The Doughboy that ate Cincinatti!
Posted on 04/23/2008 7:32:50 PM PDT by blam
Wal-Mart bans bulk sales of rice
By Our Foreign Staff
Last Updated: 2:42am BST 24/04/2008
The American supermarket chain Wal-Mart yesterday banned bulk sales of rice at its cash-and-carry businesses, as the global food shortage and soaring price of food began to make an impact in the largest consumer nation.
The company's bulk supply division, Sam's Club, announced that it would sell a maximum of four bags of rice to each customer, after Costco, a rival chain, said it would place caps on some rice and flour sales in California.
The limits were imposed after some customers, apparently alarmed by the soaring prices for staple foods, made unusually large bulk purchases after the price of rice in some stores doubled in the past month.
While there was little evidence of "panic" buying, some restaurants and smaller retailers were buying up large stocks in the expectation that prices would soar higher.
Wal-Mart's regular stores, used by millions of Americans, are not subject to the restriction.
"What you're seeing is people who buy in larger quantities, who have a restaurant or a corner store, stocking up because of media reports that prices could go higher," said Dave Heylen, a spokesman for the Californian Grocers' Association.
A statement issued by Sam's Club said the limits were imposed "due to recent supply and demand trends".
James Sinegal, the chief executive of Costco, said the firm would limit only very big purchases.
Any customer wanting 10 pallets of flour probably would be told they could have only one pallet, he said.
Beans next?
I think I have a bag or two left over from Y2K. Not sure about the Spam.
Maybe I should put it up on EBay.
The Doughboy that ate Cincinatti!
or dog food? . . . worse yet, cat litter.
HA! 1920’s saw the big bank runs,
2008 sees the day of the big rice runs, bringing a “depression” of rice worldwide.
check it for worms, first.
Or TP?
Related:
Americans hoard food as industry seeks regs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006044/posts
I keep a big bag of rice in the freezer just in case. Have for years.
TP in Zimbabwe is worth more than the money!
The last great TP shortages had Asian’s carrying boxes onto international flights and all the stores shelve were empty.
It follows that the rising prices was going to cause the Asian’s and Latino’s to stock up..since they have experienced these situations before. Give it a couple weeks and there won’t be a bag of rice to find...
Added protein.
It’s been in ziplocks.
I’d like to know what all this is leading up to.
There is always a reason behind hysterical headlines.
Ugh! added enzymes from the plastic. Everything I stored in plastic bags got tossed, for that reason.
They got to me. I seldom eat rice but bought a box of Uncle Ben’s rice yesterday just in case.
It looks like the MSM is trying to create a self-fulfilling prophesy. Frenzied articles in the MSM cause hoarding; hoarding causes temporary, localized shortages; more frenzied reports — etc. Once everyone has horded everything they can; there’ll be a monster glut to clear.
Biblical prophecy: a days wages for a loaf of bread.
It’s been the MSM’s design for the last few years - attacking the economy in general. Keep reporting about “recession”, and eventually it’ll happen.
And so it begins........
If George Bush came out and said we are banning ethanol in gasoline and drilling ANWR the nonsense would stop.
It’s not going to happen.
Don;
‘t feel bad. I just bought another pound myself.
The thing about rice is, in the event of marshall law, and you can’t leave the house..it will feed humans and dogs, and cats, maybe even birds.
I’m reminded of what my grandmother used to say on certain occasions: Better safe than sorry. Where there is smoke there is fire.
It’s not going to happen because the President can’t do that.
I was thinking that I should go and buy some seeds and start a garden. It seems like this would be a good year to do so.
No doubt there are challenges, but I have a lot of faith in ordinary hard-working people the world over. If our politicians will only get out of the way, we'll muddle through this too.
Seeds are always a good idea.
If not for yourself, good for trade.
This “crisis” may not be real, but then again, it may very well be someday.
Who dat?
how about the government stop using taxpayer money to buy millions of tons of rice every year and sending it to africa.
I know I can’t spell.
But, I never call false something that can happen.
I hope it is broccoli. ;-)
I know he can’t do it, that is why I said it won’t happen.
Just as a side note, we’re having chicken & rice tommorow.
Both bought “on sale”.
Make it a National Security issue and claim it's to insulate the US from volatility upcoming in the ME.
There are ways to do anything, if you really want to.
George doesn't want to.
Oh no! Don’t eat the rice! That is for emergency use.
Dubya doesn’t want to do a lot of things, I agree.
There were some big bags of rice on the floor that I’d never noticed before, felt like it would have been smart to buy one.
I tried that emergency use only with my 2 & 4 year old grandkids and flashlights & lanterns. Didn’t work, they trained me to store what you eat & use & use what you eat & store. ( I hid a couple of flashlights)
Off the floor? We are not hungry yet!
No Bees, no Rice? I’m curious as well why a food shortage out of nowhere?
I understand what you're saying.
My husband and I are in a position where we don't necessarily have to believe the future will be what we want it to be.
Without children, we can think of the worst and prepare. If we had children, well, we'd laugh at all this $hit. We'd have to.
I don't know. I was on subs...we ate whatever we wanted. Steak and lobster each Friday too.
I usually see things for what they are. But now, I don;t know. This is beyond politics. Maybe.
Now I’m just the opposite, with kids I think of the worst and prepare. (My old tagline was Ever Vigilant, Never Fearful). Now if I were single, then I could laugh at it. Although I have noticed where the price of beer is going up as well. ;)
Hope it doesn't come to that, wouldn't want to eat that much rice.
One time when we had steaks a cook used what he thought was cooking oil. Nope. Cans all look the same ya know. A person has to read them on the ship. Well he didn't. Several hundred got a good gut cleansing from the detergent. We kept a hot plate {bottom half of a popcorn popper sold in the ships store}in our shop and had access to the walk in coolers anytime :>}
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