Some days, a trip to the grocery store can feel like a stroll down memory lane.
A sojourn to Nostalgiaville.
A jaunt to Rememberwhentown.
It wasn’t too long ago—about five years—when going to the market was like participating in a scavenger hunt. But rather than trinkets and tchotchkes the hunted treasure was toilet paper.
As the dark, early days of the COVID-19 pandemic settled across the country the bathroom tissue became increasingly difficult to find.
Where once store shelves were brimming with two-ply, three-ply, lubricated and scented options they suddenly were barren metal platforms that mocked anyone looking for even a single roll of recycled, single-ply toilet paper.
On the occasions when there would happen to be a supply of TP available, store management had to set policies limiting the number of packages a customer could by.
The great inexplicable toilet paper shortage of 2020 made princes out of anyone lucky enough to have a four-pack of bottom cleaners.
Fast forward to today and there is plenty of toilet paper to choose from. The shelves runneth over.
But now stores are running low on eggs. It’s not impossible to find them the way it was hard to find toilet paper back then, but the cost of one dozen can be shockingly high compared to what it was in 2020.
Back then it was around $2 or $3 a dozen, today nearly $9 in California. That’s about twice the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas.
And still, there are days when the grocery store is out of eggs for two or three days in a row and there are signs limiting how much of the product can be bought.
Feels like deja vu all over again.
Unlike with toilet paper, the egg shortage does have an explanation. Bird flu is killing egg laying chickens and the ones that remain can’t keep up with demand, driving up prices. Experts say there’s no telling when (if) the prices will go back down
The feelings of uncertainty and frustration are familiar ones. But hopefully we can take solace in knowing that even if we can’t afford a cheap, nutritious breakfast food at least we have soft toilet tissue to dry our eyes.
