Resiliency of the food distribution system

[Chemsoldier]

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200401-covid-19-why-we-wont-run-out-of-food-during-coronavirus

BBC article on the food distribution system  and why they dont think covid will cause it to collapse.

Thoughts: it is not as US centric so there are likely some variation.
We are lucky this is starting at the end of the winter.
There is much more in the supply pipeline (at normal consumption rates) than we preppers give the system credit for.

Editorial comment:  preppers often talk out of both sides of their mouth on this.  We talk classical economics and the superiority of the free market to command economies.  Yet then talk, "the system is fragile!" Sort of.

[Morning Sunshine]

My local grocery stores (even the ones connected to national chains; theirs are smaller) do a semi-annual "case lot sale" where they order huge amounts of canned and baking goods.  They stagger it, but the biggest store in town had theirs scheduled to start the week before the "stay-at-home" stuff started.  I went the first day and got a few things - a box of hydrogen peroxide AND a box of rubbing alcohol (12 bottles in each box) before things got crazy.  It was actually a blessing that the store had already ordered a massive amount of extra food and HAD IT ON HAND just as the crazy started.
The next week saw the store completely empty.  But now it is looking a bit more normal - everything there, just smaller amounts of everything.  So we are getting restocked.  My cousin in North Idaho said that her community did not raid their (one) grocery store, just continued their normal shopping.  But because the rest of the country went crazy, their re-stock was 10% of normal.

[Morning Sunshine]

Ok, I have read that article.  I like it.  And they do use a lot of data and information from the US, so I would imagine it is more applicable than not.  It supports my local experience above, where my stores are managing to restock - slowly.

This statement though

"Consumers can help reduce the collective fear of food shortages by shopping as they normally would"

they don't want me shopping as I normally do.  Not yet.    But soon I will go back to my normal stock-up and store purchasing habits