Update 7/15/20 Article – “There Are Already Nationwide Shortages Of Aluminum Cans, Soda, Flour, Canned Soup, Pasta, & Rice” (USA)
Excerpt:
“Overview – in summary, there are less goods coming into the grocery retail system from vendors (manufacturers and distributors), therefore less to go to the shelves for consumers to purchase. With that statement, you may be thinking…’tell me something I don’t already know’, but my main purpose for getting this out is to confirm some things that will result in the Remnant to ramp-up their preparations in this area.
By the way, I know that the most important prep is spiritual, in case anyone wonders about that; but I feel that others will benefit from what I’m doing TODAY….they may be the ones eating the food, living one more day to be able to call on the name of the Lord and be saved — this is my main reason for prepping. I am even preparing a physical place to go AGAINST the will of my wife and my children. But, I feel that if I need to drag them there when the goons are looting our neighborhood, then it will be worth it, and if it never happens like they think, then hey, we’ll deal with that at that point….I digress….
There are many questions from folks around the country about the REAL state of the supply chain in food. Some report there are pockets of relative surplus on an item in one area but yet a drought of the same item in another part of the country. They wonder: ‘is there really a shortage in supply of _____’? However, as you should know, this is largely due to factors such as previously negotiated contracts and purchase orders, with pipelines that are running their course. BUT the persistent decline in the fulfillment of purchase orders by vendors is steady and continuous, and that is the larger current and should be considered OVER the pockets of ebb and flow in certain markets. It’s the forest; the ebb and flow in certain markets is the trees. Large, national manufacturers are not only continuously extending their delivery dates on products, but they are out-right cancelling orders. They too — the manufacturers — are all scrambling down through their own supply chains to mitigate sourcing of raw materials as well as absenteeism, etc.
Another player in the ‘supply chain’ are the distributors who bundle products that come from many manufacturers; these distributors are also facing issues such as the one very large national distributor who has just cut delivery routes in our area from 13 down to 3 with many caveats and shortages projected added.
I feel like what I’m reporting here (and seeing with my daily and weekly work) is a good proxy for the rest of the country in-that our chain is a very highly-rated chain, carrying lots of weight in this industry…this means we’re getting a lot of focus and attention from vendors; what are the other smaller and less prominent chains facing? I am NOT with Walmart or Kroger to be sure; those companies may have even longer trails of purchase orders from pre-COVID that are still running their course.
Again, I am not sharing anything that folks may not already know; just confirming things for them with the admonition and encouragement to ramp-up their prepping and planning. I am personally doing this EACH and EVERY day….I am also mindful that if I am not around to personally use these preps for whatever reason, that others in my family know why I’m doing this and that they know about the gospel. I am going out on a limb here as I’d be summarily fired if folks were to put the puzzle pieces together on who I am and who my company is, but I feel there is a great benefit to alerting the remnant on what is happening – while maintaining my anonymity. Summary: ignore the ebbs and flows in your market on meat, etc. — realize the general trend is going to less and less fulfilment of orders from vendors and if you are blessed with a surplus of things, then by all means purchase them NOW while you can so that maybe you can share this along with the gospel at some point in the future.
Now, the information I’ve already stated above was about goods coming from manufacturers or distributors into company-owned warehouses….
Next are comments on GOODS GOING FROM COMPANY-OWNED WAREHOUSES TO THE ACTUAL RETAIL STORE OUTLETS IN THE CHAIN, which – again – I feel would be the norm for any grocery chain in the US:
— the meeting of store demand — which is a proxy for actual consumer demand — from company-owned central warehouses has steadily declined over the last 4 months; from a 98% pre-COVID fulfillment rate to 58% as of yesterday. Key point: STEADY decline; yes some blips upward from time to time, but overall steady decline to be sure
— what this impacts is the presentation on the shelves; for example: do we have some or no toilet paper, tomato paste, rice and noodles, etc., etc.; you will also see new and unknown brands coming in to substitute for a product, but that is only going to be a temporary stop-gap as these are from 2nd and 3rd tier vendors who may not carry as much clout in getting their own raw-material supply chains filled…these too will dry up and go away over the next 3-6 months (not to mention the effect of absenteeism in their own ranks, leading to an inability to produce said 2nd/3rd tier products)…
— there is also a trend to see less variations on products; for example, we only have 3 variations on tomato paste to put on shelves as-opposed to the 15 we had pre-COVID
— to the folks in the industry, this is known as the presentation and the service level at the shelf in the store; service levels on some harder-hit commodities are near 10% at-best, averaging in the 70% level on an aggregate across all stores/commodities when you carve-out bath tissue, paper towels, baby wipes, disinfectant wipes; comparatively during pre-COVID service levels were in the very high 90’s for all products (sans SEASONAL)…
— Additional contributing factors: in addition to waning vendor fulfilment, we are also seeing more-and-more absenteeism in our warehouses due to COVID cases, fear, exhaustion.
