Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

We still have time to mess this up!

This blog will pay for itself.

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It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

No one could have predicted…

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Santa Claus Versus the Shipping Backlog

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Santa Claus Versus the Shipping Backlog

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President Biden and his administration just gave everyone two months’ notice that, despite best efforts, it’s going to be tough to keep shelves stocked through the end of the year. Our Failed Mainstream Media just wants to know: But what about Santa Claus, Mr. President?

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    Sharing this again because I love it so much!

    Today, Republicans for Voting Rights (RVR) launched a billboard campaign across the country in response to reckless Republican calls for sham audits of the 2020 election. Here’s one we’ve put up in New York City’s Times Square: pic.twitter.com/96tweL9l9w
    — The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) October 13, 2021

    I hope it makes his head explode. I know it’s his favorite picture of himself. //

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Just trying to picture what the trumpov Administration’s response to the shipping/port backlog would have been…oh wait, there’s a quote that comes to mind:

    “I take no responsibility at all”

    (Plus mean tweets directed at California, I guess?)

  3. 3.

    Baud

    I thought the new Beatles documentary was a movie because the old film had been digitally remastered so well.  MJ featured a teaser.

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    Are the tides actually shifting? Because no one can explain that, ya know.

    Coffee shop out of gluten free treats, so instead of a mocha I got an Americano to keep the sugar free train going. I won’t derail it for anything less than the best.

    Even a bad morning at the coffee shop is a good morning. Just the right time of year to arrive when they open, and see the battery candles in the windows dim as the dawn gets stronger.

  8. 8.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Jeffro: I’m sure he would have reacted “very strongly, I can tell you” and they would all have said “Sir, yes SIR, sir.”

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    Working on a phone screen with my new portable Bluetooth keyboard. Pleased with it. But only because I left my Chromebook at home.

    The cats.

    Once I leave, the clock starts ticking until my return. Coming back to fetch forgotten objects is twice as bad when I leave again…

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    American workers used the pandemic to reset expectations, most notably what they are willing to put up with for crappy pay and benefits. Now maybe we can use the broken supply chain to rethink our insane instant gratification consumer culture and build something more sustainable. (Yeah, I’m definitely dreaming, though it’s too late to go back to bed. ;)

  13. 13.

    sab

    Santa Claus will cope in my house regardless of shipping.

    Dobby thinks my right forearm is a feline competitor. Very scratched. I seem to be winning. He needs new friends. What do I do

    ETA Get a new kitten seems a good choice, but husband says NO! I think his issue is new cats like me more.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    Does no one remember that the Whos of Whoville didn’t let the absence of presents ruin their Christmas?

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    @sab: Get Donny a big sturdy dog toy about the size of your forearm, and use that instead.

    I call it the Extra Littermate. Since you are surprisingly fragile. Does he know that?

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    Apparently the supply chain issues are not new so why the sudden panic about them?

    A couple of days ago I got a robot call from Rasmussen. Started with What’s your age and other demographics, went on to general questions like Did I think Biden was doing a good job and Is my family better off, and then veered off into What do you think the government should be doing about the supply chain problems? (“Um, that’s private industry” was not an option for an answer).

    While it’s true that there are some grocery items I’ve had trouble finding, it is nothing urgent, I can find substitutions for Ohio Family’s favorites easily enough. Frankly, not even in the top 50 of my concerns.

    I smell a rat here. Someone decided this was a good way to attack Biden.

  22. 22.

    Spanky

    Maybe Jen & Joe should remind the media morans that only COMMIE governments control the supply of goods and services.

  24. 24.

    germy

    The breathless media chattering about how people absolutely MUST start shopping for the holidays right now because the supply chain is backed up is such a perfect encapsulation of the role reporters play in serving capitalist interests.

    — jordan (@JordanUhl) October 13, 2021

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Baud:

    Does no one remember that the Whos of Whoville didn’t let the absence of presents ruin their Christmas?

    I just remembered that people probably don’t remember because we cancelled Dr. Suess.  Dammit!

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Factbox: How Target, Home Depot, UPS, FedEx plan to ease U.S. port congestion http://reut.rs/3aCTABQ

    Ship the smaller stuff by air, yes the outsource manager at work was explaining this to us during a company meeting in fall 2020, that’s how long this has been a problem.

  29. 29.

    Mustang Bobby

    I get coffee at the office; it’s part of the hospitality fund that I pay in to. Someone made hazelnut coffee. My question: does Starbucks in Miami Springs deliver?

  31. 31.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @WereBear: if the NYT has taught humanity anything, it’s coffee shops and dinners are for canvasing political opinions, not glutton free snacks.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ohio Mom: I smell a rat here. Someone decided this was a good way to attack Biden.

