What is inflated or hard to find in your area?

[Tina]

Anything made from oil will go up/be in shorter supply including items made of plastic.  PVC for our business is jumping.  The woman who cut my hair said the beauty supply said combs and brushes were short, too.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Tina

[Arcadia]

4 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Oh and this one is weird. Tissue paper. I have no idea why. White and 2021 graduation tissue is it, and very few places have even that. So odd.

Was at Costco yesterday and they have wall to wall worth of toilet paper, paper towels and Kleenex tissue boxes (https://www.costco.com/kleenex-trusted-care-facial-tissue%2C-2-ply%2C-230-count%2C-10-pack.product.100089150.html). We never had a shortage of tissue paper here (SF Bay Area). That’s a really weird item to be short off.

[Sneezyone]

22 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Was at Costco yesterday and they have wall to wall worth of toilet paper, paper towels and Kleenex tissue boxes (https://www.costco.com/kleenex-trusted-care-facial-tissue%2C-2-ply%2C-230-count%2C-10-pack.product.100089150.html). We never had a shortage of tissue paper here (SF Bay Area). That’s a really weird item to be short off.

Proximity to tree farms and paper mills? I know there are some big forestry operations in northern CA. Not so many left in metro WA. When I was a kid, we had a pulp mill in our city that produced a certain ‘aroma’.

[Arcadia]

1 minute ago, Sneezyone said:

Proximity to tree farms and paper mills? I know there are some big forestry operations in northern CA. Not so many left in metro WA. When I was a kid, we had a pulp mill in our city that produced a certain ‘aroma’.

Was thinking proximity to Port of Oakland.

[Faith-manor]

49 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Was at Costco yesterday and they have wall to wall worth of toilet paper, paper towels and Kleenex tissue boxes (https://www.costco.com/kleenex-trusted-care-facial-tissue%2C-2-ply%2C-230-count%2C-10-pack.product.100089150.html). We never had a shortage of tissue paper here (SF Bay Area). That’s a really weird item to be short off.

I know right! Very weird.

[Tina]

On 5/12/2021 at 5:44 PM, RootAnn said:

The Sonic (burger drive-in that used to have the gimmick of servers on roller skates but they haven't done it for years) in our town is operating on limited hours (10 am-8 pm) because they can't get enough workers. But I don't think it is related to Covid relief checks here.

Also, the Sonic here has done so well $$$-wise during the pandemic. They've had record sales since last March that only slowed down in the last few of months when sit down places opened up to more business.

Our local mom and pop summer only burger joint decided to stay with carhop service only this summer.  The long lines there continue!

 

[bluemongoose]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

 

😂 some of us Gen X are sandwich between parents who have inadequate retirement savings and kids who aren’t working yet.

TRUTH!

[Carrie12345]

Our wing place posted on FB about their shortages. 

[Laura Corin]

Dog poo bags

[popmom]

Store hours! I went to our most upscale/busy shopping center this evening because I wanted to check Athleta and Ann Taylor for a couple of items before our vacation. I arrived at 7:20. Everything closes at 7pm now. Color me clueless. This was my first visit to a clothing retailer since before the pandemic began. Belk (major department store) is still open til 9. Not sure about Saks.

Steel and copper (for construction and plumbing) are hard to get in my area. 

Easy set above ground pools and all associated accessories—mostly upgraded filter pumps and saltwater systems.

Those wanting to repair or replace decks should consider composite decking. It’s now cheaper than pine.

On 5/12/2021 at 2:36 PM, vonfirmath said:

I've been at two grocery stores this week and both seemed to have bare spots on the shelves I'm not used to -- things not getting restocked as often as usual.  One Wal-mart had bare spots on the ground where they had taken displays entirely out of the store floor!

 

This. My Walmart Neighborhood Market is very hit or miss lately. Publix seems to stayed pretty well stocked. 

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by popmom

[BookMamaLade]

On 5/3/2021 at 9:31 PM, Starr said:

We have those, some years worse than others. They are a kind of beetle not the happy lady bugs that are good for plants. And they stink if you squish them. lol

Stink bugs are totally different from lady bugs. Stinkbugs can hurt your plants, on top of being super annoying inside. The Brown Marmorated variety are an invasive species, so no natural predators to keep them in check. You might try Diamataceous Earth. Most insecticides will only kill them with direct contact; the residue does nothing.

