Posted on 04/23/2008 3:39:19 PM PDT by chessplayer
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Sam's Club warehouse division said on Wednesday it is limiting sales of several types of rice, the latest sign that fears of a rice shortage are rippling around the world.
Sam's Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, is limiting sales of the 20-pound (9 kg), bulk bags of rice to four bags per customer per visit, and is working with suppliers to ensure the products remain in stock.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Jack Cafferty was talking about this on CNN and made it sound like food riots could break out across the US anytime now.
I know many people eat rice, but I can’t remember the last time I had it. I think it came with a meal I ordered about 6 months ago. Do people really eat that much rice?
Just goes to prove ... "Jack's a Joke"
Am I the only one who read this article and shook their heads and thought “SO WHAT!!” The next articles will be about “hoarders.”
Just another reason why I watch no news on TV. NONE!
The story as presented on NBC Nightly News was interesting. Their reporting indicated there is no shortage, just a 150 % increase in price since January based on international food riot news stories.
I’m thinking that the point in the 90s when we decided perception would be reality was the beginning of the end.
NOw there is going to be a run on RICE!
When we lived in Hawaii, if you opened an account at a bank, instead of a toaster, etc., they gave away rice. No kiddin’!
I can only buy 200 lbs of rice in a single visit? Whoa - next thing you know they’re going to limit an individual customer to 20 tons of concrete per visit. The humanity!
Besides, I was watching that network news way back in the 1960s whenever we actually had a working TV in my home.
I am of the mind that I should know my enemy.
The incredible distortion coming from that enterprise keeps my mind working.
The company can't be accused of price gouging, because the increasing product price is not in its control right now. And it certainly can't be accused of "forcing hoarders to buy rice." This is actually rather a brilliant marketing move -- create an artificial panic, based on a realistic shortage during times of high prices -- instant higher sales!
On another note.... the real heavy demand for rice is around the world, in cultures and countries where rice is a primary ingredient of the daily food intake. Here, it's a side dish. Why would Walmart/Sams limit sales HERE to address potential shortages elsewhere?
Potatos- we grow potatoes here.
Let them eat Tator Tots.
It’s still less than $10 for a 10 pound bag at the Chinese markets here in Cleveland. I eat a lot of rice! My babe is Chinese-born. Been an American citizen for several years. I’m very proud of her. Great cook, but makes a lot of rice!
This doesn’t inspire confidence if we have to ration RICE. It stinks of the early days of Soviet collapse.
Something funny is going on and I’d recommend that everyone keep an emergency food supply stored.
Jack Cafferty couldn’t pour p*ss out of a boot with the instrictions written on the heel.
I think folks from the southern US eat a lot more rice than the northern bunch. I have southern female mothers/grandmothers on both sides of the family, and even though we live in the chilly north, rice was always the preferred side dish.
If you consider ethnic dishes, and wheat sensitivities, it is easy to understand why people might get nervous about a shortage of this staple.
Rice is a major comfort food for many of us, especially in soups, paella, stir-fry, fried-rice, etc... It makes a good cheap meal, and is wonderful for filling the tummies of growing children.
It can be breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The base for many desserts, and combined with beans or lentils, and some seasoning, a complete meal. I remember one time when money was hard to come by, keeping my four children happy and content with rice pudding for snacks and desserts... fortified with a few eggs, dried milk powder, raisins, etc...
Rice is a great grain. Brown rice takes longer to cook, but is more nutritious than converted white. It has a shorter shelf life, but the advantage from a vitamin point of view makes it worth buying.
Try some rice, you might like it!
We aren’t rationing rice. This is not a ration system, this is a typical hickup in the supply chain “limit X per customer”. Nothing about this is stopping you from getting all the rice you want, it just means that you can only get 200 pounds in one register transaction, then you need to take it out to your car then come back in and grab another 200 pounds. Or don’t shop at Sam’s Club, go someplace where they aren’t worried about their supply chain. WalMart uses the just-in-time supply system, the benefit of that is you don’t waste space and money storing stuff you won’t be selling for months, the downside is you have no stock sitting in warehouses to get you through the occasional hickup. Welcome to a hickup, go someplace that doesn’t do JIT and you’ll be fine. If there was rationing the limit would be way below 200 pounds.
We cook a lot of Indian and Thai food, in those cuisines rice is the staple, comparable to bread, and I have a rice maker that will do ten cups at a time. But I don't make that much at once, there are only 4 of us, so I do 3 cups at a time and put some away for lunch. I buy rice in 10 pound bags, and that's plenty to cook for now and store the rest in 2 large plastic containers in the pantry.
I’d say we go though 7-10 pounds of a rice a month.
Lotta people do eat alot of rice. Think about it, heck a fifty pound bag of rice could keep you alive for like three months if the shtf.
Fifty pounds of egg noodles could do the same.
I have probably 30 pounds of rice stashed and almost if not more pasta products.
Rice, pasta and dried beans. The stuff lasts forever.
Just take a truck to a grain elevator that handles rice and load up. 40,000 pounds on a semi.
don’t forget the checkbook.
