# Sam's today...no flour or sugar in stock



## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

Yup, no 50# bags of either (well there was 1 busted 50# bag of sugar) on the shelves today. There were limited amounts in other sizes, 10 and 25lb but no 50#. The pallets were picked clean.


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## ROSEMAMA (Jan 12, 2007)

Was there a great deal going on?


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

Nope, normal prices.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Jam and Jelly canning season? I know we've run through about 30# ourselves in the past 3 weeks.

If that's the case, you'd think they'd be aware of seasonal surges like that and prepare ahead of time.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

We have three grocers in town.

Late last week grocer #1 only had one brand of baking powder in one size on the shelf. Today, grocer #2 was completely out of bullion crystals. They had cubes and packets but jar crystals of any sort or style were not to be seen.

Not completely connected to the OP, but I bet if I put on my tin foil hat I could see the connection real clear.

Oh. As for grocer #3, they are so expensive we don't go there. I'm afraid the next time I stop in they're going to charge a cover fee.


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## farmgal (Nov 12, 2005)

We hit 3 stores, shelves very bare. 2 days later hit stores again still bare. I asked a guy stocking about bare shelves. He mentioned orders aren't getting filled. Whatever that means. Either way makes me think if something is up.


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

Did you ask? A few weeks ago, mine had no sugar in the spot, but did up on top and I had to wait a few minutes, but they used a forklift & got a new full pallet down.


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

I did not ask as we were not able to stick around and wait that day.
I will call ahead before I head into town again though.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I wonder how much of these shortages are caused by the modern instant inventorying. Where places keep their inventory really low because they know that they can order and get stuff shipped fast. 
Then, when the occasional thing goes wrong anywhere from manufacturer to shipping, the shelves are emptied. 
I have been trying to get a replacement uv lamp for my water system and it is back ordered both in local and internet suppliers.

A good reason to have extra of everything all the time.


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## moldy (Mar 5, 2004)

Hit Sams today - the 25# bags of flour were 'backordered for quite a while' and I bought the last four 25# bags of sugar. The shelves looked kind of bare - when I asked if it was due to inventorying, the clerk said no - they just couldn't get some orders filled.


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## elinor (Jun 20, 2002)

Good morning to all! 
That's something I've noticed over the last couple months..... A lot more empty places on grocery store shelves! And it's not just one or two places on each row, it's multiple slots sometimes within the same product! And very often you walk down an aisle and you see bare spots with a little card stating "Item Temporary Unavailable"....and the same card has been sitting there for over a week or a month. Not sure what the issue is, but its gradually getting worse as I see more items " unavailable ". 

elinor


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

Our grocery had no 25# bags flour and say they don't know when they'll get more. Very strange. Sugar has been in short supply. Many "sales" at $1.99/4# which is the same price basically. 50 cents is about the average per lb. price. Cheaper at Aldi. Know lots of people are canning. I used 20# of my stash just canning 75 pts. peaches and making a lot of jellies and jam.


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## gweny (Feb 10, 2014)

I got the last 2 25lb bags of flour at Wally world yesterday. Wanted to buy more. They told me come back next week. They were short on beef too, unless you bought the angus at almost double the cost. 
It seems everything is either unavailable, costs 50% more, or is half the size it used to be.
Standard food buckets have been flying off the shelves. They are the hardest thing to find. I've got a stock boy at lowes I pay 5 bucks for a tip off! It's either that or order them online and pay 20$ for shipping.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

They had plenty in the Lewisville, Texas store a couple days ago. Pallets full of both flour and sugar. In fact, the whole store was very well stocked on everything.


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## Trixters_muse (Jan 29, 2008)

Our local store had sugar on sale for $1.88 for 4 pounds and I had multiple coupons so I bought several bags to add to our stash. A guy stocking the shelves told me the sugar was flying out because of canning season and he said he over hears people talking about stocking up and putting it in buckets to "prepare". He said crazy huh? Prepare for what? I laughed and said yeah, crazy! I then proceeded to put more bags into my cart, lol.

The local Walmart has some bare shelves, my relative works there and said they are having ordering issues but could not elaborate.


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## Litlbits (Jan 6, 2014)

Local Aldi was totally out of eggs and 2% milk two weeks ago. Thought that was VERY strange. I'm seeing more empty shelves at Walmart and Kroger too.


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## StickyFloors (Aug 4, 2014)

Walmart has 10lb bags online at $4.98 lb. Free shipping over $50:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Sugar-10-Lb/10314931

We went to Bob's Red Mill in PDX a few months ago. No 50lb bags of sugar but 25lbs were there.


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## moldy (Mar 5, 2004)

But someone I know at the local sugar plant stated that they have plenty of sugar, just no-one ordering it. IIRC, he said he used to send out several pallets a day - now it's like two a month. Very weird.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I was at Costco yesterday and the pallets were full of the usual bags of rice, flour and sugar. The store was packed, but I think it was back to school shopping.


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## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

The wheat harvest in the midwest was minimal at best due to the extreme drought. Do you think this has or will impact the availability of flour?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Did anyone who has seen a shortage of sugar notice the brands that are missing? Our Sam's Club recently stopped carrying Domino sugar and is now carrying an American produced brand. The new company has not supplied our local Sam's with any 50# bags and 25# are scarce.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

A few months ago I noticed the slot at Walmart for the hot Hormel canned chilli went unfilled for several weeks. That store gets deliveries everyday except for Sundays.


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## pookford (Jan 11, 2014)

Our local Walmart and Sams Club stores have reduced their selections and are often out of really basic things. This started about 9 months or a year ago. The out of stock items sometimes aren't replenished for weeks, or maybe they are replenished but the new stock is snatched up so quickly, that it just looks like they aren't restocking.

The supermarket down the road has better prices and a larger selection by far. The place is packed every day of the week and despite the heavy traffic, they manage to keep the shelves stocked just fine, even during canning season, holidays, and so on. 

I can't help but think that if our local supermarket is always full (of shoppers and inventory) then maybe the issue around here is with WM/Sams, and not necessarily with the food supply itself.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

One of the other issues is the majority of the shelf stocking in Walmart starts around 10:00 pm. They are having difficulty hiring people to work that shift. They have a limited space in the back room to store items they receive for which there is no room on the shelves. I'm wondering if floor and sugar are items impacted by space available not only on the shelves but also the back room. I'm not sure how accurate their inventory system is. Any of the employees with one of the hand held raygun looking things, it's a data terminal, can tell you if something is in the store even if it's not on the shelf. 

The local Walmart usually gets a pallet of baking aisle products several times a week.

If you look at the shelf labels and there's a star that means it's an item they always try to keep filied because for some reason, possibly not only sales but profit, they try to keep fully stocked.


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

I did notice the sugar I did get (didn't notice the brand..) is far courser (like larger granules) than the sugar I've bought there in the past. Interesting.


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

My WM and Sam's had plenty of both of flour and sugar, in all sizes. They had C&H sugar in the 25# sacks, plus all sizes of flours.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

The local Walmart is getting ready to reset the baking aisle for the holidays. Last night they had a lot of sugar and flour that would not fit on the shelves. That was returned to the back room. I saw no shortage. The pallet had those shrink wrapped sugar and flour bags stacked up. It looked like the entire bottom layer of the pallet was sugar, flour, and a couple of boxes of cooking oil in gallon jugs.


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