    Now the pandemic and the budget are easing, the press needs a new crises. Remember Trump’s never ending drama was very, very good for the MSM bottom line.

  36. 36.

    Nicole

    @Baud:

    Does no one remember that the Whos of Whoville didn’t let the absence of presents ruin their Christmas?

    Does no one remember that Dr. Seuss was cancelled?  The GOP said so; it must be true.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I’m with you. I think it’s bizzare and a completely insane focus. 700,000 dead and the focus in October is how much crap people can buy for Christmas? Not that they can’t buy- the volume might just be lower. It might be like 26 presents instead of 37.  Who are the people who have this as their main concern?

  42. 42.

    Nicole

    @Baud:

    I just remembered that people probably don’t remember because we cancelled Dr. Suess.  Dammit!

    Damnit; you cancelled my comment by getting there first!  Clever Baud!

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I’m so old fashioned that I still think Santa Clause should not appear at all in any form whatsoever until the Macy’s Day Parade.

  45. 45.

    Nicole

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Did anyone else’s mother say that?

    No, although she died when I was ten, so maybe I just didn’t have a chance to get to that point with her.  But I get the sentiment- I tell you what, the assorted reactions to the pandemic I have seen over the past 21 months makes me feel like I’ve learned which of my acquaintances have never really had anything truly bad happen in their lives before.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Why Liz Cheney wears those big glasses:

    While Dick and Lynne Cheney steadfastly maintain that daughter Liz was not adopted, our investigative reporter discovered a large donation by Dick Cheney to the Whoville Orphanage.

    From the Caspar Ghost.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    If I’ve read correctly, the offloading/onloading at those ports currently takes place only M-F.

    I begin to perceive a chunk of the problem.

  51. 51.

    satby

    Supply chain issues are about more than just end products purchases. Bottles, jars, boxes, etc. have been spotty to source and delayed in delivery for more than a year because the manufacturing has been offshored for years. So even if a product (like my lotion) is made here, it can’t go anywhere until there’s a way to package it, for example.  The discussion has to include manufacturing things here, preferably in a more eco-friendly way.

  54. 54.

    The Dark Avenger

    @WereBear: Have you been diagnosed with celiac disease or a gluten allergy?  Otherwise, you just wasted your hard-earned cash on one of the newest snake oil trends, as there is no evidence that gluten-free foods are any better for ones diet, absent the two conditions in my previous sentence.

  57. 57.

    nevsky42

    Even if supply chains were running perfectly and everyone got a new PS5 at their front door with a “Happy Holidays from Joe Biden” card in late December, I’m sure Republicans would find a way to be miserable bastards so they could blame him for it…

  60. 60.

    satby

    @WereBear: Just lost a longer comment due to this site’s apparently endless recycling, so tl:dr- we already manufacture eco friendly packaging in this country, but it’s a niche product because the cost is still so high. Oil safe cardboard “jars” for lotion or creams right now would almost  double the cost of my product (for example) because at a lower bulk buy they’re still $4.00/piece, where plastic is just under $1/piece. Get more manufacturers competing to produce that at lower prices, you get wider adoption and distribution, less waste that’s more earth-friendly.

  62. 62.

    mali muso

    @Mustang Bobby: Well, speaking from personal experience, when I was pregnant, I drank decaf coffee because caffeine is not recommended, but I really need the taste and aroma of hot coffee in the morning. But yeah, other than that, I got nothing.
    Door Dash probably delivers Starbucks. Make sure to tip generously!

  63. 63.

    Soprano2

    @Ohio Mom:  I think it’s a panic over Christmas. We’re so used to being able to get whatever we want in a day or two that people are panicking because they have realized that might not be true for Christmas this year.

  64. 64.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Now maybe we can use the broken supply chain to rethink our insane instant gratification consumer culture and build something more sustainable.

    I hope the idea of JIT dies a painful death. When they first started doing this back in the ’80’s I could see what a sham it was. I worked in the office at a box factory, and we did “JIT” storage of corrugated boxes for a couple of customers. JIT was a way to push your warehousing off on your suppliers, nothing more. Someone still had to manufacture and store the stuff, because no one is making thousands of boxes on a day’s notice! Perhaps we will see the wisdom of manufacturing things closer to us than Asia.

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: But Kay, don’t you understand that Covid deaths are so 2020? They’re always looking for new and exciting things to get upset about, and continuing deaths from Covid are such a downer. /s/s/s I do think some people are concerned about this, which is why they’re asking about it, but this is way down the list of concerns for most people. I love that Psaki said they aren’t the post office. I wish she had followed that with “Perhaps you should ask Mr. DeJoy about whether or not Christmas presents will arrive on time, since he just announced a further slowdown of deliveries”.

