Weird Supply Chain Shortages

In today's episode of stores being out of certain things we have the latest local shortage to report:

Distilled Water.

Yep, distilled water was nowhere to be found within quite a radius as Kroger, CVS, etc were all out if it.

Had my Dad over for the weekend and he needs distilled water for his CPAP machine and none was to be found.  Fortunately we had a reserve supply and he had some with him so it all worked out but I've never seen the shelves completely bare of distilled water.  Other water was there and in plenty so it wasn't some weird panic buy - just a nice local shortage and a need to lower expectations or something.

A good visit was had, and he's off to his warm location for the winter.

Even More Automotive Supply Chain Woes

Now supply shortages of chips are seriously affecting GM, leading to idled plants.

The Detroit Free Press: GM to halt production at nearly all North America assembly plants due to new chip problem

This is a very big deal and it's a sign things are not getting better in the automotive industry.

Shutting down production will cost GM lots of money each and every day these plants are shut down.

Don't expect either the new nor the used the car market to stabilize anytime soon.

Well, That's Is Some Spendy 9!

Went to a local gun shop, not "my" local gun shop mind you, as this one is rather out of the way typically for me, charges a transfer fee over twice that which my local gun shop charges, is known for high prices and so-so service even in normal times. 

But figured I'd look inside anyways on my lunch break.

Well, it was hopping.

New Glocks were being priced at around $799, with a few used ones in the high fives.  One Glock 19 Gen 5 and One G17 and a G43 and that was it. Other firearms were similarly on the high end of the cost index and nothing even getting down to MSRP.

Ammo, however, was where the mark-ups really got crazy.

They had 50 round boxes of 9mm fmj for $40 a box, limit 2, and 100 round boxes of Winchester White Box for $80 - limit 1.  That's $800/per thousand rounds - for WWB.  Most LGS shops by comparison have it in the $19-$24 range per box of 50.

That is the highest I've seen locally so far.  Only Cheaper Than Dirt beats that with their "we're lower than dirt" price of $59.89 for a box of 50. 

There's a lot of new gun owners out there who have no idea what normal prices for ammunition are like when we're not in the middle of both an ongoing civil disorder scenario and an election year with a candidate running on a campaign of banning guns. 

So, they're happily paying that.  Ouch.