Aluminum shortage...

[TheHaitian]

So I work retail so was informed of aluminum shortage. Coca Cola is being affected, we had to change our adds being they were running out of 12 packs cola and going to bottles and also it seems they are downsizing too.

Next we are expecting beers to be affected by it and shortages then someone said possibly can foods.

What is up with 2020?

[busymom]

Well, THAT explains why only the Pepsi in the plastic bottles is on sale here.  I suspect they're having the same problem.


They CAN'T allow the beer supply to run out.  When we were in Florida, the liquor stores were an "essential" business.  

[wvugurl26]

Yes, I haven't seen any good sales on canned soda in months. We are using 2 liter bottles since we are home all the time now. I wondered what was going on.

[jerseygirl]

Local Acme having Coke can sale - buy 2 get 3 free
Think I’ll buy 5!!

[weltschmerz]

Jun 26, 2020 11:15:51 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

So I work retail so was informed of aluminum shortage. Coca Cola is being affected, we had to change our adds being they were running out of 12 packs cola and going to bottles and also it seems they are downsizing too.

Next we are expecting beers to be affected by it and shortages then someone said possibly can foods.

What is up with 2020?

New tariffs on Canadian aluminum?

If U.S. President Donald Trump decides to impose a second round of aluminum tariffs on Canada in the coming weeks, as recent reports have suggested, some industry workers are warning the effect would likely hurt U.S. businesses more than those in Canada.



Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the U.S. plans to re-impose a tariff of 10 per cent on Canadian aluminum coming into the U.S. by the end of the week unless the Canadian government agrees to limit aluminum exports.

globalnews.ca/news/7102797/donald-trump-aluminum-tariffs/

[dannylion]

It's probably hoarding by conspiracy nuts.  They need a lot of aluminum foil to line their hats.  

[haapai]

In places with bottle deposit laws, a very high percentage of the aluminum cans subject to the bottle deposit law get recycled under normal circumstances.  In my own state, we weren't allowed to return bottles and cans until about ten days ago. 

We've got a lot of returnable cans in our garages, sheds and basements.  Restrictions on how many cans and bottles a person can return per day and frequent shut-downs of reverse-vending machines due to a lack of space in which to store the smushed and shattered containers mean that we still have a lot of aluminum cans in our garages, sheds, basements, and trunks. 

It is also worth noting that a whole lot of us have been consuming more alcohol recently.  Some of that is sold in aluminum cans. 

Seeing as how aluminum is notoriously expensive to smelt and therefore one of the most recycled metals out there, it does not surprise me a bit that a three-month disruption of the recycling part of the supply chain would lead to shortages.  Big, smart companies run some pretty tight supply chains these days.  In some ways, it's a marvel that they've managed to avoid shortages for as long as they have. 

It isn't the end of the world.  Switch to two-liters or wine for a while. 

[azucena]

Jun 26, 2020 12:04:26 GMT -5 dannylion said:

It's probably hoarding by conspiracy nuts.  They need a lot of aluminum foil to line their hats.  

POTD!!

Although I do have to say that I thought the nuts used tin foil, but hey they're probably dumb enough to mess that up too 

[justme]

Jun 26, 2020 11:18:44 GMT -5 busymom said:

Well, THAT explains why only the Pepsi in the plastic bottles is on sale here.  I suspect they're having the same problem.


They CAN'T allow the beer supply to run out.  When we were in Florida, the liquor stores were an "essential" business.  

Finally! An upside of not being able to drink beer - my wine isn't in aluminum!!!




PS liquor stores were essential in every state that I know of to avoid detoxing alcoholics converging on the ERs, obviously don't know how every state handled it. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nope, they are in the process of closing a huge aluminum smelter about 20 miles up the road from me.  About half the smelters in the US have closed.  Our neighbor is now out of a job, but this is his excuse to retire.

Their excuse is that the smelter is not economically sound.  We can get aluminum elsewhere (like China) cheaper.  

[lynnerself]

Scanning a few articles, it looks like demand for beer and soda in cans shot thru the roof during the pandemic. Due to people drinking at home instead of out and buying in large quantities.

[Deleted]

Well, I hope this means the price is up at the recycling center.  I have a lot to take in and it's hardly been worth it the past couple times.

