Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.
“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.”
The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
“You can’t eat this every day. It’s too heavy,” a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. “We only need one bag but I’m getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it,” the elder man said.
The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.
“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said.
Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.
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- groups:
- News, News and Politics, Food
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- knuckletoaster
- added this
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It's here the first part of the future, the supply can't meet the demand and I know it's just the beginning. I fear the immediate cause of food shortages it causes price hikes in stores, and chaos among shoppers. New world order is taking a recognizable shape. We import alot of the thing we consume if food goes to the highest bidder you the poor is the first people it effect. I'm worried about this issue, I will be keeping and eye on the situation. Can we eat mr. President? We are fighting a war that increases the price of everything. I can't see a benefit in continuing the fight while american suffer from the fall out of being sold out.
Somebody please holla if you here me
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tbh, i think america is the last place to have food shortages.
and surely, the americans having less food is a good thing??
i think we need to get rid of more people. If something has a chance of hurting or killing you, its being outlawed, thus an over population because people arent allowed to die!
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I can understand meat or milk being limited, but rice? Goodness, how much rice can one family eat?
Wait, don't answer that.
Perhaps the low-carb diet craze would do well to quell the shortage until further notice; this is madness. -
When will these food shortages start to impact America on more than the level of want. Do we have a estimated timeline for when the classic middle class family will start fighting for three squares a day?
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Food shortages are going to be more and more frequent as our industrial model of agriculture begins to crumble around us. Our farming practices lack any biodiversity and are fossil fuel and input driven, and we keep putting more and more poison out there, killing the soil and tainting the water. We claim we need to feed the world, but we have no regard for how many of us the world really can feed. Estimates on the planet's carrying capacity range from 1 billion to 200 billion, and we're sitting at 6.5 right now. The problem is, we won't really know what that capacity is until we've gone beyond it... Or have we already?
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Interesting to hear what is happening in a part of America far from Texas. Responder is correct. The poor will be the first to feel the shortages. Richer people feel it in higher prices to begin with. But eventually, if things get really bad, the middle class will begin to do without, as well.
jbtex
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A chill just went through me. Time to plant Victory Gardens, folks.
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there's always fast food
we're already at our capacity where we consume more energy than is available and sustainable
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Everything is so dark and morbid. Ever since I joined current I'm learning all the deep evil horrors of this world. As the war rages on, our so called perfect world crumbles around us.
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That's why faith in God is the only way out. This is what happens to a world with no true spiritual base.
Did anyone read Mary's message to the world? It's happening.
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- dreampower
- 1 year ago
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We donated too much rice to third world countries...
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- sarahjesse
- 1 year ago
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