On Tuesday, the grocery store chain Bashas’ advised members of the Navajo Nation that the company is experiencing the “perfect storm,” which is causing empty shelves. The company said it is experiencing “never-before-seen” staffing shortages at the company’s distribution center in Chandler as well issues related to the failing supply chain.
LETTER FROM BASHAS’ TO NAVAJO COMMUNITIES 01.11.22 pic.twitter.com/XdnBbL1Onc
— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) January 11, 2022
“We are dealing with never-before-seen staffing shortages at our Distribution Center in Chandler, both from a regular lack of workers and from workers calling in due to illness after the holiday season. This has created incredible strain on our ability to pick and pack orders for our stores. We have had to limit the number of cases of products each store can order based on their overall store volume. This, coupled with overall manufacturer and vendor shortages, has brought things to where we are today. This feels eerily similar to two years ago at the start of the pandemic, but we assure you this time it is different,” Edward and Johnny Basha wrote to Navajo Nation communities.
“On the upside, even in the last five days, we have increase the number of cases that stores can order. We have increased the number of cases for our Dine’ stores even more, knowing that we are the only access for fresh food for miles and there is a critical need to continue feeding the community. We have new team members joining our Distribution Center to get us back to where we need to be as soon as possible,” assured the Bashas.
According to Consumer Brands Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman, “shortages are being reported nationwide. U.S. groceries typically have 5 percent to 10 percent of their items out of stock at any given time; right now, that unavailability rate is hovering around 15 percent.”