  69. 69.

    Soprano2

    @satby: Yes, and there are lots of delivery problems too. There has been a truck driver shortage for awhile because it’s a shitty job that nevertheless pays pretty well. I think eventually there will be driverless trucks on the interstates, and then a human driver will take the load to its destination once it exits the highway. That might actually ease this problem some. Truck driving becomes a better job if you don’t have to be away from your family four out of four weeks of every month in order to make money.

  71. 71.

    Soprano2

    @AliceBlue: Yep, I do. I think all questions about mail delivery should be directed to him, not Biden. I actually got e-mails from credit card companies about the new slowdown, telling me that if I’m mailing my payment I should mail it sooner to make sure it arrives on time.

  72. 72.

    Elizabelle

    @satby: 

    What about glass? Why plastic at all?

    In time, maybe we can have compostable, eco-friendly containers made out of sugar cane or bamboo or …

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: The reverence for the concept always puzzled me too because, as you said, it just pushes the warehousing off on someone else. I understand why that’s a plus for the factory that no longer warehouses the item, but it’s hardly some magical thing that adds efficiency to the world, which is how it’s discussed.

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack

    @WereBear:

    Thanks. The last time or two I did a housesitting gig for my RWNJ brother I left my computer at home and took just my (small) Chromebook. It made me think about the idea of getting by with just my cell phone and a small (but usable!) keyboard. Also useful for shorter trips, of course, or just being out and about. I’ll check this out.

  77. 77.

    catclub

    @Betty Cracker: Now maybe we can use the broken supply chain to rethink our insane instant gratification consumer culture and build something more sustainable.

     

    next you’ll be objecting to fedex flying panty of the month shipments. Where will that end?

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: We got an email from our shipping department that FedEx, etc were no longer guaranteeing delivery times, so we should plan for that.  Moving small stuff by air will help in the ports, but is shifting the problem.

    Biden’s initiatives will help and are important, but…

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle: or hemp fiber. A tax on styrofoam “clamshell” fast food containers would accelerate a transition to more natural packaging. The tax could be collected at the wholesale level.

  81. 81.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @nevsky42: Happy Holidays on that card? Why didn’t Joe Biden say Merry Christmas? Jesus is the reason for the season….GOP whining, same as it ever was.

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Another Scott: We got an email from our shipping department that FedEx, etc were no longer guaranteeing delivery times, so we should plan for that.  Moving small stuff by air will help in the ports, but is shifting the problem

    Not to mention air freight heck of lot more expensive  than ship and rail.  Also, the other thing the MSM is missing in their narrative is a lot of East Asian countries were the factories are still having shut down from COVID, flooding from excess rains and power shortages like China.

  85. 85.

    leeleeFL

    @Mustang Bobby:   , Hey, decaf keeps me happy, and my blood pressure reasonable.  Judgement free zone please.

    Re: The MSM and their ridiculous BS attacking Biden for shit he’s not responsible for, but attempting to remedy: I am beginning to understand why those Buddhist Monks in Vietnam set themselves on fire!  I cannot believe the abject STOOPIDITY of these fucking people.

    Trump  and Company areattempting to destroy what’s left of the American Democracy Experiment, and THEY are worried about Santa Claus?

    Where is that rusty pitchfork?

    Build more fucking tumbrils, I say?

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    “But- but – the McDLT!”   :)

    In a more serious vein,

    Council considers ban on foam coolers, disposable bodyboards
    [snip]
    Maui County has taken steps in recent years to reduce the use of disposable and foam products, implementing a ban on polystyrene foam food service containers in 2018 and approving a measure in 2020 to ban plastic disposable foodware — including forks, knives, spoons, straws, coffee stirrers, cocktail picks and chopsticks — starting in 2022. The council is now proposing to add polystyrene foam coolers and ice chests to the definition of plastic foodware. Source

    Ban on businesses packing groceries or merchandise in plastic bags was implemented here a decade ago.

  87. 87.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mustang Bobby: 

    I am still trying to figure out the purpose of decaffeinated coffee.

    They tried to make me switch to decaf,
    I said no, no, no
    -not Amy Winehouse

    @Immanentize: 

    I’m so old fashioned that I still think Santa Clause should not appear at all in any form whatsoever until the Macy’s Day Parade.

    How about the Sanity Clause?

  88. 88.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Soprano2: The past 20 years JIT has been a game of hot potato over who gets warehouse the product and take the risk. The place I worked in the ’00s the company needed to have some change down to the power supplies used and had to go threw ten different companies to get to the people who actually did the manufacturing.

