I Am An Inventory and Ordering Associate at Shoprite, Grocery Store, AMA About the Current State of the Grocery Business

Got toilet paper? Got sanitizer? Got milk?

We had a shipment of paper come in yesterday after having none for two days. We got two boxes of hand sanitizer a couple days ago, none for two weeks before that, and none since. Cow's milk hasn't been an issue, but anything fancy, nutmilk, organic, etc is coming in dribbles.

UPDATE: The paper that came in yesterday at 330 PM was sold out within hours. We're out again today.

Nutmilk coming in dribbles lol

Thank you for commenting on the nutmilk. I love working with the nutmilk because then I get to say nutmilk. Since you said nutmilk now I get to say nutmilk. Glorious.

got flour? (r/breadit wants to know!)

Depends on the brand, but hasn't been an issue as a whole.

Got steak, ho? Got cheese?

We're out of chicken and ground meat today with limited red meat. Cheese hasn't been an issue (except for shredded). I think people just eat a ton of cheese all the time.

This sounds just like my local Shoprite.

You guys have been better stocked with certain items I buy in the past week than in the past two months, lol. (It was getting frustrating to try getting my weekly groceries and not be able to get key ingredients for maths meals I planned or backup meals.) Shower thought is that maybe I buy less popular stuff?

I used to do ordering for a deli department, so I understand it’s a very interesting and balanced situation.

We still have a lot of stuff. It's just not what people want. As one customer put it "Only the gross (frozen) vegetables are left."

Do you know of any sketchy scenarios of employees hiding/taking things in shortage?

Nothing sketchy. Employees have been grabbing a thing here or there at the beginning of their shift. One of our overnight guys bought four of the twelve bottles of hand sanitizer that came in and redistributed them to other employees.

Get that guy a raise!

Wish I could. Not only because he's considerate and works his ass off. He's my boyfriend. Haha.

OK, well then, give him that other kind of "raise". ;-)

Steak and blow job day was last week.

When do you expect to be caught up enough to have stuff on the shelves longer than 10 minutes?

We have no idea. This is completely unprecedented. Our usual grocery load, not including specialty items (personal care or specialty products, just dry edibles and paper products) is 1000-3000 pieces (cases). We've been receiving half that or less. Our deliveries are four days behind now on top of that. We've come together and speculated that it would take a 20,000 piece load to restock our shelves to normalcy. Note this is JUST grocery. It doesn't include any other department such as dairy or frozen which are getting hit just as hard.

Are the delivery delays just caused by the sudden volume increase across the board?

Volume increase, yes. They just can't cut down trees and cut up cows fast enough. The product being unavailable is also resulting in smaller deliveries so more trips to distribute the same amount of product.

Another part of this is that they are limiting orderable quantities so that each store gets some of what's available. We are in turn limiting what customers can buy which has been a joy to deal with.

Are these figure per week, per day, or?

Per day with a day or two of no deliveries is standard.

What color is your toothbrush?

Blue and white.

Are you hiring people now? Has the interview process changed at all?

We're hiring. No changes.

I was at a produce stand in Northern California, and the checkers had customers place produce on the scale and bag it themselves. Items with a price tag were held up for the checker to see. They also wore rubber gloves. Are you taking similar precautions?

We've always provided bags in our produce department. Using them is up to the customer.

Our cashiers are wearing gloves, but that's just for show. It does nothing to prevent the spread in between customers as they handle cash, product, etc.

We are offering an senior (60+) and immunocompromised hour from 7 AM-8 AM every morning.

Shout out to our maintenance staff for running around refilling cart wipes, paper towels, and soap!

We also have a no returns policy in place so that product isn't going god knows where and back into the store.

are you noticing that the price of goods are going up due to the panic buying?

Nothing going up any faster than it already was.

How’s that social distancing working out? Are shoppers attempting to stay six feet apart?

Ha. No not at all. The store has also been so crowded that it's impossible.

Some shops are putting big red spots on the floor as a guide to help people queue at a distance. Is yours?

I saw this today and I love the idea. This could work for us, sometimes. There's times of day when the lines are just a giant blob of people. There's so many people that there isn't space to give each other space.

What would help with this: limit the amount of people in the store. We could lower our maximum capacity.

Ideally we would switch to pick up only. It's entirely feasible and the sooner, the better.

Is there anything we can do to help ease the shortages?

Also don't try to get around item limits. We have a one/two item limit on certain products. Some people have doing what they can to get around them. Attempting to have each one of your elementary age children buy a 20 pack of Scott is not cool and we're on to you, Karen.

Stop buying things. Stop buying things in immense quantities. Use what you have already. Only buy what you need.

If this extends longer, will Shoprite stop doing its Can-Can sale?

Depends are where we at that point. We're just trying to get thru the day at this point.

What's the business model at your grocery? Are shelves "rented" by producers? Or is it up to the grocery to order products and sell it at a markup? Any good website where I could learn about the grocery business model?