[busymom]

The price is actually down at our local recycling center.  They'd better nudge it up, if they expect people to turn in their empties.  

[bean29]

I also had noticed that the price of 12 packs of Diet Pepsi is up.  I prefer 12 packs - they fit in the fridge better and they seem to stay colder.  I like my soda cold and w/o ice.  Sigh, I guess I will give in and buy bottles. 

If I was smart, I would use the opportunity to give up drinking soda - but I doubt I will do that.

When I was a teen, my younger brother and his friends went over by the aluminum recycling center Rail Road Tracks.  The cars always spilled some of the cans on the side of the tracks.  The boys took bags, gathered up the cans and then turned them in at the recycling center to get $$.  At the time they paid pretty well for Aluminum.

Mom says the land the boys collected the aluminum on belonged to Reynolds Aluminum, and that the employees had to know what the kids were doing.  She figures they just did not want to send an employee out there to clean up.

[dannylion]

Jun 26, 2020 13:35:10 GMT -5 bean29 said:

I also had noticed that the price of 12 packs of Diet Pepsi is up.  I prefer 12 packs - they fit in the fridge better and they seem to stay colder.  I like my soda cold and w/o ice.  Sigh, I guess I will give in and buy bottles. 

If I was smart, I would use the opportunity to give up drinking soda - but I doubt I will do that.

When I was a teen, my younger brother and his friends went over by the aluminum recycling center Rail Road Tracks.  The cars always spilled some of the cans on the side of the tracks.  The boys took bags, gathered up the cans and then turned them in at the recycling center to get $$.  At the time they paid pretty well for Aluminum.

Mom says the land the boys collected the aluminum on belonged to Reynolds Aluminum, and that the employees had to know what the kids were doing.  She figures they just did not want to send an employee out there to clean up.

It is possible that it cost the company less to buy back the small amount of spilled aluminum cans than it would have cost to divert paid employees to clean them up.  

[Tiny]

I thought the rise in price of 'diet' soda was because of the lack of artificial sweetners -- which come from China?   I remember reading about that back in March. 

I'm having a hard time believing there's a shortage of aluminum cans OR that the increase in price of soda in cans is because the price of aluminum went up...   The cost of diet coke has remained stable for nearly 15 years.  (well, up until March 2020 - I was always able to buy plenty of dt coke in cans at the lowest end of the sale cycle to get me thru to the next low point of the cycle.  The cycles where short enough so that the cases I stocked up on didn't "go bad"  (the artifical sweetner gets nasty if the soda is stored someplace warm/hot for a long period - or if it was stored correctly it tastes funky a couple months after it's "best by" date. 

Diet Coke  and sugar free Jello (jello and pudding) are the only two things I can tolerate artificial sweetners in... and I haven't seen Jello go on sale since March 2020 either.   

If it's the artificial sweetner that's the issue - maybe you all that use other products with artificial sweetners are also seeing a price increase or lack of sales  or lack of product on the shelves? ? ? ?        


 

[Deleted]

The aluminum prices are at an all time high and the shortage has been known for a while.


www.inside.beer/news/detail/usa-brewers-face-severe-shortage-of-12-ounce-cans.html

[countrygirl2]

I quit sodas then drifted in again. But I'm trying to get DD off them. So I have conveniently forgotten to buy them for home. If she goes out she can have one, but she drank those things solely and I said no.  She needs water. So now, of course, she is pretty much confined to home, I am making sure she gets 2 to 3 glasses of water a day. Have her take her meds with them. I told her I feel a lot of her gut issues and getting blood too is because of not enough fluids and the right kind of fluids. So I'm backing off them again, they don't taste like they used to anyway, so I'm finding it easier.

