Supply and demand - or shortages in the good old USA

 

 

                I’ve been shopping for groceries for most of my life. I can remember going with my parents to buy groceries and always begging for a new Little Golden Book each trip. The markets that they patronized were all small by today’s standards and my grandparents usually opted for the smaller, neighborhood stores.

                By the time I was six or seven, I was sometimes tasked either by Granny or my mother to “go to the store” which meant walking to one of the nearest little neighborhood stores to buy things they needed. In those days, there were four, all within a few blocks – Hafner’s, which was on North 10^th Street across and just up from Sisters Hospital where I was born, Bell’s Grocery, just a few houses down the block from Granny and Pop’s house, also on North 10^th, Mendell’s at the corner of North 13^th Street and Grand Avenue (despite the name it was and is anything but grand), and Grand Avenue Grocery, also on Grand Avenue about a block west of Mendell’s. Because Milton and Anne Hochman owned the store, we called it “Milton’s”. Mendell’s is where I often bought a bag of chips and a cupcake to go with my sandwich from home on my way to school.

                I would set out on food with money tucked into my pocket or a small coin purse. Most often I bought things like a loaf of bread, milk, lunch meat, or fresh meat from the butcher counter.  I stuck to that list and returned with the requested items and the change.  It was a different time in a different place. None of those four little markets remain. None of the larger supermarkets (Safeway, Thomas’ Market, Green Hills) that we occasionally visited, also within the neighborhood boundary remain. Even the stores we occasionally might visit farther afield no longer exist.

                In the last few years, Mr. Bell – owner and operator of Bell’s Grocery – stopped getting much fresh stock. At first, he still received bread and milk deliveries but later, he sold what he still had. It was a treasure trove of novelty items that dated back decades and we enjoyed discovering these gems.

                One thing stands out now – whatever I was sent to fetch, I came home with. If I hadn’t, I would have been chewed out because everything was available. If I went to buy some pickle loaf or bologna for lunch, the store had it. They had bread – and if the selection was limited, it was because that day’s delivery hadn’t yet arrived. If I was in search of round steak or pork chops, they were available.

                For me, one of the biggest and most annoying results from the ongoing covid pandemic – now into the second year – is the constant supply shortages.  This morning, I made a list and was planning to head to the store. I checked some websites and apps, however, only to learn that some of the things I needed were out of stock.  I tried more than one store, finally settling on a pickup order from the one that had the most items I needed but even they didn’t have everything.  With the price of fuel soaring, I’d rather not make the rounds to every local store to discover if they have what I need.  So, I ordered the items online, watching as some became unavailable even as I was still putting my order together.

                I was unable to get pan spray, sugar, dry cat food and liquid hand soap.  I now have a short list that I’ll try to fill in person, probably at the small local store, the closest thing to the neighborhood stores I remember, Family Market.  I was there yesterday and they had plenty of fresh meat. On an earlier visit, I bought the “lonely chicken” in the case, the last one because whole chickens weren’t available from the supplier. Yesterday they had several chickens.  That’s where I will pick up sugar and pan spray as well.  I’ve changed the dog food my dog eats because what he normally likes, what he prefers isn’t available.  I’m not sure what to do about the dry cat food – my kitty is particular but he may have to learn not to be picky.

                Shortages in addition to soaring prices are making my life more difficult than it should be.  As an adult, I never imagined I would see such shortages, for any reason.  That used to be the stuff of Third World countries.  As somewhat of a cynic, I wonder what’s next.  Will we have rationing? Shades of World War II but will I need to have my sugar coupon or butter coupon or gasoline coupon to get those items. I suppose time will tell. For now, most of my groceries will come from the small store - that is a little better stocked that the big, corporate giants.  Funny thing, prices are often better too.

                This country I claim, the one my family members came to in search of a better life, has changed and it’s not for the better.