Something as simple as hitting the grocery store can now be a headache as the pandemic has taken a toll on the supply chain all across the county.
People in the Borderland tell CBS4 they’ve had trouble finding products like tomato sauce, pasta, corn, canned goods, milk, creamers, chips to name a few.
“There’s some stuff that takes seven months to come in,” says Angel Santillanes, the Supervisor at Westway Food Store.
He says the short supply of some items comes from a lack of inventory from their manufacturer in Amarillo.
“The warehouse where we buy merchandise from, they’re limiting on the inventory for each of the stores so they could divide it equally,” said Santillanes.
He says the pandemic is partly to blame with fewer staff to get products from one place to another.
‘They don’t have the people to run their factories over there,” said Santillanes. “Even the truckers, they don’t even have truckers to be able to send the groceries.”
CBS4 viewers sent in pictures of people stocking up on snacks all at once, like Hot Cheetos.
They also sent in videos where you can clearly see the produce section is cleared out.
“I was actually pretty surprised at the chips and even the sweet donuts and stuff that they have there. It’s been pretty empty on both sides,” said one shopper at the Vista Market off of Doniphan and Sunland Park.
These supply chain issues have led shoppers to get creative.
“My dad bought us a deep freezer so we can stock up in the event there is meat. He said stock up on your meat and save it because you don’t know when we’re going to get some again,” said another shopper.
Although for some, just basic food items are missing.
For others, it’s a much more serious matter.
“I have a one-year-old. He was born premature, so he has to have a specific formula and we’ve had to go over five stores try to find that specific formula cause nobody has it,” said another shopper. “I’m pretty sure if I’m struggling finding it I’m sure there’s a lot of other people struggling to get it too.”
Santillanes told CBS4 he’s not sure how long these issues will last but does ask customers to be patient while they’re working to get items as soon as they’re in stock .