There is much more on the technical side I could share but the picture is there is a continuous and steady decline in what is coming into the network and being made available to the consumers to purchase. It is also an accepted premise from which we’re fomulating weekly plans to address, that these trends will continue, that we are living off of last year’s harvest and that this next year will be a big question mark.”
This person shows that there has been a 40% REDUCTION in “food” in a span of just under 4 months. What people need to understand is that in the next four months, the volume of food will fall MUCH MORE DRAMATICALLY (than 40% in 4 months) because the food in the supply chain will have been moved through or dropped out. I hope this makes sense to people but just in case, think of it this way.
1st step in supply chain (farmer – crops or animal) – 2nd step (processing or manufacturer of food products from crops) – 3rd step (wholesaler of food products or poultry, beef, pork) – 4th step (distributors – supply grocery stores, retailers, butchers, restaurants, etc.) – 5th step (retail outlets – restaurants, grocery stores, retailers, butchers).
So a reduction in ANY STEP of the supply chain reduces the overall volume b/c it ensures there will be a SMALLER volume output to the 5th step.
So these numbers are much more alarming than most people realize.
Author
I would like to share a testimony here.
In a certain city in 2015 there dwelt a man. All his life, he had oscillated between bouts of religious fervor and lukewarmness, but in late 2015, he diligently began to seek the Lord, and the Lord woke him up from his stupor.
Shortly thereafter, alarmed by everything that he was seeing transpiring in the world and by what he felt was a rapid unfolding of end-time events, he used his minimal savings to stockpile whatever food and essentials he could afford to prepare as best as he could for what he saw was coming. Well, the end-time events that he had seen didn’t quite pan out according to his expectations.
In the aftermath of this, he realized, or, as I like to imagine, the Lord mercifully brought him to the realization, that only He knew what was going to happen and when and that therefore only He was going to be a sure refuge in these days.
So the man from then on decided to just focus on abiding in the Lord. He didn’t ignore the physical and the natural, but he determined that as much as was within his human capacity to do so, he would lean on the Lord for help in navigating his forthcoming days.
Not long after that, came 2020 and the Covid-19 crisis, and this man found himself in another city. As the city battled a rising number of Covid cases, it implemented stringent lockdown measures. So it was no longer possible to just walk into a grocery store and get needed stuff as and when one desired.
But during a particularly difficult stretch of time in an effort to combat an unforeseen jump in the number of infected cases, the city introduced even harsher lockdown measures, so much so that it was no longer possible to get one’s supplies home-delivered from their favorite store. Rather, only “essential” items could be ordered and only through designated telephone numbers. However, as usually happens in a crisis, none of those designated telephone numbers managed to live up to their original purpose.
Faced with harsh lockdown measures, violating which could result in a hefty fine or jail time; declining supplies at his home; nonworking helpline numbers; and his grocery store refusing to do a home-delivery, what do you think this man, who only just a few years ago in alarm at the near fulfillment of end-time prophecies had rushed to stockpile his home with food and essentials, did?
Without a trace of fear or panic or alarm in his voice, he lifted his hands and praised God, the Lord who was his shepherd, who had been his shepherd all these years, and confessed to Him that the Lord would be faithful to feed his sheep.
If I stopped his story here, that’d be enough of an inspiration, but no . . . there’s more.
Just a few days later, his grocery store informed him that they would deliver all the supplies he had requested to his home, and it wasn’t just food or what the authorities labeled “essentials.” Every single thing the man needed was delivered to him, in the middle of a pandemic with a rising number of infections and a state-imposed citywide lockdown!
