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Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by jjeaff on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @02:40PM (#22740917)
Do we really have a shortage of supply? For what products? The only shortages I have seen are for toilet paper and a few random grocery store products that maniacs decide to stockpile next. (in my community, there is all the sudden a run on ice cream now that bread is back in stock).
Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by fauigerzigerk on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @02:58PM (#22741134)
We have a shortage of farm labour for instance, which may soon turn into a shortage of fresh produce and into massive food price inflation. We have a shortage of home delivery capacity.

If stuff doesn't get manufactured for months, we will have a shortage of many other things as well. Obviously we have a lack of demand for other things at the same time.

I don't think there is that much unreasonable stockpiling. People are no longer eating out. Kids are no longer eating at school. So people buy more at supermarkets. They also buy for a week, quite sensibly, to avoid making a trip to a crowded supermarket every day.

Combine that with finely tuned just in time logistics and you get a bit of a crunch. There's simply a misalignment of capacity right now, but there could be a real shortage of some essentials soon.

Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by CSSer on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @07:25PM (#22743903)
Where did the restaurants and the school get their food from? I know that means a great disruption, but I’m still not convinced that means a shortage.
Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by nitrogen on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:22PM (#22744334)
Sysco and the like. It's probably a distribution rather than a supply issue.
Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by sokoloff on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:40PM (#22744452)
Exactly. Typical container size in foodservice distribution is a #10 can, packed 6 to a case. Each #10 can is 3 quarts.

Fairly few households are interested in buying canned tomatoes 18 quarts at a time.

Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by daxorid on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @04:29PM (#22742187)
Hoarding is a small aspect of current shortages. I'll pick one example at random:

Gyms are closed, so go try to find a squat rack, a bar, and some bumper plates for a home gym. Or dumbbells. Or even some crappy resistance bands. You can't. Nobody is hoarding 45lb plates for future use, they're demanding them for use now. Expand this for every industry impacted by shutdown orders. It wouldn't take long to think of hundreds of examples of non-hoarding shortages.

Inflation is coming. Shortages are the market telling you that price MUST increase to equalize demand. And it will.

Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @03:49PM (#22741695)
VR systems and Nintendo Switch systems are also out of supply, they were bought up quickly when the quarantine started and China hasn’t been making any new ones for a couple of months now.
Re:Ask HN: How to prosper under negative interest rates? by chelovek89 on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @08:42PM (#22744464)
A personal example. Gym equipment: barbells, weight plates, squat racks, etc are either sold out or way overpriced right now because gyms are closed. I bought a barbell set the week before my gym closed, and now that I went to look to buy new weights for it Im looking at "out of stock until May"