrance-free hand soap from the brand I know my skin can tolerate. I can't find it in stock anywhere. I'm going to have to take a risk on some other fragrance-free hand soap and hope my skin doesn't get upset with it.
Not sure what brand of "sensitive skin" hand soap you've tried, but DH has a medical allergy (worse than "just itchy", etc.), and "Dove Sensitive" is just about the only thing he can tolerate. We travel with several bars, and guard it along with our meds :wink:

As for TP, we are in the "Charmin Ultra Soft" choir... we've been asking for it with shopping delivery services whenever we see it listed. Most of the time, it's not listed (usually no Charmin at all, and now, suddenly, the store brand is running out, too!??). And when it is listed, it's often not really "there" after all.
It would be so much easier if we could just pop into the store whenever out and about, and if it's there, grab some.
But alas, we are never "out and about" anymore, these days :(

Things are generally SO much better than this past spring, but it seems to be getting tight again, and we expect it will get much worse until there is an effective vaccine (far in the future) or a *real* treatment that one can "count on" (which is tricky for any condition, of course).

Good luck finding the right soap. When it is important, it can be REALLY important!

RM
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:54 pm Not sure what brand of "sensitive skin" hand soap you've tried, but DH has a medical allergy (worse than "just itchy", etc.), and "Dove Sensitive" is just about the only thing he can tolerate. We travel with several bars, and guard it along with our meds :wink:

As for TP, we are in the "Charmin Ultra Soft" choir... we've been asking for it with shopping delivery services whenever we see it listed. Most of the time, it's not listed (usually no Charmin at all, and now, suddenly, the store brand is running out, too!??). And when it is listed, it's often not really "there" after all.
For bar soap, it's Dove Sensitive skin for me as well. And it has to be Dove. I made the mistake of grabbing the generic sensitive skin soap once and had to give away the unopened bars to friends and relatives. I still have 4 bars left of my last package of Dove (I accidentally bought two 8-packs during my November stock-up), so I have a bit more time before I need to restock those. I'll probably start looking to see if it's in stock when I'm doing Target and Walmart deliveries, just to be sure I don't run out.

For liquid hand soap, I've been using Method fragrance-free hand soap and I cannot find their fragrance-free hand soap in stock anywhere. They must be prioritizing on their more popular scented products, as I have seen those in stock. Target completely removed the listing for the fragrance-free soap, but I have a "notify me when in stock" alert set on other vendor websites that still have a product page.

And I too travel with both the bar soap and hand soap, plus shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion, and laundry soap that I know don't turn my skin into a lobster look-alike. I often have to check a bag just to bring enough product with me for the trip, since I need more than a allowed in carry-on, although I always carry a back-up 3-day supply in the carry-on just in case the checked luggage is lost.

I hate having to find alternatives though. The last time a company discontinued the shampoo and conditioner I was using, it took me months to find an alternative brand that my skin tolerated. Itching for months on end is pure hell. I did finally find alternatives. On the down side, they're both only sold at one health food store in town, although I can also order them online. On the plus side, the shampoo is sold in gallon-sized bulk containers so I don't have to buy it often.

I'm also in the Charmin Ultra Soft camp, but I'll live with the double-ply Cottonelle that the grocery store substituted for that on the last order. I've seen Charmin Ultra Strong in stock on Target and Walmart occasionally, but not Charmin Ultra Soft.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by tooluser »

Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:37 pm What I am not looking forward to trying to find is hand soap.
You might try contacting your usual manufacturer and see if they have any leads. I think most companies are pretty sympathetic to customers who will actively seek out their product.

If you need it for work purposes, your employer might have some leads as well, through industrial or business-to-business suppliers.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Socal77 »

Small .94 cent aroma candles at Walmart. Great value with effective strength. At Target like 3 bucks for a Glade candle.

Isopropyl alcohol. I've used it for a long time to sanitize my electric razor blades and had to order some online.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

tooluser wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:29 pm
Mudpuppy wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:37 pm What I am not looking forward to trying to find is hand soap.
You might try contacting your usual manufacturer and see if they have any leads. I think most companies are pretty sympathetic to customers who will actively seek out their product.

If you need it for work purposes, your employer might have some leads as well, through industrial or business-to-business suppliers.
Good point.