We have a combination of both, but more and shelf footage is being bought up by manufacturers. If anyone was wondering why we have SO much space for Tide and General Mills cereal. That's why. Sorry I don't have any resources for you. I'd be glad to answer any questions that I can.

Have you seen any indication that there could be long-term disruption in supply?

That would be a question for the manufacturers.

From what I've seen, it depends how long this lasts. Our business has actually started to slow down (except for first thing in the morning). If we can get back to our usual customer volume/cart size, I don't see it being a long term shortage.

What is the weak point in the system currently?

Getting the product from the manufacturers to the warehouses. There just isn't any because no one was expecting this.

Are there any plans to provide workers with face masks to help prevent the spread of the virus?

Not that I know of. Cashiers are wearing gloves, but that's just for show.

Do you know what your operations folk are doing for planning and scheduling?

They've been very tight lipped about any future plans. When I asked, the response was "We have conference calls every day at 4." So informative.

We as a whole are essential workers, but they're not going need all 350 of us if we move to a more intense lock down. We won't need a catering manager or a dietitian. We won't need as many people to do things in general. As to what they're going to do about that, no idea.

Have you seen shoppers hoarding cat litter? This is the one item that had empty shelves in my local Kroger for my last two trips. Everything else is stocked. Not sure if cat litter is a hoarded item in other areas or stores.

Quite the opposite, at least my store.

I've been encouraging people to get cat litter. I picked up an extra myself. If I run out of TP, I'll figure it out. If my cat doesn't have a place to piss, my laundry basket will do just fine.

What item always sells out the fastest, and what is a good substitute for it?

The stuff on the left side of this chart and frozen vegetables have been the hardest to keep in stock.

The right side excluding the frozen vegetables are what we're encouraging for alternatives. Our seafood manager is totally ok with the meat shortages.

https://imgur.com/gallery/aADRq8H

Alternatives: make stuff from scratch. We have tons of ingredients. We might not have bread but we have everything you need to make it yourself.

Note: We have a lot in general. It's just not what people want. As one customer put it jokingly "Only the gross (frozen) vegetables are left."

Joke question: Why is the S Philly Shop Rite such a shit show at the best of times?

Semi-serious: What is the difference between Fresh Grocer and Shop Rite? They're a mile apart physically, FG sells SR products but the prices vary wildly.

Serious: What kind of pull do you have getting products in heavy demand? Are you laughed off the phone from suppliers because Amazon is getting all of it, or do they take a mid-size grocer serious?

I wish I had better information for you.

We're individually owned. I know nothing about the Philly store.

Really no difference. Just like sometimes when you buy the generic, it's the same as the big brand name. Not the same throughout the line, but very similar.

We don't have that kind of pull with suppliers. During normal times yes, they love to work with us for special placement. Right now everyone is so inundated with work. That it's mostly order what you can, get whatever you get, and try to retain some sort of normalcy.

I found these Mamitas Coconut Cream Ice pop things and bought them for a few weeks from Shoprite and then they up and disappeared. It was so fleeting. They were so good though, can I ask my shoprite to order them again??

You can ask your Shoprite to reorder them. If you still have the barcode, provide that for them. It makes our job a whole lot easier. Keep in mind the product you want could have been a one off (we get product accidentally sometimes) or discontinued.

I'll see if I can find anything out as far as availability for you when I go to work tomorrow.

How would you recommend slowing the supply rush to distribute product more evenly?

People buy less and buy alternatives. We're not having a shortage of fish or ingredients to make things from scratch. For paper products, people simply have to stop hoarding.

Thank you! Maybe we need to teach people to cook. ;)

Wish all this time at home and YouTube? I'd say it's a great opportunity.

Your images are all gone, did you yank them? /u/GrocerycoronaTA

Fixed!

How much mayo?

We have enough mayo that we can still use it as an instrument.

What is a detail about the grocery business that is overlooked but extremely important?

Just how much overnight stockers do. That schedule is tough and they do a majority of the stocking for the entire store.

If it’s have to resort to canabilism, should I eat my neighbor that looks delishious or the one that bitches about my yard not being nice enough? Also should I use a dry rub, or bbq sauce.

The one who bitches about your yard. Looks can be deceiving. Your delicious looking neighbor might eat corned beef and kimchi for every meal. I personally enjoy some Monteal Chicken low sodium seasoning on long pig.

How big is yo dick?

I have an innie.

Will you push through for the good of the nation? USA is a-okay!

Nope. I'm doing it to afford liquor so I can tolerate my job so I can afford liquor so I can tolerate my job...

Do you work for a part of the co-op that has liquor stores? Do you get a discount with them if you do?

We don't have liquor stores in ours. I do know that we don't get discounts on groceries so I'm going to guess definitely not on liquor.

I used to work for one of the groups and they claimed if we got a discount then so would everyone in the chain. I was trying to see if that was true as we didn’t get a discount on anything.

Discounts are up to the individual owners discretion.