To add to everyone else talking about logistics network efficiency, stores have a metric for ‘days of inventory’ in the building. It adds up the price of everything they have, and subtracts an average day of sales until the store hits 0.
For most grocery stores, the number is somewhere between 6 and 10. A big box store might push the number to 14.
If they stopped getting trucks today, your local grocery store is probably empty in a week.
Just4Spot t1_ja8bonu wrote
Reply to ELI5: why do grocery stores in the US keep such a large inventory? Aside from being prepared for episodic panic buying like toilet paper or bottled water, is there an economic reason to do this? How much of the food ends up going bad? by DrEverythingBAlright
To add to everyone else talking about logistics network efficiency, stores have a metric for ‘days of inventory’ in the building. It adds up the price of everything they have, and subtracts an average day of sales until the store hits 0.
For most grocery stores, the number is somewhere between 6 and 10. A big box store might push the number to 14.
If they stopped getting trucks today, your local grocery store is probably empty in a week.