  89. 89.

    VOR

    @NotMax: Disclaimer: very much not an expert in these matters. My guess is there are a number of factors at work. First, unloading 24×7 would require either more personnel or paying overtime. And overtime costs more so there is probably a reluctance to increase costs. Second, even if you can offload the ships, then you still need to put the goods onto land transport and there is a shortage of truck drivers. Third, COVID protocols may be an issue slowing work down – honestly have no idea.

    There may be some customs inspection bottlenecks too, which might be something the Biden administration could address.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I like Christmas- I like winter, for one, and I like all the socializing and hubbub but I just hate the excessive gift-buying. I don’t even think kids like a ton of gifts. They get irritable and over-excited and it’s no fun for anyone. Would it be so bad if we had to tone it down for a year? Just one year? Maybe people will like buying fewer gifts and then they won’t start the New Year in a hole. Try something new! Lemons, lemonaide.

  93. 93.

    leeleeFL

    @jonas: I myself am considering making all my gifts this year, like I used to when I was a new Mom and didn’t have a pot to p— in.  Baking, sewing, knitting….I remember how to do all of that

  94. 94.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    I like Christmas- I like winter, for one, and I like all the socializing and hubbub but I just hate the excessive gift-buying.

    Ten or fifteen years ago, my extended family decided to drop any exchange of presents between grownups at our Christmas festivities.  It’s definitely reduced the stress level of the season.

    And over the years since then, just about all of the kids have grown up, so it’s pretty much gone by the boards altogether.

  95. 95.

    WereBear

    @Steeplejack: I repurposed a laptop case that is now the wrong dimensions, but it’s stiff-backed and great for carrying the keyboard in a messenger bag or the like.

    It likes to shut off quickly but wakes right up.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    @VOR

    Not by any means suggesting it will be a panacea. Can foresee far more problems implementing the 24 than for upping (non-24) operational days to 7.

    Regardless, negotiating with the unions will be a boon for folks like SteveinAtlanta.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    Nice little story about this union:

    And the union leading the charge today is the BCTGM, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, founded in the same year as the American Federation of Labor: 1886.
    You’re forgiven if you haven’t heard of the BCTGM, but they’re the folks who put breakfast on your table, bread in your sandwich, and candy in your kids’ time-to-see-the-dentist mouths. This year, though, they’re also the folks who are restoring a needed level of strategic militance to American labor. In July, protesting the crazy hours they were compelled to work (in some cases, up to 84 hours a week), their members struck a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka. The following month, members struck five Nabisco factories across the nation, also to protest the plethora of hours and the dearth of benefits. They’ve done a bang-up job of pressuring those corporations to grant their workers’ demands, by both striking and publicizing the absurd schedules and conditions their members were compelled to endure.

    I’m not sure people realize that a lot of food production (the final end) is unionized and has been for a really long time. I think these unions don’t get attention because it’s not the stereotypical group of “production workers” – not manly enough.

  99. 99.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Elizabelle: [re containers & packaging:] @satby:

    What about glass? Why plastic at all? ​

      Breakage risk, perhaps.

    I once packed for a weekend trip and cleverly (or so I thought) decanted some shampoo into a tiny glass jar so that I could leave the big shampoo bottle at home.

    Then, while washing my hair, I dropped the tiny jar – and it broke into shards on the shower-stall floor.

    Happily, it was only 6 or 8 fragments, and I retrieved them all without stepping on any of them.

    20-something Past Me was so crestfallen! Not one of my better ideas after all. :)

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    We were never huge on it- my parents weren’t either and I think it’s partly something you grow up with.

    My daughter runs a gift exchange for her siblings. They complain she games it – she probably does- but she does all the organization so if they don’t like it they can do the work. It’s just one gift each though.

  102. 102.

    Starfish

    @The Dark Avenger: I captain of the “down on gluten-free trendsters” club.

    Every time I try to talk to someone about food allergies, they tell me about “gluten-free” this or that. Then I have to explain that egg is the allergy and that a lot of gluten-free items have that.

    A lot of the gluten-free items are not even gluten-free so the celiacs people cannot have them.

    Also, with the high cost of gluten-free items, it sucks for people who are poor and celiacs.

  103. 103.

    Nelle

    John Deere workers went on strike at midnight.  Record profits for the company last year but they don’t wanna shake.

  104. 104.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WereBear: ​@Geminid: The list of what we SHOULD be making from hemp is very long.

    Yes! Paper, fabric, and rope are all traditional products (as in: centuries old).

