Shopping For Groceries Is Like Hell Right Now (PT 11)

My observation after shopping today (in SoCA): TP and paper towels sold out, very low stock on black beans, salsa, certain canned soups, canned tomatoes, jar pasta sauce, Ramen noodles (regular pasta picked over but not the the point of low inventory). Very similar pattern to early-mid March. People are getting nervous.

People are stupid fucking sheep. If they would all just shop like normal, everything would be fine. I fucking hate sheeple.

Well, now I'm spooked by all these DL reports, so it's to Lowe's I go on Monday (yes, they're open today, but one day won't matter; within 20 miles I have three Lowe's).

Why that store? I have gift cards to spend.

So far the only food shortage I've noticed has been Del Monte canned spinach. I love the stuff.

What are you going to get from Lowe's, R3?

I’m going to buy some ground beef and chicken to freeze, this is what disappeared around here March to May.

Stores around me have most everything (limits on some items) but I can’t find brown sugar? Trying to get all of my holiday baking ingredients squared away, this is the only item left on my list.

Gee, here in Quincy, Massachusetts (7-12 miles from downtown Boston), I didn't notice any major issues at Stop & Shop last night.

Plenty of liquid hand soap and refills, masks, water, toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, sanitizer -- so unlike early on. Still hard to consistently find Lysol spray or its equivalent, but can find it at times, but seems especially expensive now.

Target the night before seeme well stocked also.

r6 that is because it is like a wave. It just hasn't reached you yet. In about a week your store will be low on items too.

Just got back from Walmart and the only toilet paper they have is Angel Soft. I picked up the last Charmin.

[quote]People are stupid fucking sheep. If they would all just shop like normal, everything would be fine.

I have never noticed sheep hoarding toilet paper.

I suspect that the problem with people is that they are people.

I bought up alot of toilet tissue about 3 weeks back--so I'm good for the winter.

When we had the shut downs back in March/April, there was enough food in the supermarkets/delivery services--so I'm fine with not hording food now.

Our supermarkets and places like Walmart and Target never did get back to normal. There were still empty shelves or limited supply of products. As an example, I buy Simple Truth Sour Cream alternative and couldn't get it for weeks because they were having problems with their supplier. Now the supplier may have had a problem getting one or more ingredients to make the sour cream alternative. There are so many factors to getting a product produced and to the supermarkets. I imagine the shelves are going to get sparse in the next few weeks. Once again people are probably going to start hoarding. It is not the poor people that are hoarding since they are living paycheck to paycheck. The privilege of money allows for people to hoard.

Target and Costco have done the worst job throughout the pandemic. Target does Order Pickup but the list of things they will actually bring out to your car at a given store is ridiculously small. They claim they included more food but not at my store.

Costco's website is such a mess......they may have better options inside the store, but they've all but shut down web orders.

[quote]Stores around me have most everything (limits on some items) but I can’t find brown sugar? Trying to get all of my holiday baking ingredients squared away, this is the only item left on my list.

R5 just buy some molasses and make your own brown sugar. I started doing this years ago and not only is it incredibly easy, you can control if you want light brown or dark brown sugar and it's way less expensive than buying the store bought.

Costco, apparently, was also selling "Louis Vuitton" handbags recently. Louis Vuitton simply does not supply to Costco. Shady. A few years ago, I saw "Fendi" bags being sold in Costco. How the fuck does Costco get away with this (selling counterfeit designer bags)?

Still, I do shop at Costco. Not much choice in my area.

Costco needs to focus on stuff like toilet paper and food, not fake handbags.

I went shopping tonight at WinCo. They weren't out of anything, weren't busy, no problems. There was even a giant bin of round containers of disinfecting wipes in the lobby on display. This is in Boise, Idaho.

Walmart has the least available for delivery since mid May. No soft Charmin, no Bounty paper towels, in store only. When you can't get what you need at Walmart you know things are really bad again. OTOH I got 50 more masks (the blue medical ones) for $9.99.

Costco is out of trash bags and the regular foil, only the heavy duty one which is thinner than the regular one used to be back in the day. Target is back to no delivery on Bounty paper towels and the soft Charmin too.

We are back to April. Soon in NY it will be back to almost 1000 deaths a day. In my Brooklyn neighborhood, not Borough Park but not that far away and the Hasidic Jews are walking around in groups, no masks. I curse at them every time I see them and they could care less. BTW, I'm Jewish, secular and I hate their disease spreading guts.

I've called 311 and emailed the mayor and governor and nothing, is being done. Why the politicians are afraid of these people I don't know. It's not like they ever vote for Democrats.

[quote]Costco, apparently, was also selling "Louis Vuitton" handbags recently. Louis Vuitton simply does not supply to Costco. Shady. A few years ago, I saw "Fendi" bags being sold in Costco. How the fuck does Costco get away with this (selling counterfeit designer bags)?

Your authority for this statement? I find it hard to believe that Costco would engage in such practices.

I'm having problems posting links, R17. Better if you just Google "Costco Louis Vuitton." Sounds unbelievable, but like I said, I saw, with my own 2 eyes, Fendi bags in Costco before.

Seeing them and knowing they were fake are two different things.

Here's a link for you that says that Costco guarantees the authenticity of all its designer goods.

I haven't been accosted by any Salvation Army bell ringers yet, so that's a good thing, I guess.

Was in the local grocery on Sunday afternoon and it was snowpocalypse level shopping mobbed. Weird and unsettling. No paper towel or tp. I’m in rural New England.

Here in northern NJ, my local supermarkets like Shop Rite have aisles full of toilet paper and paper towels; name brands, like Scott and Bounty are plentiful. Plenty of paper plates as well. The Target less than 2 miles from a Shop Rite, had about 50 packages of TP and no paper towels! My sister's WalMart in Hackettstown hasn't had paper plates and/or bowls since the pandemic began.

Another downside to online shopping for groceries: you don't get to pick the size of meats. I ordered a frozen turkey breast from Target, and I ended up with one that is almost 10 lbs.! That's way larger than your typical breast (unless the turkey has had silicone implants), and it won't fit into most slow cookers or pressure cookers.

Wow, WTF did they do to or feed that turkey. It sounds like a lab experiment. Can you return it? I'd be afraid to eat it. I mean that one breast had to come off a 50 lb turkey. That is a freak of nature, poor thing.

r24, you could bone it and cut it in half.

That must have been the Dolly Parton of chickens, r24.

Pumped full of hormones.

Everything was decorated for Xmas way back in late October. THAT annoyed me

[quote]Everything was decorated for Xmas way back in late October. THAT annoyed me

I guess they were busy spraying for covid on Labor Day.

It's been that way for years, r29.

CNBC: Walmart shoppers in some parts of the country are stocking up again on toilet paper and cleaning supplies as Covid-19 cases rise, says CDO Doug McMillon.

“It really does have everything to do with what’s happening with Covid cases in any particular community,” he said on an earnings call. “I was in stores last week, and I saw variance from one state to the other, one location to the other — just depends on how people are feeling in that moment.”

Some grocers, including Kroger, Wegmans and Publix, have reinstated purchasing limits on toilet paper, disinfecting spray and hand sanitizer.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

the only thing I would buy now is toilet paper and tissues. I still have some bleach and wipes...these things expire, waste of money to stock up too much.

I'm going to the grocery store in about an hour. Wish me luck! I don't need any cleaning supplies or paper products so am not too concerned.

I'm going to try to find some chicken on Thursday. Maybe some Charmin. I have a feeling I won't be shopping in person much longer. It will be March - July when I never left my apartment all over again. I don't want turkey this year just for me. I'm going to make chicken, bread stuffing, gravy and sweet potatoes. Oh, right, I need to find sweet potatoes Thursday too. I candy them with lots of butter and maple syrup. Yum. I only make it once or twice a year. They're good for a 2 pound gain the next day. I may also stock up on bacon. If I have to be stuck inside again for months, well, I'm fucking going to have bacon. I may not have toilet paper but I will have bacon.

Yup trying to figure out my last in person shop list to carry me for the next 4 weeks, I don’t need much since staples are covered but maybe some fruit and veg, ice cream, eggs, cheese, crackers etc. Curbside near me is terrible and hard to schedule a slot

I'm good with TP and paper towels. I buy the really big package of Bounty Select-a-Size and it's only me so they last a long time. I was buying a 12 pack of Scott Comfort Plus whenever I opened one so I'm good there. I'm more concerned about finding proteins like chicken and pork chops. I have a Farmer's Market-type store within walking distance so I'm not concerned about vegetables or fruit.

they are limiting garbage bags at my walgreens in NYC. only 1 per person...didn't know that it was that sought after.

DeWine announced a curfew here in Ohio yesterday, and already people are panic buying at the grocery store today. This is only going to get worse with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years gatherings - three super spreader events in a row. I have relatives that are still going to have large get togethers, of course they voted trump, they just don't give a shit. The senior citizens and soccer mom karen's were out in full force hoarding everything off the shelves.

Got back from a long day of shopping in So CA.

First store I hit was Walmart. They were full stocked with most things, including tons of wipes, however no Lysol and no Liquid Plumr/Draino. They also did not have any butter or margarine. Also no milk was available. They still had toilet paper and paper towels. They also had eggs, but they've skyrocketed in price. You used to be able to buy 36 eggs for $4 and the cost has now doubled to $8. They still had tons of pasta and most other pantry staples.

I then went to Sam's Club. They had a small supply of Paper Towels and Toilet Paper, which they were limiting. They had no Tissue/Kleenex available. Their canned vegetables were sold out as well as most of their refrigerated produce, like lettuce, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli. They had plenty of red meat and pork, but were sold out of Chicken. No eggs or butter to be found there.

A run to the local grocery store and everything seemed in stock there, except milk. They still had tons of pasta and jarred sauce. I didn't check for TP or Paper Towels.

Costco was fully stocked but it was madness. I had wanted to grab some butter but didn't bother because the refrigerator for that is in the back of the store and right next to the TP and Paper Towels. The line to get to that section of the store snaked all the way to the ENTRANCE. I did not have time for that and wasn't going to bother trying to squeeze my through the mess. I noticed at check out that a lot of people were trying to skirt the, "1 Per Membership Rule," and the Cashiers had to keep pulling items off of people's carts because they had 2 or 3 of things that they weren't supposed to.

Trader Joe's was fully stocked.

One thing I did notice about Walmart was that they have someone at the door again counting those coming and going. They had stopped doing that about a month ago. They also put directional markers back down on the floor, only in the main aisles, and these were not professionally done, corporate ones. Management literally just took painters tape and put them on the floor.

If anyone's looking for Scott TP 1-Ply (I know a lot of people in the earlier threads said they used this) try Walgreens. They have a coupon you can clip that takes $2 off making it around $9. It's available for shipping and for in store.

I hate having to go to multiple stores to get what I want R41. It would be nice if you would know beforehand if they have the product in stock. I know when things are flying off the shelf it is hard, but people are potentially needlessly exposed to covid.

Ralph’s here in SoCal was stocking “Orange Flavor” Wipes. The lady stocker friend said “This is it. Good timing. Stock up now”. WalMart had empty shelves of TP, tissues, bleach. Yet MOUNTAINS of hand sanitizer and face masks. Go figure.

On November 5th I stopped at Whole Foods and got eggs & Milk and salad greens. Other than that I'm fine. I've been stocking up on TP and paper toweling, cleaning products right along. Every time I sopped, this past summer, I'd pick up one package of either one. I have enough to last a year. I have a freezer full of chicken, bacon pork loin. A few other things. Several bags of frozen vegetables. I have several pounds of butter, two large jugs of olive oil, and four of those giant boxes of oatmeal. I' m fine. Won't have to leave my house for anything. Maybe a five minute trip to get milk & eggs, that's it. No more serious grocery shopping until maybe spring.

[quote] They also had eggs, but they've skyrocketed in price. You used to be able to buy 36 eggs for $4 and the cost has now doubled to $8. They still had tons of pasta and most other pantry staples.

Where was this? I'm in SoCal and got a dozen eggs from store pickup at Walmart on Sunday and they were $1.63.

I like how there's now a whole separate specialty thread for just toilet paper and paper towels. I love you DL.

Shopped at Walmart near Denver yesterday. Many empty shelves.

Paper towels gone and next to no TP

A limit of 1 per customer has been put on Lysol so we managed to get l can and 1 pump spray bottle. It felt like striking gold.

I was surprised that there was no Coke.

No frozen spinach No canned spinach. WTF is happening with spinach? In fact frozen vegetables in general were almost wiped out.

Very little coffee.

Only two boxes of freezer storage bags on the shelf. I grabbed one.

Very little yogurt.

In general the atmosphere felt strange. So many empty shelves I think I may need to better assess what we need to hunker down and try other local groceries stores other than Walmart.

Supply chain is disrupted when people fall ill and die.

Anyone know if I buy my turkey today will it be ok for thanksgiving? I will try for frozen but unsure what I will find in stock.

Shopping for groceries has always been hell.

🙉 Now it's both hellish and dangerous.

You Americans and your silly obsession with toilet paper and paper towels!

Agricultural workers all over the world are getting sick and dying. Food processing plants are filled with sick people. Same with meat processing. In fact, most of these companies have done very little if anything to protect workers. It's across the board. Dry goods, anything that comes from South or central America, or Southeast Asia is getting delayed. Lots of stuff from India, Pakistan, etc. So If you get it you will pay more, and you will wait a long time for delivery.

R48 for the longest time I was finding wipes and Lysol on Amazon Fresh in Denver. Not every day but if I shopped at 6 am I would find it at least once a week.

True, r51...

Does ABC really think it's sensible to air a show like this in our current situation?

[quote]People are stupid fucking sheep. If they would all just shop like normal, everything would be fine. I fucking hate sheeple.

Same here. These idiot sheeple are the CAUSE of the problem.

It isn't the same without the late '80s-early '90s tackiness, r56.

r58 It isn't the same without the '60s tackiness.

Back in the spring, I couldn’t ever get an Instacart delivery. Now so many people are out of work there are plenty of Instacart shoppers, so it’s working out quite well.

I've never used grocery deliver? How much should you tip? How much should you tip for curbside pickup?

Only r56, if it teaches us to get in and out of the supermarket at Warp Speed.

r61 Instacart has tipping built into the app (like Uber), so you can adjust your percentage any way you want. They also let you change the tip amount after the delivery. I usually tip 15% then leave an extra $5 on the porch in an envelope ($10 if it's a large order.) Walmart doesn't allow tipping for curbside pickup (I've tried and it was declined.) I don't know about other stores but I would imagine they either discourage it or look the other way.

