Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #3

[otto]

Do you think the potential impact could be felt more in some provinces than others? I am wondering about the maritimes, Alberta, northern Ontario, for example. I guess if the trucks get the food into Canada, the distribution within the country won't be a problem.

When BC highways were flooded and there were no routes between BC and Alberta, there were shortages. Because the trucks could not move nationally, shipping containers were stuck on the docks. That leads me to believe that food can easily move on shipping containers between the USA and Canada, entering East and West coasts if necessary. Maybe this means that transportation routes will be re-jigged to respect Canadian law.

In fact, perhaps it's better that Canadian truckers move food across Canada, and cut out USA truckers altogether.

 

[LadyL]

Do you think the potential impact could be felt more in some provinces than others? I am wondering about the maritimes, Alberta, northern Ontario, for example. I guess if the trucks get the food into Canada, the distribution within the country won't be a problem.

idk I haven't seen any local stories about empty shelves here in Ontario and I do grocery pickup so haven't been in a store to notice

 

[otto]

idk I haven't seen any local stories about empty shelves here in Ontario and I do grocery pickup so haven't been in a store to notice

I use online shopping. I used one grocer for several months. In the last 5 weeks I have notices shortages in beef, seafood, paper towels and more. If what I specifically chose is not available, it is excluded from the order. That looks like shortages.

Last week, I used online shopping at a different grocer. Their policy is to phone while filling the order to discuss substitutes. Entire order was filled with alternate choices. No actual shortages.

 

[JDG]

idk I haven't seen any local stories about empty shelves here in Ontario and I do grocery pickup so haven't been in a store to notice

I saw a couple of empty shelves the other day. One brand might be gone, so you’d need to buy a different type.

Also do a lot of online shopping and there have been substitutions for over a month. Or it gets left off completely.

 

[otto]

I saw a couple of empty shelves the other day. One brand might be gone, so you’d need to buy a different type.

Also do a lot of online shopping and there have been substitutions for over a month. Or it gets left off completely.

That must be where the perception of shortages is coming from. Online shoppers have unfulfilled orders and they panic because couscous shelves are bare.

It was because I had the impression that there were food shortages that I decided to try a different grocer. It turned out the other grocer had all the same food, although perhaps under a different brand ... like they didn't have the "organic" half and half cream, but they had half & half.

It wasn't a shortage, although one does wonder why rumours about shortages are circulating. Do we feel it a couple of weeks after it's announced?

 

[JDG]

We like the pre-cut/prepared salads and there were very few available. The cereal aisle was patchy but our brands were there.

just put in another order for tomorrow, hope I get what I need.

 

[deugirtni]

I'm always out getting stuff from various.. I have noticed empty blocks/sections on the shelves. Not sure if those blank spaces are from people snapping up ALL of the 'sale items', or ... didn't get the product in. I've noticed a bit of trouble getting our type of dogfood from the vet.. but so far I've always been able to still get it, just have to mix it up now and then as to where I get it from, and the pricing between two places is HUGE for some reason, for same exact product. I have been wanting to buy those huge plastic containers of 'lysol wipes' for about 2-3 months now, with no luck, absolutely everywhere ONLY sells Clorox wipes now (which I really dislike compared to the Lysol ones). There was talk before xmas of turkey shortages.. and I watched for a few weeks before xmas for large frozen turkeys at every place I went into - no turkeys, so I started getting worried.. finally one day they had some nice big frozen ones at an outrageous price which I would never, and have never paid, if not for the reported 'shortages', so I bought it.. happy to have found one, even though it wasn't the usual type that I like to buy.. but then real close to xmas the stores started filling up with fresh turkeys, tons of them. I had to run out to get some last minute stuff at a grocery store on xmas eve afternoon, and found the store had tons of fresh turkeys, all marked down to $1/lb (I think they would be closed for the following two days here).. so I bought a couple and froze them for other times. We've experienced shortages with building supplies too ever since Covid, and it hasn't stopped. It's like now, no matter what goes wrong with anything, it's due to Covid. jmo.

 

[dotr]

Media has pronounced a shortage of this or that, for example leading up to Xmas we were ''warned'' that Xmas trees would be in short supply, followed by turkey shortages and finally that there might be empty alcohol shelves, all of which were ultimately found to be very available and more expensive.
Somebody in advertising and sales made some extra bucks during the pandemic. imo, speculation.

On another note, have been noticing some food products lately are slightly less than fresh, as if boxes have been sitting unattended too long before being refrigerated. just moo.

 

[JDG]

Lysol wipes are at Metro.

 

[MistyWaters]

Unless stock is on extremely short supply, I notice most stores don’t leave empty spaces on shelves, they just put more of something else out. But I did nothing something unusual at Superstore the other day - only PC paper towel on one side of the isle from beginning to end, as far as the eye could see, must’ve been 300 feet of it.

 

[LadyL]

I use online shopping. I used one grocer for several months. In the last 5 weeks I have notices shortages in beef, seafood, paper towels and more. If what I specifically chose is not available, it is excluded from the order. That looks like shortages.

Last week, I used online shopping at a different grocer. Their policy is to phone while filling the order to discuss substitutes. Entire order was filled with alternate choices. No actual shortages.

yes online = grocery pickup
I do it from Walmart or Independent
I haven't had any more substitutions than normal
I'll be doing an order on Tuesday so we'll see

 

[musicaljoke]

Unless stock is on extremely short supply, I notice most stores don’t leave empty spaces on shelves, they just put more of something else out. But I did nothing something unusual at Superstore the other day - only PC paper towel on one side of the isle from beginning to end, as far as the eye could see, must’ve been 300 feet of it.

