Grocery Shopping

[+ Charlie]

Amazing! Can you imagine this thread three months ago?

No. Would you even have made your annual trek to Palm Springs if you had imagined it?

[samhexum]

Stopped by my local Key Food today - they are the closest grocery store. Still no flour, eggs or cleaning supplies available. They did have beer - bingo! ?

Where is your Key food, and have you found they have raised their prices ?? I've mentioned in diff posts my experience there, and them telling me "its supply and demand"..... Just wondering your experience with Key ?

My local store is in West Harlem. There are some items I have stopped buying; too expensive. Will stock up again when sanity returns.

 

A Jackson Heights supermarket — the Key Food located at 86-02 Northern Blvd. — received 29 violations for illegally inflating the prices for bleach and disinfectant wipes. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection seeks to fine the business up to $14,500.

 

The Key Food supermarket at 86-02 Northern Blvd

Edited April 29, 2020 by samhexum

[+ newatthis]

And I don't even know anyone anywhere who is ill! Which seems inconceivable.

Not even secondhand? I'm amazed. My community probably has a lower median age than yours, and by now I know (or know of) quite a few people who've had it. In all cases I found out indirectly, including my next-door neighbors. I suspected something was wrong when their newspapers started accumulating and they didn't even bring them in from the front porch where I had moved them. They were never hospitalized and took about 2 weeks to recover (one of them actually got "better" and then relapsed). Their description of how sick they felt reinforced my determination to avoid catching it.

[+ Pensant]

Not even secondhand? I'm amazed. My community probably has a lower median age than yours, and by now I know (or know of) quite a few people who've had it. In all cases I found out indirectly, including my next-door neighbors. I suspected something was wrong when their newspapers started accumulating and they didn't even bring them in from the front porch where I had moved them. They were never hospitalized and took about 2 weeks to recover (one of them actually got "better" and then relapsed). Their description of how sick they felt reinforced my determination to avoid catching it.

Now that you mention it, I, too, don’t know anyone who’s contracted it.

[Todd Jenkins]

Now that you mention it, I, too, don’t know anyone who’s contracted it.

 

2 family members of mine – cousins – had it. One almost died (but she is morbidly obese) and the other (skinny as can be) recovered pretty well but still had to have oxygen when he came home from the hospital.

 

2 friends of mine – a married couple – had it and were hospitalized but are now home and recovering.

 

I KNOW THIS IS MORE THAN THE NORMAL FLU, and I KNOW it's easier to catch, but I think the media has over-sensationalized this to an INCREDIBLE amount, instilling fear into all of us which has crippled our world. I predict more people will DIE because of stress, depression and more than the virus.

 

It is VERY CLEAR that most who get this show very little symptoms, get slightly sick and fully recover.

[handiacefailure]

Now that you mention it, I, too, don’t know anyone who’s contracted it.

 

At my church's vestry zoom meeting last month our priest had lost a husband of a good friend of her and her wife's to Corona over the weekend and she said she is sure that everyone will know someone that died from it before it's over, I sure hope she's wrong.

 

I"m sure we all know people that have it and are just asymptomatic. I know two people just casually that have died here from it from work and both were ironically big time Trump supporters. The one was the head of our republican headquarters and the other one was George Voinovich's aid in our local office.

 

No one close to me has died from it and I hope it remains that way. A good friend who lives in texas was home visiting family in NJ a month ago and caught it. He came home to take care of his mom since he was laid off and his sister works in a nursing home and didn't want the sister taking care of her during this and he catches it. He said it was like breathing into a plastic bag over his head the first three weeks and this is the first week he hasn't felt that way but still feels like shit and they wouldn't admit him. Two people in my company have caught it as well as a few tenants but fortunately I wasn't around any of them and I keep my office door shut when I have to go in.

 

I found out Monday, a couple I'm good friends with both have it. And they've both been very careful, she's a type I diabetic and they live in a city that has the most cases outside of detroit and she works in a hospital. They were refusing to go out except when she had to go to work and used places like instacart and contactless doordash delivery for their food so she had to have caught it at work. She's in ICU and on a ventilator and they won't test him but he is feeling really weak and has a fever and is still at home. Him not getting tested makes me wonder how many cases there really are in Michigan and makes you appreciate life more but also scares the shit out of me everytime I have to go get groceries. I wish all stores would make wearing masks mandatory.

[+ tassojunior]

And I don't even know anyone anywhere who is ill! Which seems inconceivable.

same here and I live in a 50/50 neighborhood of smug young yuppies who won't wear masks and elderly people. (I suspect the hope is to open up rent-controlled apartments)

[+ Charlie]

I am worried for an elderly cousin who has been in a skilled nursing home in MA recovering from a broken leg, because I have heard nothing more from her in weeks, but I have no friends, neighbors or acquaintances whom I know to be ill or to have been ill. It is hard to learn much when people are carefully distancing, and I wonder if some of them don't want their condition to be known. I have offered to shop for people in a couple of social groups to which I belong (e.g., Bridge players in my HOA), assuming they may prefer to stay isolated at home, but only one person has taken up the offer.