Given that the past few months have impressed on us that our governments are dominated by forces that not only don't give a fuck about our welfare but are actively taking steps to make sure we're absolutely fucked during this pandemic/economic crisis/guerilla uprising of antisocial personality disordered individuals of the alt-right, I'd say a siege mentality is entirely appropriate. By all means buy in bulk if you can afford it, and if you realize later you don't need all of it your local food banks will be more than happy to take it off you.

Thanks, R63.

Just came back from Aldi, I got scared by the talk of empty shelves and just wanted to nab a turkey! There were about a dozen small frozen turkeys (Under 13 lbs) and 2 fresh about the same size. Shelves were well stocked otherwise. My aldi said they may get a few more fresh turkeys but no more frozen turkeys before Thanksgiving.

All the xmas fancy foods, goodies and specialty baking stuff was on the shelves if you want to buy ahead.

[quote[turkeys (Under 13 lbs)

Thirteen lbs! That's barely the size of a breast!!!!

it's the fear of missing out.

My partner uses a lot of toilet paper. He's just plain wasteful.

I went to target today and they didn't have any toilet paper either. I still have some at home and they are available at other stores but they are expensive!

R67 I know, luckily my housemates are more interested in the sides than the bird :/

Friendly reminder to elderly cashiers, this isn't a General Foods International coffee commercial where we all gather around and celebrate the moments of our lives, when there's a line of 15 people at your lane.

OK this situation is difficult but I remind myself almost daily that if my family could get through 4 years of war in Europe I can easily lockdown at home with TV, wifi and other conveniences. The vaccine is nearly here.

[quote]Friendly reminder to elderly cashiers, this isn't a General Foods International coffee commercial where we all gather around and celebrate the moments of our lives, when there's a line of 15 people at your lane.

Friendly reminder to be nice to the elderly cashiers who are risking their lives so you can buy your shit.

r67=Dolly Parton

🦃 A thirteen pound turkey breast sounds delightful !!!

Friendly suggestion, R70, from your elderly cashier:

👵 [italic] Get The Fuck Outta My Line !

R72, my 78 year old father is a Marine vet and he even gets pissed when chatty old women cashiers tie up the checkout lanes because they want to have a lengthy conversation with everyone they're ringing up. He has a hard time walking in the first place and making him stand in line that long is hard for him.

Ride a scooter, Gramps.

Use self-checkout, r76, if it's available. I'm an ancientgay and I love it (even before La Pandemica).

Great advice lethargic Laura working the register!

I have not observed a toilet paper shortage in my town but I'm stocking up one roll at a time.

I'm also seeing Lysterine being limited to one per customer at some stores.

There's a new story about Listerine killing covid on surfaces.

Disregard r82

Our local supermarket has an efficient curbside service but paper products, cleaning and laundry supplies, and soft drinks are now in-store purchases only.

Went to Walmart in Linden NJ and the toilet paper was gone and they only had what I think is their brand of paper towels. Headed to ShopRite in Woodbridge and the toilet paper aisle was pretty bare. I’m going to try the Walmart in Edison tomorrow. I have a big pack of Scott’s paper but I need to buy a couple more for my mom and brother. They both live in Brooklyn and it’s harder for them to go out shopping especially since they’re very close to borough park. I don’t want my mom going out and exposing herself. During the worst of the first wave I would drop off groceries for them. I would just call them when I was in front of their building and they would come out and grab the stuff out of the trunk. It seems like I might start doing that again soon.

Can you call the store to confirm it's stocked with paper goods?

A whiteboard in front of the store listing sold out products and customer buying limits helps in different ways.

The infection is getting out of control in Jersey again, we need to be home not running from one store to the next when the product isn't even in stock.

Do places still have bleach? I need some but I haven't been shopping due to Covid fatigue, now I'm out. I'm in the Chicago area and don't want to go to more than one store.

I always found bleach at the dollar tree. I like the gay bleach in the bottle with a rainbow on it's packaging.

Is Dollar Tree bleach too weak?

Its weaker than Clorox. Clorox is the best but it is not always available at dollar tree.

I really don't understand why they can't allow the order of cleaning supplies for curbside pickup. They could allot a certain number for curbside, still making it first order first served.

R86 a lot of stores have prompts that say they cannot give you in stock information over the phone. They seemingly don't want to be stuck fielding calls all day.

Where's the DL Bleach Troll who has answers to all bleach questions? I suspect the Dollar Tree bleach is not strong enough to kill Rona.

R85, check out the link at R42. A search told me that they have it available at this location:

Walgreens 833 ROOSEVELT AVE833 ROOSEVELT AVE CARTERET, NJ 07008 (2.35 mi)

Not sure how far that is from you.

I understand that r92. Stores seem to be short staffed as it is. I'm worried the store hopping will increase exposure to the infection. Don't want to be running from store to store, waiting in long lines only to find the product is not stocked.

home depot has lots of bleach. I think I need another bottle. I down to to medium sized bottles. one more and i think i will be ok. these things have expiration dates and loses efficacy over time. so no need to stock up too much.

[[quote] don’t want my mom going out and exposing herself.

Trust me ... none of us wants that.

Lol 😂. She’s a big prude so we don’t have to worry about that ever happening

R98 you never know what people will do when they're desperate for that good TP!!!

I’m in danger of being crushed by my toilet paper hoard. I thought I ordered 30 rolls on Amazon, but ordered 300 rolls. Sorry folks, this shortage may have been sparked by me.

I don't understand why stores like Walmart and Target stop delivering things like TP and PT whenever it gets most dangerous for people to physically have to go to the stores for items now pick up only that were available for delivery when it was much safer to actually go to the stores. It's like they all have it backwards.

I only go look for toilet paper when I’m going to the store to buy stuff I need. If I was store hopping there are so many other stores I would have gone to. I live in an area where there is no shortage of big stores. I go out only to buy groceries and pick up prescriptions. If I don’t find paper for my mom tomorrow then I’ll just wait until my next grocery run.

The Walmart grocery pick up I have used is great. Except for a couple of things they said they didn’t have from my list everything went smoothly. With the app I was able to check in before arriving. Once I got to the pick up area they said they would bring my groceries out. I didn’t have to call to let them know I was there. I will use that again if need be. The only problem is certain items like the elusive toilet paper and cleaning supplies are never available for pick up. I get it that when stuff is flying off the shelves it’s hard for them to keep an up to the minute count on stuff. It would be great to know if they have stuff in stock before heading out and I could call to see if it’s in stock but that won’t guarantee it’ll be there when I arrive. I thought the Walmart had it in stock when I first went in because I saw someone walking around with a pack in their cart but when I got to the aisle the shelves were empty. I asked and they said they were out. I will go to the Walmart that was better stocked this spring and hopefully they have some. If not I’m going to start cleaning my sock drawer out come winter.

Is this not common sense in the midst of a fucking global viral pandemic? If you're working a register, shut the fuck up with the small talk and pay attention to the lines in the store!

Costco has been wonderful about delivery. I order from them online and they deliver. I'm in good shape. All I care about is eggs and milk. and fresh salad greens. Maybe vegetables that don't spoil too fast like broccoli and brussel sprouts.

Walgreens has TP available for shipping again.

This is silly. All this panic shopping. It was pretty obvious all Summer and through September, that people were not doing what they should do. And those fucking Trump rallies really were superspreader events. So as we watched the virus not abating, and saw more and more cases creeping up, and the Docs on TV warning us that with flue season coming things were going to get worse, people should have figured it out a month ago. I get it that maybe a person's cash flow might be a reason to wait to shop until we are in the throes of this shit. But IMO that is the only excuse that's legit. Because how much money you can send impacts how and when you shop. But for people who were blissfully careless, I have no sympathy. Wipe your ass with a newspaper.

I have plenty of TP, but I'm worried because my bidet toilet seat has stopped working.

When R106 isn't posting here, he's outside yelling at clouds...

r107 if worse comes to worst, jump in the shower.

Aside from wipes and Lysol, I think the shortages will be, well, shorter. Manufacturing of things like paper products has caught up. The bumps are now in distribution and hopefully will be cleared in days or a week, not months.

How much TP do I need per month to wipe my ass?

You tell us R111.

"They" say you can use on average about one roll of TP a week. I now have 65 weeks worth of Toilet paper. I have more than 40 rolls of paper toweling. I have 6-7 bottles of Lysol and Clorox spray. The one thing I worry I'll run out of is dishwashing soap.I have 8 large bottles.

During the early days of the pandemic when there was no TP anywhere for months, I started logging in a notebook every time I changed the roll because I never really thought about how long a roll lasts. I had just bought an 8 pack and was trying to estimate when things would reach a crisis. A roll of Scott lasts me 6-8 days.

Keep in mind that many of the TP companies started changing the amount you get on each roll... so what you were getting at the start of the pandemic might be a lot more than you're getting when you buy TP now.

Scott is still the same. I just got some and have some still from when I hoarded (oops I mean purchased some) in March. It's the same.

Scott isn't the same...I haven't used it in years but did so recently and it's even thinner now.

The rolls I bought yesterday are identical to the ones I bought in March of this year. So maybe if you have rolls from years ago something changed. But that's not what we were discussing.

I think you can stop now, R113.

Well, we didn't always have toilet paper for chrissakes! Oh. I have a suggestion brought to me by my sister. A lot of people are in trouble with food insecurity. Lots of people. So I urge you to do one of two things...or both: First, check your pantry. Do you have canned goods or dry goods that are on the verge of expiring before you'll be able to use them? Check. Set them aside to donate to a local food pantry. And when you shop, pick up a few cans of soup or beans or a bag of rice or a box of oatmeal or other cereal. It won't break you. Donate to a local pantry. Thanks to Donald Trump people are running out of cash, unemployment, etc and it is getting real bad out here.

Do you guys over there not have home delivery?

Not everyone wants the added fees involved with home delivery. Nor do they want the hassles that can ensue.

Yes, it's such a tremendous challenge to sit on your FAT ASS and have someone bring something to your door!

The horrors!

Actually, someone delivering bags ad bags of groceries to my front door (if I had a front door) would be a little slice of heaven.

I'm so busy with my job as a village Covid Contact Tracer I barely have the energy to heat up a bowl of stone soup when I get home from traipsing all over the village. But, on the plus side, all the extra walking has given me a hot ass and great legs!

Are any of you wearing goggles while shopping?

R125, I do. I was using a face shield awhile ago but the one I had was too difficult to see out of. I haven't found a better alternative.

[quote]First, check your pantry. Do you have canned goods or dry goods that are on the verge of expiring before you'll be able to use them?

People also need to be aware that just because a canned item has an expiration date, it doesn't mean its expired. A majority of canned items are good years beyond their expiration dates as long as the can isn't damaged.

I get angry grocery shopping. So many are not taking wearing masks, or wearing masks properly, seriously. Some are rude to those that do.

This won't change.

When I walked into Target yesterday, the guy who was wiping down the carts was hacking up a lung.

Great way to start your shopping trip.

[quote]I was using a face shield awhile ago but the one I had was too difficult to see out of. I haven't found a better alternative.

How can it be hard to see out of a clear face shield? Did you forget to take the protective film off like in that video at the beginning of the pandemic?

yes, i have to say that Target is the only place where they are cleaning the carts. I've seen it with my own eyes and they were even cleaning the handles of the escalator.

R4, r3 here. I bought my 4th shelving unit for foodstuffs and cleaning items, a couple plastic lidded storage bins, plus dish detergent, Windex and other assorted cleaners, anti-bacterial hand-wipes and -soaps, etc.

There were no Clorox or Lysol wipes.

Most interesting as some R122 as over here in the UK some retailers don't charge or the charge a modest delivery fee.

I've not been into a store since March 2020. I've had all of my food delivered.

I found TP at the Walmart in Edison NJ. I bought a pack and that should be enough to get through a few months. I usually buy when it’s on sale but just wanted an extra pack because I see more restrictions on indoor gatherings and I don’t want to stand in line to enter the supermarket during the cold months ahead. I bought enough frozen vegetables, canned beans, dry beans, rice and shelf stable milk cartons. Now I only need to buy groceries online and use whatever I have in my reserves.

R134, everyone is doing basically what you described, hence the inventory shortages. No judgement....we all do what we must.

r126, as mentioned above, there is a protective film on shields. Some will have them on both sides. Wear a dark mask so it doesn't reflect inside the shield.

Idiots entering stores with face guard but no mask should be executed in the parking lot.

R136 I'm aware of the film... the ones I have had the film removed and it was still too difficult to see out of.

I got some face shields from Costco a couple months ago, and they were awful. They were cloudy. They weren't clear plastic and they were very difficult to see out of.

I got a face shield at Staples and it fogs up like a bathroom mirror. I walk around half blind as it is because my glasses fog up with my mask on and I will not take that mask, double masks actually off for any reason. I'm so fucking thirsty when I'm out for hours because I no longer carry water as I will not lift the mask to drink. It's slight suffering for sure to do the right thing for all these months but I wish all those who refuse to do right death, a painful one too.

The face shield are not the problem. Hell, I wear the mask with my sunglasses and it fogs up. Love this site, but there is a lot of disinformation.

Too many companies are cranking out face masks and shields as though we were in the midst of a major pandemic.

Too much emphasis on quantity, and too little on quality.

I've tried several, but I always go back to the disposable surgical masks.

R140, use a disposable blue face mask. They have a wire along the top from one side to the other. Put on the earpieces first, then put the top of the mask right under your eyes. Press down on the mask wire, all along its entire upper edge, pressing the mask wire down all along the bottom of your eye sockets and across the bridge of your nose. If you look in the mirror, after you press down along the eye sockets, you can see the mask is fitted to your face.

Hold the mask at the bridge of your nose. Then pull the bottom of the mask down to cover your chin.

Put on your eyeglasses or sunglasses on top of the mask.

If you do this correctly, your mask will not slip down as you talk, and there won’t be gaps around your nostrils, because your face will be covered from the lower eyelids to the chin. Gaps around the top of the mask are what causes the fogging.

Try blowing air out through the top of the mask. If you can feel air hitting your eyes, go back and press down along the mask’s upper wire from one side to the other again. You don’t have to press hard, just make sure you press down the entire length from end to end and don’t miss any spots. You won’t have fogging.

Look at the man in the image. See how the mask is contoured to his face? That’s what you want, although it looks like he’s got an air gap at the bridge of his nose. Press down all the way across, including the bridge. Once your mask is set, it won’t move and your glasses won’t fog up.

