Sit-rep in your area?

[Vigilant]

I bought some silver from JM on Sunday, before prices dropped $2 + per oz.

I checked their site earlier today, and the cost for the same product was about 8% more even though spot was about 12.5% lower.

Interesting times.

I saw what they had left at 50%over their own spot last night, screw them. Profit is not bad, but a 50% over spot is damned near thievery. Their spot was also $.30 higher than APMEX, and several others who were all around the same spot price.

 

[Super Bee]

I went outside of Fort Wayne today, some of the smaller farm towns have a meat/deli/butcher shops. Was going to get 50lbs of ground beef but I got the look, so I went with ten. Wasnt sure how far to push it. Bought a nice ham, a few ribeyes, roast, sausage and bags of frozen patties. I am going to call them tomorrow and see if I can order 50 or 100 lbs for pick up later this week.

 

[ditcherman]

To do what with it though?

To make themselves feel good. Or at least better in a strange way.

 

[CampingJosh]

I saw what they had left at 50%over their own spot last night, screw them. Profit is not bad, but a 50% over spot is damned near thievery. Their spot was also $.30 higher than APMEX, and several others who were all around the same spot price.

This is one of the few instances where I genuinely don't care about price gouging; nobody needs what they are selling.
It's an investment commodity, so it's value is very subjective anyway.

People need food and medicines. People need toilet paper (though not as much as they are buying). Nobody is going to die from a lack of precious metals.

 

[Trigger Time]

This is where having formed a good long relationship with local shops comes in handy.

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

Stopped in at a Wally World north of the Fort last night. I've never seen such a thing in a store that hadn't announced it was closing.

Reports from co-workers this morning are pretty similar. Meijer, Sam's Club, Kroger. The logistics for just refilling the store shelves are incredible.

Back in the early '90s I worked in a grocery store, frequently unloading trailers, and I spent a couple years stocking shelves third shift. A semi trailer holds 20-25,000 pieces (depending upon 48 or 53 footer, just humor me a little). Just guessing, to refill a standard grocery store would take 7-10 trailer loads. At the store I worked at we had 5 "trucks" a week, sometimes two on Saturday and Sunday for just regular business.

Running 40-60 pieces an hour (Over 60 is really busting arse at an unsustainable pace, depending upon the aisle).
Using the low end estimates for piece count and the high end for shelf stocking:

7 trucks X 20,000 pieces=140,000 pieces @ 60 pieces per hour=2,333 man hours to restock an empty store divided by a staff of 50 stockers (way high estimate) is over 45 hours just to restock what has been depleted.

I know the distribution centers and warehouses are still operational, but it would be interesting to see the scale-up in truck roll-out at any of those facilities.


I don't mean to spread fear and panic so I'll just say that I hope everyone here is ready to hunker down with the supplies they have.


It is not the emergency that puts us at risk, it is our response to it and the lack of preparation for it.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Stopped at the LGS last night after work to ask them how business has been. I also thought I might see if they had any more cases of 9mm at 169.99.

When I drove into the lot in the strip mall the parking lot seemed kind of crowded.

I walked in the door and saw at least 6 people waiting in line at the cash register. NEVER seen this before. There might have been up to a dozen more folks milling about the store.
The sign for the nine read 199.99 and the pile of cases was gone.
One of the salesmen that knows me well greeted me with a nod as I walked in the door. He was selling an AR to a dude and explaining what all he would need to buy to outfit it with a scope.

I was literally:

I saw at least two guys buying M&P’s with mags, a case of ammo, red dot, etc.., one guy had a beginners Arsenal with matching M&P’s in 223,.22 with thousands of rounds of ammo in both calibers. Shop as of yesterday had plenty of it to go around.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I drove south and got 2 pounds of hamburger today. They had more but I didn't want to be that guy.

I hear ya. I walked up to the bread aisle and it was picked clean of all but the weird stuff. And 5 loaves of Italian sliced bread. (regular sliced loaf, not what you get up at the deli) couple ahead of me threw 3 of them in the cart, obvious that they dont normally buy it, but its all their was. I grabbed the last two, because that is what I normally buy. I put the 2nd one back because I know that stuff goes bad faster due to fewer preservatives and it might be a waste. Might as well let someone else eat it.


And it was nuts last night. I could have loaded every bit of land based animal protein in the store in two carts. It was like a 80s textbook on Eastern Europe . All that was left in the cases was things like beef livers, some lamb, and andouille sausage. On Friday to get sage sausage I couldnt buy it by the tube. I had to buy preformed patties marketed for grilling to be eaten on a bun like a burger. Last night even those were gone. Luckily it still fried up nicely to be crumbled up into spaghetti sauce.

looks like with many stores going "9-5" and restocking overnight instead of progressively stocking throughout the day, the only way to get some things will be to wait in line. I overheard a coworker say she arrived at a grocery an hour before they opened and was already 41st in line.

