WalMart Food Lines
389 ViewsNo — saying I “told you so” doesn’t help. Food lines in America, happening now.
Top retailer Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club unit said Wednesday it is limiting the amount of rice individual shoppers could buy at one time, as rice prices hit new records around the world.
Sam’s Club said it had temporarily placed limits of four 20-pound (nine-kilogram) bags a person for jasmine, basmati, and other long-grain white rice types.
“We currently have plenty of rice for Sam’s Club Members,” the company said in a statement.
“However, like our competitors, we’re just taking the precautionary step of limiting sales of the very large 20 pound bags” of imported white rice, it said.
Sam’s Club, a members-only bulk retailer chain owned by Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said smaller-sized bags of rice were not affected by the restrictions; nor did they extend to Wal-Mart stores.
“This temporary cap is intended to ensure there is plenty of rice for all our members. No other items are affected.”
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Anybody want to bet that those people aren’t just their for the rice?
The phone is ringing off the hook (but I’m not answering it, it is the only way I’ll retain my sanity, you must order through the shopping cart only, you can also send email with questions, I’m quite prompt about responding still) and I have been in contact with my largest supplier. The panic is everywhere. I think this is premature, but it’s definitely creating some rather monumental problems for all of us.
Shipping times page updated again. I definitely told you so.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am
There is already talk of a truckers strike (possibly May) due to fuel prices. Mind you, it just rumor. But what if … what if the truckers on short notice went on strike for a week. We know this Just-in-time system will buckle under. I can easily picture it as a ‘mad dash to the grocery store’ before the snow storm. But then day after day, empty shelves - there’ll be plenty of trouble after that.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I stopped by Sam’s Club tonight, Logan UT, on a normal stock up run and all of the rice was sold out. The only type remaining was Minute Rice. They had the signs up saying you could only buy four bags in any combination