Food shortages?

[Alpha8472]

I work in a pharmacy and the main shortage now is liquid Tylenol and liquid Motrin and their generics. Children old enough to take pills can take the adult tablets. They just have to make sure that they use the right amount. Walmart seems to be sold out more often because Walmart is a cheaper place than Walgreens or CVS. The prices at Walgreens are close to price gouging now.

There are many drug shortages now on pain medications such as hydrocodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone/acetaminophen. Customers are angry and complaining that pharmacies across the country are totally out. Also, ADHD medications are also out of stock. This is leading to angry customers like we have never seen in years.

One other category is weight loss medications. Many doctors are pushing injection drugs for weight loss off label. This is leading to many doctors who used to be pill pushers to become injection pushers. These online doctors write prescriptions and make tons of money from morbidly obese people seeking injections to lose weight. It is out of control and patients who need these drugs for diabetes are at risk of dying due to shortages.

[storewanderer]

Most shortages at this point seem to continue to be from a shortage of labor at various points in the chain. I think the production end has gotten on track and is producing. The stores have not held up their end of the bargain and continue to not have enough staffing to stock shelves fully.

[veteran+]

I work in a pharmacy and the main shortage now is liquid Tylenol and liquid Motrin and their generics. Children old enough to take pills can take the adult tablets. They just have to make sure that they use the right amount. Walmart seems to be sold out more often because Walmart is a cheaper place than Walgreens or CVS. The prices at Walgreens are close to price gouging now.

There are many drug shortages now on pain medications such as hydrocodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone/acetaminophen. Customers are angry and complaining that pharmacies across the country are totally out. Also, ADHD medications are also out of stock. This is leading to angry customers like we have never seen in years.

One other category is weight loss medications. Many doctors are pushing injection drugs for weight loss off label. This is leading to many doctors who used to be pill pushers to become injection pushers. These online doctors write prescriptions and make tons of money from morbidly obese people seeking injections to lose weight. It is out of control and patients who need these drugs for diabetes are at risk of dying due to shortages.

There has been a national uptick that was recently reported by the CDC of RSA, influenza and Covid! All at the same time!

[storewanderer]

There has been a national uptick that was recently reported by the CDC of RSA, influenza and Covid! All at the same time!

The problem now is people don't know if they have COVID or flu. At this point I am not sure what it even matters? The old line- stay home if you are sick- still applies. I am seeing more and more people working sick. But even more still shopping sick. Do you REALLY need to go shop in Macy's or Big Lots browsing through Christmas decorations when you are coughing everywhere, sneezing, and sick? I kind of get going to a grocery store... but not really any general merchandise stores.

To some stores credit I have dealt with sick employees in Wal Mart and a few other places who were wearing masks and were "keeping their distance." It appears a protocol may be in place in some stores to at least have the employee who is working sick wear a mask, or the employee made that decision on their own. Now if the sick customers would make the same decision.

[Alpha8472]

There is a Walmart in the San Francisco Bay Area that I visited recently that is doing temperature checks of employees and handing out masks. They don't want any employees getting sick because the local Walmart stores are having problems hiring temporary seasonal workers. The corporate office demanded they meet a hiring goal and the stores failed. The Walmart stores are so shorthanded you see lines stretching across the stores with people unable to move even to shop.

I have seen customers at my pharmacy come in for COVID medication straight from the hospital and then go shopping in the store coughing all over. They apparently feel fine spreading it around.

Prescription Tamiflu and its generic are also totally out. The factories cannot keep up with the demand. If you have the flu, you will not be able to get any medication to treat it. You will have to resort to over the counter products.

[storewanderer]

There is a Walmart in the San Francisco Bay Area that I visited recently that is doing temperature checks of employees and handing out masks. They don't want any employees getting sick because the local Walmart stores are having problems hiring temporary seasonal workers. The corporate office demanded they meet a hiring goal and the stores failed. The Walmart stores are so shorthanded you see lines stretching across the stores with people unable to move even to shop.

I have seen customers at my pharmacy come in for COVID medication straight from the hospital and then go shopping in the store coughing all over. They apparently feel fine spreading it around.

Prescription Tamiflu and its generic are also totally out. The factories cannot keep up with the demand. If you have the flu, you will not be able to get any medication to treat it. You will have to resort to over the counter products.

This seems to go with the territory when it comes to pharmacies or having an entire department or a large group of employees all get sick (and not come to work, or come to work feeling awful and not able to work efficiently as a result) when stores are already short staffed will push a store to its breaking point. This has happened in some grocery stores in my area around Thanksgiving and the situation was very bad.

Many CVS Pharmacy locations around Reno have closed their drive through due to staffing shortages. Of course the point of the drive through was if you felt so bad you didn't want to go in, you could just drive through. Now this forces everyone inside.

I am noticing this year a lot of the folks who are sick sound really bad, but don't look very bad, and still seem to have enough energy to do things like go spend an hour or two in Wal Mart. These virus seem to not be the energy suck they sometimes are.