About 2 months ago, there was a specific brand of canned goods that we suddenly could not find at all... none of their products. So we contacted the manufacturer, and ordered a few cases directly from them.
We got a reply that there would be a bit of a delay. IIRC, the reason had to do with their first filling orders from current customers; fair enough.

And then, a several weeks later, we suddenly found a bunch of large and VERY heavy cases on our front porch.
Since then, that brand was back in the stores until recently. Now, it is totally gone again.
I guess as we eat our way through the current supply, we'll order more. And if it looks like the fall/winter will be even worse than the spring, something we really do fear (and would be delighted to be wrong!), then we'll add extra cases.
Canned goods are among the more stable of our food items, plus we try to rotate stock.
We've always done this, in case of hurricanes or major snow/ice-storms, etc., but not in these quantities.

Strange times.

I'm actually a bit more worried about some meds, including both OTC and prescription meds. And in some cases, very worried.

In the past, with *no* pandemic, there have been some supply disruptions for some specific meds. These included situations where all such meds were affected, not just "brand names". (Some of the ingredients were "temporarily unavailable".). In some such cases, that can be inconvenient, but in other cases, it can be far more serious, or for some, life-threatening. And we can't get more than a 90 day supply of most Rx meds, and in one case, only 30 days at a time, so stockpiling even the most critical can be tricky.
(We can't order another 90-day supply, for example, until shortly before the current 90-day supply is almost used up, so those may not be in much better shape than 30-day supply meds.)

RM
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by clip651 »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:13 pm
I'm actually a bit more worried about some meds, including both OTC and prescription meds. And in some cases, very worried.

In the past, with *no* pandemic, there have been some supply disruptions for some specific meds. These included situations where all such meds were affected, not just "brand names". (Some of the ingredients were "temporarily unavailable".). In some such cases, that can be inconvenient, but in other cases, it can be far more serious, or for some, life-threatening. And we can't get more than a 90 day supply of most Rx meds, and in one case, only 30 days at a time, so stockpiling even the most critical can be tricky.
(We can't order another 90-day supply, for example, until shortly before the current 90-day supply is almost used up, so those may not be in much better shape than 30-day supply meds.)

RM
Check with your pharmacy on the timing for refills.

We have generally found if we get a 30 day supply, we can get the next refill about a week before the 30 days is up. For a 90 day supply, sometimes up to three weeks before the 90 days is up. Do that a couple of times, and you have a 6 week buffer. This may vary with insurance, the particular medications, etc. But worth asking if you are concerned. For meds that would be seriously inconvenient to run out of, we refill at the earliest eligible time when possible.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by ResearchMed »

clip651 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:39 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:13 pm
I'm actually a bit more worried about some meds, including both OTC and prescription meds. And in some cases, very worried.

In the past, with *no* pandemic, there have been some supply disruptions for some specific meds. These included situations where all such meds were affected, not just "brand names". (Some of the ingredients were "temporarily unavailable".). In some such cases, that can be inconvenient, but in other cases, it can be far more serious, or for some, life-threatening. And we can't get more than a 90 day supply of most Rx meds, and in one case, only 30 days at a time, so stockpiling even the most critical can be tricky.
(We can't order another 90-day supply, for example, until shortly before the current 90-day supply is almost used up, so those may not be in much better shape than 30-day supply meds.)

RM
Check with your pharmacy on the timing for refills.

We have generally found if we get a 30 day supply, we can get the next refill about a week before the 30 days is up. For a 90 day supply, sometimes up to three weeks before the 90 days is up. Do that a couple of times, and you have a 6 week buffer. This may vary with insurance, the particular medications, etc. But worth asking if you are concerned. For meds that would be seriously inconvenient to run out of, we refill at the earliest eligible time when possible.
Thanks.
I'll check, but I'm pretty sure that when we get the refill, say a week or so before the old med runs out, the "next refill" date will still be calculated from the original schedule. (Computers make that too easy these days, alas.)
But I'll call our friendly pharmacist (true; not being sarcastic here) and ask if there is a way to force a longer advance buffer as you suggest.

And yes, it may be quite different if we were paying cash vs. billing through insurance. That might be the catch for us. But maybe not, so we'll ask.
Thanks again!

RM
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RetiredAL
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by RetiredAL »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:53 pm
clip651 wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:39 pm
ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:13 pm
I'm actually a bit more worried about some meds, including both OTC and prescription meds. And in some cases, very worried.

