Shoppers swarmed to big-box stores and supermarkets in a frenzy of panic buying over the US ports strike — stampeding to stockpile essentials that, in many cases, aren’t affected by the work stoppage.
Experts say the strike across 14 ports from Maine to Texas will mainly affect supermarkets’ access to fresh produce from the Caribbean and Latin America, packaged foods and alcohol from Europe and some meats from overseas.
Nevertheless, consumers appeared anxious that stores could run out of basic supplies like they did during the pandemic — with similar retail raids reported in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and even Arizona.
At a Costco in New Rochelle, NY on Thursday, cars were parked as far as a half-mile away from the store, with customers pushing out shopping carts piled high with toilet paper, paper towels and bottled water — household staples that are mostly produced domestically and don’t rely on ships and dockworkers.
At a Staten Island location of the members-only warehouse club, stockpiling of other US-produced grocery items was rampant, even as entire aisles of paper towels, toilet paper and Kleenex went almost entirely empty, according to video footage shot by FreedomNews.TV.
“Everyone came out [today] because they are worried about the strike and you have to the get the milk, the bread and the eggs and they came out for the paper towels, too,” one shopper told the outlet.
The woman, who identified herself as “Josephine,” said she failed to get her hands on paper towels, adding that that she’ll be worried next week if the strike isn’t over.
Rising prices will be the next knock-on effect of the strike — in which dockworkers are demanding higher wages and a halt to automation at port operations — and will start hitting stores as soon as Friday, experts tell The Post.
At the Hunts Point Produce Market, which supplies fruits and vegetables to restaurants and supermarkets across the New York metro area, distributors have seen wholesale prices spike as much as 30% for imports like bananas – which mostly come from Costa Rica – citrus fruits and berries.
“Prices have been increasing in anticipation of a supply constraint next week,” Justin Leis, director of business development at CJ Brothers in the Hunts Point Produce Market told The Post. “Distributors and importers are trying to slow down on sales of the goods they do have with the understanding that there won’t be enough to meet the demand soon.”
At least one grocer said consumers are buying more but not at worrisome levels yet.
“It’s nothing like COVID days or out-of-stock days,” said Steven Sloan, co-owner of the Morton Williams supermarket chain in New York City. “The stores are definitely busier but it’s more like if you had a snowstorm and people were going to stock up before the storm.”
Others say the inventory they have in warehouses in the New York City area “is enough to get us by for a few weeks,” according to Nelson Eusebio, political director of the National Supermarket Association, which represents 750 independently-owned stores. “Our suppliers and our stores are in a wait-and-see mode but the critical period is in another two or three weeks when we have to reorder anything that comes from another country.”
Nevertheless, price increases on fresh fruit and vegetables will be felt at many stores this coming weekend, said supermarket consultant Burt Flickinger of SRG Insights, because “stores are under siege.”
Smaller stores including bodegas are likely to run out of produce first as their suppliers try to sell what they have in stock to their larger customers.
“Suppliers will cut the smaller orders rather than screw the big customers,” Leis said.
Even If the strike that began Tuesday ended this week, the supply chain is likely to be disrupted through the end of this month because it would take weeks to unload the ships that have piled up already. At least 45 were anchored off shore as of Wednesday — compared to just three before the work stoppage.
What’s more, some regions that were hard hit by hurricane Helene are dealing with impassable roads and highways.
“If the strike was settled today there would still be chaos at the ports that it would take weeks to sort out,” Flickinger said.
Analysts have warned the strike could cost the economy billions of dollars a day as shipments stall.
President Joe Biden – who has issued support for the port workers – signaled the contract was making headway, though he did not provide details.
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