    Clothing containing hemp seems mostly to be priced in the stratosphere in the USA. Writing paper is available, if one searches a bit.​

  106. 106.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Stable Genis and Still NOT your president Donald Trump was seen ranting thusly

    WASHINGTON (WNCN/AP) – Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Republicans will not vote in the midterm and general elections until supposed voter fraud in the 2020 election is “solved.”

    “If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do,” the former president’s statement read.

    Many are arguing this is proof of conspiracy to fix the election. I see this as more evidence that a lot of Conservative voters are capitualiting and given up on politics, the Republicans know it and Trump is  trying to make it all about him.

  107. 107.

    leeleeFL

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: No matter why Republicans decide to stop voting, I am fine with the concept.  I have known many difficult times in my 70 years that were directly caused by the result of Republicans voting.  No downside I can see!

  108. 108.

    Geminid

    @WereBear: Hemp is only now getting into large scale production. I think we will see more and more hemp products by the end of this decade. I want to see what researchers develop by researching medical uses of cannabis. The “Charlotte’s Web” strain was found to contain a cannabinoid that suppressed a form of childhood epilepsy. Now that research into cannabis is legal (or will be) researchers may find other cannabinoids with effects on nervous disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

  109. 109.

    hueyplong

    @leeleeFL: Agreed.  Trump needs to say this every day.  His minions are most effectively motivated by simplistic repetition, and this looks like a meme that FoxNews and OAN are unlikely to echo.

  110. 110.

    leeleeFL

    @Geminid: Can we dig up WR Hearst and piss in his skull because he got Hemp declared illegal so he could continue to destroy forests for his newsprint?

    When my Parental Units were not hating on Fred Trump, Hearst got some delicious stuff said about him.  I had a very Liberal childhood!

  113. 113.

    Jerzy Russian

    @nevsky42:

     

    Even if supply chains were running perfectly and everyone got a new PS5 at their front door with a “Happy Holidays from Joe Biden” card in late December, I’m sure Republicans would find a way to be miserable bastards so they could blame him for it…

    They would complain that Biden did not write “Merry Christmas” on his card.

  114. 114.

    Quiltingfool

    @lowtechcyclist: We do an ornament exchange (a Dirty Santa style exchange) instead of gifts for everyone.  It’s fun – there are some ornaments that are popular, so they get “taken away” a lot.  I make felt ornaments; it takes me back to my youth when I enjoyed making  felt tree ornaments.
    I loved crafts when I was a teen, so every Christmas I would make gifts for my grandmothers and aunts.  I started out with woven potholders (anyone remember the small, square looms and the colored fabric loops?), then I did dishtowels with Swedish Huck embroidery.  Those were pretty cool.  Now, I make a quilt, and put names in a hat for the winner.  I’ve gotten all the girls done, now it’s time for the guys.  And yeah, guys like quilts. who knew?

  115. 115.

    L85NJGT

    Port of LA/LB already went to 24/7 and nobody was using it.

    Good luck Mr. President, we’re all counting on you.

  117. 117.

    debbie

    @satby:

    The discussion has to include manufacturing things here, preferably in a more eco-friendly way.

    Funny how the talk about this kinda fell away. Another TFG promise come to nothing.

  119. 119.

    L85NJGT

    @Kay:

    I’ve seen dumb ass “progressives” jawing online as to why this work is classified as manufacturing. ? If you’ve ever been in one of those plants….

  122. 122.

    Kay

    @L85NJGT:

    God, really? They don’t think candy is hand crafted by artisans in kitchens, do they? GIANT vats o candy. Forklifts. They are good jobs. They’re unionized with health benefists and retirement plans. It was kind of amusing knowing this during Fight For Fifteen because a lot of the food that comes thru fast food restaurants is produced by union members- hamburger buns, etc. which to me made the lower restaurant wages even more unfair.

    I’m obsessed with this lately. The irrational ways we value work and how it always seems that the work that more women do is undervalued compared to the work that more men do.

    I think it’s easy for Democrats. Just value all work. It’s a simple thing but actually doing it would be radical.

  123. 123.

    noname

    @Kay: Thanks for this article.  I sent the link to my father.  He was in this union for decades.  Back then (40+ years ago) it was the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers International Union.  I still have swag from conventions we went to as kids :)

  125. 125.

    Ohio Mom

    In Ohio Family, Hanukkah gifts are heavy on socks, underwear and whatever articles of clothing the recipient is in dire need of (this year it will be a pair of jeans for Ohio Dad). That’s not say every present is useful but isn’t the fun part the anticipation of opening the box?

  126. 126.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: I stopped buying gifts a long time ago.

    The key is to have two sets of friends, so each year you can give group A the gifts you got from group B last year, and vice-versa.