After years of making a weekly meal plan at home and then buying the stuff to make those dishes, I think that is over for now. Now its going to be "what can we find at the store?", and once we have that, we can decide what we are able to cook later.

Welcome to Amerika, comrade.

 

[JettaKnight]

Welcome to Amerika, comrade.

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

 

[OurDee]

"It was like a 80s textbook on Eastern Europe ." I don't need a textbook. I was in Eastern Europe in the early 80s. The difference is I know we do not have a shortage here.

 

[Oldgunfan]

I saw what they had left at 50%over their own spot last night, screw them. Profit is not bad, but a 50% over spot is damned near thievery. Their spot was also $.30 higher than APMEX, and several others who were all around the same spot price.

@Lex Concord @diablo750
What we are witnessing here is the decoupling of the physical silver market from the paper market. Good explanation here:
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/price-physical-gold-decouples-paper-gold

 

[Cameramonkey]

"It was like a 80s textbook on Eastern Europe ." I don't need a textbook. I was in Eastern Europe in the early 80s. The difference is I know we do not have a shortage here.

I understand your point. But from my perspective on animal protein, we do. But its artificial. And real none the less. Regardless of WHY, many of us cannot buy it. (at least not without standing in a line 2 hours before the store opens, because driving around is useless because so few stores have any)

 

[OurDee]

Shortage I remember? I watched in person as cows were piled higher than a house and burned during madcow in England. That was spooky. I get that if it is not on the shelf when we get there it is short. I want more animals in the supply chain too.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Shortage I remember? I watched in person as cows were piled higher than a house and burned during madcow in England. That was spooky. I get that if it is not on the shelf when we get there it is short. I want more animals in the supply chain too.

I want fewer animals hoarding meat too.

 

[ghuns]

Haven't been in a store since Saturday morning. Things were honestly calmer than I expected. Saw one a-hole shoveling 1 pound hamburger packages into his cart at a small local butcher shop. Musta had 50 pounds in it.

Son in law and daughter are at an extended stay hotel near Quantico, Virginia. They are searching for somewhere to live nearby the USMC base where he's now stationed. Daughter is 8 months pregnant and smart enough not to go to the store so she ordered groceries online for pick up. Went to get them and they said we got everything on your list, except meat. No chicken, no burger, no sausage, no bacon... They went to 5 other stores including the commissary on base, same thing.

They were #14 on a waitlist for on base housing when they left California over three weeks ago. Yesterday, they were still #14. They would really prefer to live on base and weren't having much luck finding someplace decent and affordable off base, so she went to the housing office and asked if they had empty houses. They said, yes. She asked if they were aware that all active duty US military personnel are under orders to stay where they are for at least the next month. They again said, yes. She said, so the people ahead of us on the waitlist aren't here, and they aren't coming for at least a month. They said, that is correct. She said, WELL WE'RE F*&#ING HERE SO GIVE US THE KEYS TO A F*$#ING HOUSE!!!

While they didn't do that, they did say they would call those ahead of her on the list and try to get some idea of when they might be arriving and see what they could do.

 

[Dead Duck]

This is one of the few instances where I genuinely don't care about price gouging; nobody needs what they are selling.
It's an investment commodity, so it's value is very subjective anyway.

People need food and medicines. People need toilet paper (though not as much as they are buying).
Nobody is going to die from a lack of precious metals.

Well...

 

[JettaKnight]

Haven't been in a store since Saturday morning. Things were honestly calmer than I expected. Saw one a-hole shoveling 1 pound hamburger packages into his cart at a small local butcher shop. Musta had 50 pounds in it.

So in four months are people going to throwing out a ton of food they bought that spoiled, got old (i.e. arbitrary expiration dates), or they just get sick of eating?

 

[Leadeye]

I would bet that food pantries will be getting lots of donations of canned goods in 6 months or so.

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

So in four months are people going to throwing out a ton of food they bought that spoiled, got old (i.e. arbitrary expiration dates), or they just get sick of eating?

Exactly.

I doubt many will even give much thought to a food drive or pantry.

It might be my lowered expectations of humanity.

 

[Vigilant]

Exactly.

I doubt many will even give much thought to a food drive or pantry.

It might be my lowered expectations of humanity.

We've already heard that food pantries won't use out of date or "expired" food stuffs so...