So, been reading about the possible railroad worker strike starting Friday, and while I’ve got some essentials stockpiled, just wondering if anyone here with logistics knowledge knows what goods will be most impacted if this strike happens?
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Literally everything. People don’t understand how much is moved by rail. I worked at a trans loading sugar plant years ago. Each railcar had 200-250k pounds of sugar. That was 4-5 tractor trailer loads per car. Every night, the train would come past and pick up our empty cars and drop off full ones. Without daily deliveries, we would have been out of sugar in less than a week. We were sending anywhere from 4-10 tractor trailer loads per day to Quaker Oats, Hershey, Pepsi, etc. Here’s how quick this snowballs from just that one business. Once they’re out of sugar, that is 30+ tractor trailer loads per day not going out. All those truck drivers are now out of work. Quaker Oats, Hershey, Pepsi, etc. rely on daily deliveries and would shutdown in a week as well. Now all the deliveries from those plants to stores aren’t going out. Now all those truck drivers are out of work. The stores rely on daily deliveries and now the shelves start emptying out without being replenished. This is the snowball from one location and one product not having the trains running. Get anything you don’t want to run out of now.
probably toilet paper...........
Isn't UPS getting ready to strike as well?
https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr120120-freight-rail-how-much-ships-by-rail.htm
Cleaning supplies, food, paper products, clothes, prescriptions, etc.
Food will be affected first. Manufacturers of durable goods keep inventory in regional depots for distribution. Food, however, is largely perishable and needs to be replenished frequently. While semis bring the food the last mile, generally speaking. Rail lines bring the food to the distribution hubs. Stock up on foodstuffs.
Energy second - coal arrives by train.
Who benefits from a railroad strike? Besides Charmin, of course.
Food suppliers and just about every other major industry would be hit hard. Same for oil- someone mentioned Buffett and Berkshire, et al, above. Can't imagine a protracted strike would do anything for their bottom line. But does anyone actually benefit from a strike? I'm genuinely curious.
Buffet, Berkshire, et al are literally forcing the strike IMO the question is why?
Had a friend who owned a produce market in what we call The Strip District (dont laugh, its a strip of land along the railroad tracks where goods are unloaded). He explained to me that fruits and veggies come in there every day around 4 AM and he picks up the produce directly from the train. He then sorts them according to the orders. The grocery stores usually pick up from him; restaurants he usually delivers. Then too he sells some in his stores and gives some away.
So my guess is fresh fruits and vegetables will be out first.
Milk and dairy products are mostly local around here. I lived in a farming area where most farms had signs as to which company they supply their products to.
We have lots of Amish around and can get most anything food-wise.
As for non-food items I suppose it will take forever to get if at all, just like with the ships stuck out in the ocean. I think rail strike is Part II of that.
All of them.
You’re not wrong, but any advice on preparing for the supply line headaches this will add to?
Find your local greenhouses and farms. Caved goods, water if you're on city supply. Water filters system for drinking at minimum.
You may want to do a little research on this manufactured crisis…who owns the major railroads? What have they been doing lately? Example:limiting/stopping fertilizer transport…how many rail cars do you see sitting idle along rail sidings? The unions, in this case, are not completely to blame. The railroads have been creating their own crisis for quite a while now.
Berkshire Hathaway, Statestreet Capital, and Vangard are major share holders in almost all major railroad companies in North America. Other foreign investment houses also have major stakes in U.S railroads.
Buffet also purchased how many barrels when it was sub zero $. Buffet’s got a LOT to do with this crisis. BTW…why so angry?
Didn’t intend to sound condescending - sorry about that. I won’t argue that unions suck, but they’re not solely responsible for this mess…I wouldn’t even put them in the top 50%.
Wow. Kinda sensitive, aren’t you? How many train Engineers can move the train without being a member of the union? And yet you’re going after the union members as opposed to the mafia bosses who run the unions. Huh.
Interesting.