WEBVTT - Here’s Why You Might Be Seeing Empty Grocery Store Shelves Again

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, January. I'm Oscar and Mirrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America

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<v Speaker 1>and some grocery stores around the country. We are again

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<v Speaker 1>seeing empty shelves. Some of the reasons remain the same

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<v Speaker 1>as early in the pandemic, others have changed slightly. The

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<v Speaker 1>omicron surge, coupled with labor shortages, is making it difficult

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<v Speaker 1>to keep things stocked. Supply chain issues in other countries

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<v Speaker 1>are affecting us, and more people are eating at home.

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<v Speaker 1>Laura Riley, business of food reporter at The Washington Post,

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<v Speaker 1>joins us for What to Know. Thanks for joining us, Laura,

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<v Speaker 1>so happy to be here. Well, pandemic life has been

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<v Speaker 1>a series of never ending disruptions that's going to continue on. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>this year we're seeing the surge of the omicron variant

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<v Speaker 1>and all the disruptions that it's causing. There. You know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people are just getting infected, having a

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<v Speaker 1>call out, sick of work, all this. But another thing

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing is, you know, some more grocery store shelves

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<v Speaker 1>that are empty, kind of reminiscent of very early pandemic.

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<v Speaker 1>And all through last year we saw a lot of disruption.

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<v Speaker 1>Supply chain issues were a huge thing. But there's some

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<v Speaker 1>four main reasons right now why it's happening all over again.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's start with O Macron. I mean, that's one of

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<v Speaker 1>the big things that's happening. Yeah, So we have this

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<v Speaker 1>huge surge which has affected grocery store workers. Truckers were

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<v Speaker 1>about eighty thousand truckers down right now, and you know

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<v Speaker 1>some of that is the Great Resignation or the Big quit,

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<v Speaker 1>whatever you're calling it. So in almost every sector, employers

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<v Speaker 1>are having a hard time keeping enough workers. And now

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<v Speaker 1>you add to this this huge explosion of infection, and

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<v Speaker 1>you know, these people are not necessarily super sick, but

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<v Speaker 1>they're calling out of work for five days however long.

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<v Speaker 1>And a lot of them can't get their hands on

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<v Speaker 1>rapid tests. So there's an impediment there to get them

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<v Speaker 1>back in the in the building, in the office, in

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<v Speaker 1>the in the grocery store. Because of that, So O

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<v Speaker 1>Macron is reaking havoc. I mean, some of the CEO

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<v Speaker 1>as I spoke with, said they have more absenteeism now

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<v Speaker 1>than at any point during money. Yeah, and that's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>you know, can keep continuing as the limited availability of tests.

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<v Speaker 1>I know at my work, it's it's kind of the

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<v Speaker 1>same rules. Hey, you got a test negative until you

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<v Speaker 1>can come back. And you know, if you go take

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<v Speaker 1>a PCR test, it could be up to forty eight

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<v Speaker 1>hours for those results. These antigen tests are hard to

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<v Speaker 1>come by. It's really tough to nail down the timing

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<v Speaker 1>of all of that. And you know, we're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>workers not being in the store. We're seeing also that

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of grocery workers are going on strike in Colorado,

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<v Speaker 1>about eight grocery workers are gonna be you know, not

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<v Speaker 1>be reporting. So again, for those stores, it's tough to

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<v Speaker 1>restock the shelves. So I mean, that's just gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>kind of an ongoing thing until that even gets settled out.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the other things that we're seeing a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of is the winter weather. So that's obviously puts a

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<v Speaker 1>big hamper on a lot of things. Sure, so we

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<v Speaker 1>had the mid Atlantic region, saw some punishing storm the

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<v Speaker 1>Pacific Northwest, so we've we've really seen a number of

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<v Speaker 1>parts of the country that have been affected by winter weather.

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<v Speaker 1>We saw those pictures on nine five of those miles

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<v Speaker 1>and miles of cars uck for twenty four hours. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>a fair number of those were tractor trailers full of

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<v Speaker 1>food on their way to grocery stores, so we're seeing

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<v Speaker 1>shortfalls there. You know, it impacts getting food from ports,

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<v Speaker 1>so imported food getting from ports to you know, intermotal

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<v Speaker 1>so onto train containers, and then from there into the

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<v Speaker 1>trucking world. Most food gets to grocery stores via truck,

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<v Speaker 1>so if you have enormous impediments along major thoroughfares, like

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<v Speaker 1>that's gonna slow some things down. You may mention also

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<v Speaker 1>school delays and closing and going back to remote learning

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<v Speaker 1>in a lot of cases. You know, this also has

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<v Speaker 1>an effect on families and the way they buy food.