But yes they are expensive. I'm seeing empty shelves of so much of everything at the store, at Walmart. I'm starting to wonder if our local Walmart is going to close, they have mens clothing, but little for women. I was in and fabric is disappearing again, I bought a bunch, yes, I know, for $1.25 and $2 a yard for pretty pastel blouses and a couple of pieces for slacks.  The lady and I were talking about the lack of clothing and stores to buy it in. I said even Walmart has taken a hit, she said yeah, nothing pretty.  And they are trying to go to those precuts of fabric again, it didn't go the last time and likely won't this time. But when they and Joann's quit carrying it, that's it. I have a supply, I think for the the rest of my days. Hubs said well you aren't sewing much. I said I cannot work on houses and do anything else. I need to sew, clean, bring books up to date and have not cooked a decent meal in 3 days. Need to weed the garden and wash out the garage floor. You make choices now as I'm not the workhorse I used to be. I work 3 or 4 hours and I'm just done. But the house is coming along nicely. I think we will make the July deadline. We are about to back off selling it, even hubs acknowledged we could reconfigure the kitchen, we just stripped the old cabinets. Could put in new, add a bedroom, bath, and big walk in closet. He said he could do it for $30k.  But he still thinks we can find something better. And he is looking at houses with me. We looked at one today closer in, but no, not what we want.  Maybe something will come up. There is one at the lake but it is so dated and no room for him a garage. I could use my boats though. He said he could remodel it.  I keep hoping something will come up for both of us.

[countrygirl2]

I feel so sorry for hubs tonight. His very best friend in the world, he was our best man at our wedding and hubs at his. They grew up together, I think he might have been a year younger. Well he passed away. He has been very sick with cancer since hubs retired and had fought the good fight, but it finally won.  His wife had to put him in the nursing home just a couple of weeks ago, he could not get up. She brought him home I think just a few days ago, she called today and told hubs he passed away at home. She is only having him and family come for the funeral.  I have never seen my husband about to cry before, but I thought he would.  Honestly I'm betting when I went in the house he did.  

He told me, you know everyone I grew up with has died plus his brother. I said my family all did long ago.  He is healthy looking but is worrying that he will not escape alzheimers like his mothers family. He said you know I am searching for words now, I told him I do too.  We are both struggling with that. I don't know what I would do with him, they are also long lived and of course when they get like that, not in their right minds.  Well, we will just hope. I said perhaps with your fathers blood mixed in maybe you will escape it. He fears not and I do to but will not say so to him.

Sad thoughts, but we will get beyond this too.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2020 18:37:49 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I feel so sorry for hubs tonight. His very best friend in the world, he was our best man at our wedding and hubs at his. They grew up together, I think he might have been a year younger. Well he passed away. He has been very sick with cancer since hubs retired and had fought the good fight, but it finally won.  His wife had to put him in the nursing home just a couple of weeks ago, he could not get up. She brought him home I think just a few days ago, she called today and told hubs he passed away at home. She is only having him and family come for the funeral.  I have never seen my husband about to cry before, but I thought he would.  Honestly I'm betting when I went in the house he did.  

He told me, you know everyone I grew up with has died plus his brother. I said my family all did long ago.  He is healthy looking but is worrying that he will not escape alzheimers like his mothers family. He said you know I am searching for words now, I told him I do too.  We are both struggling with that. I don't know what I would do with him, they are also long lived and of course when they get like that, not in their right minds.  Well, we will just hope. I said perhaps with your fathers blood mixed in maybe you will escape it. He fears not and I do to but will not say so to him.

Sad thoughts, but we will get beyond this too.

That had to be a very tough thing for your hub, and for you to seeing his sorrow at losing his friend and fearing for his future.  I get scared a lot when I forget words which happens more than it used to. DH can't remember or hear so I'm never sure where he is mentally.  I hope future days will be better-you carry a lot of burdens,

[dondub]

They are closing the aluminum smelter in Ferndale, Wa., where I bought an apt. building a year ago, because of the alleged glut of Chinese aluminum they flooded our country with, making production in profitable in response to Trump tariffs.

So which is it? A Chinese aluminum or a shortage?

[Tiny]

Is it maybe about Trump's tariffs?? 

This is from the NY Times (so maybe most can't get there...) 


U.S. Weighs Reinstating Canadian Aluminum Tariffs
www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/business/economy/usmca-canada-aluminum-tariffs.html


The Trump administration is weighing reimposing tariffs on Canadian aluminum over concerns about rising exports to the United States, a move that would strain ties and possibly incite Canadian retaliation just as a revised North American trade deal goes into effect.


Is Trump intentionally creating a "crisis" - expensive Aluminum so he has something to stand on for being re-elected? 

Which also brings to mind - how come the American Consumer is paying the price for Trump's Tariffs? 