Here’s an example of somebody who is not pressing down on the wire. Look how loose the top of her mask is. It goes straight across with no fitting.

As she talks, that mask is going to slip down because it’s not secured to her face. This loose fit is what causes the fogging up too. People’s faces have inward dents around the nostrils, you have to make sure the mask is high enough so there are no air gaps right above the nostrils. I see reporters wear their masks like this woman’s all the time. As they talk, the mask is slipping down continually until it slips below the nostrils and their nose is exposed.

Your mask should never be this low, ever. She needed to set the mask right under her eyelids, then pull the mask down to cover her chin. This mask is going to slip off her nose the second she starts talking.

Went to my local WallyWorld and the huge 144 roll rafts of TP wer gone.

Out of fear I bought two 12 count Cottonelle High Abrasion Extra Cleaning and Exfoliating High Definition Wavy TP.

It was like buying quarter sheet sandpaper for my sander.

I should have said, she should have set the mask right under her lower eyelids, then hold the mask at the bridge of her nose, while pulling down the lower edge of the mask to cover her chin. This unfolds the accordion folds of the mask to cover the entire face.

Why is someone explaining how to put on a surgical mask? Is someone here brain dead? People that don't wear their masks correctly are doing it on purpose not because it's a technology beyond their comprehension. And, that little wire across the top does not keep your glasses from fogging no matter how much you form it to your face. Most of the surgical masks don't have the wire all the way across anyway. Just a couple inches by the nose. I could literally shove the mask into my eyeballs and it will still fog my glasses up.

If you want to stop fogging, rub a very tiny amount of Dawn dishwashing soap on your all sides of your lenses and let it dry. Then, buff it off with a soft cloth like you would wax on a car. It works 100% for about 4-5 hours.

wash your glasses in hot soapy water to prevent fogging up!

The problem for me with masks is that I'm Asian, and generally Asians don't have prominent nose bridges, so that wire configuration doesn't really work. When I work, I have to wear a KN95 (the Asian N95) and a surgical mask over it, my Px glasses and either goggles (Asian fit- I've wasted money on 4 goggles that gap at nose bridge) or a face shield over that. Antifog solution works to some degree, but it's not ideal.

I found that if I'm super hydrated, I generate more vapor, so I won't drink any liquids at work at all (I try to super hydrate before and after work). I'm sure that won't work when it's hot and humid though. I purchased these shields (made for dentists) and they're great. Get the extra thick replacements shields though.

I've seen people use a bandaid to seal the top of the mask so their glasses won't fog.

All that exfoliation, r146 !

Your ass is going to end up as smooth as a baby's bottom or as rough as grandma's hands.

Maybe you should try scrubbing the bathtub with that paper.

It should be mentioned that not all disposable masks are created equal. Some are cheaply made and will fit poorly no matter what you do. Throughout the pandemic I've mostly bought mine from a medical supply website and they've been of better quality than the ones I've tried from Target and other places.

Masks are made with the "one size fits all" mentality.

Works as well as "one size fits all" socks or gloves.

If the mask is too loose, try criss-crossing or knotting the ear loops on the disposable masks.

r151, what a great hack. I just ordered some black sports tape (I have black masks so they don't reflect inside the shield) and will report back.

r154, I have a mask keeper that pulls my mask as tightly as it can, and air still escapes.

My county last night sent out a health warning that infection rates here have reached "dangerous levels" and that, among other things, "Customers are advised to opt for pickup and delivery when possible." I've never done that before, but I guess I will this week.

I buy surgical masks at Costco and Sam’s Club and the wire goes all the way across.

R156, what state are you in? That’s the first time I’ve heard that.

Michigan.

R159, at least you state has the balls to tell the truth. A lot of states can’t say that because the governors would lose their jobs.

Last summer, I kept having this vision of a police car in winter, driving around neighborhoods with a speaker saying, “stay inside! Stay in your homes!” I thought it was my brain’s hyperbole, but we’re almost there in some places.

On the speakers at the Walmart parking lot they have the continual announcement to safely distance yourself and other announcements. It reminds my of the old sci-fi movies where over the speaker they are telling people to stay in a single line, don't talk, etc. For me it is rather creepy.

R161, they have that at my local Walmart too, in Nevada. I go right when they open, and it’s quiet and you can hear it pretty distinctly. It does remind me of a science fiction movie. The next scene would be Will Smith driving through deserted streets, or Frannie in The Stand.

I shop early mornings when crowds are fewer. Still, it is so discomforting. I wear a mask, try to social distance, have wet wipes and handsanitizer in the car to use. When I get home, I wash the hands, then the face, then my eyeglasses. Then I wipe down the groceries, dispose of bags, wash hands again.

There was this deplorable bitch that hissed as she walked by me in Walmart over a month ago and turned around and looked after she passed. I started to confront her, but walked on. I had a shield over my mask.

I detest Walmart. But they had an item I need that was not available anywhere else close by.

In Illinois we got an emergency alert sent out to our phones on Friday when new restrictions started. It was that blaring emergency signal.

It's going to be so telling, when all of this is said and done, what a huge difference there will be in illnesses and deaths per capita between Democratic states and Repug states. Even though most of the population is in blue states, we're going to end up with much less death in the end. And, when they look even deeper, it will be the red parts of those blue states that had much more death per capita than the blue cities. Of course, the kicker will be that the red idiots will be too fucking stupid to understand what they did.

Remember when this video from China in early 2020 seemed like something that could never happen here?

Taiwan has no fucking cases. Taiwanese can go to school, concerts and restaurants without fear.

By Making America Great Again, do you think they mean third world?

Mission accomplished.

Costco sold out of TP and paper towels for weeks again.

Whoever in the shopping thread last April who told me that “People aren’t hoarding hysterically, they all just have to change how they get food and supplies now” was full of shit.

That doesn’t explain these families I see load up their shopping carts with six Costco packs of paper towels.

That’s enough to last 6 months!

COVID cannot stop the manufacture and distribution of most products. People are just being hysterical pigs.

My housemate still hasn’t used 90% of the canned and driy goods he hoarded last March.

🤓 If you wear glasses, you're basically screwed when it comes to face masks.

Why, r168? I don't feel...screwed.

You can’t place your glasses over the tip of the mask like I do with sunglasses all the time?

I wear sunglasses and if the mask is tight enough your glasses won't fog up. I do what R154 suggested.

Really, a little bit of Dawn dish soap rubbed on the lenses, left to dry for a few seconds, and then buffed off will create a no fog lens for 4-5 hours. Easy. You can even keep some in your car or your bag. You will never have fogged lenses again.

If your glasses are fogging up the mask is not tight enough R172. You want the mask as tight as possible around your nose so it will be effective.

I bought a Castle Grade mask, but I can still smell with it on. I thought for a true perfect seal, you shouldn't be able to smell with it on. I put a cloth mask underneath and then wear it over that, and that seems to do the trick, but why can't I wear it by itself with no problem?

My gawd people, just slap the mask on your face and call it a day.

R173, almost no one in everyday life is wearing medical grade masks like that with an airtight seal. This is the real world.

R174, where did you hear that? It’s not the smell that’s the issue, it’s how good the filter is. I’ve worn N95 masks when I was stripping furniture (pre-Covid), and it never stopped me from smelling the stripper. It’s supposed to filter out virus, not smells.

I have a Castle grade mask myself, and that’s a very heavy mask. That’s about as good as you’re going to get these days.

[quote]It’s not the smell that’s the issue, it’s how good the filter is. I’ve worn N95 masks when I was stripping furniture (pre-Covid), and it never stopped me from smelling the stripper. It’s supposed to filter out virus, not smells.

Strip out the word "furniture" in this sentence and it takes on a whole new meaning.

I've bought Dollar Tree Bleach and Dollar General bleach forever. Works for me!

I did my usually Sunday morning 7AM grocery pickup at Walmart today, and while there was only one other person in the pickup lot, the regular parking lot was PACKED! Maybe doing Thanksgiving shopping, but I was really shocked at how much more crowded it was than usual.

I saw a meme online and it was so funny...don't recall the exact words but it was about online shopping...the best way this guy liked to do online shopping was to shout out what he needed and just wait a while for the online ads for those items to appear in the ads on his social media lol.

I've experienced that a few times myself...I started seeing ads for wipes and other things after posting in some threads on DL.

Target in nyc is closing at 10pm instead of 9pm. saw the posting when I went there today. I do not know if they are open for black friday but i've seen them placed several big TVs close to the entrance.

AP: Some New Mexico essential businesses have been shut down because of a substantial increase in coronavirus cases.

A new edict announced Thursday allows the New Mexico Department of Health to shut down workplaces for two weeks if they have four or more coronavirus cases in a 14-day period.

More than 20 essential businesses across the state were shut down as of Friday, of which nearly half were grocery stores or major retailers. The closures include two Walmarts in Albuquerque, a Walmart in Santa Fe, a Target in Santa Fe and an Albertson’s in Roswell.

I ordered several boxes of the disposable 3 ply masks from Amazon back in the spring when this started, and they were around $30 a piece. I'm still surprised stores like Walgreens are still selling these for $29.99, whereas places like Marc's are selling them for $4.99 a box now.

Seriously, large chain stores in particular, should be offering these for free as a perk for even shopping there in person. That's like having to pay for toilet paper and hand soap when you use their restrooms.

Stores should close early to keep us home.

[quote]Target in nyc is closing at 10pm instead of 9pm. saw the posting when I went there today. I do not know if they are open for black friday but i've seen them placed several big TVs close to the entrance.

My suburban LA Target is open until 11PM every day. Although now that we have a 10PM curfew, I'm not sure if that will continue.

If you are shopping for essentials the curfew does not apply R186. They are trying to curb house parties and multiple gatherings. Are these curfew warnings hard for people to understand?

r185 actually think the opposite, when it comes to grocery stores. When the stores are open longer, people have the option to shop late at night and early in the morning when there are fewer people in the store. This reduces the crowds during peak hours. The stores became much less crowded where I live once they extended the hours again. I believe the hours should definitely be expanded during the busy holiday season.

[quote] I'm still surprised stores like Walgreens are still selling these for $29.99, whereas places like Marc's are selling them for $4.99 a box now.

As I said earlier - all mask are not created equal. Those $4.99 masks are...$4.99 masks.

So what if they work?

CVS is trying to peddle the blue disposable face masks for 75¢ EACH.

A few month ago, I bought boxes of 50 masks for $2.99/ free shipping on ebay.

Yes, I stocked up!

I remember around May places were charging $30 for boxes of 50 Disposable Masks, like Costco, Sam's, Target. Now those same boxes are under $9.

As long they have the 3 layers...the only thing is the ear loop is falls apart easily...if they are poorly made.

I wear 2 disposable masks, have been since day 1. Now I notice a lot more people doing the same.

More than 1K workers at world’s top surgical glove maker get COVID-19

The world’s largest maker of surgical gloves is temporarily closing more than half its factories despite record demand — because more than 1,000 employees tested positive for the coronavirus, authorities said Monday.

Top Glove in Malaysia has racked up record profits this year as demand for protective gear skyrocketed during the pandemic.

But more than 1,000 workers tested positive for the coronavirus Monday — accounting for most of the record surge in the country and forcing the company to agree to temporarily shutter 28 of its 41 Malaysian factories.

In total, at least 2,500 cases have been linked to the area’s cluster, officials said.

“Based on advice from the ministry of health, it was agreed at a special meeting today to shut down 28 Top Glove factories … in stages to allow the workers to undergo tests and quarantine,” Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Monday.

Top Glove said in a statement it would “cooperate fully with the relevant authorities to implement the temporary stoppage,” and plant closures had begun.

About 5,700 workers have already been screened and the rest will also undergo tests, it said.

Top Glove did not say how the closures would affect its ability to meet orders, with the company able to produce 70 billion gloves a year.

Many of the company’s workers are from Nepal and live in crowded dormitory complexes.

Just want to wish the regulars on this board a Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve appreciated your posts the past few months, they have been super helpful. Stay safe and well.

[quote]As long they have the 3 layers...the only thing is the ear loop is falls apart easily...if they are poorly made.

Some of the cheap ones are claiming on the box to have three layers, and they even LOOK like they have three layers...but when you actually touch them, you can tell there are only two. They're too thin. There's a TON of scamming going on in mask manufacturing now. If you find a quality brand that works for you, stick with them. There's a lot of inconsistency out there.

The easily torn ear loop can be a problem even on some of the better made ones. I always check to see if the loop is glued under a layer rather than on top of one. The ones that are glued over a layer seem to come loose more easily. It's always a good idea to carry a second mask on your person in case you're out in public and the one you're wearing falls apart on you.

You can use expired face masks, and other guidance from the FDA

From CNN's Maggie Fox

Some face masks can be used even if their manufacturer’s expiration date has passed, the US Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.

The FDA posted extensive new guidance about face masks, surgical masks, and respirators on its website Tuesday, with advice about when to use each kind. "Some are OK to use even if they are old, the FDA said. “Face masks and surgical masks are designed to serve as protective barriers and may still offer some protection even if they are used beyond the manufacturer's designated shelf life or expiration date,” the agency advised. "

Hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities have reported shortages and problems managing protective personal equipment, including face masks. But certain types should not be re-used, the FDA said.

“The CDC does not recommend the reuse of disposable surgical masks that are intended to be used once. The FDA recognizes that there may be availability concerns with surgical masks during the COVID-19 public health emergency, but there are strategies to conserve surgical masks," it said.

Respirators, such as N-95 masks, are to be used once and should not be washed, but some can be decontaminated and reused. “The FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for devices that decontaminate certain respirators,” it said.

Mask protection: While the FDA referred frequently to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its new website doesn’t reference the CDC’s latest guidance that suggests face masks protect the wearers as well as those around them.

“Masks may help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others,” the FDA said. “The CDC recommends people wear face masks in public settings, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. Wearing a face mask may limit exposure to respiratory droplets and large particles and may help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus.”

r195, on a board that is impressively cunty, that is possibly the meanest statement ever posted.

Happy Thanksgiving to us all!

I really haven't experienced any issues shopping throughout this entire pandemic. On March 11 as I walked home from work I got a 4 pack of TP and a few items. The next day it seemed like there would be a shut down so I made a list and went shopping Saturday March 13. I stocked up on much more food than usual - enough for 2 weeks. - which is a lot to hand carry home. No 4 packs of Scott TP remained so I bought 4 singles and started my lock down with 9 rolls.

