Sam's Club rationing rice to 4 bags per person in U.S.

[Tracy in Ky]

Goodness!!

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/retail/article/walmart-rations-rice-warns-supply-demand-concerns_575879_7.html

[Kim in TN]

We don't eat rice, but that's a little scary. What will they ration next? :eek:

 

Kim

[JennifersLost]

Maybe it's time to plant potatoes. Then you know you have at least one "starch" to put on the table. What a weird year we're having, eh?

[elegantlion]

That's pretty scary. Rationing? I don't even like the sound of that word.

[Kelli in TN]

But it's four bags per person and they are big bags!

 

I guess if someone was worried enough they could go to Sam's a couple of times per week until they feel like they have enough rice.

[Mamagistra]

Hm...I wonder if brown rice is affected. :confused:

 

Note to self: Buy rice.

[Frontier Mom]

Good thing I just stocked up at Trader Joes!

[cin]

But it's four bags per person and they are big bags!

 

I guess if someone was worried enough they could go to Sam's a couple of times per week until they feel like they have enough rice.

 

 

The ARE big bags, I'm wondering what our family of 4 (and those 2 girls LOVE rice!) would DO with 4 of those bags!!!!

[Quiver0f10]

I don't think brown rice is being rationed anywhere? I did just buy a ton thank goodness LOL.

[nuthouse]

just a local grocery, not to expensive, but not Sam's or Cosco. A 20lb. bag of white long grain rice was $26.99 and 5lbs of all purpose flour $4.99. I cannot believe there isn't some sort price manipulation going on as well as some fear mongering by FOX. PS. There was plenty of rice and flour, but not at a price I'm will to pay.:ohmy:

[Kari C in SC]

I was just at Sam's this afternoon. There was plenty of rice and not signs about rationing. I do have to say that this message board has power over me. I ALMOST bought a huge bag of rice even though we only eat rice once or twice a month. I have never even bought a big bag of rice like that. I do normally buy the big box of Minute Rice at Sam's. I stopped and thought about buying that. Then I remembered I still have rice in the pantry. Maybe my next trip in two weeks.

[Sarah in FL]

I just bought a huge bag of basmati rice (25 lbs I think) at Sam's last month. It will take us a long time to eat it. But just even hearing about the ration kind of makes me want to run out and stock up, even though I am stocked up! I need to get a grip....:rolleyes:

[Annie G]

just a local grocery, not to expensive, but not Sam's or Cosco. A 20lb. bag of white long grain rice was $26.99 and 5lbs of all purpose flour $4.99. I cannot believe there isn't some sort price manipulation going on as well as some fear mongering by FOX. PS. There was plenty of rice and flour, but not at a price I'm will to pay.:ohmy:

 

Our Sam's has 12 pound bags of Uncle Ben's long grain rice for $7.27 per bag. Unless your rice was organic, it seems pretty high priced. King Arthur all purpose flour is $4 per 5 pound bag but other brands are much cheaper.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Stores often will do this kind of "rationing" - if there is a special sale and they want to make sure there is enough in their store for their customers. So they say for example "x for $1 each - limit 4". This is not the same as the government stepping in an rationing a food item - like during WWII. After all, if you bought your 4 bags at Sam's and still needed more rice (though I don't know why you would?) it isn't like you couldn't go to other stores and buy more there.

[LG Gone Wild]

I mean, that's a lot of durn rice! Shoot, if you need rice that badly, go to the Asian market.:tongue_smilie:

[Deidre in GA]

remember, a lot of businesses use the warehouse clubs. a restaurant could probably use up 4 big bags of rice easily.

[abbeyej]

The apparent shortage does make me nervous. Ds is allergic to gluten grains, oats, and other grains. He can have corn, but rice is a staple for him. For instance, breakfast this morning was rice bread toast (and that's his usual), lunch was a sandwich on rice bread, dinner included rice. There's hardly a day that he doesn't have rice at at least 2-3 meals or snacks.

 

I'm worried that if there really is a shortage, it could become more difficult to get bread, cereal, rice flour and other baked goods he can eat. I'm not expecting a crisis tomorrow or anything, but it sure does give me pause.

[PrairieAir]

I just bought a huge bag of basmati rice (25 lbs I think) at Sam's last month. It will take us a long time to eat it. But just even hearing about the ration kind of makes me want to run out and stock up, even though I am stocked up! I need to get a grip....:rolleyes:

 

LOL! Yesterday I went to the post office and the clerk told me that stamps would be going up to $.42 on May 1st. Instead of the one book of stamps I had planned to buy, I bought five books of the forever stamps (equivalent to a roll) and one book of regular stamps for now (and because they were prettier). On the way home I thought about it and laughed at myself. I spent $41 more than I had planned to spend in a week when I really could have used that money elsewhere--all to save $1.00!:lol: Oh well, we will use the stamps eventually and thank goodness that $41 won't break us. Of course, if it would have I wouldn't even have considered stocking up.

[TrixieB]

just a local grocery, not to expensive, but not Sam's or Cosco. A 20lb. bag of white long grain rice was $26.99 and 5lbs of all purpose flour $4.99. I cannot believe there isn't some sort price manipulation going on as well as some fear mongering by FOX. PS. There was plenty of rice and flour, but not at a price I'm will to pay.:ohmy:

At the local grocery today I bought a 10lb bag of unbleached white flour, store brand, $3.59. 5lb bag of Stone-Buhr whole wheat flour was $3.25.

