Coming chlorine shortage? - It is Here!

I was by my local mom and pop pool supply store today.. they are seeing the same thing. He said one patron wanted to buy a pallet of liquid chlorine.. he told him no, and that he wouldn't be able to use it all anyway before it turned into salty water! With all the news coverage they are not distinguishing the type of chlorine that is in demand.. so the general public thinks its all types of chlorine... gee thanks for that CNN, FOX, Reuters and AP!
Yep! The thing is if they can't get tablets it will cause a shortage for liquid too.
 
Pool Store owner I was chatting with to today was all ticked off. He had a weekend full of customers panic buying all his pucks. He tried to restrict sales but he’s out now until Wednesday when his deliveries come in. He even said he was angry at the local news for hyping the shortage BS. Just causing people to run out and panic buy. He tried to convince customers not to over-buy but they were walking out with 25 and 50 lbs buckets like crazy. He laughed too as some of these people don’t even take care of their own pools but have pool service companies. So he was like, “they’re buying chemicals they’ll never use … “. Most pool service companies I know won’t touch a customer’s chemicals so I think people are trying to buy it so their service guy won’t charge them for it.

It’s all just crazy panic buying at this point.
 
I just bought 12 bottles at Menards. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy. “Wow, that’s a LOT of shock. Stocking up for the whole summer? My buddy added a lot of shock once and ...” (I started tuning him out here.)

I’m thinking, “dude, I’m not in the mood to get Pool Stored from the Home Improvement store — so I’m going to go ahead and nod and not tell you that I chlorinate exclusively with this and it will probably only get me through June.”

Sigh.

Edit: and as far as any shortage is concerned, the website says my nearest Menards has 1,204 bottles in stock currently. No shortage in the Midwest at least.
So about that 1200 gallons my local Menards had two weeks ago — they now have zero. Same with the next two closest stores. There’s still some a little further away, but here’s the crazy part.

Most people around here haven’t even opened their pools at this point. There’s zero explanation other than panic buying / hoarding. Sad.
 

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Why can’t people panic buy Lima beans … I hate Lima beans …
At the beginning of the pandemic when people were clearing the grocery shelves I saw someone w/ an entire buggy full of canned lima beans 🤢 they live among us....
 
Speaking of safely storing chlorine. I understand storing liquid chlorine indoors is not advisable, but when trying to salvage its concentration, what other options are there? At the peak of an AZ summer, my enclosed garage can reach 135 degrees. I'm now considering storing the boxes inside. I tend to buy boxes of HDX 10% 2-gallon boxes at Home Depot.
 
Storing acid indoors is not recommended.

Chlorine can be stored indoors but keep different types of chlorine separated.
 
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Now add gas to the shortage list. VA Governor declared a state of emergency, stations are running out as people rush out to panic buy. Lines everywhere. 🙄

Wasn‘t 2021 suppose to be better? 😣
 
We've experienced tablet shortages before the New Year and now our supplier cannot get any 3" or 1" tablets until further notice. After it became a national headline in the past couple of weeks, we ordered several additional pallets of shock to our yearly inventory to ensure supplies throughout this year and at this point I'm uncertain it will be enough.
 
Visited Home Depot here in AZ today. 10% LC stocked to the top of the shelf. Julian date was 21 10309 so just a couple months old. Buckets of pucks were half gone with a prominent notification stating, "Limit of 2 per customer."
 
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