My small grocery store is usually pretty empty and has had all I needed in terms of food and later got restocked with sundries. I was even able to get my surgical masks there. They use safety protocols and I feel comfortable shopping there. I have avoided Whole Foods and any other larger stores like CVS. I finally after all this time went to the bank for cash last week and the bank was empty except for me and 2 tellers. Now I have cash to give tips to have someone run errands for me.

[quote] It's always a good idea to carry a second mask on your person in case you're out in public and the one you're wearing falls apart on you.

I never even thought to do this simple thing despite all the care I've been taking. Thank you, R196. I actually had a dream that I was out and forgot my mask. LOL!

[quote]I made a list and went shopping Saturday March 13.

March 13 was a Friday. It was the last time I went to my Friday AA meeting and then ate at my usual Friday after-meeting pizzeria. Yes, March 13 was a Friday.

R196, the 3 ply disposable medical masks I've been getting for $4.99 / box for 50 in a box from Marc's are indeed 3 layers. I just cut some open to confirm this. They have multiple "brands", but the packaging clearly states they were made in China. But at 10 cents per mask, I would rather toss them after each use. Some people I know are re-using the disposable masks several times due to the higher cost other places are selling boxes of these for.

So glad us gays don’t eat!

How many of you wear multiple layers of masks and filters?

I do.

I haven't R203, but I like the idea. It is hard finding surgical mask so if I have to buy non surgical mask I will double up.

I generally wear a cloth mask that has two layers of cloth, both sides of which have a lining (so 4 layers) and then I add a filter and then wear a disposable mask under it.

I'm sure I'm nuts, but I don't care.

At work (film), I have to wear a KN95 (the Chinese equivalent of N95, which they won't order due to deference to medical workers), a surgical one over that, prescription glasses, a shield and a gown.

On my own, I wear a cloth mask and super large aviators/safety glasses (I'm convinced droplets can go into your eyes too). Too chicken to wear actual goggles.

R206 I wear protective glasses too, it's been proven that the droplets can get into your eyes. I'd wear actual Goggles if I could find a good pair.

I resisted but I may pickup a plastic shield to go over the mask.

So tired of this but cannot afford to be ill.

R208, as posted above I wear multiple masks and glasses... I'd wear a shield too if I could find a decent one I could see out of. I don't give a shit about what other people think. I won't be pressured into sacrificing my health just because others can't take theirs seriously.

R210. A nearby town is in quarantine again. Hospital beds full. I wear masks but don't feel protected.

As far as goggles, bought 5 pair, but ultimately ski goggles were the best ( I had to buy a separate clear sheild).

r209, I got these for work (I'm a makeup artist) and I can see out of them. They're made for dentists, and I would recommend getting the thicker shields (they also make extra wide and extra long shields, but the thinner density):

Thanks, R211!

r206 here, to clarify about the ski goggles, I meant I had to purchase a separate clear lens to replace the black lens that came with my goggles.

[quote]I never even thought to do this simple thing despite all the care I've been taking. Thank you, [R196]. I actually had a dream that I was out and forgot my mask. LOL!

I learned this the hard way. I was using the first mask from a new box I had just purchased, of a brand I hadn't tried before. Everything seemed right with them but about 3/4 of the way through my shopping expedition one of the loops broke. I was able to hold it together and get through it until it was time to get back in my car, but I've carried an extra ever since. It's a VERY uneasy feeling to be in the middle of a busy store with a broken mask.

R201, if your $4.99 masks are working out, that is good. I bought a box of 20 house brand masks for $6.99 from my local chain supermarket, just to see how feasible they were and upon opening them at home immediately realized they only had two layers, despite what the box said. Just wanted to make people aware that this stuff is going on, so be careful.

I just got back from my second (and probably last) Whole Foods pickup order. They have such a poor selection of items -- I couldn't find something as basic as buttermilk. No almond paste either. I was able to get both of them from Walmart. I ordered a four-pack of butter croissants, and specified "no substitutions." They gave me a four-pack of VEGAN croissants (which are an abomination.) I ordered a jar of Rao's marinara sauce, and they packed it (with other things) into a flimsy paper bag with no handles; when I got home it slipped out of my hands and broke. What a waste of time and money.

[quote] I couldn't find something as basic as buttermilk. No almond paste either.

[quote] I ordered a four-pack of butter croissants, and specified "no substitutions." They gave me a four-pack of VEGAN croissants (which are an abomination.)

How do you find the will to go on?

[quote]I ordered a four-pack of butter croissants, and specified "no substitutions." They gave me a four-pack of VEGAN croissants (which are an abomination.)

Thoughts and prayers.

To be fair, they [italic]look[/italic] vegan. A shondeh.

I don't eat red meat anymore but a vegan croissant= why bother?

Croissants need lots of good butter in it.

Went to pick up my turkey dinner at WHole Foods, early Wednesday morning and there weren't 20 shoppers in the store the day be fore thanksgiving at 8:30 AM. Three other people were in line with me. The staff said it would pick up around noon. Went over to Publix, and for the fourth week in a row, no paper toweling. Toilet paper was OK, but they have been out of toweling and dishwashing liquid. Now. For cleaning products? Go to Lowes or Home Depot. The prices are good and they have abundance. Also might find your toweling there. Office Depot is often overlooked. But you can find stuff there are it's not crowded at all. Coffee, Tea, sugar, cleaning products, toweling, toilet paper, snacks, etc.

I get almost everything by subscription delivery:

Cleaning goods (planet friendly): The Grove

Produce: Imperfect Foods

Toilet paper & paper towels: Who Gives a Crap

Sundries & Dry Goods: Amazon

Prescriptions: my company switched to CVS

The only thing I go out for is fresh bread

Ah, I forgot to add Dairy to Imperfect Foods

I'm curious about Imperfect Foods. They do deliver to my area, but I wonder if it would make sense for me (live alone.) Can you give a quick review? (I used to subscribe to Farm Fresh To You -- sort of a CSA -- but it was overpriced and I don't really care about the whole organic thing. My neighbor still uses them, however.)

r223, I'm single as well, and I think it's worth it. I used to get FF2Y as well, but find IF way more customizable- I don't think that there is a minimum. The only thing that sucks is that you really don't get to pick your delivery window time or day. IF also has meat/fish/chicken choices, snacks, some dairy and pantry goods. They do have bread, but I'm kind of a bread snob.

Speaking of shopping:

Traffic at stores on Black Friday fell by 52.1% compared with last year. But online spending on Black Friday surged 21.6% to hit a new record.

I wonder if I should just buy one of these, and be fucking done with it. Who cares what anyone else thinks ? Given how much I've already spent on masks & gloves, what's another $40.00?

^ i have those. They're fine.

Noticed something strange when it comes to soap refill. I had some hand soap refill from prior to the pandemic and then bought more once it became available again, maybe after June. The refill from prior to the pandemic is fine but the refill from after June was sort of clumpy, like soft gelatin in texture. A little firmer than hand sanitizer. I thought it was just the one bottle, but I opened up two others and they're the same.

Companies have shrunk and turned their products to shit under cover of the pandemic. I hope they are prosecuted for profiteering, price gouging, and fraud when this is all over.

Our supply chain is fucked up for a variety of reasons, and demand has outstripped the ability to respond. So I have also noticed changes in familiar products.

R230, I don't think a lot of it is supply chain. Let's just take crackers. They shrunk the boxes and the number of crackers in each sleeve. Now, imagine what it took for them to do that. They needed to redesign the packaging. Redo all the machines. Rewrite whatever computer code runs the machines. Bought all new packaging. Retrain the people running the machines. Get new wholesale shipping boxes. Let all the grocery stores know because they have very exacting planograms as to product placement on the shelves and if the size changes, so does the needed space.

So, instead of just upping production to meet demand, they took a couple of months and did all of this first...under cover of pandemic panic buying. Same goes for toilet paper and paper towel producers. They all shrunk their products. That didn't happen overnight.

They are fucking criminals and since Repugs believe corporations are people, I'm sure the "party of law and order" (excuse me while I choke on the hypocrisy!) will be looking into putting these criminals in prison, right? What kind of cell do we put Kraft and Proctor & Gamble in?

One of our local food distributors has opened to the public as a result of the pandemic and all the restaurant closures/lockdowns. I remember going there as a teenager once in a while when I worked at a pizza shop and they were running low on certain items. They were basically in "panic mode" back in spring, and immediately started offering curbside delivery of bulk goods back then.

r224 Thanks. I'm going to give it a try. My first delivery is this Friday, and tomorrow is when I get to decide what's in my first box. Should be fun!

Excellent, r233, let me know what you think!

Has anyone tried both misfit foods and Imperfect foods? I am on the fence about which is better. Considering signing up to avoid the grocery store for the next 2 months. Produce would be my main interest not add ons.

They don't have none a that dellivery stuff here in the South. We get Instacart for supermarkets and of course the meal services. But no farm co-ops or Imperfect foods.

r234 Well, so far, not impressed. I signed up for the medium conventional (i.e., non-organic) produce box. I was given mostly organic produce (which I think is a waste of money.) and two different kinds of strange coconut things. But at least I was able to delete most of it. There didn't seem to be a lot of produce choices that I wanted -- but maybe that's attributable to the season we're in. Still--no clementines/mandarins; grapes were only available in a 2-lb. bag (too much for me.), limited choices of apples, while they had pears, you couldn't specify which of two types you wanted. No regular cauliflower. I ended up ordering lamb tamales of all things since they sounded so interesting. Prices weren't that great, and unlike Farm Fresh to You, they charge for delivery (unless you get a huge order.) But I'll see how it goes.

I wrote about the weird soap refill a few days back. Something I've noticed about it... the soap doesn't lather. It sort of just disintegrates into the water but never forms any suds when scrubbing your hands. It's weird. This soap definitely lathered prior to the pandemic.

Would you like to tell us the brand R239? Do you know how many fucking brands of soap there are? Like we all remember your fucking post from a few days ago.

R238 Buy foamer bottle on Amazon. Pour 2 TB of any liquid soap you like, the milder the better ( i order SCG- sodium cocoyl glutamate) Fill with 8 oz of water, the purer the better. Voila! Gentle, foamy, bubbly soap for pennies that lasts forever.

Monday and Tuesday in LA and the markets are going crazy again. Threats of a lockdown and the supermarkets are packed.

Paper towel and toilet paper are out everywhere in LA, and no, I don’t have Costco membership.

How about you eat a bag of dicks, R239? Nevermind, if you could, you wouldn't be so bent out of shape.

How about posting something useful you fucking idiot R243.

[quote]Paper towel and toilet paper are out everywhere in LA,

Because so many people are sheeple. And morons.

Ha. Struck a nerve.

I for one think the soap talk is more than useful. Ever since lockdowns started corporations are using it as an excuse to raise prices and lessen the quality/quantity of products.

I got a good laugh out of this.

Think with the upticks in cases all around me, I'm going to have to go back to curbside pick up, I had some not great experiences with it at Shoprite in CT back in April/May, Instacart is not available here, it's only peapod (tough to get a slot) or shoprite (I can usually nab a curbside pick up). Any tips from the seasoned curbside shoppers here? Do I allow substitutions or not?

My main shopping needs will be dairy, produce, some meat. Paper goods/pantry/dry goods are covered for the next 6-8 weeks.

Substitutions are a crapshoot, and heavily dependent on what the store allows. Walmart used to be just YES/NO, now they offer a "is this OK?" option on some items. With Instacart you have more leeway to choose, and the shopper will also text you to ask if you want something substituted that he/she can't find. Whole Foods has given me unapproved substitutes that I think were flat-out mistakes. (That is, they weren't substitutes; rather the shopper just picked the wrong item.) Albertsons/Vons was pretty good about substitutes.

i finally found lysol spray. cost 15 bucks for 1 can (19oz). found it at a gourmet supermarket in manhattan.

I bought 1.

No. Fifteen dollars?! Scandelous. Your grocer is a POS to take advantage of the pandemic and I'd let him know it.

Was it free-range, organic, all-natural, non-GMO, no preservatives added Lysol?

Walmart+ (the service that gives you free grocery delivery) just added a new benefit -- now you can get free shipping on orders from the website with no $35 minimum. They're obviously trying to keep up with Amazon Prime. (There's still a $35 min. on grocery delivery, even with +. And grocery pickup with a $35 minimum is free for everyone.)

That's is not true R254, you still need $35 to get free delivery. I order my vitamins from them and I have to order at least 2 bottles to get the free delivery.

R255, R254 is correct.

Lysol is like gold in this freaking health crisis!

I just ordered vitamins from Walmart R256. I had to pass $35 in order to get free shipping.

BTW, target is a shitty store.

I have been able to purchase Clorox wipes but the cost is higher than usual now, 8 dollars per package.

I need the stuff for work and used to but wipes at the dollar tree, pre pandemic.

I...have...Lysol....

hehehehe...!

I wondered why your post smells so institutional, r260.

You can repeat that all you want, R258, it doesn't change the fact that it's something Walmart is now offering it's Plus members.

ITS plus members.

I went to Target today and found Clorox spray cleaner. The label indicates it kills 99.9% of germs and virus so I take it this is as good as Lysol.

Everybody had masks on for a change.

Fuck off R262. The fact is I had to order over $35 to get free delivery. I'm tired of your BS.

Go fuck yourself, R265. Nobody gives a shit that you had to pay $35 for free delivery. The FACT is that they're now offering free delivery for Plus members. You can repeat the same shit over and over... it doesn't change the fact that they're now offering it.

Girls! You're both pretty!

Why continue to argue something isn't true when there's a link that shows it is true? Bizarre.

I haven't been a participant in any of the bitch slapping upthread R268, but please....if you think a "link" is evidence of anything or proves anything to be true, allow me to post a link to Newsmax or Trump's twitter feed. It's a link. It will take you to a place where things are stated. But are those things true simply because there's a link to them? I think not. Sorry but this "link please!" to "prove" things is one of my pet peeves. Not that you or anyone gives a shit or should give a shit, but there it is. Have a nice day and please stay safe and healthy.

I really like imperfect foods. Is there a better alternative?

That may truly be one of the stupidest things I've seen here. A link is certainly can be evidence that something is true. Are ALL links evidence, no. Is it worthwile to review a link that is provided for you that gives you further information and sources valuable? A reasonable person would say yes.

We've ventured into Fake News territory. Great!

Stop breathing so many Lysol fumes!

Speaking of Lysol, Amazon has Lysol listed as being available. Of course the price is way jacked up, $27 for 2 small canisters.

