A Few Empty Shelves at Grocery Stores Now Could Be Dozens of Empty Shelves Later

 A guy at church told me that Perkins in Buffalo, MN had no eggs on Sunday morning.  A client on the phone just tole me that Olive Garden ran out of noodles last week.  The grocery store has empty shelves of some products it just can't get.

 It could get a whole lot worse as the perfect storm continues to build.

What we have witnessed so far is just the beginning of the story.  The global response to the COVID pandemic during 2020 and 2021 created the most epic supply chain crisis in modern times, and now "black swan events" such as the war in Ukraine and the bird flu pandemic are making that supply chain crisis even worse.  Unfortunately, more global difficulties are coming.  

There will be more war, there will be more pestilences, there will be more natural disasters, and even the United Nations is admitting that we are heading into the worst global food crisis since World War II.  So if you think that global supply chain problems are severe now, just wait until you see what is coming next.

If you go into most major retailers today, you will notice that stock levels are lower than usual and there are some empty shelves.

But most items are still available most of the time, and that is good news.

Of course there are certain product categories that have been experiencing chronic shortages for an extended period of time.  For example, supplies of canned pet food have been extremely tight for months on end...

The next time you go to the pet store don't be surprised to see some empty shelves.

Many pet stores are facing a shortage on canned pet food.

Right now, there just aren't enough cheap sources of chicken and turkey due to the bird flu pandemic, there is an ongoing shortage of aluminum, and there is a shortage of factory workers.

So the canned pet food shortage is not likely to be fixed any time soon.

Another shortage that is going to affect much of the country as we head into the summer months is the growing chlorine shortage.

I was not even aware of this shortage until a reader alerted me.  Apparently this shortage was originally caused by the destruction of a manufacturing facility in Louisiana by Hurricane Laura...

While the pandemic takes its share of the blame, the even larger reason for the current chlorine shortage is that a major chlorine manufacturing plant in Louisiana was destroyed by Hurricane Laura in late 2020. A fire on the premises leveled the facilities and took nearly 40% of the country's chlorine tablet supply with it.

The manufacturing plant is being rebuilt and is currently under construction; it was due to reopen by mid-to-late 2022, but those plans could be pushed back due to the ongoing construction material shortages.

I find it ironic that the nationwide chlorine shortage could be extended thanks to the nationwide construction material shortage.

Anyone that is trying to build a home knows how painful the construction material shortage has become, and I anticipate that it will only become more severe in 2023 and beyond.

Meanwhile, the nationwide baby formula shortage just continues to get even worse...

Janis Burnson is one of many parents having to work around a national baby formula shortage.

"Go around in our area, St. George, any stores I can, can't find anything around here. I have friends in northern Utah, they're having to send me stuff, so I'm having to pay even more," she says.

One local reporter in southern Utah decided to check this out for herself, and when she visited local stores she discovered "bare shelves where baby formula should be."

What a nightmare.

But at least we can be glad that things are not as bad here as they are in Europe.

Here; Shortages Of A Few Items Now Will Evolve Into Hundreds Of Products Later In 2022 (prophecynewswatch.com) 

We simply don't know what it could mean for us personally when Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah."  What we will actually see and experience before the trumpet finally blows??  I continue to believe that things will continue pretty much as "normal" with people eating and drinking, marrying and giving their daughters in marriage up until the time the trumpet blows.

I'll hang on that blessed hope because Jesus said so.