Oh brother, does anyone remember the overhyped millenium scares? A lot of people made a lot of money off a bunch of frightened people. And of course the MSM loves the hysteria, sure does sell the papers, don’t it?
“I’m thinking that the point in the 90s when we decided perception would be reality was the beginning of the end.”
I`m wondering about that, too. The lib msm gave the perception that the shape of the economy was far worse than it actually was. They made a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they give the false perception that the US is running out of food, it will cause hoarding and riots. And the libs would love it.
Get rid of 20 million illegals and that’s 20 million worthless mouths we won’t have to feed.
Why is there a rice shortage?
Don’t joke about it, people have been known to kill when they are denied food. Many who depend on corn as their staple diet now have to switch to rice because of the corn to alcohol conversion. Demand for rice has gone up while the supply has not. The dirty little secret is that more than half of the population of India and China and all of Indonesia depend on rice as their main diet.
If it really comes to food wars we should appease the gods and sacrifice Algore by ripping out his heart with a stone knife like the Aztecs did. It will also serve as a warning to all these environmentalists who are trying to make this planet unfit for human life.
After we’ve done that, we start drilling for oil and establish our own oil industry and raise our middle finger to all of our oil suppliers.
The people they showed buying rice on the CBS Evening News were Asian restaurant owners in San Francisco. 200 pounds isn’t all that much if you happen to own a Chinese restaurant.
One restaurant owner had a mountain of 50 pounds bags of rice in the basement of his restaurant.....he said it was a “year’s supply.”
“Something funny is going on and I’d recommend that everyone keep an emergency food supply stored.”
And lots of ammo.
Well, we do. We eat lots of Asian dishes and Southern recipes both of which are rice heavy. Our favorite grain I guess. Maybe a 20 lb bag every 2 months.
That's #2 on the list.
It's probably a good idea to stock up on the most lethal weapons/ammo while you can. Just in case the Rats take over and declare everything above BB rifles a "cop killer".
"We're not about to go into a situation where (real estate) prices will go down. There is no evidence home prices are going to collapse."~~Alan Greenspan, May 21, 2006
And the reason they can’t order it online is . . . ?
A 5-second Google search came up with thousands of bulk-foods websites.
Hey Democrats, how 'bout telling the whole world that rice here is plentiful under GW Bush? We can all eat our fill!
We can't afford to fill up our SUVs, but we can stay home and eat all the rice we want. We are blessed.
The warehouse stores sell food in bulk intended for commercial food service providers, restaurants, cafeterias, etc. So it is not uncommon for many of their customers to buy large quantities of rice and other food products.
You may have noticed the huge jugs of mayonnaise and other condiments. That might come in handy for REALLY large families but that’s not the market they are targeting.
I know what you mean. When I took over my parent's home after they died, I found stuff like flower and brown sugar. What do you do with that stuff?
The tools in the basement I adjusted to very well.........
Food Crisis May Threaten Your Portfolio
"U.S. wheat stockpiles are at a 62-year low, even though farmers are planting from fence-to-fence. And with the U.S. dollar falling fast, foreign buyers are lining up to scoop up as much of Uncle Sam's grain as they can carry away.".
We eat a lot of rice as well. Fortunately, our city has a huge Vietnamese population, which means we have Vietnamese grocery stores, where rice is always cheap and available. (I suspect their commissaries have hedge positions on rice — prices are the same this week as they always have been.)
I always keep a 50# bag in the storage room, myself, but I’m thinking of laying in a few more, just in case. You can never have too much rice.
the just-in-time supply system.
No shortage just a narrow prudent($) distribution pipeline.
IE it’s hype.
I thibk you are right.
I hear asians are buying and shipping to overseas families...that’s got to be expensive.
Arkansas is the biggest rice grower in the nation and one of the biggest rice growing regions in the world. I say if there is a shortage that us Texans invade and take over R Kansas. I mean that state has to be good for something, right!
I just bought a 10 pound bag of Thai rice called “Elephant Brand.” Gonna buy several more. It’s cheaper to buy the big bags, but the thing I liked about this brand is that it was vacuum packed. Should stay fresh and dry for a very long time.
More media crap!
The average American eats 9 kg (just under 20 lbs.) of rice per year. That means that America consumes about 3 million tons of rice per year. However, America PRODUCES OVER 8 MILLION TONS PER YEAR.
Unless Americans TRIPLE their rice consumption, there will NEVER be a rice shortage.
http://www.irri.org/science/cnyinfo/united%20states.asp
1. Raise the price of a product
2. Announce you are limiting the amount a person can buy of that product
3. Make $$$$
But the beer industry uses 5 million tons. Now we're talking about a SERIOUS problem.
We EXPORT more rice than we eat.
No Rice Wine?
Bummer - it’s kinda’ fun sippin’ them small china cups.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
I think everyone needs to stock up on Green Chile. It is good for you and will season the rice quite well and I happen to grow it too.
I had the same thought. We do eat a lot of rice, but I buy one bag at a time at Costco and it takes a loooong time to get through it. Four bags of rice is SO MUCH rice. The only people who would be realistically affected by this are people who own small restaurants.
Well, if you claim there’s a shortage, double the price and limit each person to a mere 200 pounds of green chile, you will make a fortune.
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