Bastards.

r265 Are you a Walmart+ member? DId you pay the annual fee? The free delivery for under $35 orders only applies to Walmart+, and it just started. So if you are not a paying + member, or if your order was before this policy was implemented, then of course you had to meet the $35 threshold.

Reading posts like yours makes me realize why this country is as fucked up as it is.

r274 r275 That is not being sold by Amazon, but by a third=party seller.

Paying to be a Walmart+ member is why this country is fucked up R276. Why would I pay to be a member when I can order a 2 or 3 month supply in order to meet the $35 threshold?

Well, R278, if you use delivery without Walmart+, it's not free even if you meet the $35 threshold. It doesn't take long to exceed the annual cost for a Walmart+ account if you regularly use delivery.

Ugh...who shops at Walmart, period?

Actually it is free R279. I ordered my vitamins and they are being delivery free of charge today.

I stopped shopping at Walmart years ago, when they were homophobic. What has changed since then? I really don't keep up on their doings.

r281 That's not from Walmart grocery, moron. Shipping and delivery are two different things.

kGo fuck yourself R283.

We often get specialty candy - imported stuff (think like what's in World Market) at this time of year, but COVID has fucked that too. Nothing, nowhere. : (

OK. I'm late to the party, I know. But I just picked up my order from Publix and I love it. I made a decision on December1st, that I was not going to the store anymore. Too dangerous. So I went online and ordered.It took me three days to finalize my list, pare it down, etc. and this morning I ordered, and I just got back. Didn't even have to get out of the car. Popped the trunk and they loaded up the bags. I was in touch with my shopper so if there were questions or problems we dealt with them via text messages. It was a dream. No delivery fees. This is the way to go. Definitely.

Why the obsession with obtaining Lysol and wiping surfaces down in domestic spaces? It's a virus that's aerosolized from other people breathing, talking, singing, praying, etc. More attention should be paid to air circulation and HVAC filters. I'm now spending extra money for 3M's Filtrete 2200s.

They were probably Lysolinas pre-covid, r287.

I am a lysol queen and feeling deprived without access to it.

Some of you are obsessed with other people's use of Lysol as much as those obsessed with using it!

Just did my first grocery pick up. More people must be deciding to use it as it took them 45 minutes for them to bring out my order after I had checked in and parked.

FYI for any of you on Medicaid or Food stamps, Amazon offers Prime at a discount for only like 6 bucks a month. You just need to send them a photo of your card(s) as proof, and then sign up for Prime. That more than makes up for the benefit of free shipping. Though the free shipping only applies to stuff being shipped to you from Amazon themselves, and perhaps sellers on there using their Fulfilled by Amazon service. Third party sellers that are listing their products on Amazon and handling the shipping themselves will still charge you for shipping.

R289 Lowes has plenty of bulks sized Lysol multipurpose cleaner refills for like $8 a bottle. It's ridiculous though what people are charging on sites like Amazon for Lysol aerosol spray. The closest thing I've seen is Target offering some generic brand of aerosol disinfectant, but they want like $5 a piece for a pocket sized bottle, which isn't much better.

Has it come to this? I have to clarify how I use Lysol? OK. The husbear and I spray down everything in the parking lot before we put groceries in the car. Why are you making assumptions about Lysol use?

No, you don't have to clarify your Lysol use. The controlling posters who feel compelled to criticize other people's product use are one of the downsides of these otherwise useful shopping threads. Ignore and move on.

[quote]The husbear and I spray down everything in the parking lot

Hope it's not a big parking lot.

I douche with Lysol!

No stinky snatch here!

I have noticed that our local Stop and Shop (in CT) has filled most of their TP aisles with TP made in Mexico. While the Charmin, Scott, and Snuggle is selling out, the TP from Mexico still sits there. Sometimes it is the only TP in the aisle.

Scott TP is thinner now. Used it for years, so I can tell the difference.

I was in Duane Reade on 57th street and 3rd ave yesterday. They have clorox wipes behind the cashiers. Hurry before it's all gone! That store is open 24hrs.

I forgot to add in Manhattan. and also it was 5 bucks.

But in Home Depot, they have their own brand of wipes called HDX and they have them in stock. you get a 3-pack for 5 bucks.

Just as another poster discussed, hoarding is only one reason for shortages.

The other reason for continuing shortages is manufacturers reconfigured their products and pricing, ie made toilet paper thinner and shorter and prices higher.

Scum. Who took tax payers money in the firms of forgivable loans.

Please explain to me R302 how making their toilet paper thinner contributed to a shortage? If anything it would increase the rolls they have to offer. I'm tired of the stupidity of DL

Product was unavailable as the manufacturer reconfigured the size or density of the product and raised pricing. Resized product needed new packaging and in some instances, new skus.

I shouldn't even have to explain this.

Bullshit R304

A compelling fucking argument. R305.

Your intellect and superiority quells all argument.

Your ignorance of manufacturing is noted R306.

You contribute nothing to this discussion.

R304 is, in fact, correct.

It's something companies do all the time. They either shrink it and charge the same as the prior iteration, or, when they're especially evil and cunty, they shrink it and charge MORE.

Target was stocked full of wipes yesterday, they even had Clorox ones but no Lysol wipes. The Clorox wipes were indeed smaller, with only 35 sheets per container. A basic container of Lysol wipes (for those of us who still have some) is 80 sheets per container.

^ I should have added, I'm in favor of Clorox doing this. They were also only $2.49 per container. Stores are starting again to impose limits per person on products. Otherwise jerks will start hoarding these up and selling them on eBay/Amazon at stupidly high prices just because of the brand name.

I was resistant to those wipes packages that looked almost like wet wipes....but in fact they work better, especially the Clorox ones. They are easier to pull out one at a time.

[quote]Please explain to me [R302] how making their toilet paper thinner contributed to a shortage

Not R302, but I offer a real world illustration:

I buy a particular brand of TP. Prior to the pandemic, the rolls were a certain size, and the paper itself slightly thicker. Now the paper is thinner and the rolls themselves have less paper on them. Due to these changes I go through the rolls much more quickly now and have to buy TP more often. I assume I'm not the only one this is happening to. Now there are fewer packages on the shelf for someone else to buy, because manufacturing is not producing more now than they were pre-pandemic. Then add on panic buying and hoarding on top of basic use, and voila: shortage.

I've noticed a lot of products having been downsized and also lowered quality. What I also noticed is that grocery store prices started ticking up long before the virus arrived.

Amazon has Lysol wipes available now.

Those selling Lysol spray at outrageous prices should be hunted down, stripped naked, hate-fucked and hanged in the public square.

Wish me luck - tomorrow I’m picking up my first curbside order since May!

R317 Good luck!

MARY!

An alternative to all this curbside pickup stuff is to just shop later at night. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in SoCA Ralphs is open until 1am and Vons until 11pm. I have always been a late shopper, from the days when I worked late every night and shopped on the way home. After 9pm there is usually almost nobody in the store. I was at Ralphs at 10pm a few days ago and it was like being in some alternate reality....I think there were only 2 or 3 other shoppers in the entire store. Then I simply did self checkout and went home. Much easier than all the drama of online shopping, out of stock items, substitutions, waiting to pick up, etc. Just a suggestion....

Thank you, r315!

R319 It's also a cathartic experience. If you just need to get what you need and get out of the store it's awesome.

R319 Can you stop at Trader Joe's and Gelsons' for me, toots?

It's only a short list!

I went to the store at the crack of dawn. One mega pack of Cottonelle left on the shelf, just for me.

Clorox disinfecting wipes shortage likely to last until mid-2021...according to the company.

Why the wipes concern? We put liquid clorox in a spray bottle and carry paper towels. Wipes dry out anyway

I had two delivery orders in the last two days. One Walmart and one Ralphs

Walmart ended up cancelling

Of the 24 items I ordered from Ralphs, they had 4.

We're back in the bullshit.

R325, Clorox wipes do not contain chlorine bleach. Dimethylbenzyl Ammonium Chloride is used as the active antimicrobial ingredient responsible for sanitizing.

r326 That's been my experience with Ralphs every time I've used them. I finally gave up. Walmart cancelled a couple of orders on me back in March and April, but they've been very reliable since then (I do pickup, not delivery.) And I've used Albertsons a couple of times with mostly successful results. I tried Whole Foods twice and they gave me incorrect items (not substitutions) both times. Not worth paying the extra prices if they can't even select the correct items. I usually have success with Instacart/Aldi (delivery) but one time they were out of 60% of what I ordered. The key is to stay away from the "Aldi Finds" or things that are seasonal.

I use the wipes at work on shared surfaces. I have stocked up and gave more than enough.

Have more than enough, dammit. I use on phones and computers.

Have more than enough, dammit. I use on phones and computers.

FYI - I gave Walmart+ a try since they are the closest store to me, but I would not recommend it. They are having massive fulfillment problems and their arrangement with companies who are driving their deliveries is crumbling.

The fact that stores in my area have had to shrink access numbers isn't helping (down to 25 percent capacity) but that only delays things, the driver issue is what is killing it. I have had three orders cancelled in the last few weeks.

Yeah, R332, I switched to pickup a couple of months ago for that reason. Didn't have a problem until last Sunday, the guy loading my car didn't show me his phone showing my name to confirm like they usually do, but just loaded the trunk. I asked him if he was sure the order was under my name. He very cuntily replied "Are you in Slot 3? Tthen it's yours!" I should have gotten out to verify, but didn't. Of course, I found it wasn't my order when I got home.

I rushed back to the store (it was 9 pm by that time) expecting them to be closed, but fortunately they were still filling orders, and mine was still in the holding area. They did offer to let me keep the incorrect stuff for free, but I didn't have room for anything I hadn't already ordered, so they took it away. I'll be checking the loadout for myself from now on.

r333 I've never had the Walmart person show me his/her phone -- they usually just ask my name when I open up the liftgate. I can see how that might not work if you have a car with a standard trunk, however. Target has you show the employee a four-digit code on YOUR phone (through the rolled-up window.)

R334 Yes, Target used to make you show the phone but I liked when they started to do the code. We had a bin in the trunk for bags and it worked perfectly for them to know where to put it.

PS, I've had a half dozen Instacart drivers comment to me in recent weeks that they love that I have a little "granny" cart for my groceries. I put it in front of my garage when I know they're coming, and stay inside the garage so I am 10+ feet away. They have told me it makes it so easy to see where I am and know where to put the order. I like it b/c I can save some time and take it all in at once, and limit where they stand, touch and breathe.

R333, I had a similar experience when liquor stores were offering curbside pick up only. I didn't check the box until I got home. I'd ordered 2 bottles of white wine and 4 rose. They got them backwards. I didn't return them as they were the correct wines; just the wrong amounts.

Fuck ups everywhere.

you know if we had a functioning government there would be price controls and rationing in times of emergency. But we are such extreme capitalists that all that matters is making money. So let the workers drop dead in the meat processing plants, we'll get new workers, and so what if the agricultural workers have to harvest crops during the wild fires with the smoke and the air quality choking them, and who gives a fuck if all our food processing plants are unsafe. After 9/11 our patriotic leaders told us, "Go shopping. Spend money." Even today, especially today, Trump0 is more worried about the stock market than anything else.

Tax payers money is used to keep stock prices afloat.

It's a grift, the long con.

Of all the things I never thought I'd do before the pandemic I did one tonight. I took out a year's membership for free delivery of anything sent from Walmart (no 3rd party sellers) for $98.00 with the first 30 days a free trial. Walmart has things for delivery that no one else has or Amazon has for 10 times the price or more. Since maybe May Walmart has been the only one who had 70% isopropyl (sp?) alcohol for 2 - 32 ounce bottles for $3.92. Back in April I played $65.00 for a gallon and it was from a pet supply place, the only place I could find it. Who knows if it was even okay for humans. I only use alcohol for cleaning, including my face and hair when I come in from outside. I am not well to do. I had to use my food money to pay for that gallon jug back in April but I'm terrified and cleaning with it gives me comfort.

Anyway, so I did this instead of paying $5.99 shipping to order a $3.92 product. But I feel guilty. I always hated Walmart and what they stood for. Now I give them most of my shopping money.

Does anyone else who swore they'd never shop at Walmart shop there now either in person or online and feel like a huge hypocrite over it?

R340, don't feel too bad. I don't shop at big box stores much, until this pandemic. First time if shopped at target was this year lol.

I've yet to buy anything from Walmart but I use scott tp and I believe they are owned by evil people.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

R340 I’m not judging you. I hadn’t shopped at Walmart in years, but in April, toilet paper was nowhere to be found and Walmart online was the only place I could find it after 9 weeks of empty shelves and Costco deliveries with no toilet paper.

And, as if on cue, the shelves are now empty of toilet paper again, and last time I was about to order from Costco, toilet paper was out of stock. Again.

Can't find Christmas candy worth a good damn.

[quote] last time I was about to order from Costco

I'm torn whether to renew.

On the one hand, I do probably save $60 or more in just gas and the amount I save on my Flonase, which is really cheap when bought in a 3 pack.

On the other hand, they have been perpetually out of some shit since March, and I'm over it.

[quote] Does anyone else who swore they'd never shop at Walmart shop there now either in person or online and feel like a huge hypocrite over it?

I did the same, and I was never a Walmart fan. I used them in past years only when one of their pharmacies was the closest.

But I have been delivery only since March and will be, probably, until fall 2021, so yes, I did the same. (I also got $10 off from my bank as they had a rebate for it if you paid your Walmart+ membership with their card.)

[quote]I use scott tp and I believe they are owned by evil people.

What's evil about Kimberly-Clark?

We've had this discussion before, Kimberly Clark is OK, it's any products made by Georgia Pacific that need to be of concern, as those are owned by the Koch brothers.

[quote]And, as if on cue, the shelves are now empty of toilet paper again....

In recent days, I have had no problem whatsoever in finding toilet paper and other essentials at any drugs store, grocery store, etc. in midtown Manhattan. Maybe that's because the people who live here don't tend to behave like panicked sheeple or mindless, pea-brained hoarders.

The ONE item I have never been able to find anywhere since the pandemic began is Lysol disinfectant spray, or equivalent, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Don't SOME other companies manufacture the equivalent?

I'm tired of having to go to two grocery stores to get what I want and they are both the same company. One store might have 1 product and there other store has 10.

R244, it seems counterproductive, but if you don’t know if it’s worth keeping a Costco card, get the more expensive one that gives a small rebate. Just buying gas and a few groceries probably gives you enough purchases to get a rebate large enough to pay for the card. Every year I get a rebate large enough to pay for the whole card, but I always get my gas there.

