Stock up while you still can.
For those of you unaware, a potential strike by frustrated freight rail workers in the United States still looms. If implemented, this would result in a supply chain halt unlike anything we have experienced in recent history.
For all of our trucks and planes and cargo ships, in order for goods to reach consumers they still need to be transported by good ol’ reliable trains. It’s a step of the supply chain process that happens in the background. While we typically see trucks pulling into the loading docks, those trucks are filled with good moved around the country from the ports of entry by trains.
If the trains stop running, we stop eating.
It’s that simple.
The good news for those of you who have still not prepared for supply chain disruptions resulting in food shortages is that we are now in the early days of an approximately seven-week pause before a strike can commence. This is due to the fact that President Joe Biden appointed what is called a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to produce recommendations within 30 days of its appointment.
They are expected to provide those recommendations around mid-August, at which point another 30-day “cooling off” period will commence. At the end of that period, either side may strike or lockout as the case may be.
So, short of other disruptions affecting the supply chain, during this time goods will still move from port to shelf. That means the time is ripe to continue (or begin) preparing your family’s pantries with your emergency food stockpile.
Who knows what will happen once the cooling off period is up. The rail workers certainly have enormous leverage as their striking for any considerable amount of time could plunge the country into chaos.
Or, if there is a shorter strike, it may be a less chaotic situation that still requires at least some emergency food preparedness.
Hopefully there is no strike at all, but banking on that is certainly rolling the dice on the health and safety of your family.
The time to stock up, if you haven’t done so already, is always now.