Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, like President Trump before her, offered shoppers some advice Friday: Relax. Food is flowing to the supermarkets. Buy what you need, but there is no reason to hoard.
Those of us who have visited Rhode Island stores in recent days, though, have seen the results of raw emotions overtaking reason as fears of a spreading virus gripped the nation.
Shelves have been ruthlessly stripped of pasta. Chicken parts were a rarity in many stores. Bottled water has been snapped up immediately.
And toilet paper, for some reason, has become the gold standard of hoarded goods.
Indeed, authorities in North Carolina last week reported that they had recovered a stolen truck — packed not with fur coats or electronics but rolls of TP.
Human nature is endlessly fascinating.
Empty shelves might be cause for deep concern in such socialist regimes as Venezuela or Cuba. But the genius of American capitalism is that decisions are made not by central planners or corrupt politicians but all across America, by the people who are best equipped to make them.
The food industry, for example, has scrambled in recent days to meet the sudden increase in demand (by about 25%) at grocery stores (see “There is Food — but It Needs Redirecting,” March 20, by The Wall Street Journal).
“It is, in fact, unprecedented, the type of growth we’ve seen,” Noel White, chief executive of Tyson Foods, told the newspaper. He promised that, despite the challenges, “the food supply is sufficient.”
The sudden shutdown of restaurants immediately set food processing companies to change how they did things. They shifted from larger packages and cuts of meat to “more supermarket-ready packs of chicken breasts, pork chops and salad greens.”
In some cases, restaurant-bound supplies of vegetables were instead chopped into salad bags.
Sanderson Farms, a massive poultry company based in Mississippi, is looking at converting two plants handling most restaurant food to grocery store production, which involves cutting the meat into smaller pieces.
“This is war,” said Bruce Taylor, chief executive of Taylor Farms in California’s Salinas Valley, which processes vegetables.
The companies are already making plans for keeping the food flowing if the workforce is hit with sickness. Employees are cross-training. Salaried workers are taking on roles in warehouses.
The federal government has helped on an emergency basis by relaxing limits on the number of hours truckers can drive in a day, a measure designed to protect the public from tired drivers. Truckers insist they are among the safest motorists on the road and know enough to pull over when they are tired. But the extra hours of driving permitted will make it easier to keep the shelves filled.
Interestingly, before the scare, the U.S. meat industry was concerned about an oversupply problem!
In short, capitalism is demonstrating its virtues, as those trying to protect their businesses and turn a profit rapidly shift to changing market conditions. Such vitality suggests that our economy will get back on its feet fairly quickly after the coronavirus crisis is over.