[BookMamaLade]

On shortages topic - I started looking for a swingset for ds last April; we just got one this month. The type we wanted was constantly out of stock. 

I built a raised garden bed out of cinder blocks cheaper than lumber. As a bonus though, it'll last a lot longer. 

We definitely see more random empty spots at walmart too. 

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, Plum said:

Just watched a report interviewing a body shop saying car parts are in short supply. Some manufacturers stopped making parts when less people were driving. It’s hit and miss. Best to call ahead to ensure they have all of the parts. 

I just got  new tires on my minivan and they had 1 set of tires that would work on my van in stock.  

[saraha]

Canning lids! Still, ugh. I bought all I could find last year and have never stopped looking. You can buy jars with lids and bands but I have more jars than any one family could use. There are knock off lids on line, but I just can't make myself bite. At the prices of Ball and Kerr, its cheaper to buy canned vegetables than to grow and can your own.

[Arcadia]

On 5/20/2021 at 7:04 AM, mommyoffive said:

I just got  new tires on my minivan and they had 1 set of tires that would work on my van in stock.  

We were thinking of changing out our old tires for our Corolla at Costco. They have to order for us and might take 7 days for the stock to come. Luckily we aren’t in any rush.

[Spryte]

On 5/18/2021 at 2:45 PM, Arcadia said:

 

😂 some of us Gen X are sandwich between parents who have inadequate retirement savings and kids who aren’t working yet.

Raising hand!

Three elders, not enough money for their care.  Totally supporting one, helping two get on Medicaid (fingers crossed we swing end up on the hook for their nursing care bills, yikes).  

High school and elementary kids.

Completely sandwiched here. 🤣

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, saraha said:

Canning lids! Still, ugh. I bought all I could find last year and have never stopped looking. You can buy jars with lids and bands but I have more jars than any one family could use. There are knock off lids on line, but I just can't make myself bite. At the prices of Ball and Kerr, its cheaper to buy canned vegetables than to grow and can your own.

Ugggg.  Still?  Let me know if you find a source.

 

[saraha]

10 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Ugggg.  Still?  Let me know if you find a source.

 

Amazon has name Ball and Kerr, but they are prohibitively high, it would be cheaper to just buy canned vegetables. They also have tons of off brand, but I am not sure I trust them, I don't want to do all that work for them to not seal. I can find jars with bands and lids in the store, but no just lids.

[Storygirl]

Sanitation workers are evidently in short supply right now, for some reason. Maybe some have found alternate jobs, now that there are many businesses hiring? Our garbage pick up has been delayed over the past couple of weeks; the bins sit by the street for an extra day or two and aren't being picked up on the assigned day. I saw a bit on the news saying this is a problem in surrounding communities, as well.

[SDMomof3]

Gas, in San Diego. Filled up last night, $4.73 per gallon 😱

[mommyoffive]

58 minutes ago, SDMomof3 said:

Gas, in San Diego. Filled up last night, $4.73 per gallon 😱

Is gas  hard to find?  What is it about?

[SDMomof3]

3 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Is gas  hard to find?  What is it about?

Gas is not hard to find, but ever since the pipeline hack, prices have been steadily creeping up, plus CA switches to a summer blend every spring, which is more expensive. 

[Arcadia]

20 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Is gas  hard to find?  What is it about?

Gas prices always go up before Memorial Day in California 

Costco was $3.699 two weeks ago and $3.729 last week. 

[popmom]

Cars. 
https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/ive-never-seen-anything-like-this-prices-for-used-cars-soaring-in-alabama.html?fbclid=IwAR3oVy8H63NYYYtkYplpMxXz36zuN3dlaHmvl-PMbwzCsLiuJKKuebsf3UA

 

[Pawz4me]

8 hours ago, SDMomof3 said:

Gas is not hard to find, but ever since the pipeline hack, prices have been steadily creeping up, plus CA switches to a summer blend every spring, which is more expensive. 

