SUPPLY CHAIN SURVEY 5/1/22: Sunday morning at the supermarket

The supermarket had fewer empty shelves, compared with last week, but that could be nothing more than a random week to week variation. 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 morning when the store opens for business. Always at the huge Meijer's supermarket in Southfield, Michigan. Previous experiments with shopping on Friday, Saturday and Monday morning revealed no differences when compared with Sunday mornings. We could not buy some products we wanted to buy, and that has been true with every visit for the past six months !

Ye Editor 

 

Specific items surveyed:

+ Paper towels and toilet paper

The biggest display of paper towels and toilet paper rolls you could ever imagine -- enough for an army. So much that the shelves were full and there were still a huge number of unopened boxes, with clerks desperately making new areas to put them in. Fully stocked for the second week in a row, after not being fully stocked for three weeks in a row before that.

 

- Cream  Cheese

There were 105 eight ounce tubs of Philadelphia soft cream cheese, where there are usually about 200+. Prior weeks were 93, 38, 78, 73, 104, 58 and 67. There were 3 Meijer's brand eight ounce tubs, at $2.19 each, versus $3.69 for tubs of Philadelphia, compared with 1 and 12 in the past two weeks. I bought all three.  

There was 1 eight ounce brick of Philadelphia 1/3 less fat (and 1/3 less taste) cream cheese, where there are usually about 100+, with only a dozen 1/3 less fat. Prior weeks were 0, 0, 100, 100, 47, 12 and 0. And there were zero Meijers brand bricks, versus zero the week before.

 

- Instant  Coffee

Zero Taster's Choice, 7 Nescafe decaf, 15 Folgers decaf, and 1 Maxwell House regular. Last week there had been one Taster's Choice bottle, after six weeks of none available. It was $9.49, compared with only $6.99 the last time Taster's Choice was available. 

Last week there were 11 medium sized 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. ... Puzzling that all the non-instant coffees were fully stocked.

+ Snapple  Tea

This week there were 3 Diet Peach, 3 Peach with sugar and 2 Raspberry tea with sugar. That's it. Last week there was one Diet Peach bottle, 5 Raspberry with sugar, and 10 Peach with sugar. And that had been the best Snapple tea selection in a long time. The prior week there had been 16 Diet Peach available, and no other flavors, which I had declared to be a miracle.

- Diet  Soda  Pop

Two liters bottles were the same as last week, when 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 again this week. Last week Seven Up and Dr. Pepper shelves, for all sizes except two-liter bottles, were almost empty. This week was normal.

 

Breakfast  Cereals

A decent supply of Kellog's raisin bran. And Meijer's raisin bran showed up for the first time in months. But Post raisin bran was gone this week. Still some empty shelves, as in prior weeks. But they always have the high sugar content cereals.

 

+ Jars of Pickles

This week and last week were fully stocked with Meijers and Vlasic pickles. A  miracle. Last week there were a few dozen jars of various types of Vlasic pickles, and zero Meijers' brand -- lower priced, but good -- for the fifth week in a row. For the second week the better tasting Meijer's Kosher low sugar sweet bread and butter pickles in a refrigerated case were not available. The two spicy flavors of Meijer's kosher pickles were available. The horseradish flavor is too spicy for me. A clerk told me the "hot" version was even spicier. Not for me.

Plain  Yogurt

Fully stocked for two weeks in a row. This department had been a disaster in 1Q 2022.  And a miracle in 2Q 2022.

 

Packaged deli meats

Fully stocked for several weeks in a row. Just like a normal shopping day.

 

ACE harvest grain bread from Canada 

3 were available and we bought two -- probably baked in the store yesterday. Last week there was a decent election of ACE bread loaves available, in all flavors, including the Harvest Grain flavor we like. The prior week, the Harvest Grain flavor was in stock, but stale, so we did not buy any.

 

Ice  Cream 

About 7/8 stocked, compared with 3/4, 7/8 and 1/2 stocked in the prior three weeks. 6 Breyer's sugar free ice cream available, compared with 0, 12 and 0 in the prior three weeks. 

 

+ Lindt chocolate bars:

This week only 2 of 12 flavors were stocked, compared with 3 of 12 flavors stocked last week, but 1 of the 12 had just two chocolate bars available. The prior week only 2 of 12 flavors were stocked. Better than the completely empty shelves for one month before that. A good selection of other brands this week and last -- much better than in the prior month.

 

+ Candy and gum, including  at the checkout counter

The candy section was 7/8 full this week, compared with 3/4 full the prior week, and 1/2 full the week before that.  Candy impulse purchase shelves at the checkout line were fully stocked, compared with about two thirds full for the past two weeks.

 

- Dole Classic Cole Slaw Mix:

None available. Last week 14 ounce bags had equal amounts of shredded carrots and cabbage in the mix, for the first time ever. It no longer tastes like cole claw -- it tastes like carrot slaw. I bought four bags on sale for $1.49 each last week -- a big disappointment. The regular price was stated as $1.89 for 14 ounces -- up from $1.89 for 16 ounces of actual cole slaw the week before. I make my own cole slaw dressing, with no sugar, and this brand stays crispy a long time. Shredding cabbage yourself is a horrible job. Store bought cole slaw has far too much sugar. The only choice today was Pearson's organic, which is too expensive at $3.29 for 12 ounces. It is dry cabbage, doesn't stay crisp, and doesn't taste good, in my opinion.