I’ve been wondering the last few days, that I’ve seen very few trucks on the road, and the supermarket rdcs seem very quiet. Only two trucks tipping ambient in Morrisons, and Iceland really quiet (and quick… 
) too. Noticed one brewery,'s DC really quiet, and most of their trucks parked up, but another brewery had the usual queue waiting to get in.
Tonight, my local LIDL had very empty shelfs and freezers.
Anybody else noticing a downturn in food related traffic?
The thing I have noticed is no offers & little of own brand stuff in like of Tesco so essential shopping costing more
But shelves are generally fine not had a problem getting anything
Was in Morrisons Bellshill last week…
Went for a ‘free’ coffee out the machines and managed to sneak a look into the warehouse…
It was BARE!!! 
Very little in the racking, and like you said, many of their trucks parked up…?
So, maybe they can’t deliver that’s not arrived?
And so is what does arrive, is it having to be spread out between all their shops, making the shelves look bare?
That’s what I’ve been saying from the start.Nothing to do with panic buying the shelves aren’t being refilled.It has all the signs of a country that has surrendered in a wartime situation.Supplies being diverted to the ‘victor’. 
I was at Tesco Goole yesterday, it was as busy as normal for a Bank Holiday Monday. Also at Aldi Tamworth again the Warehouse seemed fairly rammed.
Mrs went out and done a shop at our local Morrisons yesterday and said it was very organised regarding 1 in 1 out and social distancing and everything she wanted to she managed to get - she even got a couple of bottles of hand sanitizer! I have also been into a couple of little Tescos over the weekend and not noticed any lack of stock.
I don’t know if it’s a regional thing or you are missing something
Been doing the shopping for the last three weeks without the Wife as she is isolated. First week not much on the shelves or in the freezers week two improved tremendously week three I got almost everything only a couple of items that was not available. Apart from the 2mtr distancing gloves and masks everything was OK out and back and put away in hour and half. My Daughter works in Aldi HQ Atherstone and she has said theres not many shortages now the “idiots” have stopped panic buying.
Yeah same, I do the shopping while she stays at home with the kid, first week wasn’t great in terms of stuff but since then no issues at all. I might have had to get a different shape of pasta but hardly a catastrophe.
Judging by the sheer number of Spanish & EE fridges heading north on the M2/M25/M11 yesterday from Dover, I wouldn’t worry too much… 
Each week I go shopping there is more stuff on the shelves, less gaps, this week there was toilet roll and pasta for the first time in ages and I got everything on my list.
I’m on Tesco ambient now , so give it
A day or two & I’ll have the shelf’s fully
Stacked
No hang on , took off that & now on
Walkers crisps , what flavour crisps do
You want on your shelf’s ?
I will say that I have not had any problems getting the shopping I need either, yesterday in my local LIDL may have just been an understaffing issue.
The empty flour shelves…
Are a result of two things. The majority of british milled flour goes to the bakeries for bread and other products. As we know it is bulk loaded and then blown into storage on site. There is still bagged flour (25kg) but it’s much less when used for commercial purposes. The bagged flour we see on the shelves is a much more difficult product to package and the flour millers are struggling to upscale the smaller packaging the we demand.
Secondly, the demand for flour has been driven by ‘let’s bake cakes with mum during lockdown’.
The only thing that is still lacking in my Co-oP is pasta, Ibruprofen and hand sanitizer. There are no empty shelves for anything else.
Misery loves company…but sorry or rather glad to say my weekly shopping trip to Morrisons n Lidl goes smooth n easy
yourhavingalarf:
The empty flour shelves…Are a result of two things. The majority of british milled flour goes to the bakeries for bread and other products. As we know it is bulk loaded and then blown into storage on site. There is still bagged flour (25kg) but it’s much less when used for commercial purposes. The bagged flour we see on the shelves is a much more difficult product to package and the flour millers are struggling to upscale the smaller packaging the we demand.
Secondly, the demand for flour has been driven by ‘let’s bake cakes with mum during lockdown’.