In the past, with *no* pandemic, there have been some supply disruptions for some specific meds. These included situations where all such meds were affected, not just "brand names". (Some of the ingredients were "temporarily unavailable".). In some such cases, that can be inconvenient, but in other cases, it can be far more serious, or for some, life-threatening. And we can't get more than a 90 day supply of most Rx meds, and in one case, only 30 days at a time, so stockpiling even the most critical can be tricky.
(We can't order another 90-day supply, for example, until shortly before the current 90-day supply is almost used up, so those may not be in much better shape than 30-day supply meds.)

RM
Check with your pharmacy on the timing for refills.

We have generally found if we get a 30 day supply, we can get the next refill about a week before the 30 days is up. For a 90 day supply, sometimes up to three weeks before the 90 days is up. Do that a couple of times, and you have a 6 week buffer. This may vary with insurance, the particular medications, etc. But worth asking if you are concerned. For meds that would be seriously inconvenient to run out of, we refill at the earliest eligible time when possible.
Thanks.
I'll check, but I'm pretty sure that when we get the refill, say a week or so before the old med runs out, the "next refill" date will still be calculated from the original schedule. (Computers make that too easy these days, alas.)
But I'll call our friendly pharmacist (true; not being sarcastic here) and ask if there is a way to force a longer advance buffer as you suggest.

And yes, it may be quite different if we were paying cash vs. billing through insurance. That might be the catch for us. But maybe not, so we'll ask.
Thanks again!

RM
I concur with clip651. Over the years with many different RX plans, I could always refill early, 5 - 7 days when doing it monthly, and 15 - 21 days for a 3 month supply. And the new renewal date is based on the date of the actual refill.

I've always done this to get 30 - 45 days ahead of running out as a buffer. Then if I'm on vacation, I'm not worrying that I'm a few days late with the refill - I still have weeks worth left.

It helps me sleep well at night.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

ResearchMed wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:13 pm I'm actually a bit more worried about some meds, including both OTC and prescription meds. And in some cases, very worried.
Same here. I have one prescription that has exactly one US supplier. The pharmacy already has to make a special order every 3 months when I refill this prescription. Supply chain disruptions will be problematic. I always make sure to refill it when I get a text that it's authorized for refills, which is usually about 3 weeks before I run out. However, back in April, my doctor's office did not renew the prescription when the pharmacy sent it over due to their adjustment to telemedicine during the pandemic. I can to call the doctor's office multiple times to get the prescription renewed, so I barely got the refill in time. That was just bad timing with the previous prescription running out of refills, but it does give me pause about how this will operate as the pandemic continues on.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by iamlucky13 »

A new addition for me today:

Hog panels. Apparently everyone is building stout fences during the pandemic.
TheDDC wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:28 pm
Yooper wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:14 pm WASR-10, new. Seriously. I'd put off getting one forever, and for some reason decided to bite the bullet about a month ago. Can't seem to find them anywhere.
Guns of all varieties are scarce. AR-15s are scarce especially. I was trying to match a friend of mine up with one and finally found a buy on a Diamondback AR online. I would be surprised if it was actually a correct in stock listing. Actually the same listing is now showing as out of stock mere hours later. Wow.

-TheDDC
Availability has been scarce off-and-on, and it seems like mostly on, for several years. The usual explanation is uncertainty about potential regulatory changes, but I suspect up until the economic effects of the pandemic hit, the strong economy was also a factor.
tooluser wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:12 pm
Colorado13 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 4:39 pm There appears to be a graham cracker shortage at local grocery stores, Target, Walmart and online. Chocolate and marshmallows are widely available so I am uncertain if there is s'mores related or not. We had a good laugh at this as we were unaware that this shortage was going on. The staff at Kroger was well away of it and suggested using waffle cones in place of the crackers.

I do have some single serving graham cracker mini pie crusts available to share at the right price. :-)
I bought some Mexican "Cuetara Tostas" crackers at the 99 cents store, thinking they were Ritz knock-offs, as implied by the picture on the box. But they are actually graham crackers, just round. I have been making mini-S'mores with them on my gas stovetop for the past month. "Maria" cookies would also work. I recommend milk chocolate for the S'mores, dark chocolate does not soften enough.
Graham crackers being in short supply makes sense. They have a long shelf-life and moderately high caloric density, kids seem to like them, and nutritionally, they aren't too bad (a little bit of sugar, but far less than many other snack foods).

