Supply Chain Breakdowns

[majorhavoc]

Distilled instead of purified?  Just curious as why?

I always get purified because it's primary use is in my CPAP.

You might want to revisit that understanding with your sleep specialist/equipment provider.  I too use a CPAP and was told in no uncertain terms to use only distilled water. Purified water can still contain things like minerals that can build up in your machine. Minerals are fine in your digestive tract but not so good for your lungs.

[Moab]

I have a cpap too. Ive almost killed a cpap machine by not using distilled water. It also makes the watertank filled with disgusting mineral residue. Tjat builds up prettythick. I could see it clogging the internals easily. Since ive stuck with distilled. And my cpap is pristine.

[Anianna]

I went to get some distilled water, which used to be $0.50 per gallon.  Today they are $1.12 per gallon.  Water distillation is inefficient in small batches, but I wonder at what point it becomes cheaper to just do it at home.

Distilled instead of purified?  Just curious as why?

I always get purified because it's primary use is in my CPAP.

As others have mentioned, you should be using distilled in a CPAP only.  For me, I want distilled for nasal wash (netti pot type stuff) for which you should only use distilled water because drinking water can contain a brain eating amoeba that is perfectly safe to ingest but not at all safe to get up your nose if you happen to like your brain or being alive in the slightest.

[MPMalloy]

As I heard it, it was the other way around.  I am sending a message to the VA about this.

Thank you everyone!

[NapalmMan67]

I use distilled water for my cigar humidity beads.



We ran in to a shortage of fresh fruit, specifically grapes, this weekend.  3 stores and nary a grape to be had.  And fwiw, the current blueberry stock available is horrendously sour.

[majorhavoc]

AAA batteries are suddenly getting very hard to find.  AAs up the wazoo, but AAAs seem to be in very short supply.

[Zed hunter]

Your energy costs would be a lot higher. Distilled water is a byproduct of other pr6.

[Anianna]

I used to shop at multiple stores to get the best prices.  Now I shop at multiple stores to get as many items as possible on my list.

I find it odd that one store can be completely out of a particular type of item, but another store has it in stock.  Throughout the last year or so, it's been more like a particular item just cannot be found in my area at all, but now it's just a matter of which store has what.  I guess that's an improvement, maybe?

[NapalmMan67]

Today the lunchmeat I like was back in stock.  But salad mix was nowhere to be found-  was there another recall recently?


https://www.eatthis.com/news-grocery-item-shortages-to-come/


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[Moab]

Has anyone else found shortages in prescription meds? All of tje pharmacies near me (and i live in los angeles) were completwly out of one of my meds. I had to do without for 3 days. It was an important med too. Caused me a great deal of discomfort.

[Moab]

As I heard it, it was the other way around.  I am sending a message to the VA about this.

Thank you everyone!

How long have u used a cpap?

[Anianna]

Has anyone else found shortages in prescription meds? All of tje pharmacies near me (and i live in los angeles) were completwly out of one of my meds. I had to do without for 3 days. It was an important med too. Caused me a great deal of discomfort.

I'm not sure if it was a shortage or just incompetence, but I've had difficulty getting one of my meds for months.  One pharmacy repeatedly claimed my insurance wasn't covering it even though I had evidence that insurance approved it immediately each time.  At first, they would finally send it around two weeks later, but after a few times of that, I gave up with them.

I switched to a different pharmacy and they kept calling me telling me I had waited too long and they were sending my meds back when I didn't even know they had them in the first place.  These meds can't be put on autorefill and I hadn't even requested a refill on at least one occasion, so why would I think they had them in?  On other occasions, I was wating for them to come in and literally my first contact was "it's been ten days, we're sending your meds back" and my husband rushed over to have them tell him they already sent it back.  WTH?  Why would you call to tell me that without giving me the opportunity to act on it?  One time I specifically asked if I could still come get it and they said I could, but they were already gone when my husband got there.  The store is like five minutes away.

I've now had my doctor send the script to my insurance's mail pharmacy, so we'll see how that goes.

[Optimist]

Not sure if here or the inflation thread is the right place for this, but I've been seeing chatter and articles recently along the lines of "Should there be price controls on food and gas to fight inflation?" and that motivated me to finally start stockpiling some gas.

[Lambykins]

The weather is definitely screwing up our supply chain up here.
The big snowstorm didn't hit us but it hit further south and east.
Our warehouses and suppliers are all south and east of us. Roads were closed in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Workers couldn't even get to the warehouses to work.
So, our Monday truck, aka the weeks BIG order/truck, didn't come in and some shelves were bare. Our big group of Monday shoppers were very annoyed.
Then people decided to buy what they could find on our shelves...and as much as they could afford. So, more empty shelves.
Then astute people saw that the shelf tags were being changed. Prices are going UP and in a big way.
Example: Progresso soups. Fairly decent product. Lots of good varieties. Normally 2.99 a can, currently on sale at our store for $1.25 a can. Good buy.
The new price will be (after the sale) $3.99 a can.
Almost every price in the store is going up from 10 cents an item up to $2.00 an item.
This is not the store doing this,  the suppliers and vendors are doing this.
From what Lance told me, suppliers and vendors apparently decided instead of gradually creeping up the prices over the span of a few months to a year, they decided to just bite the bullet and jump the prices all at once. February is a big month for this, a lot of the fiscal year planning takes effect in February.

So...shop sales. You will not see those prices again in the foreseeable future.
Be aware of weather not just in your a/o, but in areas where your food may be coming from. If you live in Michigan you may not think much about a huge storm hitting Florida...until you see there are no citrus fruits in the produce section. (Similarly, a lot of produce for the US this time of year comes from South America. Problems and/or weather events in Chili can impact your plans to make beef and broccoli for dinner next week)
Again, this time of year is rough on transportation systems. A big storm in the Northeast can be reflected in supply problems in the Upper Midwest. And prices and/or availability are reflected in this.

[Anianna]

Be aware of weather not just in your a/o, but in areas where your food may be coming from. If you live in Michigan you may not think much about a huge storm hitting Florida...until you see there are no citrus fruits in the produce section.

To add to this, be aware that sometimes, they'll still ship out these products and they may look fine on the outside, but the inside will not be palatable.  It's a bit of a crapshoot to purchase citrus following an event like this.

[Optimist]

I ran into the distilled water problem the other day. Normally every store in the area carries it as people use it for their generators. Now there was only one store on the next town over that had any and it was $3/gallon instead of $1.50.

[NapalmMan67]

AAA batteries are suddenly getting very hard to find.  AAs up the wazoo, but AAAs seem to be in very short supply. 

They were in abundance in my AO on Monday (02-07-22) when I was at the store.  Actually bought a package since I was low.  Regional shortage perhaps?


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[Moab]

I ran into the distilled water problem the other day. Normally every store in the area carries it as people use it for their generators. Now there was only one store on the next town over that had any and it was $3/gallon instead of $1.50.

Its hard to find at my kroger even before covid.

[Anianna]

I finally decided to buy a distiller to ensure I can always have distilled water at hand.  Hubby's all excited thinking he can make some moonshine.  We don't even drink, but he has this thing for making alcohol (he once made mead from our own honey - it smelled like jet fuel). 

[NapalmMan67]

Peanut Butter and Bread shortages yesterday when I was at the stores.


Finally found some 90/10 ground beef, but at $6.49/lb.