More production. Round-the-clock shifts. Additional hiring in some cases.
Businesses that supply everything from beef to toilet paper in Arizona say they’re striving to get more products out to consumers amid supply-chain disruptions caused by the new coronavirus, while also cutting back hours in some cases to restock shelves and make sure stores and other facilities remain clean.
The Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, which represents supermarkets and other food companies, acknowledged that high demand for paper towels, bathroom tissue, bottled water, sanitizing products and various other items has put a strain on the system.
“There will be shortages for a period of time for the production and deliveries to reach our warehouses,” the group said in a prepared statement, while adding that the food industry is “working tirelessly to ensure that products are in stock on our shelves.”
Nancy Keane, a spokeswoman for Albertsons and Safeway, said the supermarket chain will be closing one hour earlier and opening an hour later at all stores throughout Arizona. Other retailers, including Walmart, also have pared back hours.
Otherwise, though, Keane called it “business as usual in terms of truck deliveries,” adding that the stores aren’t limiting products for sale at this time, though a reader claimed sales of toilet paper and tissue rolls were being restricted at a Safeway store in Queen Creek.
The company also said it will hire roughly 1,000 more workers in Arizona, including in-store employees and drivers, with special in-store hiring events on March 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, Bashas’, Food City and AJ’s stores will host a special shopping time for customers ages 65 and up — on Wednesdays from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., starting March 18.
Amazon hiring heavily
As the demand for online deliveries surges, Amazon vowed to hire another 100,000 people nationally and increase pay by about $2 an hour in general.
A company spokeswoman said this will result in roughly 2,000 new full- and part-time positions in Arizona. Amazon already employs roughly 9,500 people in the state.
As coronavirus has spread and online orders increase, the company acknowledged that it is out of stock on some popular items, especially household staples, and that delivery times are longer than normal.
“We are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability on all of our products and bring on additional capacity to deliver all of your orders,” the company said in a prepared statement, while also vowing to combat price-gouging on its website.
Toilet paper production continues
One of the hardest-hit items has been toilet paper, which has virtually disappeared from local store shelves.
“For the life of me, I don’t understand it,” said Allen Morrison, a professor of global management at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. “We’re not using any more toilet paper than before.”
Heidi Brock, CEO of the American Forest & Paper Association, acknowledged consumer concern over toilet paper and other shortages.
“This situation is highly dynamic and changing daily, and the industry is working diligently to respond to the spike in demand for tissue products due to coronavirus (COVID-19) purchases,” she said in a prepared statement. “Rest assured, tissue products continue to be produced and shipped — just as they are 52 weeks each year.”
Georgia Pacific, which makes Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, as well as napkins, paper towels and other products, also addressed consumer anxiety on its website.
“We know many of you are worried about not being able to find our products in stores or online,” the company said. “Our employees want to assure you that production is going smoothly, and we are shipping out product as fast as we can make it.”
Farmers face low prices
Many agricultural items currently are being produced in abundance, even though panic-stricken consumers are stripping shelves bare of items like bread in some places.
“At this time there is plenty of commodity supply available as farmers continue to follow the cycle that Mother Nature dictates and not the volatility of the financial markets,” said Stefanie Smallhouse, president of the Arizona Farm Bureau. “There are actually frozen storage facilities at maximum capacity due to interruptions of overseas shipments.”
If anything, prices for agricultural commodities have dropped significantly in recent months, which has pinched farmers and ranchers, Smallhouse said, while noting that producers don’t control the rest of the supply chain, which includes processing and transportation.
Smallhouse predicted that local growers could be stressed by the temporary closing of local farmer markets and “farm to table” restaurants owing to restrictions on public gatherings. Restaurant closings in general will shift the supply of some farm products to grocery stores, she added. Restaurants currently account for about half of all beef consumption, for example.
Part of the problem facing farmers and ranchers reflects slowdowns at ports such as those in Southern California that would normally send many of those products to Asia and elsewhere
“Agriculture, hard hit by the trade wars, now finds that there are no ships nor appropriate containers to move the latest harvest out to market,” said a commentary by the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, which predicts a recession will begin in the second quarter.
Manufacturing shortages possible
In contrast to scarce consumer items like toilet paper — a development that Morrison called irrational and likely to run its course relatively soon, the pressure on certain manufacturing items could intensify down the road.
That’s because many factories in China were shuttered for up to two months as the country grappled with the coronavirus outbreak. Many are up and running again, but shipments could be delayed for months.
“A laptop computer might have 130 different components, made in different countries,” Morrison said. “All you need is one or two components to go missing, and the product goes unfinished.”
Morrison said he expects to see shortages of many manufactured products from electronics and pharmaceuticals to furniture and toys. “You’ll see these disruptions ripple through the supply chain for many months,” he said,
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-8616
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