[+ Oliver]

And I don't even know anyone anywhere who is ill! Which seems inconceivable.

I only know of one. My son-in-law's 88 year-old father got it about 4 weeks ago in Royal Oak, Michigan. He was in the hospital about five days, never on any breathing assist equipment, and was discharged. He has been at home since and is fully recovered.

[samhexum]

Will there really be a beef shortage? What else is there to eat?

 

 

 

 

 

[samhexum]

[samhexum]

Two golden pups are delivering locally brewed suds to a growing ’brew dogs’ fan base

 

 

Golden Retrievers Buddy, 3, and Barley, 1, are now part of the delivery staff at family-owned Six Harbors Brewing Co. in Huntington, Long Island, which was forced to switch from on-site sales to curbside pickup and delivery during the coronavirus lockdown.

 

They’re very good brew boys.

 

Golden Retriever’s Buddy, 3, and Barley, 1, are now part of the delivery staff at family-owned Six Harbors Brewing Co. in Huntington, which was forced to switch from on-site sales to curbside pickup and delivery during New York’s coronavirus lockdown.

 

The patron-greeting pair were pupset their fans stopped showing up to buy hand-brewed and canned ales, pilsners, and lagers — and pet Buddy and Barley while they waited, brewery owners Karen and Mark Heuwetter told the Daily News.

 

“We’ve had to change our business model," Mark Heuwetter said. “We created an online store and now people can have curbside or delivery. We took the dogs on a few trips and people were loving the dogs when they came...so we added them."

 

“The dogs make a nice compliment to the delivery service. They put smiles on people’s faces," he said.

 

The brewery even developed a makeshift four-pack of their signature brew to hang around the dogs’ necks during their delivery runs. The four-pack is empty, but Buddy and Barley quickly earned the social media moniker “brew dogs.”

 

“Buddy and Barley love people," Heuwetter said. "At the brewery they’d just walk table to table and people would just pet them and continue their conversations and the dogs would sit there until they’d stop petting and then they’d move to the next table,” he said.

 

 

The brewery—celebrating two years of business in May, and one of a handful of essential-businesses in Huntington still open during the lockdown — expected a massive hit to the 95% of revenue that came from over-the-counter sales.

 

Instead, they said, business is booming thanks to “brew dogs.”

 

“We are finding out—and maybe it’s because of what’s happening right now—our online store is generating so much sales...that depending on the day we are matching or exceeding what we did before isolation and I think it’s because of the dogs,” Mark Heuwetter said.

 

According to the Heuwetters, customers are now submitting orders specifically requesting that Buddy and Barley show up on the delivery drop-off.

 

“We just wanted to create something different...and it’s morphed into this whole thing of the brew dog show...people request Buddy and Barley,” Mark Heuwetter said.

 

And if all that floof isn’t enough, patrons can get a picture with the pups when they arrive at the door to share on social media.

 

 

 

[+ newatthis]

...I have no friends, neighbors or acquaintances whom I know to be ill or to have been ill. It is hard to learn much when people are carefully distancing...

Good point. As I wrote above, I did not find out directly about any of the friends who have had it, only from mutual friends and only in casual conversation. I found out about my next door neighbors when I was teasing friends who had a case on their block and they replied "what about your next door neighbors?", which they knew about because they belong to a book club together.

[handiacefailure]

I received an email from Costco yesterday that effective 5/4 they will be back to their normal store hours and everyone will be required to have a face covering. I've been avoiding big boxes since this has started and my membership at Costco renews in June and was considering cancelling it since I'm getting no use out of it right now but may renew and consider going there next week if they are requiring face masks. The local grocery store I've been going to since this started has required them for a couple weeks and wish more stores would. I don't know why anyone has an issue with wearing one in a store. They protect other customers and the employees that are forced to work during this.

 

On one of the news websites that reported it a couple people were complaining that it violated their rights and they were refusing to shop at Costco and it was going to hurt their bottom line. This new policy may get people like me who are avoiding big boxes to finally go shopping there again so they will be getting some more revenue there. And if this policy saves even one employee from catching it then it more than makes up for the lost revenue of the pissed off shoppers.

