Shortages Permanent

[presta]

"The just-in-time system is no longer working and I don't think it'll work again"
"UK in for permanent shortages"
"the UK shopper and consumer could have previously expected just about any product they want...That's over. And I don't think it's coming back."

It's not all bad though:
"Last week, the whole of the east of England was basically unsupplied with bottled water"
It's a scandal that we're creating plastic waste with this when it's already piped to every home in the country.

Food shortages could be permanent, warns industry body - BBC News

 

[Archie_tect]

Re-thinking ways of doing things to reduce personal transport distances and delivery miles and packaging waste will benefit us all long term.

Cutting out non essential travel [esp. air travel] had a massive environmental benefit during the lockdowns in 2020... if only we had woken up to those benefits and taken them to heart!

I'm sorry for people employed in the travel industry but ramping back up to pre-Covid levels is a global mistake.

 

[oldwheels]

Remember when I think Coca Cola was caught selling ordinary tap water in bottles for a big profit.
The local coop here sells loads of bottles to tourists when our tap water is better than the bottled stuff.

 

[newfhouse]

Remember when I think Coca Cola was caught selling ordinary tap water in bottles for a big profit.
The local coop here sells loads of bottles to tourists when our tap water is better than the bottled stuff.

 

[Chris S]

How can the shortages be permanent? I can't see them lasting until the universe implodes. I think they mean 'long term'.

 

[matticus]

Would be interesting to see the impact of a temporary ban on sale+transport of bottled water.
(Any other useless crap we could ban while we're at it??)

 

[slowmotion]

Twenty years there were probably a dozen toasters to choose from. Now, maybe two hundred. You can spend a week reading online reviews, terrified that you might buy a dud before buying one.

Bring on shortages.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

There's a place opened up near me called "Scoop and Reuse" or similar. Basically you take your container(s) and fill them up with flour, peanuts, spices, whatever. It's going back to shopping before pre packaged stuff and I think it's great. Prices weren't any more either. I'll be using it in the future.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Plus install clean water sources in the villages. Hate getting water in a sungke use bottle only to put water straight in water bottles.

 

[MichaelW2]

Somewhere in between the previous over supply of ultimate choice, and Peoples Tractor Factory No1 lies a sensible route.

 

[Drago]

This is a thing at the moment in...

The USA.
Spain.
France.
Germany.
Sweden.
Norway.
South Korea.
The Philippines.

As well as good old Blighty.

Supply chains have partly collapsed, perhaps irretrievably, thanks to covid. Time for industry to think of a new means of working, and consumers to stop straining whats left by buying so much useless tat - the planet will thank us for it too.

People used to extract the wee wee at my doomsday preparations, but after the last 18 months im feeling surprisingly smug. The overall situation will get worse in ways that we can't predict.

Twenty years there were probably a dozen toasters to choose from. Now, maybe two hundred. You can spend a week reading online reviews, terrified that you might buy a dud before buying one.

Bring on shortages.

This is well observed. A little while ago I decided to stop buying the cheapest kettle, toaster, etc and throw them away every year or so, and then repeat ad nauseum. Instead ive gone the other way, spend a mint in the hope I get stuff that lasts a long time. My Dad's kettle, toaster and microwave were bought as part of a matching DeLonghi set 35 years ago and still all work perfectly.

 

[oldwheels]

Plus install clean water sources in the villages. Hate getting water in a sungke use bottle only to put water straight in water bottles.

Scottish water have installed water refill points in a variety of places for public use. There is a map somewhere but don’t have it handy to post up.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

When we lived on Arran, water was from a hill tank and was lovely. A bit brown with peat when it rained heavily, but otherwise great. Then they forced us onto the public supply and it was rank. Fine cold but when you boiled it, the chemicals raised a stink. Like everybody else, we complained and eventually a man from the ministry came out with a testing kit. After a lot of waffle he said, "Now, when I add a few drops of this reagent to the sample in the test tube, anything untoward will create a pink tinge. So watch carefully. One ... two ... ohhhh!". The sample turned claret, a dark shade of a good burgundy wine. He tested again, same result then went off muttering about reports. Nothing ever got done.

Years later I was in Ireland and noticed posters and banners in some villages demanding changes to the water supply. Taking to a local it seems they were having the same problem and had been told the change was due to EU regulations being a lot less stringent than the pre-existing ones in Ireland. Basically, because drinking water is really, really bad in some parts of Europe, the bar was set quite low to be achievable which meant countries with good water supplies could spend a bit less and allow more faecal matter in the water than before, together with more chemicals.

That's why some people prefer bottled water.

 

[Salty seadog]

View attachment 608557

Peckham Spring. Was about to post the same.

 

[DCLane]

Coca-Cola's version was called Dasani. It was worse than Del-Boy's in that the level of bromates made it illegal.

I'm hoping the current issues result in a re-appraisal of 'cheapest is best' decision-making that's permeated supply chains. We're probably seeing something of the better employers are the ones without a supply chain issue.