As Delta Hysteria Surges, CostCo Brings Back Purchase Limits
Despite the Biden administration’s hard-fought narrative regarding a July 4th “independence from COVID” celebration, there is still plenty of worry out there about the virus – particularly as the delta variant continues to surge.
Health experts have blamed some of this surge on the return of children to school, particularly as many school-aged children are not yet able to receive a vaccine.
But there is another factor that could dial up the spread of the illness as well, as cooler weather forces more Americans back indoors.
CostCo has her issues still, as they deal with a massive truck driver shortage, and have had to return to pandemic-style purchase limits to keep products on the shelves.
Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said Thursday the company wants to make sure it has essential items at stores, even as shipping delays and truck driver shortages make it hard to keep them on shelves.
During an earnings call, he said the retailer is “putting some [purchase] limitations on key items.” Those include toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water and high-demand cleaning products. He did not specify how many of each item customers will be able to buy.
The new product limits are prompted by a different challenge than the ones in earlier phases of the pandemic, when stores saw unusually high demand for paper products and antibacterial wipes as customers stockpiled those goods.
Advertisement - story continues below“A year ago there was a shortage of merchandise,” Galanti said. “Now they’ve got plenty of merchandise but there’s two- or three-week delays on getting it delivered because there’s a limit on short-term changes to trucking and delivery needs of the suppliers, so it really is all over the board.”
The company is actively working on solutions, however, even going so far as to charter several ocean liners to transport product from Asia to the US in the coming months.