The practice of simply abiding in the Lord got this man to a place where he could simply say, as if it was a self-evident truth: “The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.”
I had been looking for an item when I finally found it. This was shortly into the pandemic. The clerk said they only had it due to a previous order. That keeps coming to mind since it happened. I wasn’t wrapping my head around it. This post puts it in perspective. Thanks!
I am not sure if there is actually right now a “food shortage” but rather not enough people working to process the foord? or the transportation to move food? I am pretty sure next year will be a different story, because crops and things have been devastated by weather and no workers to replant? I think I heard that from Ice Age Farmer’s video.
I think it will be wise for everyone to stock up on extra stuff if you are able every time you make a trip to the store. I believe God can and will multiply what we have as He did with the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I also believe He will sustain us with His spiritual food (Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God) in the hard times to come. Let us keep our faith in Him. Also, if you don’t already know how to grow food, start ASAP. There are lots of videos out there on Youtube and books that have lots of information. You can download and keep on file or like me also like to have the physical books. When the internet or grid goes down, those books will be valuable. Here is a seed company that might still have seeds available if you missed the boat earlier. kitazawaseeds.com They are the oldest seed company in the USA. They even have lots of Asian variety of vegetable seeds available. The best thing would be to ask the Lord where He wants you to be, feast upon His Word, with prayer and fasting.
I do believe there are places of refuge that the Lord is preparing and He will supernaturally protect and provide! Be encouraged dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! He is our Mighty God and He has never lost a battle! He is the same God who delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh and parted the Red Sea for them so they could walk on DRY LAND! He is the same God today whom we can approach with boldness and with expectation because of the Blood of Jesus! He is the same God forever more, worthy to be praised forever! Hallelujah!
blessings
Hi S.Y. – The food shortage is definitely a combination of all the factors you are referencing: shortage of workers in processing plants & manufacturing facilities, fewer processing plants & facilities, mass killing of animals that reduced the supply of animals in the supply chain from where the animals were raised to ending up in a retail outlet as meat, pork & poultry, reduction of the volume of “food” in the supply chain, etc. All of these factors have significantly reduced the output of food to retail outlets.
What I need to EMPHASIZE that I failed to fully explain is that this person shows that there has been a 40% REDUCTION in “food” in a span of just under 4 months. What people need to understand is that in the next four months, the volume of food will fall MUCH MORE DRAMATICALLY because the food in the supply chain will have been moved through or dropped out. I hope this makes sense to people but just in case, think of it this way. 1st step in supply chain (farmer – crops or animal) – 2nd step (processing or manufacturer of food products from crops) – 3rd step (wholesaler of food products or poultry, beef, pork) – 4th step (distributors – supply grocery stores, retailers, butchers, restaurants, etc.) – 5th step (retail outlets – restaurants, grocery stores, retailers, butchers). So a reduction in ANY STEP of the supply chain reduces the overall volume b/c it ensures there will be a SMALLER volume output to the 5th step.
So these numbers are much more alarming than most people realize. ?
You are right on sister! I believe that we are going to have definitely shortage of food, hyper inflation, I have been seeing and hearing a lot of people that are saying that they are not being allowed to pay in cash, or they have to have the exact change amount to pay cash. I think from James’ video link that people will have to make the decision either to buy food or to heat their homes in the winter. I did see in one of my dreams that I knew it was in the middle of winter. I could see through the houses like they had no walls and people were closing off parts of their homes and gathering in one room to keep warm. I believe that the third seal is going to be opened maybe this winter, from the book of Revelation
Revelation 6:5-6 King James Version (KJV)
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
I am glad I have read this : Just before reading this post 🙁 Serious Supply Chain Difficulties) ..I had been reading this from 444 prophecy that a friend had sent to me.. it also mentions Food Shortages in Sept 2020 plus more re
health: Not Covid 19 but far worse
https://444prophecynews.com/prepare-prepare-prepare-daniel/
.Please take to the Lord in Prayer.. but from other information that we have listened to by pastor Dana Coverstones word Brace yourselves this one was prepare prepare !