The only thing that is still lacking in my Co-oP is pasta, Ibruprofen and hand sanitizer. There are no empty shelves for anything else.
Couple of weeks ago there was an egg farmer talking on R4. He produced eggs for McD. They no longer need those eggs bit he was having trouble sourcing retail packaging. Also all supermarkets depend on bar codes for stock controls pricing and date/safety tracking.
As you say it ain’t simple even when the stuff is there.
Most of the supermarkets are reducing the range they sell for now so empty warehouse could simply be the result of that. Certain items go on certain shelves and if they aren’t buying them in, the warehouse shelf is empty.
Aldi are likely more flexible than some of the others.
Biggest problem round here (Nottinghamshire) is milk for some reason. Oddly the farmers were complaining of a downturn but its not in the shops, so god knows where thats going wrong.
Bank holidays are also likely to affect trucks going in. Got to pay more money, so many suppliers will simply skip the booking until Tuesday when its much cheaper to deliver. Sane with supermarket deliveries.
trevHCS:
Most of the supermarkets are reducing the range they sell for now so empty warehouse could simply be the result of that. Certain items go on certain shelves and if they aren’t buying them in, the warehouse shelf is empty.Aldi are likely more flexible than some of the others.
Biggest problem round here (Nottinghamshire) is milk for some reason. Oddly the farmers were complaining of a downturn but its not in the shops, so god knows where thats going wrong.
Bank holidays are also likely to affect trucks going in. Got to pay more money, so many suppliers will simply skip the booking until Tuesday when its much cheaper to deliver. Sane with supermarket deliveries.
Milk is i believe the same in the sense that millions of pints are getting tipped because its normally used in coffee shops etc but the excess is unable to be repackaged into retail packaging.
The cows don’t get turned off (unless I’ve been fiddling with them) for anything.
Re: flour
From past experience Morrison’s & Asda take the majority of bagged flour for their in store bakeries, and the majority of it is in 16kg bags (65x16kg per pallet/tonne) with 24/26 pallets per load, each of their RDC’s will take several loads per day and distribute it through their own network. Small - Medium sized local/regional bakeries take various flour products (gluten, bran, seed mixes, wholemeal, granary etc) in 16kg and 25kg bags with the majority in 16kgs, these will take 1-3 deliveries per week of around 3-10 plts each time.
The regional Hovis bakeries take the majority of theirs (white/granary) in bulk form, with deliveries of the specialty ingredients (above) in bagged, likewise cake makers such as Mr Kipling (Manor Bakeries) take theirs in bulk and bagged for special ingredients.
Smaller family bakers and pie makers have their mixed ingredients in 16kg/25kg bags, most of which is handball, I was only given a drivers mate if handball at a delivery site exceeded 3T, and then not always. Running up 2-3 flights of stairs with 2-3 16’s on your shoulder repeatedly kept you fit
Only thing I struggle with getting is eggs. None in my local shop or the big Tescos this morning.
My understanding of the problem is that supermarkets gear up for Xmas four months in advance. We had Xmas and Xmas plus on some items, so the whole sums chain is knackered.
albion:
Only thing I struggle with getting is eggs. None in my local shop or the big Tescos this morning.My understanding of the problem is that supermarkets gear up for Xmas four months in advance. We had Xmas and Xmas plus on some items, so the whole sums chain is knackered.
The farmer who has millions(?) of spare eggs would have been o “Farming Today” BBC R4 weds morning 25th March.
Maybe he’s a neighbour?
.
Ginger…in the Oldies section COVID thread has a lot of info on the supply side of things too.
Haven’t struggled to get anything really.
Can’t understand the queuing and buggered if i’m queuing up to give someone my money no matter what this isn’t the USSR circa 1971, just what is it with people who must shop when everyone else is, been to Morrisons 3 times since this kicked off afternoons or early evening, no queues outside, sensible shopping in the store might have to wait 2 minutes for a till, everything we’ve needed has been available, not buying bog rolls for the sake of it.