SUPPLY CHAIN SURVEY 4/24/22: Sunday morning at the supermarket

NOTE: 

Michigan grocery shopping is one surprise after another for the past six months. Few of the surprises are good news. When one section of the store is well stocked one week, it could have lots of empty shelves the next week. Many times we buy more than we need of a product, whether it is on sale or not. Because we sometimes find empty shelves one week later.

The store had fewer empty shelves, compared with last week, but that could be just a random week to week variations. As "usual", we can't buy some products we want to buy. That has not changed in six months. My overall rating is based on my impression of the product supply in the ENTIRE store. Not just the specific items we want to buy. We normally shop at 6am Sunday when the store opens for business. At the huge Meijers supermarket in Southfield, Michigan. Previous experiments with shopping Friday, Saturday and Monday morning revealed no differences when compared with Sunday mornings

Ye Editor

 

Specific items surveyed:

 

+ Paper towels and toilet paper

An enormous display of paper towels. Toilet paper rolls were finally fully stocked, after not being fully stocked for three weeks in a row.

 

- Philadelphia  Cream  Cheese

93 eight ounce tubs of soft cream cheese, where there are usually about 200 -- prior weeks were 38, 78, 73, 104, 58 and 67. There was 1 Meijers brand tub of a flavor I like, at less than half the price, and I bought it (compared with 12 Meijers tubs, of a flavor I didn't like, one week ago. There were 0 eight ounce bricks of Philadelphia cream cheese where there are usually about 100 -- prior weeks were 0, 100, 100, 47, 12 and 0. And 0 of the Meijers brand.

 

- Instant  Coffee

After six weeks of no Taster's Choice available in any flavor, there was 1 Taster's Choice House Blend for $9.49. The last time Taster's Choice was available, the price was $6.99. There were 11 medium sizd bottles of Nescafe for $8 each and 5 medium-sized bottles of Folgers for $8 each. There were some boxes of one serving packets of instant coffee -- very expensive that way -- but none were Taster's Choice brand. And the shelf was half empty.

+ Snapple  Iced  Tea

1 Diet Peach available and I bought it. Last week there were 16 Diet Peach available, which I declared to be a miracle. This week there were also 5 Raspberry with sugar, and 10 Peach with sugar.  That doesn't sound like much, but this is the best Snapple tea selection in a long time.

- Diet  Soda  Pop

Two liters bottles: Two of three flavors of diet cherry coke pop that I drink were well stocked. Two different prices: $1.59 each for Dr. Pepper, versus $2.19 each for Pepsi and Coke. But they had no Sugar Free Cherry Coke. There were fewer empty shelves compared with prior weeks. But Seven Up and Dr. Pepper shelves, for all sizes except two-liter bottles, were almost empty.

 

Breakfast  Cereals

A decent supply of Kellog's and Post raisin bran cereal Still some empty shelves, as in prior weeks. But they always have high sugar content cereals.

 

+ Jars of Pickles

Fully stocked with Meijers and Vlasic pickles. A  miracle. Last week there were a few dozen jars of various types of Vlasic pickles. And 0 Meijers' brand -- lower priced -- for the fifth week in a row. The better tasting Meijer's Kosher low sugar bread and butter pickles in a refrigerated case were not available for the second week in a row. But there were plenty of the spicy "Horseradish" version, and an even spicier "Hot" version again. I tried one Horseradish flavor container last week. Too spicy. Never again.

+ Plain  Yogurt

Fully stocked. Back to normal. Last week shelves were half empty but a large pile of unpacked boxes suggested they would be well stocked (normal), just like the week before. This department had been a disaster in 1Q 2022.

 

Packaged deli meats

A good selection for the second week in a row. Just like a normal shopping day.

 

ACE harvest grain bread from Canada 

There was a decent election of ACE bread loaves available, in all flavors, including the Harvest Grain flavor we like. For the second week in a row. This week the Harvest Grain bread was fresh and we bought all three at $3.99 each. They freeze well. Harvest Grain was not fresh last week, so we did not buy any, and there were no other choices for whole wheat non-sliced bread at any price. The dough is shipped in from Canada, and they bake it in the store. Today there were two alternatives -- one not as good, and the other too expensive to try!

 

- Ice  Cream 

About 3/4 stocked compared with 7/8 the week before and 1/2 stocked the week. No sugar free ice cream. The prior week there were an amazing 12 Breyers sugar free ice cream. None the week before that.

 

+ Lindt chocolate bars:

There are signs on the shelves indicating 12 flavors -- 3 were well stocked, including the flavor the wife wanted, which was even oe sale -- a miracle.  1 row of the 12 had just two chocolate bars. Last week only two Lindt flavors were well stocked, and the rest were empty. Better than completely empty shelves before that, for the past month. A good selection of other brands. much better than last week.

 

+ Candy and gum, including  at the checkout counter

What happened to the formerly well stocked candy section? The candy section was three quarters full, btter than half full the prior week. Candy impulse purchase shelves at the checkout line were about two thirds full, justy like last week.

 

- Dole Classic Cole Slaw:

Four 14 ounce bags were available on sale for $1.49 each and I bought all of them. They seem to have quadrupled the amount of shredded carrots in the mix. I hope that didn't ruin the taste. The regular price will be $1.89 for 14 ounces -- up from $1.89 for 16 ounces. Last week seven 16 ounce packages were available. None were available one week earlier. I make my own cole slaw dressing, with no sugar, and this brand stays crispy a long time.