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Labor shortages at supermarkets across the country have increased in recent weeks as the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread. Workers are calling sick, and there are not enough cashiers, baggers, and stockers, forcing some supermarket chains to slash hours of operations. Compounding labor woes, supply chains are still severely snarled as food shortages are being reported nationwide.

WSJ reports supermarkets are having difficulty staying open as workers call out sick because of infection. Some grocers are frantically hiring new employees, using temporary employment agencies, and overworking current staff to keep stores from shuttering.

The seven-store supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey had 200 employees in quarantine or isolation as of last Thursday despite a 90% employee-vaccination rate. This represents about 7% of all employees.

“We sort of feel like we’ve got to buckle down for round two,” Chief Executive Stew Leonard Jr. said, adding that the loss of employees to infections has hampered operations.

American supermarket chain Giant Eagle Inc. which operates 470 stores, has avoided closing locations amid the omicron surge by adjusting hours of operations. The company’s chief compliance officer, Vic Vercammen, said the company had seen a spike in workers calling sick because of infection.

Across Alabama and Georgia, Piggly Wiggly stores are overscheduling workers and using temporary work agencies to keep store shelves stocked as staffing woes developed this year because of the omicron spread. Operations have been affected, and store hours have been reduced in some locations.

In the Southeast, Harris Teeter supermarkets, owned by Kroger Co., will close one hour earlier, effective Monday, so that employees can restock shelves due to the loss of stockers.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Supermarkets Alter Layouts, Use Decoys to Fill Gaps Left by Shortages

November 19, 2021

Supermarkets Alter Layouts, Use Decoys to Fill Gaps Left by Shortages

While chaos reigns in supply chains, grocery stores are trying to present an appealing and seemingly organized front for customers. To do so, some are turning to age-old tricks of the trade, and developing new ones, to cover up gaps on the shelves.

That includes moving products to unlikely places in stores.

Shoppers in the U.K. said they have spotted bulky crates of beer piled into aisles reserved for prepackaged meals and boxes of chocolate filling crates usually stocked with fresh vegetables. One branch of Co-operative Group Ltd., which operates stores under Co-op, stocked refrigerated displays with shelf-stable HP Sauce and Heinz Salad Cream condiments so that shoppers wouldn’t see empty racks.

“We’ve been impacted by some patchy disruption to our deliveries,” a spokesperson for Co-op said. “Our teams are always trying to make sure our stores look as attractive as possible and sometimes managers come up with creative ways of making sure shelves are full.”

Businesses the world over are experiencing product shortages as demand for goods has rebounded faster than supply following the worst of the pandemic, which also disrupted labor availability at food suppliers. In the U.K., 17% of consumers said they couldn’t buy essential food items because they were unavailable between Sept. 22 and Oct. 3, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Retailers say they need to maintain their customer experience as best they can to remain competitive.

Some 58% of consumers said supply-chain disruptions, product shortages and shipping delays have made shopping more stressful, and 41% said product shortages and significant shipping and delivery delays would cause them to abandon a brand, according to results from an October survey by New York-based trade association ICSC, which represents retail businesses.

For grocers, that means managing stores to at least look well-stocked, ordered and tidy.

“People Are Hoarding” – Supermarkets Are The Next Supply Chain Crunch As Food Shortages Persist

October 20, 2021

“People Are Hoarding” – Supermarkets Are The Next Supply Chain Crunch As Food Shortages Persist

It’s been 19 months since the virus pandemic began, and supply chain disruptions continue, making it more difficult for customers to find their favorite item at supermarkets nationwide. Simultaneously, the psychology of empty store shelves and President Biden’s inability to normalize supply chains forced some people to panic hoard this fall as uncertainty about food supplies mount.

Chris Jones, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs & Counsel of the National Grocers Association, told Today, “shopping early for the holidays is a wise strategy, especially under current conditions.”

“There’s plenty of food in the supply chain, but certain items may be harder to get at certain times due to a nationwide shortage of labor impacting manufacturers, shippers and retailers. Additionally, lack of enforcement of antitrust laws in the grocery marketplace have allowed dominant retailers to secure more favorable terms and ample supplies of high-demand goods while leaving many smaller retailers with limited selections or, in some cases, bare shelves,” Jones said.

In a separate report, USA Today listed items that customers are having trouble finding at grocery stores.

Ben & Jerry flavors

This frozen treat is usually the perfect dessert, but in an email on Sept. 14, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, cited labor shortages as the reason for reducing the amount of flavors produced. The company said it will focus on producing its most popular flavors. Phish Food lovers, you have nothing to worry about.

