New York: Remember the shortages of toilet paper in the first few months after the last lockdown. A surge of new coronavirus cases in the US is sending people back to stores to stockpile again, leaving shelves bare and forcing retailers to put limits on purchases, AP reports.
Walmart said Tuesday it’s having trouble keeping up with demand for cleaning supplies in some stores. Supermarket chains Kroger and Publix are limiting how much toilet paper and paper towels shoppers can buy after demand spiked recently. And Amazon is sold out of most disinfectant wipes and paper towels.
But Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association, said he doesn’t expect things to be as bad this time around since lockdowns are being handled on a regional basis and everyone is better prepared.
“A more informed consumer combined with a more informed manufacturer and a more informed retailer should provide all of us with a greater sense of ease and ensure we can meet this growing demand,” Freeman said.
The biggest supply issue seems to be paper products: 21 per cent of shelves that stock paper towels and toilet paper are empty, the highest level in at least a month, according to market research company IRI.
Contributing to the problem is the fact that roughly 10 per cent of the workforce at manufacturing plants where the products are made are calling out sick, mainly because they’ve been in contact with others who were tested positive to COVID-19, Freeman said.
