When did they go away? We've got toilet paper labeled in English again here in VT/NH (Spanish is not widely spoken in this region, to put it mildly), but there's certainly been shortages of a wide assortment of things. At the grocery stores, they've been the limited to reduced brand choices and workaroundable sorts of problems.
Elsewhere, things have been weird. Target opened a new site recently and the clothing selection was slim. At various points I the last year it has been hard to buy all of the following:
1) a dish pan
2) car wax
3) shellac (now back in stock)
4) .22LR ammunition (ongoing)
5) cabinet grade plywood (recent development)
6) a roof rake (for removing snow from your roof, obvs. This was new for me too)
7) EN 417 fuel canisters for backpacking stoves (severe and ongoing)
The hiccups have been here all along, it's just that they're hitting things everybody buys.
Prices have been high since 2013ish on .22LR, but you could generally still buy some. It wasn't until the 2020 summer of covid and George Floyd protests that it became almost entirely unavailable, regardless of price. That is just starting to open up a bit in the midwest as I occasionally see it available now but it sells out quickly.
Elsewhere, things have been weird. Target opened a new site recently and the clothing selection was slim. At various points I the last year it has been hard to buy all of the following:
1) a dish pan 2) car wax 3) shellac (now back in stock) 4) .22LR ammunition (ongoing) 5) cabinet grade plywood (recent development) 6) a roof rake (for removing snow from your roof, obvs. This was new for me too) 7) EN 417 fuel canisters for backpacking stoves (severe and ongoing)
The hiccups have been here all along, it's just that they're hitting things everybody buys.