A dockworker strike thousands of miles away from Southern California was enough to empty toilet paper supplies this week in a scene reminiscent of the pandemic.
Shoppers on Thursday lined up to buy paper products and bottled water in bulk at Costco and other big-box retail stores across the region.
“Not again!” laughed one man as he tossed a case of Kirkland toilet paper into his cart midday at a busy Costco in Tustin.
Shoppers were likely spooked by a dockworker walkout at US ports stretching from Houston to Maine.
Also see: If dockworkers strike drags on, US could see shortages and higher retail prices
The panic might all be for naught. The strike was suspended late Thursday until mid-January, so that all sides could negotiate terms of a six-year contract for 55,000 dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association.
Bad news begets panic
Not long after the strike began Tuesday, reports of empty pallets at Costco prompted the company’s chief financial officer to say he didn’t expect any supply challenges due to the strike.
Noting an uptick in demand in recent days, Gary Millerchip said Costco was working to replenish products that were selling fast.
Craig Rosenblum, a retail analyst with Columbus Consulting, said the port strike and an escalating war in Israel are causing jitters up and down the supply chain.
“The news is already driving concern that products may sit at port or not be able to get unloaded,” Rosenblum said. “The shopper truly does not understand what is manufactured where, therefore (they’re) feeding into the hysteria, like Covid, and shoppers are starting to buy up anything they can get.”
Much of the nation’s produce and food is made domestically, he said. “This should not affect the West Coast, but who knows when it comes to shopper psychology.”
Costco, an epicenter again
The scene at multiple Costco locations in Southern California felt a lot like a hoarding redux.
In Fullerton, an employee pulling up empty…
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