The drug store area is where you save a lot of money. Vitamins, lotions and beauty products. Spices are really cheap for the volume you get. Go to a supermarket and look at the spices, a tiny bottle is sometimes as much as a big one at Costco. Eggs, bread and oatmeal at Costco are cheap. I agree about the toilet paper, but I went all summer and if they had some, I bought a big pack. Next week I would go and they had none. Same with rubber gloves, but I managed to get some eventually, when nobody else had them. Costco was selling packs of three boxes of gloves, everyone else was selling single boxes. They didn’t have them all the time, but three boxes in a pack meant even if there was a limit of one, I could get three boxes.

If it’s hard to get a dry goods product and there’s shortages, buy the biggest size package you can when they do have it. A lot of things like bleach wipes were rationed to one pack everywhere, but it’s better to get your one pack with five canisters of bleach wipes at Costco, when they rarely had it, than go to a supermarket and have a limit of one pack, when they’re selling only one canister at a time.

R348, Scrubbing Bubbles brand is now making a Lysol type aerosol spray can. It kills 99% of germs and is on the approved list. I saw it at Costco a couple of months ago, at the business center. The Costco Business Center has a lot of janitorial supplies and they’ve had gallon jugs of Lysol liquid refills. They also had stuff I couldn’t get anywhere else, like rubber gloves. But you had to go in store. If you do go, their hours are completely different. They open at 7:00 am near me and they close earlier. They close on Sunday.

This is listed at Target, but it says it can’t be shipped to my zip code. I think this is similar to what they had at Costco, but the Costco ones are bigger because they’re selling to janitorial services and restaurants. It says it kills Coronavirus.

[quote]...in midtown Manhattan. Maybe that's because the people who live here don't tend to behave like panicked sheeple or mindless, pea-brained hoarders.

You better find some wood to knock on because you are just at the start of your second surge.

target has wipes and toilet papers in stock.

Lysol cleaning spray too but NOT the aerosol disinfectant spray.

I was at Walmart in So Cal the other day and they had an entire row full of Lysol Disinfectant Spray. I was shocked. It was literally an entire aisle, all four shelves, stocked with it. There was no sign saying there was a limit so people were taking several cans. At check out, one of the works said it was 2 per customer. People started arguing that there wasn't a sign saying so. I left before I found out how it was resolved. They also had plenty of wipes. It seems like they're moving away from the cannisters and stocking the 30 pack flat pouches.

This stuff, r354?

I need it. And can't find it.

Has anyone here used Microban disinfectant?

I don't see a lot of Lysol, but I see a ton of Microban in the stores near me.

I was surprised to visit Walmart today and find Lysol spray in the can and Clorox wipes. Walmart also now makes a dis spray they say is as effective as Lysol so I picked one up as well.

MICROBAN works against bacteria not viruses.

The can says it kills some viruses, but it doesn't mention Corona, R358 .

YOu know, I'm single. Live alone. My mother lives about 10 miles away. She lives alone. She still drives is pretty healthy and knows how to operate a computer. Takes online classes,etc. We have tried to be good this who time since first week in March. That's when we went crazy shopping and got like 79 rolls of toilet paper (different stores) and giant boxes of oat meal, dishwashing liquid, etc.

But as I read these posts, I guess a lot of you must shop for families, because I shop every two weeks. I spend maybe 70 dollars, and I never go to the store. I just order online then go pick it up curbside. I also get a deliver every two or three months from Costco. They have delivered maybe three times for me. My mother is doing the same. So I guess I don't get why you need to do Amazon or Walmart and go through all these changes. I guess if I get a chance to buy paper toweling I will but I don't need anything else. Produce, eggs milk and maybe some kind of meat or fish.

All of a sudden I see shelves filled with Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, and Naproxen,

but NO FUCKING ASPIRIN!

I see the 325 mg for sale on Amazon for $7 FOR 300. WTF?

Not on the shelf at my Walmart, my Neighborhood Walmart and finally I found ONE bottle of 500# for $6. Again WTF?

One bottle at ^^^ Walgreens.

When you catch the Rona, the first thing the doctors tell you is to take aspirin.

It's to prevent blood clotting.

r350, I have never understood the folks who sit in long lines to get gas at Costco. I get it's like 30 cents cheaper per gallon, but I will just go to the nearest, station. It's worth the extra $5 to not have to wait like a sheep.

[quote]You better find some wood to knock on because you are just at the start of your second surge.

Thanks, but I really don't need you to tell me that NYC is just at the start of its second surge. Anyway, even during the worst times of the first surge, I never found it very difficult to find all essentials, including toilet paper. Sometimes one store would be out of it or really low, but another store close by would have plenty. And anyway, when you think of it, whether or not there is a shortage of those supplies really has little or nothing to do with how many Corona cases there actually are in a particular area, it's all about people acting like sheeple for fear of the supply chain breaking down, when actually what they really need to fear most is hoarding by other sheeple.

Yes, R355. Again, shocked they had so much of it in store.

I can find this stuff in stores including Target but not the aerosol disinfectant

I can find this stuff in stores including Target but not the aerosol disinfectant

[quote]MICROBAN works against bacteria not viruses.

No. It's on the EPA's list. See the link.

People need to get into the habit of looking for the EPA registration number on products and then taking it to the EPA's database of products effective against Covid to confirm whether it can be used for that purpose. There are MANY products which are effective that don't have any mention of Covid on the packaging. You also have to look things up by their number and not the name of the product, as a lot of products are registered under the name of their manufacturer and not the brand name. Some products are effective against Covid but they tell you to follow the instructions for use against another virus. If a product can't be used against Covid, it's not in the database.

I got a shit load of tp to wipe my ass with. Want some?

Is this walmart disinfectant effective re Covid?

Did my first curbside pick up at Aldi yesterday. Is it common for them to tell you that something is missing an hour before pick up then it suddenly appears at pick up? Changes to my order happened while I was driving to the pick up. Is it common for changes to happen while you are on your way?

I’m not complaining, thankful for curbside, but just wondering.

R370 I can't believe not everyone knows about that list!

It also tells you how to use it. I have used the Windex multipurpose thing as it's on the list, but you have to leave it on for 10 minutes for it to work.

London, and thee rest of the UK is on Christmas lockdown. Boris said the virus has a "new variant and is 70% more contagious." I'm wondering if we are already experiencing this. LA COunty no more ICU beds. Nursing staff shortages, etc. we are fucked. Stay home.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty:

“There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this. Given this latest development it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission.

r373 I've never done curbside with Aldi (is it through Instacart? I have half a dozen Aldis near me, but none of them offers curbside. The closest one is probably 45 mintues away), but I use their Instacart delivery service, and that has happened to me -- the shopper will text me saying something is out of stock and asking about a substitution, then when I get my order (or the final statement) the item is there. I guess it's possible they either found it in a different part of the store or asked an employee about it.

I've only ever done Aldi for Instacart delivery.

It has happened a few times that I am messaged that they don't have something but then they find it. But normally I refresh around the time they check out and see that oh, they found it. I've never had a situation where I get a message as they're shopping that they're out of stock, that it doesn't show up in my checkout summary, but somehow is in the bag when I get them.

SoCal here. Still able to buy groceries and maintain a keto diet. No TP but whatevs

Also, ICU beds are at capacity but most are full of failed suicides, car accidents, assaults, stroke etc. Our ICU beds tend to run at 80% capacity year round as well ....

Damn, I knew I should have reserved mine early!

Here's part of the problem: Insurance companies have to give approval for patients to be moved out of one level of care to another outside. So when it takes a week to get approval there's a long jam and they can't free up a bed. In Georgia we waived the approval process so people could be moved out of the hospital to other levels of care like a rehab center or nursing home . Even people recovering from surgery ought to be moved sooner than they a re. Personally, I'd much rather not be in a hospital right now no matter what.

I use Uber/Lyft regularly. Long before COVID hit, I still get a laugh from drivers saying stuff like they drove 20 minutes to pick up someone to drive them a 1/4 mile up the road to get some McDonald's. I've been seeing ads from Burger King saying they are offering free delivery, but it just feels unethical to have someone drive to my place to deliver me a Whopper combo meal.

I just got out of the hospital on Thursday. I had an outpatient procedure. I had to get medical transport to and from my house.

First driver was a white man. Insisted on me sitting in the front seat of a van with him which I thought was odd. I was wearing a mask and face shield. I talked to him for a while, he subtly let me know he was a Republican. Great. Who knows how many people he’s driven recently. I hope I don’t have Covid now. Driver on the way home was a black woman and she also asked me what seat I wanted to sit in, but I sat in the farthest back seat.

I needed to fill a bunch of prescriptions before the surgery. They absolutely refused to give them to me until two days and one day before the surgery, which meant I had to go fill them during prime time at Walmart in the middle of the day, because I had no time to do it any other way. I was trying to quarantine for two weeks before the surgery but that ruined that. No Covid test at the surgery center.

I woke up after the surgery very groggy and they were forcing me to get up immediately and leave. Normally they give you about an hour after surgery to orient yourself, but I think this was shorter. I was extremely groggy and they were shoving me out the door. I got home groggy as hell. I had surgery years ago and it wasn’t like that. They let me wake up and by the time I left I was fully awake. They actually woke me up this time. I felt like there was a sense of urgency to get me out of there. I was groggy enough to not be able to get to the van without a wheelchair, it wasn’t just a formality.

This whole thing has been really weird, rescheduled over and over. At one point, they shut down for a couple of months, I’m guessing part of March and April, and the first week of May. I didn’t want to have it now but they were so tough with the scheduling, it was now or god knows when.

At the surgery center, they started really pushing me giving a name of somebody to sit with me, but I wasn’t doing that. They called me the next day to make sure I was still alive, so there’s that. It’s like having surgery in wartime. I don’t recommend it unless you really have to, which I did. And if it was inpatient, I don’t think it would have been doable.

My doctor has been telling me the last couple months that they think the surgery center is safer than the hospital.

Anyway, I get the impression that unless I’m dying, stay away from there. It’s hard to stay away from everyone and recover on your own, but I get the impression lots of people absolutely can’t be made to be careful no matter what and you’re better off at home alone if you can be.

Don't hospitals demand that you have a person you know drive you home and put you to bed right out of surgery? They used to.

R385, they demand that you don’t have a cab take you home, but you can be taken by medical transport, which I was. I paid extra to be the only one in the van.

About having someone sit with you, it would have been really pointless, because unless you have a family member living in your home with you, you’re exposing yourself to somebody else’s germs with an open surgical wound, for no reason, if you don’t absolutely have to have someone there. If it was that bad, it wouldn’t be outpatient. It’s not they’re doing open heart surgery in there.

Anyway, I didn’t really start feeling bad until three days later, and they didn’t ask anyone to be there that long. My doctor gave very vague instructions about what I was supposed to eat post surgery. Basically, he wanted me to eat clear liquids and no dairy, hot or salty foods, but told me to eat canned soup, which makes no sense. Plain broth is about 70 calories a can, that’s not sustainable for a week when you’re trying to recover.

I ended up googling what other doctors recommend for the same surgery, and they were saying basically anything soft after one day. After three days, I was so weak I couldn’t walk, so I’m eating soft foods now and doing a lot better.

R386 Ensure makes a clear fruit flavored drink that worked really well for me after surgery and gave me a solid amount of energy.

It's not the most tasty thing ever but it's tolerable.

Amazon warehouse in NJ closed over asymptomatic COVID-19 cases

An Amazon warehouse in New Jersey has temporarily shut down after an increase in asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 among its workers, a new report said.

On Saturday, the company informed employees at a facility in Robbinsville Township that the location, known as PNE5, will be closed until Dec. 26, CNBC reported.

Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski confirmed the closure to the news outlet.

“Through our in-house COVID-19 testing program, we detected an increase in the number of asymptomatic positive cases at our PNE5 facility in northern New Jersey and have proactively closed the site until December 26th out of an abundance of caution,” Levandowski said.

“This is exactly why we built the program — to identify asymptomatic cases and ensure that we can take swift action to prevent spread.”

Employees at PNE5 will be paid for any shifts they miss due to the shut down, the report said. It’s unclear how many asymptomatic COVID-19 cases were detected at the facility.

Nypost hates Bezos.

I use a local bank, which conveniently has locations in our local grocers as well. Not only did they close down all in person locations for the time being, their ATM machines are running out of actual cash money to disperse. So not only can I not walk up to a teller and ask them to withdraw some cash from my account, their ATM machines aren't being replenished with it as well.

What are you using actual cash for now anyway R390? I've had the same $20 bills since February and finally stopped even putting them in my pocket when I go out. (I don't use a wallet...I have a card-holder thing for DL, debit card, credit card and cash just goes loose in the pocket but now I don't even bother with the cash).

R391, that's the thing. I almost always pay via debit/credit card. But when I actually tried to take some cash out for Christmas cards, I couldn't.

Three days before Christmas, my local Whole Foods was a mad house. If I survived the 30 minutes in there, it will be a miracle.

(At least eveyone had a mask on).

Assholes parking their cars on the yellow striped area next to the handicapped spots. I just saw a Cadillac parked like this today.

Most Weed Dispensaries in CA only take cash, so having some on hand is a necessity unless you want to use the grody ATM's inside the stores. Haven't had an issue getting cash in CA.

I need cash to buy weed gummies to help me sleep. All the dispensaries only accept cash or ATM cards with jacked up fees.

Fully stocked in the Denver metro area (I think the only thing out of stock are Clorox wipes)

I did an instacart order today. pretty large one (produce, meat and cheese aisles only) and hand to god, it was snatched up and Started to be shopped before I even refreshed the page after placing my order.

She had shopped the entire order in 20 minutes, got everything on my list, made 2 very sensible substitutions and was at my house an hour after I placed my order.

I gave her an enormous tip. I was so impressed. She even got the rutabagas

R398, good on you for giving her a good tip. I've been tempted to use Instacart these past couple days, but I also know how long the lines are in the stores to check out right now.

I always tip really well but, I got an unexpected Christmas bonus so I shared the joy.

Isn't the issue with cash and dispensaries because Banks cannot take deposits from them? I thought CA or at least LA County came up with a workaround for that.

I'm glad you're better, r386. I had the dreaded colonoscopy on the 10th, and luckily have one friend who could take me.

R398, Rutabagas?! What are you going to make with them?