 

What shocked me: last week a 5lb bag of King Arthur flour was $3.99. Today it was $5.67! :eek:

 

The rice supply was low but not gone.

[JWSJ]

Is the UN labeled rice affected?

 

Or just the regular stuff?

 

:001_smile:

[Closeacademy]

My dh likesto get on a Hawaiian message board and I guess Costco over on the Big Island is limiting families to 1 20lb sack of rice.

[Jenny in Florida]

In the U.S., there is no "shortage" of rice. In fact, we produce so much that we're still exporting a lot.

 

The concern is that demand has gone up worldwide, which is pushing up the price.

 

Since Sam's Club and Costco and similar businesses make the majority of their money from membership fees, not profit on the items they sell, it is in their best interests to keep the prices as stable as they can in order to keep and attract customers.

 

So, while regular grocery stores simply raise their prices in order to continue making a profit, Sam's has opted to keep the price steady but ration the amount per person.

 

It's simply a different business model.

 

For the forseeable future, there should continue to be plenty of rice available, just at slightly higher prices. Since rice continues to be one of the cheapest foods available, it shouldn't be a problem for most Americans.

[KS_]

So, while regular grocery stores simply raise their prices in order to continue making a profit, Sam's has opted to keep the price steady but ration the amount per person.

 

It's simply a different business model.

 

 

 

Well, I don't know about other Sam's Clubs, but ours *has* raised it's prices. I just bought a 50lb bag of flour there a month or so ago, and at that time, the price had doubled over what I had paid the time before. Same with the rice - I don't know if the price has doubled or not, but it was definitely higher than previously.

[Elm in NJ]

We got 3 bags yesterday from the Chinese supermarket. The price had gone up from $10.80 to $18 since the last time we bought some, which was 2 months ago. Scary! I guess we better find another staple food.

 

Elmeryl(with J12, C9, L7, R7)

[PinkTulip]

I bought two 20-lb. bags of sticky rice at my regular grocery store today - they were $17.00 each! Also, they were the last two bags of sticky rice in the store.

 

Our family goes through about one 20-lb. bag per month so I'm a few months ahead now.

[beansprouts]

Note to self: Buy rice.

 

Funny, I was just thinking "What a great strategy to sell more rice" ;)

[Sara R]

If you see some, have the money to buy it and the room to store it, and if you will eat it, stock up! According to this article from The Wall Street Journal, it will be a better investment than money in the bank.

[Laura R (FL)]

Hmm...I wouldn't invest in it...no resale value. What do you do when the price goes back down or the supply opens back up? :001_huh:

 

Rice is a staple in worldwide relief. In some cases, rebel groups have overtaken the relief stores and are stockpiling it in order to control the people. Control the food, control the people. Now more rice has to be sent to feed the starving people. It's so bad in Haiti that people are rioting. Some countries are stockpiling in an effort to provide for the future. Sooner or later, these stores will be opened back up and we'll be up to our ears in rice!

[Sara R]

Hmm...I wouldn't invest in it...no resale value. What do you do when the price goes back down or the supply opens back up?

 

Well, then you eat it. :001_rolleyes: I'm assuming that you don't buy anything you won't eventually eat. In a worst case scenario, you've overpaid a little for rice. But prices are likely to go up further for the reasons listed in the article (plus the reason of a falling dollar, which makes all commodities more expensive for holders of dollars). Eventually, when you eat your pre-paid rice or other food staples, you will spend less on groceries at that time than you otherwise would have. You can invest the money saved.

[Laura R (FL)]

I got that point :) about eating it.

 

Maybe I'm not a rice fan...or don't have the room to have a mini-warehouse...or find better investment returns.

 

It's just hard to keep food in FL.

 

By the way...my responses weren't necessarily directed at you, I just didn't necessarily agree with the article. ;)

[Kari C in SC]

If you see some, have the money to buy it and the room to store it, and if you will eat it, stock up! According to this article from The Wall Street Journal, it will be a better investment than money in the bank.

 

I don't know if I completely agree with this article or not, but I have been stocking up. My dh is a mechanic that gets a salary plus commission. The last several months have been good months for us. We don't know when or if the pinch on budgets will auto care. So... when the extra cash is there, we have been buying extras of things. If we never see our income go down, then we will just have a well-stocked pantry. If we see our income decrease as prices go higher, we will be in a better spot financially.

 

Oddly enough, I like the feeling of stocking up on things. My mom used to always go grocery shopping when money was tight. She said she always felt better if she knew there was food for everyone. I think she must have passed that down to me. I love the feeling of having 22 jar of ragu on the bottom of the pantry! Crazy, huh?

[MommyX8]

I think that the rationing was more for business (restaurants) rather than individuals.

 

I only buy organic rice and that doesn't come in big bags to begin with.

[Jeanne in MN]

I think that the rationing was more for business (restaurants) rather than individuals.

QUOTE]

 

 

Yes, from an article I read, the rationing was put in place because of restaraunts, not families.