  127. 127.

    Fair Economist

    @Kay: My brother and his wife were nuts about buying Christmas presents. One year I counted 27 wrapped presents for my then-elementary school nephew and 16 for my preschool niece. Not small presents either- sit-in electric car, freestanding kitchen set, and lots of trendy items. At around present 13 my nephew ran out of steam and complained “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t have as many presents this year”. LOL, what it takes for the *kid* to complain he got too many presents!

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @noname:

    My middle son is in the IBEW and when he became a journeyman his local gave him a really nice pocketknife with his name and “graduation” date engraved on the handle. He’s quiet – not demonstrative- but he must have liked it because he sent me a photo of it and he never sends me photos of anything. It IS nice, that they commemorate it. I myself snagged a key chain from his swag collection :)

  129. 129.

    Ken

    @Old School: Nabisco is staffed by elves.

    Oops, my bad. And of course the Wonka factory is staffed by slave labor imported from Loompaland. Heaven knows what Wonka does when the union organizers show up.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    @Kay:  I just hate the excessive gift-buying

    I think a lot of people hate this, but no one wants to go first in ending it. A few years ago, once all my nieces and nephews grew up and got married, we started drawing names on that side of the family. It’s a lot less stressful and expensive, although now we have six grand-nieces and nephews to buy for! At least they’re still little enough that they’re happy with things that aren’t that expensive. I agree, it’s excessive most of the time.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Fair Economist:

    My daughter’s town has a “toy library” which I think is a great idea. Parents check out the toys and then return them. It was especially nice for them because they had a tiny apartment so they didn’t have to store piles of toys. I would have used that with mine if we had one. They really only ever have one or two favorites and the rest they ignore.

  133. 133.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: On Connie Schultz’s Twitter, she recently proudly relayed that someone had complained to Sherrod about the new money going to families, don’t workers deserve money more?, and he answered back, “Raising kids IS work!”

    Having a disabled kid and having to learn how to be his case manager on the fly has been an unpaid job times a thousand. I didn’t choose it and I can’t quit. I am one of millions. I was so excited to see Biden’s plan included more money for home aides to help us out but I expect that to be cut. Because it’s women’s work.

    P.S. I ended up not going to the local Republican Club meeting because I was just too tired. Am looking forward to reports from my compatriots who did go.

  135. 135.

    Soprano2

    @leeleeFL: Yes, but trucks can go places trains don’t go. I think once they get the tech worked out, driverless trucks on the highways will be relatively safe as long as they go exit to exit. I think it will be a long time until a driverless truck can navigate the streets of places like NYC and Chicago, thus the need for human drivers to take loads from the freeway exit to final destination. I see this as a logical use for driverless vehicles.

  136. 136.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Soprano2: Weird how from about 2010 to 2017, I could get a lot of items in a day, maybe three, tops.  I’d pop an Amazon order for anything from, uh, toys and garments for the wife to food products, and it would be sitting in my mailbox or on the front porch the next day. Spices were no problem, specialty foods were no problem. Mail in town was one day across, transcontinental in three.

    Then That Fuckin’ Guy hit and started whining about Amazon getting a rate from USPS, and how he was going to “look into it”. We get DeJoy and his creative destruction, and now NOTHING arrives on time except for racism and revanchist class hatred from old white people.

  137. 137.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: I checked out altogether. We give my sons, their spouses, and children a check. They give me nothing at all. My wife and I ignore it. I want nothing to do with it anymore.

  138. 138.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Soprano2:

    To be honest, I’m not sure if I care enough any more about white manufacturing employees in the Midwest to WANT that production moved back.

    I’m inclined to not give a shit, and would giggle to see  their pickups, hot tubs and bass boats repoed. Call it “reaping the whirlwind”.

  143. 143.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    My Christmas dream for years has been to be essentially left alone to grill steaks, overdrink and watch Die Hard and The Long Kiss Goodnight. No presents at all….

  145. 145.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: I hated trying to figure out what people wanted and I hated even more people trying to figure out what I wanted. Too many times I’d open a gift, look at it and think, “WTF am I supposed to do with this?” Then look up at the expectant face of the gift giver who thought they had found the perfect gift for me, and I’d have to fake it because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.

    Never again.

    eta: and I am really bad at faking it.

  146. 146.

    Booger

    @Soprano2: Some douchenozzle on NPR yesterday was prattling on about the new thing being posited as an alternative to JIT inventory, ‘Just-In-Case’ inventory.

    Otherwise known as INVENTORY.

    Who are these morons?