I'm pretty sure it's a nationwide switch between winter and summer blends. Gas prices always go up in the spring, partially because of that switch and partially because of (in normal times) more summer driving. Also, I believe they take the refineries offline for maintenance before the switch. So that means a temporarily shorter supply, which adds to price increases. Add in a hack on top of all of that . . . 

 

[Carrie12345]

On wood - our builder is not offering back decks, which we did know in advance.  But we did ask if we could get “steps to grade” off our sliding glass door, instead of the “Juliette rail” they have (which basically renders the door useless.). We were told it would be nearly as expensive as a 10x10 deck to build stairs to code, so they won’t do it.

(Now I’m trying to research building Trex stairs, but can’t find my local building codes to be sure of what we will need.)

[Desert Strawberry]

On 5/15/2021 at 11:25 PM, Jean in Newcastle said:

Our Humane Society often has guinea pigs in their small animal section. 

Not here. I'm not sure if they take small/ exotics.
I joined a few rehoming sites, but those also went really fast. I'm so far away that they got snapped up before I could even make contact. Especially females, which is what we  keep. A friend did get her 2 males from one of the groups though. She lives much closer to the city. 
We ended up taking new arrivals and the uglier ones who were left behind. We love them so. We're done now with 4 sweet little fluffs. That's it for us until we get a new setup with more space. 
 

[Desert Strawberry]

On 5/15/2021 at 6:54 PM, Desert Strawberry said:

I'm not seeing most of the shortages mentioned here, though I don't go into stores often. I'm not having any trouble having most of my online orders filled. 
Ikea hasn't had storage beds in stock for months. 
We can't get a plumber for anything. exterminators, too. 
The Timothy hay I ordered has quadupled in price in 3 weeks. I hope it comes down before we need more. 
We started keeping guinea pigs. It has taken us almost a year to get all 4 guinea pigs.  We got the first one in October . Started looking in July. Got the last one for Mother's Day. 
Ya'll have me thinking I need to stock up on dog food. 
We bought 2 used cars last month with plenty of choices. Gas is about the usual price. I just bought paint without a problem. 
It seems like everyone else had the same idea to fix up the backyard this summer. I guess I'll wait until fall, since it'll be too hot to use it anyway. 

 

We got our storage bed this weekend, slept on it for the first time last night ( plus two naps). It's not the one we originally chose (still out of stock), but we like it. 
 

 

[Murphy101]

I cannot find:

wallpaper

limewash

Someone who will paint ONLY the ceilings in my living room and stair well for under $700.  (I supply the paint.)

boys dress shoes. We had to buy used online.

Young women’s dress that don’t look like a horrific mashup between little house and a mumu.  Just. What. The. Hecken.  We found some cute options at Marshall’s. Thank heaven. I was getting desperate for my teens.

a light needed a repair and the $10 part was ordered 8 MONTHS ago and just came in. 

produce is getting insane. I’m Down to bananas and cheap apples. I used to buy all kinds of fresh produce - esp in the summer! But the prices are just nuts. Easily double or triple this time last year. 

We tend to eat simple but with lots of flavor. So we buy spices at Costco and such.  We have had a hard time finding some common spices and when we do, only in very small containers and the price is up.

Olshan is apparently going out of business. Which sucks for our house warrantee. Call. Email. Social media. Drive the office and no one is there. No response at all ever.

[pinball]

37 minutes ago, Desert Strawberry said:

Not here. I'm not sure if they take small/ exotics.
I joined a few rehoming sites, but those also went really fast. I'm so far away that they got snapped up before I could even make contact. Especially females, which is what we  keep. A friend did get her 2 males from one of the groups though. She lives much closer to the city. 
We ended up taking new arrivals and the uglier ones who were left behind. We love them so. We're done now with 4 sweet little fluffs. That's it for us until we get a new setup with more space. 
 

You hush your mouth! I hope the piggies didn’t hear you say that!

uglier guinea pigs are not a thing!

 

[Desert Strawberry]

2 hours ago, pinball said:

You hush your mouth! I hope the piggies didn’t hear you say that!

uglier guinea pigs are not a thing!

