Reviewing our expectations at the grocery store | The Press

With so much going on in the trucking industry, you shouldn’t expect perfection at the supermarket.

In many parts of the country, consumers are reporting a growing number of empty shelves in grocery stores. This is happening here, in the United States and in many other industrialized parts of the world; this phenomenon goes beyond Canadian territory.

In Canada, empty shelves were already observed in the fall, but they went somewhat unnoticed and appeared sporadically as supply chain problems continued and our food industry struggled to keep pace. Unpredictable sanitary protocols, labor shortages and higher input costs for months tend to create increased tension on the supply chain, doomed to give way one day or another.

The virulent spread of Omicron only made the situation worse. Most food businesses, from farm to store, are operating in slow motion with 15-30% fewer staff to handle the workload. And since perishable ingredients are often handled, for many farmers, processors and retailers, waiting is simply not an option.

New challenges

However, the January 2022 scenario at the grocery store bears no resemblance to the March 2020 scenario. This time around, supply chain issues and rising distribution costs are driving factors. While in March 2020, toilet paper and food shortages resulted from consumer panic and the collapse of the restaurant industry. This time around, the Omicron variant, winter weather and, of course, vaccination mandates at the border are the big supply chain challenges.

While Omicron has delivered a real punch to the food industry, vaccination mandates for truckers are starving the industry of the oxygen it desperately needs right now. But since the decision seems irrevocable, the industry will face it and will certainly find a way to fill the shelves, come what may!

There are nearly 140,000 truckers who can no longer cross the border, on one side or the other, since January 22.

It is therefore to be expected that the food will cost more and that its quality will be diminished. We are already seeing less freshness for several fresh products since they arrive in stores much more mature than usual.

Higher logistics costs will catch up with consumers eventually. Transportation costs between the United States and Canada for certain routes have practically doubled in the past ten days. Grocers will have to readjust their prices, but they will do so gradually so as not to repeat the outcry created during the famous “cauliflower crisis” in 2016. The Canadian dollar then fell in a few days, in the middle of winter, forcing importers to pay more for vegetables. The cauliflower head reached $9 in some places, forcing many consumers to shun the product. Waste, bad image, let’s just say retailers don’t want to repeat the same mistakes. But with logistics costs soaring, some importers may decide to drop products for now instead of importing them.

We must not forget that the food industry has been able to face many crises over the past decades and, despite the pandemic, it has continued to process and deliver the goods. Border vaccination mandates are a problem, of course, but the regulatory environment has always been one factor among many.

We should not underestimate the resilience of our food industry. Consumers don’t always find what they want these days, but they will always find what they need.

This is made possible thanks to the work and efforts of companies and people who are ready to overcome all the obstacles that are in their way.

But for truckers, the situation is not rosy. Thousands of self-employed truckers have lost their jobs because of vaccination mandates. In protest against these mandates, a convoy was organized and nearly 4 million dollars were raised. Departing from British Columbia, he heads for Ottawa, mixing other drivers along the way. The truckers have every right to protest, but this convoy itself is futile and probably won’t make much difference other than causing disruption that no one needs right now. Less than two years ago, at the start of the pandemic, truckers were considered heroes, but this protest movement could significantly undermine their image.