BANGKOK, THAILAND – APRIL 09: People wearing face masks purchase cases of beer at a Big C supermarket the night before a citywide alcohol ban on April 9, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai authorities have banned alcohol sales for 10 days starting on April 10, 2020 in an attempt to stop social gatherings and slow the spread of Covid-19. Thailand has been under a state of emergency and will remain under partial lockdown until at least the end of April due to the coronavirus. As of today Thailand has 2,423 confirmed cases of Covid-19. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)
More families are getting together for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. So this is the exact product we'll need MORE of, not less: A major ALCOHOL shortage might be coming, just in time for the holidays.
Stores in Southern California are already dealing with it because of pandemic-related backlogs at the Port of Los Angeles, and the Port of Long Beach. They're the two busiest container ports in the U.S. 40% of all shipping containers pass through there.
That's led to shortages of all kinds of things, including alcohol and glass bottles.
The regional manager for a chain of liquor stores in L.A. says they have no idea which products they'll be getting each day.
One day this weekend, around 50 people were already lined up when they opened, just to be the first to get their hands on whatever alcohol they got in that day.
They're not TOTALLY sold out of alcohol. But he said certain types of booze are flying off the shelves. And as soon as they stock more, it's gone in a day.
A shortage of supply chain workers also isn't helping.
December 18th is the deadline for companies that work with the federal government to get employees vaccinated, or lay them off. So if the government AND vaccine-hesitant workers refuse to budge, that could lead to even more supply chain issues.