  147. 147.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think we may be twins separated at birth.  Did you ever get wind chimes made out of old glass bottles? Plus the kicker, “I saw those at a garage sale and thought of you…”

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: Nope, never one of those. I honestly can’t remember very many of the gifts I received. Why would I? I never wanted 99% of them and so I put them in the goodwill bin.

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Too many times I’d open a gift, look at it and think, “WTF am I supposed to do with this?” Then look up at the expectant face of the gift giver who thought they had found the perfect gift for me, and I’d have to fake it because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.

    I don’t usually like getting gifts, and this is one of the big reasons why.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    @Ken:

    They are. They’re the bulky items too- my grandaughter had a little grocery cart from the library (which she was thrilled with) when I was there. But it’s better if you don’t have it all the time!

    You can try things too. They borrowed a scarily realistic collection of plastic snakes which you might not BUY but she really took to them. She put them in the grocery cart.

  152. 152.

    Central Planning

    @Ken: My mom asks me what the kids want. They don’t know. I don’t know. She wants something tangible that isn’t a gift card.

    Then, she ships the packages to me and I need to wrap them. I hate wrapping presents.

  153. 153.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax: ​
    Why:

    “threw” in place of “through?”

    Max, he saves 2 letters every time he types “threw” — when did you start to hate thrift ?? Saving is supposed to be a good thing~!!~

    ;~)

    ETA: Why, I’ll bet that saves megawatts of power to keep the Innertubes running overnite.

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @OzarkHillbilly: I enjoy both gift giving and receiving.  I don’t have a really large circle of people involved, so it’s not too much.  No one always comes up with perfect gifts, but when someone really nails it it can be awesome.  I like the anticipation and seeing seeing what people came up with.  Gifts end up being a combination of the creative, the practical, and the “Do they even know me?”  It’s fun.

  155. 155.

    L85NJGT

    That port already went to 24/7 and nobody was using it, so they called Joe to bully pulpit it. I suspect it won’t matter. Shippers want their loads at the time and place of their choosing, and grouse endlessly about carriers failure to make it so. It’s one of those things.

  156. 156.

    Ken

    @Central Planning: I hate wrapping presents.

    I once wrapped a present in newspaper, then duct-taped the whole thing. Nice silvery Christmas look, but not completely appreciated by the recipients

    In your scenario, a gift bag might work. They’re nicely reusable, too.

  158. 158.

    catclub

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Trump: “If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24.”

     

    I sure wish this was true.

  159. 159.

    J R in WV

    @L85NJGT:

    Nabisco is staffed by old ladies chain smoking Pall Malls.

    No it isn’t. They might look old, but ladies smoking Pall Malls die young of COPD and Lung Cancer. Ask my Mom — oh, wait… You Can’t!

    She died very young from her Pall Mall addiction, gifted to her while she was in college, where they used to pass out “free cigs” to kids at the football games.

  160. 160.

    Central Planning

    @Ken: That’s a good idea. I asked my wife to remind me to never do that. Either pay to ship them to me, and I’ll wrap and send out, or, pay the company to wrap it.​

  161. 161.

    catclub

    @Ken: ​
     

    [gift bags] They’re nicely reusable, too.

    We have some gift boxes that have been reused at least ten years.

  164. 164.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @VOR:  Just some of the things affecting the supply chain, short answer, It’s Complicated:
    The World Economy’s Supply Chain Woes
    “Manufacturers reeling from shortages of key components and higher raw material and energy costs are being forced into bidding wars to get space on vessels, pushing freight rates to records and prompting some exporters to raise prices or simply cancel shipments altogether. ”
    “China’s determination to stamp out Covid has meant even a small number of cases can cause major disruptions to trade. This month the government temporarily closed part of the world’s third-busiest container port at Ningbo for two weeks after a single dockworker was found to have the delta variant. Earlier this year, wharves in Shenzhen were idled after the discovery of a handful of coronavirus cases. ”

    Everything from fuel for trucks and ships, raw materials, and things like semi-conductors are harder to get and so cost more.
    In addition it doesn’t help to have 24/7 shipyard unload hours if the trucking and warehousing companies do not go 24/7 as well.  You have to have trucks bringing outgoing containers out of the shipyards, and bringing containers back. Most containers of goods get picked up by trucks and taken to distribution warehouses for further sorting and distribution, most trucking ad warehousing companies in the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles don’t run 24/7, yet.

    Trucks are limited by what kind of container and chassis they can drop off. They have to make an appointment to drop off a container and chassis at the same time they make the appointment to pick up a container.

  165. 165.

    catclub

    @J R in WV: ​
     

    Max, he saves 2 letters every time he types “threw”

    ‘thru’ would like a word.

    seeing ‘threw’ I think of Dizzy Dean and ‘flang’

  167. 167.