 

I've noticed my grocery spending has gone up considerably since I've been shopping at the local, more upscale market, than when I was shopping at Kroger before this happened but my safety is worth the added costs and driving ten miles to get there. My sister and her fiance still shop like crazy (which pisses me off since she still lives at home and my dad is 80 with heart conditions and my mom is 79 with a few health issues) and she tell me hardly any shoppers at Walmart have masks on and don't pay attention to the one way arrows and don't stand six feet away but noticed at more upscale places like Whole Foods and the grocery store I like to go (it's in one of the wealthier suburbs and isn't accessible by the bus line and they don't take EBT or WIC) that cater to a wealthier clientelle that people seems to be more responsible about social distancing and wearing masks and the stores that cater to a more upscale demographic seem to be a lot better stocked. Not sure if it's that demographic is more responsible and concerned or if it's just because they don't have the huge amount of customers a big box has.

[MikeBiDude]

Safeway trying to stay ahead of meat panic buying and hoarding:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/coronavirus-grocery-stores-limiting-meat-purchases-over-concerns-of-a-shortage/ar-BB13p5ME

[samhexum]

Masked workers brawl with suspected shoplifters in Yonkers supermarket

 

Two suspected shoplifters were caught in a wild brawl with staffers at a besieged Yonkers supermarket that says it has already lost $34,000 to thieves this year.

 

The almost 11-minute clip from Shop Fair supermarket in Getty Square on Monday started with one of the accused already being pinned to the floor in one of the aisles as another was held back.

 

“Look what they doing! Look what they doing to my brother!” yelled the second man, wearing a blue, white and red jacket.

 

After counting down from five, he waded in, appearing to throw at least one punch — with at staffers leaping on him and exchanging blows.

 

As they stumbled into the next aisle, the suspect was mounted from behind, with a staffer putting his hands on his neck and even appearing to go for a rear-naked choke when the suspect stood.

 

“I can’t breathe!” he repeatedly insisted.

 

At one point, a 3-foot pole was brought out, although it was not seen being used to strike anyone.

 

The second suspect, who had mostly been off-camera, was then shown kicking and punching out at several other staff members surrounding him.

 

“Call the cops and let them handle it,” urged a muscular staff member in a tight “Blessed” shirt — before becoming heated as he walked one of the suspects out of the store.

 

“Get the f–k out this store before I knock you out myself!” he told the suspect, who rubbed his head as he got up off the ground before being cuffed by waiting Yonkers cops.

 

The person videoing the wild brawl — seen more than 25,000 times by Thursday morning — repeatedly claimed he has seen violence in the store before, saying, “They do this all the time. This is not right!”

 

The clip ended after he was told he was banned from the store, complaining that it was “because I documented what happened.”

 

Store manager Eddie Duran told The Post that five employees have been reprimanded over the violence.

 

“There’s no excuse,” he said. “I hope that something like this never happens again.”

 

Still, he insisted that the two suspects started the attack before the camera started rolling — even though employees had offered to let them leave without calling the police.

 

“Since the coronavirus, we’ve been telling shoplifters, ‘Leave the items and you can just leave the store,'” he said.

 

The suspects were known from previous thefts at the store, which has already lost $34,000 this year, likely to be worse even than the $45,000 lost in 2019, Duran said.

 

The pair took two bags of shrimp worth $22.99 each — seemingly a hot commodity for thieves — and started swinging when they refused to hand them over, Duran said.

 

“The guy just flipped and started beating my employee — he was left bleeding,” the manager said. “The video doesn’t show any of what started this.

 

“But what happened after that is a nightmare. I’ve told all my staff that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

[+ bigjoey]

Masked workers brawl with suspected shoplifters in Yonkers supermarket

 

Two suspected shoplifters were caught in a wild brawl with staffers at a besieged Yonkers supermarket that says it has already lost $34,000 to thieves this year.

 

The almost 11-minute clip from Shop Fair supermarket in Getty Square on Monday started with one of the accused already being pinned to the floor in one of the aisles as another was held back.

 

“Look what they doing! Look what they doing to my brother!” yelled the second man, wearing a blue, white and red jacket.

 

After counting down from five, he waded in, appearing to throw at least one punch — with at staffers leaping on him and exchanging blows.

 

As they stumbled into the next aisle, the suspect was mounted from behind, with a staffer putting his hands on his neck and even appearing to go for a rear-naked choke when the suspect stood.

 

“I can’t breathe!” he repeatedly insisted.

 

At one point, a 3-foot pole was brought out, although it was not seen being used to strike anyone.

 

The second suspect, who had mostly been off-camera, was then shown kicking and punching out at several other staff members surrounding him.

 

“Call the cops and let them handle it,” urged a muscular staff member in a tight “Blessed” shirt — before becoming heated as he walked one of the suspects out of the store.

 

“Get the f–k out this store before I knock you out myself!” he told the suspect, who rubbed his head as he got up off the ground before being cuffed by waiting Yonkers cops.

 

The person videoing the wild brawl — seen more than 25,000 times by Thursday morning — repeatedly claimed he has seen violence in the store before, saying, “They do this all the time. This is not right!”

