British retro craze sweeps America

[Ginger Yellow]

Sam's Club, CostCo impose rationing on rice purchases

[Incandenza]

British retro craze sweeps America

This was front page of the LA Times this morning. It seems that everyone going in and buying the places out of rice are restaurant owners worried about rising food costs--I don't know about Sam's Club, but some of the sizes at Costco are not as huge as you would see at a restauarnt supply store, but are larger than the typical family would need, unless you're Jon & Kate or the Duggars. I sometimes see people checking out at Costco with nothing but their giant shopping cart filled with cigarrete cartons, so you figure they must be liquor store owners. As it turns out, I have to go to Costco tonight, so I'll check to see if they have any signs up or if they have any rice at all.

Even if it isn't families stocking up, it doesn't make you confident as an American. Besides the usual fears of climate and environmental catastrophes, I'm starting to get worried about what kind of future there's going to be for my kid living here in the US.

[Ginger Yellow]

British retro craze sweeps America

Yeah, I read that about the restaurants, and it was a bit confusing. Why are these restaurants buying from CostCo etc rather than a wholesaler?

[jason voorhees]

British retro craze sweeps America

I must admit I never thought I'd be living a Sajyit Ray film (the one about the famine in India during WWII, when rice when up to $1,000,000 a pound or something like that.)

[Spearmint Rhino]

British retro craze sweeps America

I have a very thrifty friend who buys massive sacks of rice, and could happily live for months off that, meat & veg from the local market, and tapwater, without ever needing to step inside a supermarket. I just reckon the retailers are trying to stamp out that sort of thing.

By the way, I was watching a documentary about Thailand the other day in which rice fields had armed guards. WTF? What's someone gonna do? Run off with it?

[Alderman Barnes]

British retro craze sweeps America

So, if they catch someone nicking rice, do they take them off in a paddywagon?

[ad hoc]

British retro craze sweeps America

I think this (not the rationing in costco, but the current food crisis) could very well be the news story of the decade (and yes, the decade does include 9/11, Iraq and so on). Food riots in various countries already, the price of rice has trebled since the start of the year in some places (and it is only April), armed guards at the harvest in Thailand to stop (and yes this was the phrase they used) rice rustling. Grain going up too.

This, really, is fucking massive and a huge disaster. And it still seems to be a buried news item.

[Guest]

British retro craze sweeps America

The news story of this decade and the next one will be Princess Diana. In the Express at least.

[Spearmint Rhino]

British retro craze sweeps America

This isn't the time to be quoting Partridge on the Potato Famine, is it...

[Incandenza]

British retro craze sweeps America

Ginger Yellow wrote:

Yeah, I read that about the restaurants, and it was a bit confusing. Why are these restaurants buying from CostCo etc rather than a wholesaler?

I dunno...maybe they just want to do all of their shopping--personal and business--at the same time. Some Costco memberships have rewards and perks tied to them (yearly rebates, airline miles, etc.) so that might also be part of it.

Colbert talked about this on last night's show. He talked about the stores limiting customers to "80 pounds of rice in one trip...damn, I could really go for 81 pounds of rice right now."