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<v Speaker 1>So you have kids at home more often that you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they're gonna stock up on more things, so leaving a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit of less inventory for other people. That's another

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<v Speaker 1>thing that the schools keep impacting daily life in a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of different ways. Yeah, so by the end of

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<v Speaker 1>last week, there were more than fifty schools temporarily pushing off,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, reconvening in person, and obviously every single parent

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<v Speaker 1>then has to provide those meals for those kids. So

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<v Speaker 1>that's a pivot. I mean, my guess is that a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of parts of the country, those lunchables and those

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<v Speaker 1>kinds of things are sold out because all of a sudden,

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<v Speaker 1>parents had to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner for for kids

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<v Speaker 1>that they didn't anticipate. So yes, that's another impediment. And

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<v Speaker 1>and some of those workers now have kids at home

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<v Speaker 1>and are and you know, you can't find childcare on

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<v Speaker 1>the fly, so they may be calling in sick to

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<v Speaker 1>work because of that. Supply chain issues continue to be

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<v Speaker 1>a huge thing, but now we're feeling the effects of

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<v Speaker 1>supply supply chain issues from other countries and things that

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<v Speaker 1>we import from them. Sure, so you know, we've talked

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<v Speaker 1>a lot in the past few months about shipping container

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<v Speaker 1>backup in California and Louisiana. But some of this now

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<v Speaker 1>in terms of imported food, and that can be finished

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<v Speaker 1>food or ingredients that go into other foods. A lot

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<v Speaker 1>of that now is impacted by manufacturing plants closing because

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<v Speaker 1>of omicron surges in other places. So if China has

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<v Speaker 1>a you know, no COVID hard and fast rule right now,

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<v Speaker 1>that is really impacting manufacturing. I mean the UK, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of disruption there, so some products may be

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<v Speaker 1>delayed for a significant amount of time because of those

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<v Speaker 1>manufacturing closures. And finally, I mean one of the other

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<v Speaker 1>big reasons why you're seeing a lot more shells empty

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<v Speaker 1>at the grocery store is pretty simple. More people are

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<v Speaker 1>just eating at home, especially coming off of the holidays,

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<v Speaker 1>when people generally eat at home more. You know, we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about people not maybe being a little hesitant to

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<v Speaker 1>go out just so they don't want to catch anything.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, a lot of people are just hitting the

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<v Speaker 1>grocery stores even more because they're eating at home. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I looked at open table data and Yelp data and

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<v Speaker 1>those kinds of things mid December, and there was a

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<v Speaker 1>significant dip in consumer you know, attendance and reservations, etcetera.

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<v Speaker 1>Restaurants and there's just a growing consumer hesitancy about dining in.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, some parts of the country you can

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<v Speaker 1>still get an outdoor table, but that's not a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of places, right, I mean, just the weather doesn't accommodate that.

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<v Speaker 1>So you saw this shift back towards dining at home.

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<v Speaker 1>And then another thing to consider is in the month

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<v Speaker 1>of December, obviously it's holidays, but for all of us

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<v Speaker 1>who once again we're deciding Okay, I can't go to

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<v Speaker 1>a Broadway show. I'm not taking that trip. It's imprudent

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<v Speaker 1>to hop on a plane. People may be rewarding themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>so treating themselves with a splurge, so you know, sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>that's okay, kids, we're having lobster tonight or we're doing

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<v Speaker 1>something like that. So we saw an eight percent increase

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<v Speaker 1>in grocery store sales in December relative to last year.

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<v Speaker 1>So some of the shortfalls that we're seeing was kind

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<v Speaker 1>of exuberant spending in the month of December, and the

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<v Speaker 1>thought is that a lot of this is going to

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<v Speaker 1>be continuing for some months to come. Inflation is really

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<v Speaker 1>at a high point right now, so just you know,

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<v Speaker 1>prepare and be ready for what's going on. Laura Riley,

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<v Speaker 1>Business of Food reporter at The Washington Post, thank you

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<v Speaker 1>very much for joining us. Oh thanks for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>Hi'm Oscar Ramires and this has been reopening America. Don't

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<v Speaker 1>forget effort today's big news stories. You can check me

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<v Speaker 1>out on the Daily Dive podcast every mondy to Friday,

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<v Speaker 1>So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you

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