[tractor]

Making America Great Again always has a down side, and to be fair, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. Tariffs may hurt one company to the benefit of another company, even if they are located in the US.

It’s easy to promote the success, while trying to pacify the failures, same thing happens with the soybean market, China stopped buying, hurt American farmers. This was not the intent of the tariffs, just a side effect. It happens in industries across the country, and has been going on for a long time.

Aluminum is one of the most abundant alloys on earth, but the processing and manufacturing of goods takes time and has trade-offs (environmental impacts, etc). Hopefully through this pandemic we are learning more about how the worlds manufacturing engine works ( and understand that the US is dependent on others), but more than likely it’s just another opportunity to place blame on entities we can’t see, or fully understand.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2020 20:16:58 GMT -5 @donethat said:

Jun 26, 2020 18:37:49 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I feel so sorry for hubs tonight. His very best friend in the world, he was our best man at our wedding and hubs at his. They grew up together, I think he might have been a year younger. Well he passed away. He has been very sick with cancer since hubs retired and had fought the good fight, but it finally won.  His wife had to put him in the nursing home just a couple of weeks ago, he could not get up. She brought him home I think just a few days ago, she called today and told hubs he passed away at home. She is only having him and family come for the funeral.  I have never seen my husband about to cry before, but I thought he would.  Honestly I'm betting when I went in the house he did.  

He told me, you know everyone I grew up with has died plus his brother. I said my family all did long ago.  He is healthy looking but is worrying that he will not escape alzheimers like his mothers family. He said you know I am searching for words now, I told him I do too.  We are both struggling with that. I don't know what I would do with him, they are also long lived and of course when they get like that, not in their right minds.  Well, we will just hope. I said perhaps with your fathers blood mixed in maybe you will escape it. He fears not and I do to but will not say so to him.

Sad thoughts, but we will get beyond this too.

aluminum?

[Deleted]

In 1960 Vance Packard wrote a book "The Waste Makers" and had no crystal ball. I wonder what he'd have written if a crystal ball had been sitting in front of his typewriter...

[raeoflyte]

I won't buy soda in plastic so if the price gets too high I guess that will be how I finally quit. Would hate to do it, but it would save me money. I can't admit to how much I drink even on a mostly anonymous forum.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jun 27, 2020 8:37:17 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

I won't buy soda in plastic so if the price gets too high I guess that will be how I finally quit. Would hate to do it, but it would save me money. I can't admit to how much I drink even on a mostly anonymous forum.

I could easily go through several cans a day if I gave myself unfettered access.  I try to limit myself to 1 can a day, and about half the time it is seltzer water.  I have found I do not drink it as quickly as soda.

[stillmovingforward]

Now that aerospace is collapsing and won't recover for several years, there will be lots of aluminum for pop cans 🤣

[Opti]

Time to create airplane soda? The soda that allows your soul to fly! 

[Lizard Queen]

Jun 26, 2020 12:30:45 GMT -5 haapai said:

In places with bottle deposit laws, a very high percentage of the aluminum cans subject to the bottle deposit law get recycled under normal circumstances.  In my own state, we weren't allowed to return bottles and cans until about ten days ago. 

We've got a lot of returnable cans in our garages, sheds and basements.  Restrictions on how many cans and bottles a person can return per day and frequent shut-downs of reverse-vending machines due to a lack of space in which to store the smushed and shattered containers mean that we still have a lot of aluminum cans in our garages, sheds, basements, and trunks. 

It is also worth noting that a whole lot of us have been consuming more alcohol recently.  Some of that is sold in aluminum cans. 

Seeing as how aluminum is notoriously expensive to smelt and therefore one of the most recycled metals out there, it does not surprise me a bit that a three-month disruption of the recycling part of the supply chain would lead to shortages.  Big, smart companies run some pretty tight supply chains these days.  In some ways, it's a marvel that they've managed to avoid shortages for as long as they have. 

It isn't the end of the world.  Switch to two-liters or wine for a while. 

My husband tried to take back some cans to Meijer today, and it was shut down. We drink practically no pop, but occasional beer, and I started a white claw habit during the shutdown. I can't believe people were complaining about having $100's of returnables sitting around, but I guess some people do drink that much.