Walk around a supermarket in the U.S. or Europe, and you will see some empty shelves once more.
Supply chains are clogged at almost every stage between Asian factories and grocery stock rooms trib.al/3tWAqxD
Rising prices and patchy availability mean it’s only a matter of time before shoppers start purchasing in bulk.
Supply lines are struggling as producers, who are responsible for making everything from sneakers to coffee, are hurt by Covid restrictions trib.al/xMk1jai
➡️ Surging virus cases and consumer demand are leading to congested ports
➡️ Shipping containers are in the wrong place
➡️ Sea freight costs are up tenfold
➡️ Shortages of workers to harvest and prepare foods are adding to the pressures trib.al/xMk1jai
🧃 Beverages have been hurt by a shortage of packaging.
🥤 In Britain, a lack of C02 amid spiraling energy costs has put supplies of carbonated soft drinks at risk.
☕ Coffee and tea are hot commodities as many Americans continue to work remotely trib.al/xMk1jai
In-person learning has fueled a rush for school supplies, including those that go in lunchboxes.
Parents are now in a frantic state because of a run on Kraft's pre-packaged Lunchables trib.al/xMk1jai
🐾 Pet food is another challenging area.
Purina maker Nestle has already ramped up capacity.
Some grocers are reporting a struggle to find enough dog treats and cat biscuits to meet the demand from all those new pandemic pets trib.al/xMk1jai
Retailers have been reengineering their supply chains to avoid the pinch points.
Some have been chartering their own ships.
Stores may have to cut back on the varieties of goods to reduce complexity, meaning fewer product choices for consumers trib.al/Mcu7J9F
Grocers need to plan for the worst.
With the system so fragile now, what would happen with further spikes in prices, demand and panic-buying? trib.al/Mcu7J9F
When prices go up, consumers tend to get proactive and change their habits.
Shoppers first switch out of pricier products to cheaper ones. That means ditching big brands for more competitive private labels trib.al/Mcu7J9F
With food costs expected to rise further, consumers may choose to load up on products such as pet food while they can.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see people get together with friends to buy giant packs of toilet paper or minced meat trib.al/Mcu7J9F
While a little inflation is generally good for supermarkets, the danger comes when it exceeds manageable levels and consumers trade down to cheaper items.
Up until now, grocers haven’t had a bad pandemic. That may be about to change trib.al/Mcu7J9F
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As the great resignation takes hold, workers across industries are sharing stories of burnout.
U.S. labor productivity rose 2.3% in the second quarter, but evidence suggests the number went up as fewer workers did more trib.al/1ap0o3I
Most employees are working more hours each week compared to pre-pandemic times, especially in health-care and other service-oriented jobs.
Here's some advice for employees who don't have the luxury of quitting their current jobs trib.al/1ap0o3I
Start by talking to your employer.
Come to the conversation armed with explanations of how better conditions such as time off or increased compensation are likely to result in increasing performance or employee retention trib.al/1ap0o3I
Eighteen months into the pandemic, we’re entering a new phase. While we have better Covid protection from vaccines and natural antibodies, we’re also returning to high risk environments like night clubs and offices.
New York is emerging as one of the world's most resilient cities in the wake of the pandemic.
Its success is more than just its size — it’s the Big Apple’s model of urbanism that offers something no other American metropolis can match trib.al/0SEiY77
New York was the first big city in the U.S. to be hit hard by Covid-19.
Immediately, people began predicting the pandemic would trigger a backlash against dense urban living. A wave of murder and violence followed the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests trib.al/0SEiY77
For some cities like San Francisco, the exodus seems real.
But more people moved to the New York City metropolitan area during the Covid pandemic than moved out, according to an analysis of cell phone data.
Young people are especially eager to move in trib.al/0SEiY77
With millions of kids going back to school in September, their movements are frequently tracked by parents.
The idea of digitally surveilling kids is a tricky one. Keen parents seem largely oblivious to the institutional concerns about the practice trib.al/h0I0qfW
.@parmy talked with about a dozen British parents sending their 11-year-olds to secondary school with phones.
About three-quarters said they would monitor their child’s movements through an app of some sort, largely for safety reasons trib.al/SOm7D7w
Various institutions aren’t fans of parents tracking their kids' phones.
Ireland’s data protection regulator says in its draft guidance that geolocation tracking should be turned off “by default for child users” trib.al/SOm7D7w
The world’s largest battery manufacturer — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology — has officially unveiled a sodium-ion battery.
This technology could lead to widespread adoption in a market largely dependent on subsidies trib.al/vdv96sd
Sodium-ion batteries currently have a relatively lower energy density, but they run better at cooler temperatures and have a greater life span.
This makes them a better long-term investment trib.al/vdv96sd
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would drive the development, standardization and commercialization of sodium-ion batteries.
This would provide a cheaper, faster-charging and safe alternative to the current crop on offer trib.al/vdv96sd
Never ones to miss a chance to cry “hardship,” upper-middle-class, well-educated young Americans are getting in on the Chinese “lie flat” social protest movement, claiming they, too, are burned out and quitting their jobs to do nothing trib.al/e5rjiys
It started among Chinese factory workers burned out from grueling 12-hour, six-day work weeks, and the unrelenting pressure to climb the economic ladder.
So some Chinese millennials formed a movement to opt out of work and the pressures of society trib.al/e5rjiys
What this trend will mean for China is unclear, but Americans who choose to lay down in lieu of work may end up worse off than they think trib.al/e5rjiys