Yesterday I had to send off a package to my friend in Nashville. She broke her ankle in two places while traveling in Italy and had surgery today (she came home for this). Post-surgery she’s staying with her son who lives just a few miles from her.
I, of course, sent off a card immediately but wanted to do a bit more. My friend has a soft spot for the Little Debbie Swiss Rolls and I’m sure her son won’t think to toss them into the shopping cart when he gets groceries. So I got a couple of boxes, boxed them up and headed for the post office.
It was a little busy when I was there and it was surprising that there was a supervisor who kept coming out to say “thanks for your patience, we’ll be with you….” I’ve never experienced that before. Then I heard the postal worker next to mine say that they didn’t have any stamps. I was sure I had heard that wrong, but my postal worker confirmed… no stamps. She said that the manager who “unlocks” the stamps hadn’t come in yet. I couldn’t help laughing, although I did try to suppress my giggles in case anybody else in line needed stamps.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it and it reminded me of the gas shortage in the 1973 with the long lines. And of course, it made me remember the toilet paper “crisis” at the beginning of covid. But for some reason, the post office not having stamps strikes me as the weirdest. Why does only one manager have the key? Why hadn’t that manager come in; if not able, why hasn’t someone driven to his/her place to get the key? I suppose I’ll never know.
What other shortages have you survived? What strategies did you use? Did snack cakes help?
Trail Baboon 
My first response is to feel privileged about my life. I can’t remember feeling very endangered by any shortage. Perhaps inconvenienced, but not threatened or deprived. I’ve had problems with not purchasing enough yarn in the correct dye lot I needed, so that when I returned to the store it was all gone. That is frustrating. I also remember the gas lines of the late 1970s. Also frustrating, but certainly not the worst thing that could happen.
I don’t remember snack cakes ever helping me with a problem like that. Maybe they could. I guess I never tried.
It seems like the post office should have multiple people assigned to the very important duty of getting more stamps out of stamp storage. If someone can’t come in to work, someone else needs to be able to access those things so that the work can continue.
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Has the downsizing of postal workers already hit this p.o., perhaps?
I do remember waiting in long lines for gas in ’74. (Snack cakes would have helped while waiting in line.) But other than that (and I find this significant), I can’t remember any long-term shortages! Someone was temporarily out of what I wanted, but then it was on the shelves again.
Maybe others’ comments will trigger something…
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I sent a letter to the PO box in Bismarck for my regulatory board. It was returned saying the box was vacant. Our office manager in Bismarck checked it out, and found that the person who was supposed to send invoices for PO box renewal hadn’t done so, and our box and the boxes of several.other boards had been vacated. We got it straightened out.
I have more than enough of everything, but I must confess I am vexed by the absence of extra thin Swiss cheese slices at our grocery stores here. No idea why there haven’t been any for months.
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swiss cheese it has been determined should never be sliced thin
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It was a Presidential decree.
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hostess twinkies mate for life and should never be separated i was informed about 30 years ago and i have abided steadfastly to this rule.
shortages are a great way of making you appreciate the simple things you took for granted before
eggs, toilet paper, cream cheese, tanzanian peaberries and the like were common items and then gone…..
today i have severe shortage in mobility. my hand leg foot and back are the areas in question
mayo the medical facility not the condiment has been called to help. slow comeback but ive got time
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Tanzanian peaberries? Sorry to hear of the health problems.
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I recently sent a letter to our daughter by Priority Mail. I could track it. It was supposed to get to her in Tacoma in 3 days. It left our post office promptly, then sat in the Bismarck post office for a week. Something is amiss in Bismarck.
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A frequent shortage of Democratic Party voters
Screaming at my car’s radio.
Chocolate anything helps everything.
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A shortage of Baboons today.
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Better Late Than Never, Baboons,
Late last year I went to the post office for stamps to find that the machine that prints stamps was only able to print them one at a time. It was my Christmas stamp order, so I had requested over 50 of them. By the time the machine spit out 50 of them, there was a long line of customers behind me. I was embarrassed.
As a youngster, I loved Hostess cream filled cupcakes. I have since given them up because they just do not meet the need anymore. But give me a Morning Bun, and I am happy. Today for the first time in many days, I am without a headache, thank goodness. We had a shortage of stable weather. The most notable shortage I remember was the gas shortage of the mid-1970s when we sat in long lines waiting to fill the car tank. Shortages are something we have lived without in the USA, but I suspect there will be some coming if tariffs or other policies continue.
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I asked this question to my lunch bunch, and they agreed that we have been lucky in the US, not much in the way of shortages. That may be changing – people are starting to notice gaps on the shelves…
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We have a shortage of psychologists in ND, and I don’t see it improving. Most new folks are practicing via telehealth from other states. Can you imagine having to test a 2 year 8 month old child for developmental disabilities virtually? It is the bulk of my and Husband’s work, and it has to be done in person. When we finally move, there will be hardly anyone to do this testing.
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I know, and I think this is so sad, and in other areas besides psychology… virtual everything.
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I cannot imagine testing that way. While telehealth can work well for somethings, it can not work for everything. Trying to corral a hyperactive 3 year old on camera would be a nightmare. However, as rural areas and small towns have voted for reduced services, this is now the reality that they asked for. Young professionals do not want to live there.
There is tax money that is well spent. Psych services are an example. Rural areas are rapidly becoming third world states. Iowa’s economy now ranks 49th in the nation.
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Perhaps a system could be created where a powerful chief executive someplace who can do things by executive ordered can compel psychologists to serve in North Dakota. I wonder, would exempting them from taxes help?
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They get their student loans paid off if they sign up with the state whether they live in the state or not.
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I never really liked any Hostess products. The fillings always tasted so chemical.
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I have to admit I had a fondness for the Susie Q cakes. Unfortunately they quit making those before pandemic. Sigh.
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Love the stamps in photo on top…
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Husband and I are in London, experiencing a shortage of post offices. I wrote postcards for my parents and grandson, assuming we’d be able to buy postage at our hotel’s front desk, since they have a box for outgoing mail. No such luck.
We’ve asked at shops with no results. We asked a passing mail carrier on the street and he sent us on a wild goose chase that ended in the courtyard of a pensioners’ hospital. My phone’s map app has been equally unhelpful. Now it’s a holiday weekend in the UK and I have a feeling I’ll be mailing those postcards from home.
Other memorable shortages— hand sanitizer during the pandemic. When we finally found some it turned out to be a bad type from China that was recalled. I ended up making hand spritzers using my old lens cleaner spray bottles and rubbing alcohol.
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Can’t recall any shortages I’ve endured, other than an occasional lack of common sense. So no coping strategies. And snack cakes never hurt. 🙂 But I can’t pass up a snowball or those chocolate cupcakes.
Chris in Owatonna
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I do remember once during the pandemic, when a lot of store shelves were growing bare, I had an impulse to buy some baked beans, and couldn’t find any. I tried several stores, thinking somebody had to have some baked beans SOMEWHERE. There was, of course, plenty of other stuff to eat. The temporary absence of baked beans falls into the category of a first world problem.
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