Why Am I Seeing Empty Shelves Again at The Grocery Store?

I'm sure if you've been out to the store in the past couple of weeks you've noticed it's a little challenging finding some of the products that you're looking for.

I was out grocery shopping the other day after work and noticed while walking through Kroger that a lot of the shelves were empty. I'm not talking about paper products like toilet paper and paper towels. I'm talking about things like chicken, rice, and a few other food products that would normally be in stock. I thought maybe they just needed to restock and hadn't yet but when I went back two days later, it was the same situation. I mean the cooler that the chicken breasts are stored in was completely empty, not one freaking package.

It's not nearly as bad as it was at the start of the pandemic but it's worse than it was just a couple of months ago. Apparently, food companies are saying that grocery stores will have limited quantities of certain products.

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According to ABC12, grocers have reported labor, commodity and transportation constraints are blocking supply chains. On top of that, manufacturers often eliminate some of their fringe items when supply is tight.

I noticed at Sam's Club the other day that they were limiting purchases of certain products again too.

If I had simply read about this issue online, I might think companies were just trying to get people freaked out so they'd start panic buying again. That's simply not the case because I saw the empty shelves with my own eyes.