Carbonated drinks

Fertilizer plants, which lead to the production of carbon dioxide, had to reduce their output because of rising costs, causing shortages in food and other products, Per Hong, senior partner at consulting firm Kearney, told CNBC.

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“It’s Getting Worse” – Hoarding Panic Forces Supermarkets To Impose Buying-Limits

March 18, 2020

“It’s Getting Worse” – Hoarding Panic Forces Supermarkets To Impose Buying-Limits

Panic hoarding food and supplies by British and American shoppers has surged in recent weeks, as social distancing policies enforced by their respected governments to flatten the curve to slowdown infections are leading to mass quarantines.

Consumers are stocking up on food and supplies, as they have no idea when the quarantines will end. They see the fast-spreading virus leading to increased cases and deaths, and this has triggered fear about a pandemic, leading many to stockpile nonperishables, wiping store shelves clean, prompting supermarkets and pharmacies in both countries to impose buying-limits on goods.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was no reason for consumers to stockpile supplies. It has become evident that rising cases and deaths in the UK has led to mass panic.

Retailers call for ‘responsible shopping’ to quell panic buying

A source at the country’s top supermarket told Reuters, “it’s getting worse.”

Sainsbury’s, the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the UK, had to place restrictions on certain products to keep store shelves stocked. Tesco, another major supermarket in the country, told customers this week that they could only purchase two packs of dried pasta, toilet paper, and milk.

Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, and Lidl have all placed some form of buying restrictions on certain products while struggling to keep store shelves stocked.

“We are currently facing unprecedented challenges and uncertainty dealing with COVID-19,” Morrisons chairman Andrew Higginson, and its CEO David Potts said.

The same panic has swept across the Atlantic into the US for about a month. Supermarkets and pharmacies from coast to coast have placed purchase restrictions on water, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, medicine, and masks.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Ten ways to avoid shopping for food in supermarkets

July 19, 2018

Ten ways to avoid shopping for food in supermarkets

Who can resist the siren call of the supermarkets – open till late, filled with food catering to most tastes, often at bargain prices? But if we widen the lens to take in the bigger picture, we find society is paying a huge price for this convenience. Our food system is controlled by forces which may not have our good health at heart. And their power is growing globally, with a relatively small number of corporations monopolising the food system at every stage of the food chain, and at an ever-increasing rate. In the UK, four supermarket chains control over 80% of food retail, with the Asda/Walmart and Sainsbury mergertightening the grip.

The problem with monopolies is their power to abuse much of what is under their dominion. The results are: unfair contracts for suppliers, poor work practices in countries with substandard regulations (one distressing example are slave ships), inhumane conditions for animals in factory farms, and a system geared to producing cheap, high-fat, high-sugar foods, generating an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Another casualty is biodiversity: modern food systems are dominated by five animal species and twelve crops according to Biodiversity International. “The supermarket chains play the role of gatekeeper, deciding how food is produced and what fills the shelves,” says Oxfam’s Marita Wiggerthale.

Everything is scaled up – including waste. Eight of Britain’s leading supermarkets create more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year, according to an investigation by The Guardian in January, this year. To add insult to injury, supermarkets spend millions on marketing to misinform the public about where and how their food is produced. Fake farm names make imported food appear British, while ‘country of origin’ labelling claims British status for products which originated from abroad but were processed and packed in the UK.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Puerto Rico: When the electricity stops

October 1, 2017

Puerto Rico: When the electricity stops

When the electricity stops in modern civilization, pretty much everything else stops. Not even gasoline-powered vehicles can get far before they are obliged to seek a fill-up—which they cannot get because gas pumps rely on electricity to operate.

When I wrote “The storms are only going to get worse” three weeks ago, I thought the world would have to wait quite a while for a storm more devastating than hurricanes Harvey and Irma. But instead, Hurricane Maria followed right after them and shut down electricity on the entire island of Puerto Rico except for those buildings with on-site generators.

Another casualty was drinking water because, of course, in almost every location, it must be moved using pumps powered by electricity. In addition, the reason we remain uncertain of the full scope of the damage and danger on the island is that the communications system (powered by electricity, of course) failed almost completely.

The Associated Press reported that as of September 30, 10 days after Maria’s landfall, about 30 percent of telecommunications had been restored, 60 percent of the gas stations were able to dispense fuel and half of the supermarkets were open.

Presumably, these figures represent mostly urban areas where any single act of repair can restore services to many more people than in the countryside where conditions by all accounts remain desperate.

Unless power is restored soon to those areas still without it, many of life’s daily necessities—food, water, medicine—will remain beyond reach for substantial portions of Puerto Rico’s residents. The consequences of this are both predictable and dire. But the expectations are that weeks and months may pass before electricity again reaches the entire island.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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