Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9862831:


SeanR

46
Like a Shakespearean play 13 10, 9:42pm

Our problems have many parents.
There is the Just in Time delivery system, that has most stores having very little stock room.
Which was probably in part caused by our tax system, that had, and may still have, vendors taxed on not only their capital, but also their unsold stock. (Ever see an ad for furniture or cars saying that "everything must go", to get it out the door before the taxes are assessed?)
Combined with the cost to warehouse anything, regardless of whether or not it's taxed, making it more competitive to have very little on hand, so you don't have to maintain as much warehouse space.
Combined with models for consumer demand that can't take a shock like Covid, and still give meaningful data.

Then there were the industries that were ACTIVELY disrupted. One such being the consolidation of meat-packing, from every supermarket once having its own butcher slicing up their own steer and hog, to grocery stores getting rid of their expensive, highly-skilled and reasonably-paid, butchers and buying all their meat from Cargill and Tyson, meant that if one slaughterhouse got sick, it was potentially several hundred people who had to stay home and isolate and several thousand head of livestock that weren't slaughtered and shipped to grocery stores on time.