    Eunicecycle

    @catclub: It’s kind of a joke in our family that we reuse boxes. Who will get the Rudolph box? Or a box from Kaufman’s (a store that doesn’t exist anymore)? Or maybe a box from a different item? We gave our son a cell phone one Christmas and he looked at me like “Is this really what’s in there?”

  168. 168.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @catclub: We do that too!  My mother used to have us take all the intact boxes and tie then in stacks with twine (it’s easy if you fold them nicely first)  then we put them in the attic for next year.  You knew you got a reused box because she wrote the name of the person the gift was for on the bottom of the box, then lined it out the old name each year, and wrote the new name.  she saved bows too…child of the depression and WW2.

  169. 169.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    FWIW I am a sucker for A Christmas Carol (old black and white versions) and the original Grinch cartoon.

    Me too. Actually, almost any version of A Christmas Carol will do it for me, including the cartoon version shown on TV in the 70s (which had *the* most terrifying Marley), the Muppet version, and Scrooged.

    However, as I get older, I am distinctly not in gift giving or receiving mode as much. Although I do feel a pang of sadness when I reflect that I will not be receiving any Christmas socks from my sister this year.

    Again in the “as I get older” theme, socks are a “yay!” rather than a “boo!” as far as gift-receiving goes.

  170. 170.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Soprano2: Yeah, I repeatedly have to remind the people I know, everything they eat, wear and use, was brought to the store on a truck.  Raw materials are different and often get loaded on trains for shipment to ports.  I remember getting stuck behind the coal trains in Long Beach/San Pedro…

  172. 172.

    misterpuff

    @Old School: Of course not.  Nabisco is staffed by elves.

    With blow torches.

     

    And I didn’t know that that Nabisco raided the Keebler Tree for labor. YLSE.

  173. 173.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly: 

    @J R in WV: I always use “thru”.

    My shortcut is, ‘ks’ or ‘cks’ at the end of a word get replaced by ‘x.’ Hence ‘boox’, ‘blox’, etc.

  174. 174.

    misterpuff

    @Old School: Of course not.  Nabisco is staffed by elves.

    With blow torches.

     

    And I didn’t know that that Nabisco raided the Keebler Tree for labor. YLSNE.

  175. 175.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: I started to need to buy socks and boxers the year I turned 30.  My grandmother who supplied them at Christmas had died the May before.

  176. 176.

    Geminid

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Four years ago Norfolk Southern Railway finished renovating eleven tunnels through the Appalachians to allow double stacked containers to pass. Many are shipped from the Port of Norfolk to an intermodal center in Ohio.

    The rairoad lowered the trackbeds in some tunnels. In others they had to drill and blast the tunnel ceilings. One worker was killed on this project.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    Who are the people who have this as their main concern?

    The utter depraved assholes who make mucho dinero selling crap to people convinced that crap is the holy grail and that none of us have enough of it.

  178. 178.

    Ruckus

    @Nicole:

    I’ve learned which of my acquaintances have never really had anything truly bad happen in their lives before.

    A lot of people fall into that group. The world has gotten safer, the workforce, while still not treated as good as they should be, are a lot safer, cars are safer, which is good because body shops need work too, as bad as healthcare actually is, it’s still a lot better than it was 60 yrs ago. We have vaccines for a lot of diseases that killed/maimed a lot of people decades ago, and including the cause of this pandemic – in record time. Jobs are far less hazardous, child labor is mostly outlawed. Even the military doesn’t kill of as many as it used to. The world’s population hasn’t grown simply because we have been reproducing like bunnies, it’s because life is safer overall. OK right up until this pandemic time…

    My point is that you are correct, most people in my grandparents generation (born 130+ yrs ago) had bad crap happen to them, from every direction. That level of crap has gone done rather dramatically, even if it is no where close to zero – and never will be.

  179. 179.

    JaneE

    Shipping and postal delivery are only part of the problem.  The shipping problem wasn’t deliberately created.  The postal problem was planned in advance.

  180. 180.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @catclub:I sure wish this was true.

    Well put it this way, it can’t be happy times in the Red States. For the MAGA anything that doesn’t make the Libertards cry is Appeasement of Communism like Chamberlin did with Stalin after Pearl Harbor (yes, I know, but these are the idiots we are talking about) and with the small c conservatives all they see is their meh Republican incumbent being primaried by some lunatic who chews on the carpet.

  181. 181.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Also, while Trucking tends to be 24/7, or at lest when they can, there is a limit with times when the places they are delivering too are open. I know the rest of us aren’t going to go 24/7 just so Cletus can get a cheep electric nose chair clipper.

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