I make a roasted root vegetable lasagne. I make a dozen + meatloaf pan sized lasagnes and freeze them. I use ALL the root vegetables (except celery root, i hate that)

Parsnips?

yup, beets, purple turnips, sweet potatoes and some acorn squash. chicken apple sausage, creme freche base

I know where you can get cleaning products, toilet paper, paper toweling, and stuff like coffee and sugar and snacks.....They never run out because most people don't think of them.

No. I'm not telling.

Just about every store has all those products, R407. It is not the great hoard of March-April now.

Well R407 thanks for telling us how juvenile you are. Fucking grow up.

Idiot is probably talking about the business/restaurant supply stores that we've been discussing since day one. Of course, he'll now deny it.

You wanna impress? Tell us where to find Lysol. Have not seen the stuff in the stores for a year.

R411 Several in Walmarts in CA are stocked with Lysol. Aisles of it.

R411 I did a quick Google search and found it in stock at these stores in SoCA: Target, CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot. It was out of stock at Walmart and Rite Aid. I didn't bother going to page 2 of the search results.

RescueChick @ r398, what do rutabagas taste like? How do they compare to turnips and potatoes? I'm working on a dietary change and need to expand my horizons. TIA.

Why would anyone pay for that Lysol shit? Jesus people are stupid.

R414, why WOULDN'T they pay for it? Are you saying it's not effective?

r416, I am not r414, but to me, it stinks and it gives me a headache.

r414, roasted they're not as sweet as turnips but are more flavorful than potatoes. I really like cabbage a lot and they have the faint flavor of fresh cabbage. They're one of my favorites but I am partial to root vegetables, really the only one I have ever had that I dislike is celery root.

Fox's Maria Bartiromo, avid Trumpster and frequent Miss Lindsey host, gets pranked.

Probably r407is talking about auto or office supply stores.

Has anyone been to one of the new Amazon Fresh grocery stores? One opened about a half hour away from me, and while I'm still not going into stores, I thought I'd try their curbside pickup. (Amazon Fresh delivery is still not available in my area, for some inexplicable reason.) I put an order in for tomorrow and we'll see how it goes. I basically took all of my usually Walmart pickup items and shopped them on Amazon instead. Prices were generally a bit higher, but lower on some things (butter, for example) and I do get 5% back on my Amazon credit card, which I don't get from Walmart (except if one of my cards is offering it as a temporary deal.)

R415, I was at Walmart this morning, and some lady in line in front of me was buying 10-12 cans of Lysol Spray Disinfectant. She probably cleared the shelf off into her cart.

Hoarding bullshit still going on.

R422, she should go to hell. I really HATE that bullshit.

R422 the store should have set limits.

Walmart is offering a Capital One card with 5% cashback on Walmart purchases to compete with the Amazon Chase deal. Beware, their signup routine uses a flaky phone app and if it can't scan your driver's license you have to jump through ridiculous hoops.

I can't imagine any scenario in which I would allow a Walmart-related app (or any app for that matter) to scan my fucking driver's license.

Since when was it okay for DLers to shop at Walmart?

Like I've said before, why not just use hydrogen peroxide and a sprayer instead of Lysol? I've used this for years and just don't like the smell of Lysol. You Lysol fans are funny.

Happy New Yeeah!

r425 I had a horrible experience applying for that credit card. I have outstanding credit, and already had another card with Capital One, plus I had over $200K in cash in their money market accounts. But I have my credit report access frozen because of identity theft issues, so when I apply for a card I have to unfreeze it so they can look at it. With every other issuer I've dealt with (AmEx, Citi, Chase, BofA), the process is simple and you can do it over the phone. But Capital One has NO WAY to contact them by phone OR online to accomplish this -- they just send you a rejection letter with no way to respond other than by snail mail --which I did twice, and still got the same form letter response. I was so pissed off that I closed my other Capital One credit card and took all of my money out of the money market accounts. I also wrote to Walmart to complain and suggested they find a better credit card issuer to partner with. (I pointed out that I can get 5% back at Target and Amazon, so if I have a choice, I'm going to shop there first.)

R428, as I've said before - you do you, and let everyone else do them. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing.

R430 Well point taken, Mr. Panties in a knot! It's just nice to have backup option, no? Whatever works is great. Lysol Lysol Lysol. Hope you find all you need. 😃

Isn't everything you own stained with little white spots if you keep spraying peroxide on it?

We all of you obsessed over Lysol before Covid?

I hope I never hear, nor read the word Lysol again after this pandemic subsides.

*Were

R429, not at all surprised. I rage-quit my application as well.

No matter how smoking hot their spokesperson is, I will not do business w/Capital One.

They ripped me off for exhorbitant fees back in the day. I wouldn't shit on one of their card applications now.

Capital One is probably the worst of the card companies. I went through a hard time and everyone worked with me except Capital One.

People who feel the need to comment on other's people use of products... repeatedly... are the funny ones!

Who here washes or wipes down their items before bringing them in for the store?

Just got back in from the grocery store where I watched someone pull down their mask and sneeze... of course they sneezed directly on to a bunch of items on the shelf, twice.

That's why I will go ahead and keep wiping my stuff down.

I don't wash them before I bring them in, but I do it carefully on one corner of the island, putting the wiped items down on the other side for several minutes, then cleaning that corner with disinfectant after.

Just got back from my first Amazon Fresh pickup and it went extremely well. They were at my car in less than 30 seconds after I notified them of my arrival. They had every single item I ordered and no substitutions. Everything was packed into paper bags and sealed shut with identifying labels. The cold items were packaged together, and the frozen items were packaged together. They used a lot of that silver metallic insulating stuff to wrap things with, which I appreciated since I had a 30-minute drive home, but it does seem wasteful.

My only hesitation about using them again is the long drive. On the other hand, my car wouldn't start today since I've only been using it every three or four days to pick up groceries at a Walmart that's only 10 minutes away. I'm wondering if the battery discharged because I haven't been driving it far enough for it to fully recharge. So today's round trip of about 55 miles might have helped with that.

I liked Amazon Fresh a lot in my previous city, where it was available. They seldom sold out of anything and I was able to get Lysol and wipes from them several times. Unfortunately, my new city is too small an area for them to be able to supply, I guess.

For those of you that use Amazon Fresh have you had problems with items that have an expiration date? I see they carry my Ripple vegan milk, which I usually buy 4-6 at a time, and worry they might give me 6 of them with only two weeks before they expire. I get Ripple at Target and buy that amount so I don't have to keep going to the store.

[quote]Who here washes or wipes down their items before bringing them in for the store?

(raises hand) Yeah. Dishwasher liquid and a sponge, a good rinse and dry.

Worth the peace of mind. Those groceries have been through so many hands on their way to the store.

145 Costco employees test positive for Covid-19 in Washington state

From CNN's Kay Jones and Chuck Johnston

A Covid-19 outbreak has been confirmed at a Costco store in Washington state.

According to a news release from the Yakima Health District, 145 Costco employees have tested positive for Covid-19. Employees who have tested positive have completed their quarantine or isolation period, the release said.

“As Costco continues its site wide testing, we anticipate the number of cases to continue to go up over the next few days as results are received," Melissa Sixberry, director of Disease Control 3 at Yakima Health, said in the release.

The release said that based on the number of cases and timeline, the evidence shows that the increase in cases "mimics the type of activity that happens after some sort of superspreader event."

"Costco will continue to provide on-going site-wide testing for their employees moving forward to monitor the outbreak," the release said.

The Yakima Health District said it has not recommended closure for any business in the area, including Costco, due to the Covid-19 infections.

Costco has required face coverings for all members, guests and employees other than those with medical conditions since May. According to a letter from their CEO, the policy was updated in November to require face coverings for anyone in the store over the age of 2.

"Our goal is to continue to provide a safe shopping environment for our members and guests, and to provide a safe work environment for our employees," Costco CEO Craig Jelinek said in a letter posted on the company's website.

r443 r444 To clarify -- I have never used Amazon Fresh for delivery because it's not available in my area. This was at one of their new grocery stores. (Which are supposed to be really cool inside--automated shopping carts, etc. I hope I get to go into one some time!)

I didn't know they had stand alone grocery stores R447.

I wonder if the Costco employees eat together in a break or lunch room. If they keep their masks on the entire work day how else would it spread like that?

probably the restroom.

But both sexes got it. They wouldn't be together without masks in the bathroom. The only place they would be maskless is when they are eating and of course they will be talking which causes more breathing on each other. It's the reason indoor dining spreads the virus so much. I read that half of Covid cases were found to have eaten at indoor restaurants within 2 weeks of coming down with Covid.

Always wipe down your shopping carts with disinfectant!

There can be things out there even worse than Covid.

A Karen's white privilege is triggered yet again

I went to Sam's Club with my best friend yesterday. At least a third of the shoppers were maskless, including a lesbian couple in the line in front of us. Once they were gone, I remarked to our cashier, "well, somebody's making a political statement." My assumption that the cashier would sympathize was poorly placed, for she replied, "𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 is making a political statement" (by which she meant that those who were wearing masks were doing it as a political statement). "Not me," I retorted, "I simply don't want to catch Covid." She went on to remark that she was only wearing a mask because her job made her do it. She was a Trumpee, possibly even QAnon.

On the way home, my best friend told me that she had cracked, "I don't like socialism," which was something I hadn't heard her say. He'd responded with "who does?" in an effort to de-escalate what seemed to be growing into a tense exchange. It's lucky I hadn't heard her, or I'd have come back with, "really? So I guess you refused those two stimulus checks, huh? That was socialism."

Like most on the right, she probably thinks socialism is where Joe Biden hands the county over to China, whereupon they will force her to cook and eat her dog (thanks to another DLer for that one; I didn't make it up myself). I don't believe she has any idea what socialism is.

R453, she's Cindy Dicorrado, 61. Here's her mugshot.

I was in the downtown area of manhattan a few days ago and I saw many places selling Lysol Disinfectant Spray, $13-16 for 1 big can.

A rip off

Sam's Club sells a four pack of Lysol spray for around $17.00, It's hit or miss tho.

458 here, it is now 3 cans for 13 something.

Iowa woman spits, bites customers for criticizing her about mask: cops

An Iowa woman allegedly spat on two other customers at a convenience store after they criticized her for not wearing a face mask, authorities said.

Evelyn Chinchilla, 30, was at a Walgreens in Coralville at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 when she heard two people commenting about her not wearing a mask, a criminal complaint obtained by KCRG states.

An angry Chinchilla then attacked the customers and all three fell to the ground, the complaint says.

Chinchilla ripped a chunk of hair from one of the victims and bit the other, the complaint alleges.

She has been charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury.

Chinchilla, ha! Bitch lives up to her unfortunate surname.

Somebody should rip a chunk of hair from her cunt :-)

I stocked up so well a few months ago, all I have to do now is replace what I use month to month. I have Lysol, Clorox, And lots of Anti Bacterial dishwashing soap. When I go to the store it's for produce eggs and milk. And I get fish from WHole Foods & chicken from a local butcher shop. I have a lot f dry beans too. A lot. LOL!

I went to the store today (Walmart) and they were fully stocked with an entire aisle of Lysol (four shelves of it) and wipes. No limits.

R464, I think people have given up. I know I have. What's the fucking point anymore?

I detest grocery shopping nowadays. The deliberate spreaders are abundant.

I know that this is nothing about shopping, but I have to vent-I had to travel to Atlanta for work on Sunday and was a appalled that people can eat and drink anywhere in the airport (I had people eating all around me), as well as inside the airplane- WTF??!! Then I had to spend a night at a Courtyard Marriott (my AirBnB wasn't ready) and they don't have room service. So I went downstairs to the "Bistro" to order breakfast take out. The guy preparing all the food and drinks was wearing his mask under his chin the whole time (backed away and ended up eating a snack bar that I had brought with me until restaurants were open for lunch delivery because I'm in a semi-quarantine). Mentioned to a co-worker (who was there 2 weeks before I was) about it, and he said, "Oh yeah that guy- I call him "Chin Strap". Again, WTF?

R467 you need to call the manager of that Courtyard and complain, and then put your complaint on line too. Corporate looks at the complaints. Look. Not sure where you were located, but I live in ATL and from personal experience, I can tell you that the local restaurants, even Mac Donald's are super serious about masks and safety. You should have gone to Mickey D's and got a bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Our local businesses are careful because they want to stay in business and not catch hell from the health department. Atlanta's mayor is way more tough than the asshole governor who was up Trump's ass until he wasn't.

R467, put your complaint on Yelp. A lot of people read Yelp and it’s very damaging. A lot of times, the business you’re complaining about will try to compensate you to shut you up. People will avoid going there if they hear about that guy. I would.

I got my last doctor from Yelp. I had a really bad experience with another doctor and I went on Yelp and the reviews for him were terrible. Everything bad that was said about him was exactly my experience too. They’re pretty accurate. The new guy had glowing reviews, and going to him has been a much better experience.

Thank you for the advice. It was the Courtyard Marriot in Decatur. I didn't want to say anything at the time, because there was a table of good ol' boys chomping away and 2 people ahead of me. I will file a complaint.

R467 I was going to say... you were in GA, good luck with that. Sounds like R468 has different experiences living there but I have a lot of family and friends who live in GA and none of them take Covid seriously. I'm actually appalled at the way they behave.

There was some jackass Q-Anon loon trolling around our grocery store today proudly sporting his "thin blue line" hoodie, sunglasses, a black mask, and a ballcap. This was just as the memorial for Officer Brian Sicknick was going on live as we left the house. I was with my father, a veteran, and made a crack about him out loud for doing so and apparently overheard me. Dipshit trailed behind us all the way up to the register trying to think he was intimidating us. These people are really sore losers and need to get help fast.

I had a MAGA bitch (customer) walk by me and hiss because I was wearing a face shield & mask. This was a couple of months ago in the local Walmart, and at 7am. I didn't verbally respond to the bitch; got my printer ink and left after waiting 1/2 hour for a clerk to unpack it. I try to avoid Walmart. I would have had to drive another 15 miles for ink otherwise.

That same Walmart had a major breakout of Covid recently and had to shut down several days for cleansing/treatment. Many of their employees were infected.

[quote]I had a MAGA bitch (customer) walk by me and hiss because I was wearing a face shield & mask.

Are you sure it wasn't just an eldergay?

r473 Don't they have curbside pickup or delivery?

Why would anyone buy lysol!?!?!????

Lysol disinfectant aerosol spray can kill covid.

I was in home depot and they had their own brand (hdx) of the same thing. I bought 2 ( the max for 1 person) and went home to check and it was on the govt's website where they list the products that can kill the virus. It was about 5 bucks.