Digestive biscuits (a common tea biscuit) seem to be semi-common in the US. The ingredients are different, but I find them overall pretty similar to graham crackers, so you might consider them as an alternative.
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Watty
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Watty »

I was just talking to someone that was going to put an AC into a house to get it ready to sell.

Their normal HVAC company could not give them a bid because they could not get all the part they would have needed.

In addition to supply chain disruptions that could also be related to how R-22(freon) cannot be manufactured after January 1st 2020. This has driven the price so some people that had repairable R-22 AC may have replaced them instead of repairing them.

They sold the house without putting in the AC since their housing market is hot with people trying to buy homes to get out of crowded urban areas.
Last edited by Watty on Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
curmudgeon
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by curmudgeon »

ljb1234 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:39 am
Thegame14 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 10:59 am
megabad wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:45 am baking supplies (ie. yeast).

did everyone start baking geez? We are going to have a lot of bigger folks when no one can buy exercise equipment and everyone is baking like crazy.
yes there is a HUGE baking trend now for people bored at home and are trying to limit going out for food....
Angel Food cake mix. Been out of stock at local stores for weeks. Why, I don't know.

and Bicycles. Very hard to find.
Baking supplies seem to be doing OK here now, but bikes were a real challenge when we wanted a couple recently. Almost no supply of new bikes, and the used market is definitely much higher priced than normal. We ended up paying slightly higher than normal "new" prices for a couple of used, but excellent condition bikes. We could have just waited till next year, but I decided I was willing to pay for the convenience of having them when I wanted them (and being able to try out the fit).
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by Mudpuppy »

iamlucky13 wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:04 pm A new addition for me today:

Hog panels. Apparently everyone is building stout fences during the pandemic.
I wonder if that's tied to an increase in home vegetable gardens, and trying to keep the critters out of said garden. Although hog panels would be awfully short for that purpose. I'd think deer would just hop right over them and rabbits would go between the wires. Rabbits can squeeze through all sorts of fences that try to keep them out. I'm glad the nearest rabbits are currently about half a mile away, and are just escaped domestic rabbits.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by wfrobinette »

ddurrett896 wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:45 am 223 and 300BLK
THats not odd. It's expected.
wfrobinette
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by wfrobinette »

TSR wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:40 am I had a huge amount of trouble finding decent-quality hair clippers on Amazon and other online sources. I ultimately tracked them down a beauty store that does more business to industry professionals and in hair extensions. But it was enough trouble to find them that it sort of makes you doubt some fundamental tenets of micro-economics/capitalism. Sure, it could take a few months to ramp up production, but after five months you can't pump out more of the one thing you sell to keep Target and Amazon supplied with clippers? Talk about a wasted opportunity. I'm sure there's information here I'm missing, but jeez. (And I'm aware that there are different supply chains for things like retail and wholesale food/toilet paper, etc., but that wouldn't seem to apply to this particular consumer item.)
Its called a just in time supply chain. No manufacturer has weeks of raw materials on hand. If they are missing just 1 piece they are stopped from making even 1. it could be as simple as a screw. Once they start making them, they stage then get on a boat for a several week journey to the port, where they again await for customs clearance which is probably still backed up, then shipped to warehouses of the retailers then out to the stores.

I can tell you from experience it can take as much as a 5 month lead time to get things made and over here. I know clothing is different but retailers are buying/making fall of 2021 clothes now.
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by rob »

mkc wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:38 am I have a family member who owns a wholesale baking operation. The problem (apparently) has not been a shortage of product, but a shortage of consumer-packaged product. IIRC, something like 95% of the mills' production goes into food-service sized packaging, and only 5% into consumer packaging - the production lines just aren't designed to scale up for consumer packages.
During the height of the madness here, I was able to grab some 10lb bags of dry pasta in the local supermarket as they were out of those little boxes.... Worked fine and we are working our way thru some of it still; although cooking instructions were scaled to feed 100 people which is funny to read.
| Rob | Its a dangerous business going out your front door. - J.R.R.Tolkien
oxothuk
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Re: Oddly Difficult to Find Items During the Pandemic

Post by oxothuk »

Anchovies. Never an issue before the pandemic but now frequently out of stock at our local King Soopers.

Almost as strange as the pickle shortage.
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