I was in the supermarket here the other day, getting supplies. Most things were there, but particular shelves were much barer than normal and many cheaper brands were unavailable. Not only flour, but also pasta, bread, biscuits (cookies), frozen vegetables, and various other items were limited to 2 or 4 items per customer. This might be ok for townies who shop every second day, but I was driving in from the country for and trying to buy 2 weeks worth of food for a family of 9...
The whole atmosphere was different to normal. People were polite, but it felt like being transported suddenly to a communist state. Queue at the door and only go in when the security guard says you can (after someone else comes out, as there are a limited number of people allowed inside at one time). Checkout staff enforcing quota limits. Basically, there is a class of people in society who are generally powerless, but in a situation like this get raised to little positions of power - like deciding who can enter a door when. They take these jobs very seriously, and think their jobs are very important. Suddenly they have power over others. These are the little people who are given power over all the little matters in any socialist society, and they embrace it with enthusiasm. It felt like their time had come - it felt like the communists had seized power over the food production system. Now, that is NOT the reality, at least yet. But it felt that way, and it was a very interesting societal change, particularly since it has happened so suddenly and without an actual political change.
The most bizzare conversation I had was with a checkout operator.
"I've got a problem with the bread quota. I have seven children, live in the country and shop once every week or two. We would usually buy 20-30 loaves at a time. I know that is not possible, but is there any way I could buy a few more than four?"
"Do you have any evidence that you have seven children?"
"Um, no, I don't see how I could prove that."
"I thought it might be written on your drivers licence or something."
I had no idea how to respond to that! She called over her supervisor, who suspiciously and grumpily allowed me to purchase 8 loaves of bread. Another little person with sudden power over a tiny detail of the lives of others...
The bread and other baking items shortage is because, completely ridiculously, our supermarkets are allowed to be open but the bakeries have to be closed. So everybody who normally buys bread at the bakeries is trying to buy it at the supermarkets, and the supply chains, even though they are running as normal, simply cannot keep up with this sudden increased demand.
Because they can't buy bread or biscuits, they are buying flour to make their own. Flour is then in short supply. There's actually mountains of flour at the flour mills, but most is packed in very large sacks to send to bakeries. There is a shortage of consumer-sized paper flour bags! So flour is running out in the supermarkets but accumulating in the flour mills.
Utter craziness.
But how long will this continue? How much of this social change will remain in a few months?
The fragility of our entire system is clearly demonstrated by the fact that something as simple as a shortage of paper bags can be so disruptive.
