The problems with Just in Time
Mar. 13th, 2020 11:40 amThe current situation with alcohol hand gels, loo rolls and pasta illustrates one of the big problems with consumers operating on a just in time basis. If your supermarket supplier is operating this way (as they do), and they run out of stock, which they will replenish quickly but not instantly and the item in question is one that you need immediately, you're in difficulties.
Bottom line: for things that are essential to you start to replenish your own supplies when you open the penultimate one you have; this allows time to accommodate your first choice of shop not having it and needing to wait for it to come into stock/visit somewhere else. [and also allowa you a bit of freedom to not buy the first barely acceptable instance of the item, but to wait until the one you want is available].
As consumers none of us have specific agreements with the supermarkets eg. "you will supply me 2kg of cheese every month or you pay me $lots" the way a larger, manufacturing business would where a failure by a supplier to supply enough Widget X on time means they have to stop production.
We've also seen a further instance of what we know happens [think about all the marketing tactics that take advantage of this by suggesting scarcity]; when there appears to be a shortage of something demand for it increases.
Caveats: Yes I know there are restriction around repeat prescriptions. I know that some people don't have enough money to do this and other people don't have the storage space. And I know "opening the penultimate one" won't translate very well to some items, particularly perishable ones, but the concept of not waiting until you're nearly at the end of what you have is sound.
TLDR: if you can avoid it, don't operate your essential shopping on a just in time basis. You are leaving yourself at the mercy of retailers and of everybody else's purchasing habits.
Edit: Also note that the retail response isn't "we're very sorry we're not meeting your requirements, we'll get stuff back in stock ASAP", but "stop buying so much". As individual consumers we do not have the negotiating power we need to get a better service from the retailers.
Bottom line: for things that are essential to you start to replenish your own supplies when you open the penultimate one you have; this allows time to accommodate your first choice of shop not having it and needing to wait for it to come into stock/visit somewhere else. [and also allowa you a bit of freedom to not buy the first barely acceptable instance of the item, but to wait until the one you want is available].
As consumers none of us have specific agreements with the supermarkets eg. "you will supply me 2kg of cheese every month or you pay me $lots" the way a larger, manufacturing business would where a failure by a supplier to supply enough Widget X on time means they have to stop production.
We've also seen a further instance of what we know happens [think about all the marketing tactics that take advantage of this by suggesting scarcity]; when there appears to be a shortage of something demand for it increases.
Caveats: Yes I know there are restriction around repeat prescriptions. I know that some people don't have enough money to do this and other people don't have the storage space. And I know "opening the penultimate one" won't translate very well to some items, particularly perishable ones, but the concept of not waiting until you're nearly at the end of what you have is sound.
TLDR: if you can avoid it, don't operate your essential shopping on a just in time basis. You are leaving yourself at the mercy of retailers and of everybody else's purchasing habits.
Edit: Also note that the retail response isn't "we're very sorry we're not meeting your requirements, we'll get stuff back in stock ASAP", but "stop buying so much". As individual consumers we do not have the negotiating power we need to get a better service from the retailers.