Haha, they must have brought in a truckload and wanted it gone. If there are shortages, we, here on our island in the north, get nothing. We're near the end of the road for trucks and if stores need supplies before they get to us, we'll, too bad for us. So we buy whatever cereal is available and don't even give a thought to lack of availability of any particular brand. Vegetable selection is whatever is on the shelf. I've never gone hungry, although I really missed not getting any mandarins over Christmas a couple of years ago.

Our shelves are still full, so I doubt that the shortages are serious.

 

[MistyWaters]

Haha, they must have brought in a truckload and wanted it gone. If there are shortages, we, here on our island in the north, get nothing. We're near the end of the road for trucks and if stores need supplies before they get to us, we'll, too bad for us. So we buy whatever cereal is available and don't even give a thought to lack of availability of any particular brand. Vegetable selection is whatever is on the shelf. I've never gone hungry, although I really missed not getting any mandarins over Christmas a couple of years ago.

Our shelves are still full, so I doubt that the shortages are serious.

Yeah it made me chuckle to myself, at first glance the whiteness that really stood out made me think it was toilet paper. (pardon my poor typing in my prior post, nothing was supposed to read noticed). I’ve no doubt there will be shortages of specific items. But already during the past two years a couple times when I’ve inquired about something I’ve been told grocery orders from suppliers are often not fully filled as it is. Meanwhile the price increases that I’m noticing are astronomical.

 

[LadyL]

Unless stock is on extremely short supply, I notice most stores don’t leave empty spaces on shelves, they just put more of something else out. But I did nothing something unusual at Superstore the other day - only PC paper towel on one side of the isle from beginning to end, as far as the eye could see, must’ve been 300 feet of it.

having been in retail, empty shelves were frowned on - fill it with whatever will take the most space and is easy - often you'll see it between seasons esp. once they pack up Christmas - where I worked we used paper towels in the same way and Walmart quite often uses big plastic totes that are easy to move/store again once the merch starts coming in

 

[otto]

About vaccine mandates for truckers ...

"The Canadian Trucking Alliance representing carriers and suppliers condemned the protest saying it's ineffective at resisting policy adding the vast majority of truckers - all but 26,000 out of 160,000 - are vaccinated anyway.

The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada was more sympathetic to the convoy's top line concern.

"We are in favour of vaccines. What we are not in favour of is legislating people out of work," said council president Mike Millian."
​

Link

The $4.5 million fund-me donation is frozen pending clarification about distribution.

 

[musicaljoke]

About vaccine mandates for truckers ...

"The Canadian Trucking Alliance representing carriers and suppliers condemned the protest saying it's ineffective at resisting policy adding the vast majority of truckers - all but 26,000 out of 160,000 - are vaccinated anyway.

The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada was more sympathetic to the convoy's top line concern.

"We are in favour of vaccines. What we are not in favour of is legislating people out of work," said council president Mike Millian."
​

Link

The $4.5 million fund-me donation is frozen pending clarification about distribution.

The protest seems quite odd to me. If Canadian truckers have to be vaccinated to get into the US, under US regulation, which is not controlled by the Canadian Federal gov't, then what exactly are Canadian truckers protesting? Are they protesting the Canadian regulation requiring vaccination in order to travel from the US into Canada? If so, how do unvaccinated Canadian truckers get into the US in the first place?

Canadians now have to be fully vaccinated to cross the U.S. land border.

 

[otto]

The protest seems quite odd to me. If Canadian truckers have to be vaccinated to get into the US, under US regulation, which is not controlled by the Canadian Federal gov't, then what exactly are Canadian truckers protesting? Are they protesting the Canadian regulation requiring vaccination in order to travel from the US into Canada? If so, how do unvaccinated Canadian truckers get into the US in the first place?

Canadians now have to be fully vaccinated to cross the U.S. land border.

Perhaps a number of USA truckers work for Canadian trucking companies? Perhaps they have dual citizenship?

USA truckers can enter the USA without the vaccine, but they cannot enter Canada without the vaccine. Canadian truckers cannot enter Canada or the USA without the vaccine.

It certainly raises the question of the nationality of truckers who appear to be attacking the Canadian government.

'So many angry people': Experts say online conversation around trucker convoy veering into dangerous territory

 

[otto]

I think that the stories about empty grocery shelves are nothing more than hype, and that the fear of empty shelves is being used as a political football. I placed a grocery order this morning and there were two substitutions. Orange juice was replaced with a different brand, and raspberry jam was same brand but switched to blackberry jam. It's no different than non-pandemic times when some brands and flavours are not available.

 

[LadyL]

Worker absenteeism — not trucker vaccine mandates — impacting store shelves: Metro

 

[LadyL]

I think that the stories about empty grocery shelves are nothing more than hype, and that the fear of empty shelves is being used as a political football. I placed a grocery order this morning and there were two substitutions. Orange juice was replaced with a different brand, and raspberry jam was same brand but switched to blackberry jam. It's no different than non-pandemic times when some brands and flavours are not available.

that's what I've experienced too with grocery pickups but my husband went into Walmart yesterday (had to - long story) and said he saw a lot of emptiness so I guess the products we buy are not the most popular lol