Is there an actual "Pingdemic" or are we all getting shafted by Brexit?

[buttgammon]

There's no supply issue in Ireland but our local Tesco hasn't had feta for at least four months. Is there an actual issue with the product?

[steveh]

I went into Wilkos on Wednesday to pick up some birdseed/garden bird stuff and the pet aisle was looking pretty bare in the way of pet foodstuffs.

Maybe also because of the cat food recall on a load of own brands as one supplier's contaminated food has been killing moggies.

[Fishfinger]

I went into Wilkos on Wednesday to pick up some birdseed/garden bird stuff and the pet aisle was looking pretty bare in the way of pet foodstuffs.

Yeah, fwiw, my local branches haven't had meal worm for months. I've been ordering it online as other places have also been bereft quite often. Clearly a supply chain issue. Although a pet shop has it but is selling 500g for 3x the price of anywhere else.

[paruses]

Yeah, fwiw, my local branches haven't had meal worms for months. I've been ordering it online as other places have also been bereft quite often. Clearly a supply chain issue.

Do you buy bird seed online? I need to restock and usually get 30kg of hulled sunflower seeds. Apart from the price rocketing by 30% I see a lot of long delivery times or just out of stock.

[Fishfinger]

Do you buy bird seed online? I need to restock and usually get 30kg of hulled sunflower seeds. Apart from the price rocketing by 30% I see a lot of long delivery times or just out of stock.

No, just meal worm. The only feeders I'm using are for nyjer seed (goldfinches, etc). I put handfuls of more generic stuff out on a table (I'm trying to avoid waste that attracts rats), but all of that seems easy to get.

[Fishfinger]

edit bug

[Fambo Number Mive]

This is very concerning:

The UK is facing the collapse of the supply chain in the next two to three weeks, RHA chief executive Richard Burnett (pictured) warned this week. Speaking to the BBC, Burnett said that despite meeting with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week to warn him of the perilous situation, the government is continuing to refuse to take any immediate action to tackle the severe HGV driver shortage...

https://motortransport.co.uk/blog/2021/07/27/uk-supply-chain-faces-collapse-in-two-to-three-weeks-rha-warns-government/

Most of the rest of the article is behind a paywall.

...But he is now facing one of his most difficult times in charge. With 1,000 drivers at the company's disposal, Owens Group has still found itself 150 drivers short of where it needs to be. Ian warned that the supply chain needed drastic action today to help tackle the ongoing driver shortages which he described as their "biggest challenge in fifty years".

"The supply chain is smoking and it is at the point now where it is on fire, circumstances have meant this has been a problem brewing for years. It's a perfect storm, everything that has been going wrong, currently is and I don't know what the short term solution is to it, it is worrying" said the managing director.

The company is at a point where it, like many other hauliers across the country, is having to limit its deliveries which has been a contributing factor to the lack produce and goods being found on Welsh supermarket shelves.

"We cannot move the volume that is available, our warehouses are full of stock waiting to be moved and we just can't. It is something that has never happened to us in fifty years. We've always found a way of moving things but today we are struggling, it's disappointing to not be able to provide the same customer service that we have done in the past."...

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-trucker-who-founded-one-21193476

Still, blue passports.

[Ferris]

Time to nationalize and unionize[nb]in my dreams[/nb]!!

[Shit Good Nose]

I don't know what this says about anything, but after having numerous empty shelves for the last two-ish weeks, both our Lidl and (small) Sainsbury's are today pretty much fully stocked across the board.  Our main Tesco still apparently quite lacking though.

[touchingcloth]

Five substations in today's order. Usually it's one or two at most. Could just be one of those things or maybe indicative of a deeper problem.

It would certainly seem to indicate problems with the National Grid.

[Captain Z]

There's no supply issue in Ireland but our local Tesco hasn't had feta for at least four months. Is there an actual issue with the product?

Yes, it's horrid.

[Jittlebags]

Yes, it's horrid.

Agreed. You may as well eat white dog shit. It's just as crumbly.

[Thursday]

Yeah but you don't see white dog shit anymore either.

[falafel]

You havent been to my local Tesco then

[buttgammon]

Sold in a packet with WIHTE DGO THIS printed on the side.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Sold in a packet with WIHTE DGO THIS printed on the side.

Mr. Blobby's favourite.

[Chedney Honks]

I don't understand why they don't ferry this shit back and forth. What's with the reliance on trucks? Aeroplanes? Boats? Trains? My brother in law has a logistics company and I said the same thing to him and he thought I was trying to be funny.

You get one company that runs the ferries and then they sell space on the trips to different companies, kind of like a lease. You fill up the slots with different companies' wares like the Resident Evil inventory system. Can't take any more BMWs, no, but Del Monte can squeeze in half a tonne of tins. At either end, you have loading bays where the trucks drop off or collect the stuff.

[Zetetic]

Intermodal transfers take time.

They also require space, and infrastructure. Who's going to pay for that? The government? We don't live in the '60s, Bosto.

[olliebean]

What's the point bringing it over on ferries if we don't have enough trucks available to take it from the ports?

[Ferris]

What's the point bringing it over on ferries if we don't have enough trucks available to take it from the ports?

I'm not carrying anything mate find another solution tbh.

[Huxleys Babkins]

What's the point bringing it over on ferries if we don't have enough trucks available to take it from the ports?

Why not get Tim Dutton to kit the ferries out with the running gear of a Suzuki Jimny?

[Blue Jam]

Any other ACE and HEROIC blood donors here who have been text-pinged about a shortage of stock for their blood group? I got a text a few days ago asking if I could spare a pint of my own precious bodily fluids and got to the blood donor centre today to learn that stocks of all blood groups are low. I asked the staff why and they had no idea, saying the shortage was despite donor numbers being high. I'm in Scotland but it seems blood stock levels are running low south o' the border too. Could this be down to staff or equipment shortages somehow? If my A Rh+ HERO JUICE is now sat in a fridge going off or Michael Gove is drinking it all I'm going to be well pissed off.

[Blue Jam]

Found a major shortage of salad and fresh herbs today. I'm not talking Glasgow Salad either.