It was a weird feeling today going to a large grocery store and discovering empty shelves in the toilet paper aisle. There wasn’t any name brand TP. The few packages left were brands I’d never heard of.
Do you remember hunting for TP in 2020? I do. I resorted to ordering it from Amazon and it was some very bizarre stuff with Chinese writing that took a month to arrive. At the time, I was shopping for my dad’s groceries and delivering them to him each week since he was 88 years old. He was asking if we could spare a few rolls, since there wasn’t any at the stores.
Bizarre to see that again today. What is up?
The other weird thing I noticed was almost everyone was wearing masks. In Arizona, we have a high vaccination rate, but you don’t have to wear masks anywhere. Well, mostly not anywhere. The exceptions are doctor’s offices and government buildings. I normally see a few elderly people wearing masks and that is all. Today there were only a handful of people NOT wearing masks.
I asked the checker what was up with the toilet paper. She said she’d heard a few things, but wasn’t sure what was true. First, they couldn’t get people to work to make the toilet paper. The other excuse was supply chain issues. How many times have I heard that since 2020? The checker said we’d all be fine if people don’t buy nine packages of toilet paper and just buy what they need. I honestly don’t think I have patience for this again. Do you?
I’m wondering if I’m missing something going on in the news? Is there something happening in Arizona? Are you seeing TP shortages, too? Do your stores have other items out of stock? Does everyone wear masks inside? How do your grocery prices compare to a year ago?
Hmm… no TP shortage here as of yet, although I’m having problems with auto repair places having to order parts that take a long time to get. Most folks wearing masks and gas is a fair bit higher than last year.
We had trouble finding new tires. And our gas is happy higher, too.
There’s so many shortages of things that they are advising to start holiday shopping yesterday.
Oh dear. I didn’t think about that.
To hell with that. There are no shortages of gift cards.
Good point. I didn’t think about gift cards.
In Tennessee I see few fellow maskers, our hospitals are overflowing and TP is getting hard to find.
Oh dear. So it’s happening across the country.
Nope. Not here. Went to three stores today and all three (Walmart, Save-a-lot and Aldi) all had shelves brimming with TP and Paper towels. Went to see my Oncologist today, and the head nurse says there are no shortages of beds in any of the 7 major hospitals in town. Gas went back down to $2.89 a gallon. Here is the difference between Florida and the rest of the country: Desantis. We also have our own deep water ports, so we do not rely on the California ship logjam plaguing the rest of the country. We have no shortage of water, either. Mask wearers are about 50/50.
I am glad to hear all of that. It’s good news.
Congratulations, it is hard to make a written comment ooze with sarcasm, but you managed. Maybe we are just hogging everything. You can forever refer to us as “The Hoarder State”.
I think it’s good we have a bright spot in our country and Florida should be a role model. I was used to empty shelves in CA and was surprised to see them again in AZ.
Me too, except that you rely on California for deep water ports.
I read somewhere that cargo ships are being parked in the middle of the ocean due to a labor shortage. So that could be one of the reasons.
That could be. It was so bizarre to see empty shelves again.
I’m sure it was.
I read that Costco is limiting the amount of toilet paper you can buy so it’s definitely a thing again :). I also think that vaccines are wearing off and there are probably going to be more break through infections until the booster is approved for everyone so masking more makes sense (not fun though!)
That’s interesting about Costco. Also I would hope the vaccines lasted longer. Our neighborhood has social groups that were cancelled when we moved here prior to the vaccine. They decided not to start them up again until sometime in 2022.
I hope they last longer too! Not easy, I hope somehow this all gets better soon..
FYI, I tried to comment on your blog this morning and I got an error message. I couldn’t even like your post. I’ve heard from other bloggers that this happened on my blog too.
Thanks for letting me know – I’ve had times when I can’t access my own blog so maybe they have glitches sometimes? Also, thanks for stopping by!
There are glitches. I wanted to tell you I’m going to try NaNoWriMo 30-day novel writing challenge for November. I am impressed with your focus on health.
Oh, that’s great! That looks challenging but exciting at the same time. I’ll look forward to hearing about it if you do post on it. I would be a couch potato 100% of the time if I didn’t motivate myself somehow :)..
I’m working on the writing prep exercises now. I’ll blog about it, I’m sure. You’ve motivated me to exercise more and eat healthier.
I still wear my mask inside as does many others. Those that don’t get the stink-eye 🤨😷. I haven’t noticed a tp shortage but we are still making our way through what we bought last year 😎. We’d be done by now if more had taken this seriously from the beginning.
I’m not sure we’d be done by now because of the variants.
Variants occur when viruses are allowed to flourish and mutate. They are crafty little buggers 🙂 Stay safe!
Out here in CA we have mask mandates for indoors but a lot of people wear them even outside. I have not noticed a shortage of TP yet, but I haven’t gone looking for it either. I may take a run to Target which is where I usually get mine. I HATED the single ply stuff that was the only thing available last year!
I hated that TP too! We lived in Palm Springs until our move in December last year. They are very cautious and everyone wore masks.
I’ve heard of an impending problem with books being published. I told my wife hoping she orders books for the holidays now. Also, turkey for Thanksgiving it is advised to buy early. It’s affecting a lot of things.
I better get my turkey soon! Also, thanks for the tip on the books.
I am getting tired of hearing the business’s saying they can’t get any people to work. well, guys, let loose with a little of that $$$ you stashed in off shore accounts and PAY the workers a livable wage and guess what? The will knock down your doors to go to work. I am talking OVER $15 an hour. Hell, I might come out of retirement for a decent wage.
I see signs all over the place with help wanted and what they’re paying. They are all $15 an hour or more. I’m talking pharmacies, grocery stores, restaurants and clothing stores. I think it’s smart of them to post the wages. Some of the signs made me think about applying, too.
Well, E.A. Wickham, let us know if you end up applying and working a job outside.
Doubtful. But you never know! I was busy writing trade magazine articles but got so frustrated during the shut down. I’d need five interviews of small businesses per article and most weren’t answering the phone.
I haven’t seen toilet paper out here in Texas. At work we are still required to wear masks unless we are alone in our office. It’s not required at most places but a lot of companies have signs asking people to please wear one which I don’t mind doing!
Thanks for the update. It is interesting to see how things are in other states. I see a lot of signs in AZ asking people who aren’t vaccinated to wear masks.