 

It's ok. they don't know they're ugly. 

[SDMomof3]

Men’s Running shoes, could not find Dh’s size at 3 stores or online 

[TravelingChris]

On 5/18/2021 at 1:38 PM, HeartString said:

That might be true. As an “elder millennial” I know at least 2 other families, plus my own, that have made decisions about the husbands job that result in less money but more time at home.  Still plenty of money, no one is choosing poverty.  But when the choice is a perfectly good comfortable living with Dad home at 5:30 or 20k more but the kids don’t see dad 6 days a week we choose the husband home at 5:30 option.  

We are tail end Bably Boomers who did this- dh can only work for a maximum of 40 hours a week now.

[mommyoffive]

Taco Bell warns it is running out of several key ingredients due to supply-chain snags, as customers report shortages of chicken, beef, taco shells, and hot sauce (msn.com)

[prairiewindmomma]

My family still in the Midwest is dealing with gasoline issues. The stations are running out before they are getting their tanker refill deliveries. 
 

Locally, we are trying to do some needed home repairs and milled lumber is hard to get. It’s ironic. I see the logs leaving the forest every dang day. I see plenty of trains hauling logs. The lumber mills by us are running long shifts. I just can’t get my dang cedar exterior trim boards. 

[mommyoffive]

11 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

My family still in the Midwest is dealing with gasoline issues. The stations are running out before they are getting their tanker refill deliveries. 
 

Locally, we are trying to do some needed home repairs and milled lumber is hard to get. It’s ironic. I see the logs leaving the forest every dang day. I see plenty of trains hauling logs. The lumber mills by us are running long shifts. I just can’t get my dang cedar exterior trim boards. 

I am in the midwest and haven't seen or heard of any issues.  Scary.

[prairiewindmomma]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/06/28/business/gas-station-outages/index.html

They have continued into July for them. They just drive to a different town with more options, but it’s inconvenient.

[mlktwins]

AC and furnace parts 😭!  Our house was built in 2003 and we just replaced our downstairs AC and furnace in 2019.  We've been babying the upstairs AC, but it is just done!  It is like an oven on the 2nd floor (main bedrooms and bathrooms) and even worse on the 3rd floor (our school area).

Anyway, it will be August 18th when all the parts will be in.  No AC upstairs for a month 😭!  It has been ok the past couple of days, but last week and Saturday it was "feels like" 108 degrees. 

I am sleeping on an inflatable mattress in my living room where there is AC 😁.  My desktop and the boys' desktops are now in the kitchen.  Gonna be a long month. 

[KungFuPanda]

I'm over here waiting for lumber prices to go back down so I can build a few small projects.  There is plenty of stock now, but I'm going to wait a bit longer for the prices to drop more.  They seem to be in a free fall right now, so I don't know how much longer it will be until we see pre-pandemic prices for 2 x 4s again.

[Shoeless]

The used furniture market has slim pickings these days. I've been keeping my eye out for a cedar/blanket chest, and what's available is priced crazy high. 

[Ali in OR]

Our washer finally broke irreparably in June--like leaving grease on clothes--so not usable at all. We got the first available washer which was two weeks, and the dryer was 3 weeks. Have them both now.

Yasso Greek yogurt bars? Nature Valley Oats and Dark Chocolate granola? Just a couple of favorite food items that have not been available this month.

[popmom]

ETA: Did I already complain about this? lol I'm really ticked about this. My dh finally has 4 weeks of vacay a year, and we can't afford to go anywhere. First world problems. lol

Inflated and hard--(make that next to impossible) to find: vacation rentals and hotel rooms anywhere you would want to go.

Inflated: hotels rooms even in places you don't want to go.

Highly inflated: vacation rentals for summer of 2022 that are already being booked more than a year in advance. The modest little rental we enjoyed back in May in the off season will be more than double for the same week next year. Some people are finding their favorite spots are tripling rates for next year.

Edited July 21, 2021 by popmom

[pitterpatter]

Plastic totes have been hard to come by for months (all sizes). I finally snagged six large ones at Aldi the other day. I did see some at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago. They were twice as much as usual and a brand I didn't know.

