Community Chat

[CalminHeart]

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

I just have to add that where I live if I went around to my neighbors and asked if they wanted to share a cow or pig and get it divvied up, I'd likely end up on a 72-hour hold.

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I live in a state that has huge meat packing plants and thousands of workers diagnosed with covid. My neighbors, friends and family would think I'm nuts if I suggested it too.  Just because I live in this part of the country doesn't mean I have easy access to such an option.

[caroln242]

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@Cakers3 wrote:

Getting tired of the word "hoarders".

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Gettin tired of the word "selfish".

[novamc1]

I'm tired of the word "hoarding", too. 

Grocery stores and other food purveyors get a tax writeoff for supplying food in bulk to IRS-recognized charitable organizations.  But there's another side to this "hoarding" story and  the shortages  seen on store shelves.

Local neighborhood groups--neighbors buying and delivering food to needy people--do not wear T-shirts announcing their status and aren't  big organized charitable organizations approved  by the IRS.

Where I came from just a few years ago, income levels were high, need was not great among so many  people for basics such as food.  Maybe that's where some of you live now, so you can't quite understand what's going on.

Come down to where I now live and see how much hunger exists among low-paid workers..........and now those low-paid workers have most likely been laid off by their employers.

No T-shirts are given and no tax writeoffs occur for anyone--including the grocery stores--- when ladies in  our little 70-home community go shopping and put together lunch bags during the summer for the vast number of  children who depend on their public schools to supply breakfast and lunch during the school year.

My neighbors and I can clear out an entire grocery store shelf of juice boxes, cheese, meat and other items when we get together to try to fill a gap for people who need it.  We could  do the same now when the occasion arises, but we have other ways to contribute food, as well.

[Spurt]

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@novamc1 

The needy have other alternatives.  Families in need in our city drive to the Food Bank Distribution center where volunteers load food in their cars. And if people are unable to get out there's PLENTY of organizations that will deliver to them!!! I dont think its fair for people to go into a grocery store and wipe out the shelves....  People need to leave food for others that have taken the risk and gone to the store for essential food!!! 

At a Ralphs supermarket this week in Pasadena, California, customer Jeff Robeff weighed this dilemma as he left the store with bread and a few other items.

“The hoarding is really unfortunate,” he said. “I think it’s selfish…It’s the society we’ve created: ‘I win. I got the most toilet paper.’ ”

A fellow customer wearing a surgical mask, who would not give his name, said he has been going to as many as 15 stores a day to scavenge supplies for his family of seven. It was only 10:45 a.m., and ”today, I’m on my fifth store,” he said

Rutherford, the UC San Francisco epidemiologist, said the group most needing to strike the right balance between potential exposure and being adequately stocked, are people over 60.

Recently, he said, some retailers have instituted early shopping hours for older customers.  Rutherford said the elderly can get a home delivery service.

Dr. Lee W. Riley, a professor and head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said that rather than hoard, people should follow their usual shopping routines. 

Dr. Peter Yellowlees, chief wellness officer for the University of California, Davis, health system, and a professor of psychiatry, said the message that isn’t getting out is that one way to help each other is not to hoard large amounts so your neighbors have nothing. And you help the community if you don’t hoard.” 

In our city, Charities, church groups, and other organizations helping others do NOT pick up food at regular grocery stores, they go to the main distribution center, present their non-profit letter and pick up food there.....   

Check out Amazon, E-Bay, and those Neighborhood Facebook Pages there are people out there that stock up to RE-SELL in their neighborhoods and online!

[novamc1]

@Spurt 

I'll let you have the last word on this topic, but you could have worded your last sentence a bit less antagonistically.    I'm not sure this is the place for accusing others of naivete.

[Lipstickdiva]

I was taking someone's advice and went on FB and started to look for local farms.  This is one semi-close to me.  I found this very interesting that they posted:

Meat shortage? Let’s call it what it really is. The big business is getting rich off creating their own “shortage”. The big processing plants have shut down. Which has created issues with farmers getting their animals in to be processed and distributed to the public.
So the farmers are desperate to get their animals in to the butchers. The processing plants in turn know that they are desperate and are offering these farmers PENNIES for their animals. The farmer has no choice but to accept this ridiculous offer. In turn, these companies are charging more for their finished product than ever because of the “meat shortage” THEY CREATED! Thus, making these big businesses pockets even fuller.
Seems a little twisted to us. Things need to change in the future!!!!

A conversation ensued and some of the comments are very interesting.  People said they wanted to purchase a side of beef, go in with someone to purchase larger quantities but now you cannot find a freezer within 250 miles.

Also, these farms cannot slaughter animals and sell the meat to the public unless they have a processing facility.  Now because of what is going on, these local processing facilities are backed up for months.  Some of them are backed up until November!

So much for that idea.

[germanshepherdlove]

We order from a butcher who has curbside service as well as delivery.  He only allows qty 2 of each type of meat and does periodically get asked if he'll sell his entire case to one single person.  Fortunately he always says no as it's not fair to others and yes, he is experiencing a shortage at times from the processing plants.  My usual order from him are brisket burgers, a whole chicken, drumsticks and usda prime t-bone steak and sometimes usda prime NY strip. Delicious.  

[CalminHeart]

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@caroln242 wrote:

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@Cakers3 wrote:

Getting tired of the word "hoarders".

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Gettin tired of the word "selfish".

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I'm tired of both kinds of people.

[Roscoe the Rascal]

Stores are limiting where I am at.  Precaution I think and should have done that with cleaning supplies earlier and paper products too.

[Spurt]

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@novamc1 wrote:

@Spurt 

I'll let you have the last word on this topic, but you could have worded your last sentence a bit less antagonistically.    I'm not sure this is the place for accusing others of naivete.

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@novamc1 

Sorry, I apologize I didnt mean to accuse anyone....  What I was trying to say is there are some mean selfish people out there and they capable of doing outrageous things that cant even be imagined by sensible people...