This Is Like Nothing I’ve Seen Before: Supermarkets Use Decoys To Fill Gaps Left By Shortages

Chaos has become commonplace in America’s supply chains. Executives say that almost every day a new disruption emerges, making it harder and harder to find a way out of this crisis. Here in the US, and pretty much everywhere in the world, grocers are having a hard time keeping store shelves full. Given that conditions worsen by the day at ports, where congestion is creating gigantic piles of containers to the point some of them are overflowing into city streets, crushing cars and provoking accidents, billions of dollars worth of goods are stuck and out of reach. Shipping delays mean that some stores are only going to get their products after almost a month of waiting. That situation is aggravating local and nationwide shortages and making consumers extremely worried. Unfortunately, industry experts argue this is going to be the new normal for the foreseeable future. And there’s only so much store owners can do to cope with shrinking inventories and empty shelves. Many of them are having to come up with crea