[mommyoffive]

39 minutes ago, popmom said:

ETA: Did I already complain about this? lol I'm really ticked about this. My dh finally has 4 weeks of vacay a year, and we can't afford to go anywhere. First world problems. lol

Inflated and hard--(make that next to impossible) to find: vacation rentals and hotel rooms anywhere you would want to go.

Inflated: hotels rooms even in places you don't want to go.

Highly inflated: vacation rentals for summer of 2022 that are already being booked more than a year in advance. The modest little rental we enjoyed back in May in the off season will be more than double for the same week next year. Some people are finding their favorite spots are tripling rates for next year.

Oh wow.  I haven't heard that yet.

[popmom]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow.  I haven't heard that yet.

Regarding summer of '22--I'm seeing this mostly on the Alabama Gulf coast and Florida panhandle beaches.

But I'm also seeing it in other beach communities in the short term. I have a friend coming to visit me in August from TX. She and I were thinking of driving down to the beach for a few days. In the past late Aug and Sept had lots of availibity and low prices. Not so this year. We can find a place to stay, but the prices aren't much lower than peak season. Normally, after mid August, prices drop anywhere from 30-50% of peak rates. This year Sept is maybe 10-20% lower than peak, and many properties I've looked at are booked well into October. 

Supply and demand at work.

I'm adding my specific example. We stayed at this little cottage about a block off the beach on Anna Maria Island in May--which is off season there. Our cottage was $1800 all in--taxes fees and all for 7 nights. I just checked the rate for May of '22. $4400 all in. 

https://www.annamariaparadise.com/anna-maria-island-rentals/angelfish#rcav={"rcav"%3A{"begin"%3A"05%2F21%2F2022"%2C"end"%3A"05%2F28%2F2022"%2C"adult"%3A1%2C"child"%3A0%2C"eid"%3A"210"}}

Edited July 21, 2021 by popmom

[katilac]

Cleaning products - brand names in particular, but even generics to some  extent. When 409 became available fairly regularly again, Scrubbing Bubbles disappeared from every shelf. 

[YaelAldrich]

3 hours ago, popmom said:

ETA: Did I already complain about this? lol I'm really ticked about this. My dh finally has 4 weeks of vacay a year, and we can't afford to go anywhere. First world problems. lol

Inflated and hard--(make that next to impossible) to find: vacation rentals and hotel rooms anywhere you would want to go.

Inflated: hotels rooms even in places you don't want to go.

Highly inflated: vacation rentals for summer of 2022 that are already being booked more than a year in advance. The modest little rental we enjoyed back in May in the off season will be more than double for the same week next year. Some people are finding their favorite spots are tripling rates for next year.

Finding any Airbnb or hotels are impossible or expensive. We're looking for a place to crash for one night in August en route to our beach house rental. The place we took last year (not fancy half an old house in a busy part of Lehigh PA) was gone and finding an Airbnb was impossible unless I wanted to spend $400. Found one in northern NJ and the just cancelled on us. I finally just took a suite hotel. I can't keep searching.

[BusyMom5]

Am I the only one who can't find Gatorade in stock?  My DH and kids only like a handful of flavors and they have been out over a month.  I have bought them 1x this summer.   Otherwise they are always out!  

 

[lewelma]

4 hours ago, popmom said:

 

Inflated and hard--(make that next to impossible) to find: vacation rentals and hotel rooms anywhere you would want to go.

This is one problem that we *definitely* don't have. Our second biggest industry - international tourism - is completely dead because the borders are locked. There are just piles and piles of things to do with NO ONE there. We have a 'back your backyard' campaign to get kiwis out to support the tourism industry.

[lewelma]

What is hard to find here is housing! We had 500,000 kiwis move back to escape covid in a population of 4.5 million (now 5 million). That is a massive percentage influx and we don't have the housing. People are living in their cars, tents, doubling up families in housing. We have a friend who has 9 people now in a 3 bedroom house because they took their sister's family in.  There are no apartments for rent, and no houses to buy that are even slightly affordable. The cost of buying a house in my area has increased by 35% in ONE year. 

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/06/housing-crisis-prices-going-up-fastest-since-records-began.html