Barren shelves at the Sam’s Club in Lewisville on Wednesday may have had echoes of supply shortages during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But this time, any shortages of paper towels or toilet paper are solely the result of panic-buying and hoarding, not any actual supply shortage.
About 45,000 International Longshoremen’s Association union workers went on strike on Tuesday, shutting down 36 ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Many American consumers, afraid that the strike would affect supply chain issues, immediately began unnecessarily stocking up on toilet paper, causing some stores to run out.
More than 90% of toilet paper sold in the U.S. is made in the U.S., and the rest comes from Canada and Mexico by rail or truck, not ship, so the supply will not be affected by the strike, only by panic-buyers.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Kroger in Bartonville and the CVS in Argyle had plenty of toilet paper and paper towels on the shelves. The Target in Flower Mound was low, but not out, of them. The Costco and Sam’s Club stores in Lewisville were completely out of both.
According to KHOU, consumers will likely not see a real impact of the strike right away, but some goods like bananas and imported alcohol, candy and meats could be affected.
Another thing that could help consumers breathe a sigh of relief is to know that most retailers already made contingency plans for issues that could be caused by the strike. H-E-B said it does “not anticipate any customer impact from the port strike at this time.”
— H-E-B Newsroom (@HEBNewsroom) October 1, 2024