 

The clip ended after he was told he was banned from the store, complaining that it was “because I documented what happened.”

 

Store manager Eddie Duran told The Post that five employees have been reprimanded over the violence.

 

“There’s no excuse,” he said. “I hope that something like this never happens again.”

 

Still, he insisted that the two suspects started the attack before the camera started rolling — even though employees had offered to let them leave without calling the police.

 

“Since the coronavirus, we’ve been telling shoplifters, ‘Leave the items and you can just leave the store,'” he said.

 

The suspects were known from previous thefts at the store, which has already lost $34,000 this year, likely to be worse even than the $45,000 lost in 2019, Duran said.

 

The pair took two bags of shrimp worth $22.99 each — seemingly a hot commodity for thieves — and started swinging when they refused to hand them over, Duran said.

 

“The guy just flipped and started beating my employee — he was left bleeding,” the manager said. “The video doesn’t show any of what started this.

 

“But what happened after that is a nightmare. I’ve told all my staff that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

 

 

The link to the video:

https://nypost.com/2020/04/30/workers-brawl-with-alleged-shoplifters-in-yonkers-supermarket/

[+ tassojunior]

Many of us get a lot of non-perishable groceries from Amazon. Has anyone else figured out what is happening to Amazon? Their "Two-day shipping" is history for practical purposes and my Amazon orders for everything are taking longer and longer. Are they collapsing too?

[+ DERRIK]

At our house - we've decided to buy groceries from one place as opposed to buying produce at store A - Meat store B - canned goods store C. The logic being to not visit 3 places where xxthousand visit each week but visit 1 place where xxthousand.

[+ bashful]

Many of us get a lot of non-perishable groceries from Amazon. Has anyone else figured out what is happening to Amazon? Their "Two-day shipping" is history for practical purposes and my Amazon orders for everything are taking longer and longer. Are they collapsing too?

 

Yes, Prime two-day shipping is gone. I'm having better luck getting items faster by going directly to the sellers (some food items) when possible.

 

But, I don't see how Amazon could be collapsing given some the price gouging I've seen on their website. Expedited shipping for my $29 box of face masks was $35. A single pack 64 Pampers baby wipes sell in stores for an average of $1.75 a pack. When I checked last week, the only "in stock" item on Amazon was a 7-pack of 64 Pampers wipes for $50. Yes $50. Over $7.00 a pack.

Edited April 30, 2020 by bashful

[KeepItReal]

Many of us get a lot of non-perishable groceries from Amazon. Has anyone else figured out what is happening to Amazon? Their "Two-day shipping" is history for practical purposes and my Amazon orders for everything are taking longer and longer. Are they collapsing too?

I am sure Amazon's supply chain is also under stress. Two day shipping is no longer the norm from what I have experienced with the items they have in stock. Went to Walmart's website and search for a few things I could not find on Amazon. Same story - out of stock. Ugh.

[MikeBiDude]

But, I don't see how Amazon could be collapsing given some the price gouging I've seen on their website. Expedited shipping for my $29 box of face masks was $35. A single pack 64 Pampers baby wipes sell in stores for an average of $1.75 a pack. When I checked last week, the only "in stock" item on Amazon was a 7-pack of 64 Pampers wipes for $50. Yes $50. Over $7.00 a pack.

In fairness to Amazon a huge percentage of products you’re seeing online there come from 3rd party vendors...not always direct from Amazon. And thats not always obvious when you click and buy something. Amazon has been pretty good about stamping out price gouging.

[RM]

Supermarkets in my area allow you to bring your own bags but you must bag yourself.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and they wouldn't allow me to bring in my bag. But they didn' t charge for the bag they gave me.

[+ newatthis]

Many of us get a lot of non-perishable groceries from Amazon. Has anyone else figured out what is happening to Amazon? Their "Two-day shipping" is history for practical purposes and my Amazon orders for everything are taking longer and longer. Are they collapsing too?

I think they've been upfront about not being able to ship as quickly as before even for prime members (and the reasons why). My recent amazon orders have had estimated delivery times a little less than a week out. In most cases, they arrived several days earlier than the estimate.

[+ tassojunior]

I think they've been upfront about not being able to ship as quickly as before even for prime members (and the reasons why). My recent amazon orders have had estimated delivery times a little less than a week out. In most cases, they arrived several days earlier than the estimate.

A week ago my packages were arriving from Amazon in about a week. But now it's become 2 weeks for various things I ordered, shipped by Amazon. 4 different orders from April 25 are scheduled for May 7 and May 8 delivery and have not shipped (from Amazon) yet. I think the warehouses/fulfillment centers are in more turmoil than they say. And they still say delivery is 1 or 2 days from shipping. So the trucks are going ok.