Supplies and Demand

[Guest fountainhall]

Here's one for my “I don’t get it “list.

 

I went to a Sony store last week to purchase a battery for one of their relatively new cameras (new as of mid-2009). Out of stock. When would the next batch come from the supplier? Don’t know. There are none in the warehouse now! Since it’s not urgent (I only want it as a back-up when I am on holiday), I did not press the point. It made me think, though, that there are quite a lot of similar cases here in Thailand which I have not found in other countries.

 

Long stayers will recall the sugar crisis when all sugar disappeared from shelves. Later there was the tonic water crisis when for almost 3 months tonic also disappeared. Although certainly no great hardship to most Thais, it was maddening when it had always been so plentiful.

 

Another was the total disappearance 2 - 3 years back of all Cadbury products. This lasted for 4 – 5 months. I thought this was probably Nestle, which has a huge presence in Thailand, exerting pressure on the supermarkets and the like. Then, all of a sudden, Cadbury’s chocolate is back on the shelves!

 

Earlier this year, Boots ran out of indigestion tablets. Odd, since they are made in this part of the world. Each time I went in to a store, I got the reply “new stocks will be here later this week.” Well it was another 8 weeks + before they actually arrived – and then with a 50% price increase.

 

Central Supermarket is, surprisingly to me, the worst. I have lost count of the number of items with “out of stock” stickers that are up there for many weeks, sometimes months.

 

With cash registers noting the numbers of each item sold per day and presumably someone at headquarters keeping tabs, the system is supposed to increase efficiency. I fully accept that supplies cannot be conjured out of a hat, and will involve the items’ production schedules, shipping times, and so forth. So immediate replacement is not always possible. But when I go into Central for 5 or 6 items and 3 are off the shelves for months, I wonder who is screwing up.

[Guest luvthai]

I wouldn't be surprised if shipments from warehouses in Bangkok have been suspended due to the kaos being caused by the red shirts. Major malls are closed and traffic is mostly at a standstill.

I am surprised the gov't hasnt taken drastic measures to restore order and end this craziness.

[Guest fountainhall]

I wouldn't be surprised if shipments from warehouses in Bangkok have been suspended due to the kaos being caused by the red shirts

I am sure this will affect supplies over the next few weeks. But I am talking about supply problems well before the demonstrations.

[Guest voldemar]

Here's one for my

[Guest fountainhall]

What do you think about Carrefours?

I regret to say I have never been to a Carrefours - and only once to a Tesco Lotus. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll certainly try it.