R473, Walmart near me opens at 6am for people over 60 and people with medical conditions on Tuesday only. Check it out. It’s only posted on the store door, it’s not online on their website. A lot of other supermarkets are doing that one day a week too, but they don’t advertise it. It’s on the door. Walmart’s pharmacy also opens early on Tuesday and they have pharmacy pick up at my store too. They have a couple of parking spaces for pharmacy pick up near the closest door to the pharmacy. You can order online for regular non-pharmacy stuff and they will put it in your car at the regular pick up parking.

Recently, I’ve just been having all my prescriptions delivered to my car. It’s not worth going in there unless it’s really early. Even at 7 am there’s a lot of people now. If you don’t know what their senior hours are, call.

My Walmart has senior hours for curbside pickup from 7-8 AM every day. I'm going tomorrow. Even at 7AM the parking lot is really full, but there are usually only one or two other people doing pickup.

Screw the senior hours. Anyone can go shop at anytime. Just say you have a pre existing condition if they ask you, which they won’t. They want your dollars. They could give a fuck about who’s shopping when.

I’ve been going to Sprouts lately, they are a much smaller store and they are a lot less crowded. They don’t have everything, but they’re really good about mask wearing and they open at 7:00 am. They’re really clean too. They have high quality stuff and it’s not cheap, it’s organic or health food stuff or whatever.

Sam’s Club opens an hour earlier for Premier members. My local Costco opens an hour earlier for seniors, but they don’t advertise it anywhere. Some of these places, you can only find out the early hours by calling or looking at the door sign.

Over 6000 posts about Lysol and toilet paper in just 11 months. That is QUITE impressive, one way or another.

I still have about 6000 rolls of TP in my basement. I’m set for now.

My Wegmans delivery today substituted Vanilla-Flavored Coffee Creamer for my requested Unflavored Almond Milk. At two dollars more.

Yep, got the refund.

I'm going shopping tonight after work. There is really nothing different now about the experience compared to pre-pandemic times except everyone wears masks. I have always done my shopping at night when there are no crowds and do self checkout.

Ugh! Went shopping last night at 8:45. Store closes at 9. They had everything I wanted but I got stuck behind the asshole who insisted on talking on his phone while slowly loading his shit onto the belt, stopping to make his point during the convo on his phone. Only 1 lane open and the 4 people behind me were all frustrated. Great time to shop except for the asshole who held up the line and then questioned why he was charged 10 cents per paper bag. Store policy. Bring your own bags or get charged. I did stock up on wipes though. No limit and tons in stock.

Ugh! Vanilla flavored coffee creamer?? really?? You drink almond milk, which is healthy, but you use vanilla flavored creamer? You're drinking chemicals. Gross.

^^ read it again toots.

I was in the supermarket this afternoon and there was this very obese, bearded, older man (65+) with no mask. Saw another two maskless. This one heavy female employee was working and always is wearing her mask below the nose. Customers are still bringing their kids inside.

This is South Carolina and they don't enforce anything, including disability parking.

too bad covid takes out the obese.

I’m disabled and can’t wear a mask. But you sure aren’t disabled when it comes to reaching for those chocolate chip cookies! Selective disability.

R487, The coffee creamer was the wrong item from delivery.

I don't even drink coffee.

Why on earth do Target's self checkout stations require employee assistance if you want to pay in cash? I went there just to get one thing, a pack of razor cartridges, and had to wait several minutes for an employee to *manually* process my cash at a *self checkout* station.

I've never had the problem R493. As a matter of fact I paid with cash at target this evening and didn't need assistance.

R494 The one I went to requires an employee to come over and manually enter in a code to open a register drawer beneath the self checkout station to take my cash and hand me back my change. You cant just insert your money into the machine and get your change back, it's so weird. Good to hear that this is not at all Targets.

You shop at Targets? Oh my!

There is no "registry drawer" at self checkout R495. You insert change first into a slot and then bills into another slot. Also at my Target, unless they are busy with another customer, they are there to help you within seconds.

R497, yes there is at the Boardman Ohio location. Don't believe me, travel out here and witness it for yourself.

Take potos of your "registry drawer" R498 and post them here.

You queens are arguing about shopping at Target? Really?? Target??

"Boardman, Ohio" was all you needed to say.

New standards will take the guesswork out of choosing the most effective face masks

From CNN's Keri Enriquez

Americans may soon be able to choose between two clearly labeled levels of face mask protection while browsing store shelves.

The new national mask standard outlines minimum fit, design, performance and testing requirements for face masks and would require user instructions, package labeling and a permanent tag on the product.

ASTM International -- an international standards organization -- spent seven months conducting expedited testing and review and published its guidance on Tuesday. Experts and industry leaders say the new "Standard Specification for Barrier Face Coverings" has the potential to transform the quality of masks available for personal protection in the American marketplace.

Until this point, there were no standards even though masks are highly recommended by US health officials to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Ack! Now I received my milk order, but the store (Wegmans) was devoid of all cornflakes! Refund only!

I should just go shopping myself.

I got my second vaccine last week, so maybe I'll finally venture out and go into a store for the first time in almost a year. (And get my hair cut, too.)

It take a few weeks after your vaccination to be fully protected R504 and that is why they are telling people to keep using their mask.

r505 Yes, I'm going to wait two weeks, and I will continue to mask up.

I placed an order at Walmart today in Plano, TX. Much of what I wanted was out of stock (eggs, butter), and I couldn't get a pickup appointment until Wednesday.

R507 Call Ted Cruz. He’ll help u. He’s sympathetic.

Our call would be less than civil, R508.

McCunty is delusional. Over worked, my ass! What a cunt. I’m glad she’s DEAD! Buh bye dear!

I've been wanting to try Aldi's for a while - there are two in my borough but I have no car. The one listed on Instacart has "17 miles" in the icon when I open the app. I contacted Instacart and asked if I place an order, will the shopper be coming from 17 miles away instead of the 2-3 miles of the stores in my area? The answer was yes.

I still want to try Aldi's but it feels wrong to order from a store that is so far away. I just find it wasteful for the shopper to burn gas and the travel time, but the other half of me thinks "just don't worry about it". What say you, fellow shoppers?

I noticed that when I go into Aldi's website, I can choose between pickup and delivery. If I choose pickup, they show the nearest store is like 20 miles away (which is inaccurate, unless you go by how the crow flies.) But there are two stores within five miles that do delivery. For some reason, all the deliveries come from the one that's a bit farther away.

Unless you're in Texas, shopping for groceries really shouldn't be hell anymore.

I don't think there are any more shortages of anything, not in my area (NYC). Everything is available, even the Lysol spray, wipes etc.

Shoprite circulars in NY still do not have the pages and pages of cleaning and paper products advertised the way they used to and the shelves are sparse for those products.

Nothing is out of stock at Costco. Tons of shit paper, wipes, meat.

I cannot believe this, I just got back from the grocery store - they had Purell!

All right, I'll say it ... I hate Albertsons and it's too expensive to shop there!

I only shop Albertsons when necessary. I prefer Stater Bros. and Albertsons is one of the stores that have done shitty, awful things to workers.

I'm boycotting Ralph's and Food4Less - fuck Kroger, they are awful.

yes, I've also seen Purell in nyc but not cheap!

Walmart is now carrying Lysol spray, cleaner, and wipes.

Bleach and water is all you need to clean. Stop buying that over priced lysol shit you morons.

I was in the Brooklyn, Ave. I, Shoprite this past Saturday and they were filled up on everything, almost back to normal. There were plenty of Bounty paper towels and Charmin toilet paper and other brands they had napkins, paper plates, soda, every kind of meat, fish and poultry. I even saw bottles of 70% isopropyl alcohol and Lysol wipes. I had not been there in almost 6 months and the last time they were out of everything. They delivered right to my door and helped me get everything inside. Last time the delivery guy just left everything on the floor by my elevator, I mean like threw it there. Stuff was all over the hallway floor. I called to complain, maybe that helped. Who knows.

They even had full shelves of Easter and Passover stuff. I was able to get my once a year favorites, Easter black jelly beans and those cans of Passover macaroons. I also got my favorite SR organic Valencia peanut butter which they didn't have 6 months ago and I found this really good bread, Dave's Killer organic rye bread with 5 fiber per slice, which is a lot for a slice of bread. I was ready to take any old rye (I like peanut butter on rye, not white, when I saw this bread and it's delicious.

I got some really great pork riblettes too. I have having to cut up an entire rack of raw ribs or after they're cooked, so messy.

What a difference a few months make. If not for everyone, including me, wearing masks I would have thought it was pre Covid.

I didn't want to start a new thread for this but: can anyone tell me where or what masks to get?

I know there still aren't many N95 masks, but we're being told to wear a disposable mask under a cloth one....which ones?

What did I miss? Why are we panic hoarding again?

r524, I have been using kf94 masks and quite like them. I got them on ebay but they're available everywhere online. I am still using filters regardless of which mask I use.

You can find N95 masks on Amazon now.

R523, be sure to refrigerate the David's Killer bread once opened. It goes bad pretty quickly. Take it from someone who learned that lesson the hard way.

Thanks R527. Just ordered a box of 30.

Thanks R527 I will look. I just didn't want to get screwed with some kind of bad quality thing or a fake, which was what was selling online some months back.

Most people are using the KN95 masks, which are readily available.

I emerged from my year-long isolation to finally go to the grocery store for the first time since March of 2020. Hit Aldi and Trader Joe's. Aldi was crowded, and they had a big line to check out, but everyone socially distanced and it went fast. Trader Joe's had a short line to get INTO the store, and it was very crowded, even with them monitoring entrances and exits. But both places were well-stocked. It was fun seeing all the new items at both stores.

Once I get my jabs I will go to TJ's. It will probably be my very first stop.

Ortega taco sauce is sold out here, been waiting weeks for it.

Strangely, I have found that a lot of types of diet soda have been unavailable. Everything else is fine.

there are fake N95 masks, they busted a huge operation just a couple of weeks ago, they were the fake 3M green N95 masks.

I wouldn't buy anything from Amazon. could be fake. not gonna chance it with masks.--------------

Millions of counterfeit N95 masks distributed to health care workers in the U.S.

By Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News and Eli Cahan

Thousands of counterfeit 3M respirators have slipped past U.S. investigators in recent months, making it to the cheeks and chins of health care workers and perplexing experts who say they're not vastly inferior to the real thing.

N95 masks are prized for their ability to filter out 95 percent of the minuscule particles that can carry the coronavirus. Yet the fakes pouring into the country have fooled health care leaders from coast to coast. As many as 1.9 million counterfeit 3M masks made their way to about 40 hospitals in Washington state, according to the state hospital association, spurring officials to alert staff members and pull the masks off the shelf. The elite Cleveland Clinic recently acknowledged that, since November, it had inadvertently distributed 3M counterfeits to hospital staffers. A Minnesota hospital made a similar admission.

Nurses at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey, have been highly suspicious since November that the misshapen and odd-smelling "3M" masks they were given are knockoffs, their concerns fueled because mask lot numbers match those the company listed online as possible fakes.

"People have been terrified for the last 2½ months," said Daniel Hayes, a nurse and union vice president at the hospital. "They felt like they were taking their lives in their hands, and they don't have anything else to wear."

According to 3M, the leading U.S. producer of N95s, more than 10 million counterfeits have been seized since the pandemic began, and the company has fielded 10,500 queries about the authenticity of N95s. The company said in a Jan. 20 letter that its work in recent months led to the seizure of fake 3M masks "sold or offered to government agencies" in at least six states. After Kaiser Health News sent photos of the masks the New Jersey nurses had questioned, a 3M spokesperson referred to them as "the counterfeits you identified."

I just F-bombed the hell out of a family at Wal-Mart the other day. Wife was wearing a mask, husband and kids, nothing at all. I just lost my mother last month due to cancer, and couldn't visit her for weeks before she passed because only one person was allowed to see her at a time due to COVID. Hey, if stores aren't going to deal with these covidiots and escort them out of the store for doing that shit, then it's free game for me to berate them to their faces.

Supermarkets have been good by me for a while. I can get pretty much what I want...customers are wearing their masks....no lines. You can buy TP and other items that were scarce a year ago. Shopping isn't a hassle anymore. Now you have to worry about the shooters. Kidding...sort of.

R537 if you go to the person up front tallying the door count and tell them that a group w/o masks is walking around they will walkie talkie to folks inside to confront them, don’t do it yourself you don’t know which of these aholes might hurt you. I have done this a few times in my Walmart.

Shopping for groceries on Friday was hell. Long queues. The store was full of peoole. Lots of people shopping before traveling to their mountain cabins for Easter. Most people take this week off from work because of Easter.

Smart R539. You don't know who you're dealing with. Too many nuts..don't put yourself in a precarious or dangerous situation.

Well wouldn’t the person tallying the count have noticed people not wearing masks? Or can’t they do 2 things at once? Tally and observe.

Some people wear a mask at the door and take them off once they're in the store. While standing in line at the pharmacy the other day, I saw a geezer using the blood-pressure machine with his mask hanging out of his back pocket.

the other day they said there would be another shortage of toilet paper because of the cargo ship stuck in the Suez canal. I don't know if that is still true because ship is now free but there may be a temporary one.

After last week's shooting, I felt so relieved when I went shopping earlier today to see a no firearms sign posted at the front door.

I have plenty of shit paper stocked up! Want some, bitches?

Gun free zones are always reassuring. Like a deranged shooter would listen.

Of course, R547.

I'm r539 these cunts wear the mask in, then pull it down once past the courtesy desk as a ha ha fooled you thing. The past few times I went back to the tally person, the people have been confronted in the store within 5 minutes, there is something they say on the intercom and store personnel swoops in. Sometimes these aholes comply immediately, but I have seen some escorted out too.

Don't want to get shot but fuck these bitches, let walmart give them the boot!

Tons of people around me enter a store and then immediately pull them off once they're in. Also no use in letting any employees know because they don't want to bother confronting them. I actually don't blame store staff because they don't get paid enough to deal with that shit.

If I recall correctly, early on during the pandemic, wasn't a security guard shot and killed over asking someone to wear a mask?

R549 here I'm in CT, big Box store security gets involved here, what state are you in r550 where they don't care about unmasked folks in their stores?

Don't confront people right now. We are all on edge.

I use Amazon Fresh and they haven't had regular milk available for the past 2 days. MILK!?! a basic necessity. WTF?

Milk is not a necessity when you are an adult R553.

Why buy milk when you can get the cow for free?