#Stock shortage means demand

[cathkaesque]

Statement on Israel’s Use of Starvation as a Weapon of War in Gaza by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Palestine

For five days, Israel has attacked Gaza with the aim of total destruction, and the situation is at an unprecedented level of urgency. Israel’s actions have amounted to a humanitarian catastrophe of unfathomable proportions. At the time of publication, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports 1,055 martyrs and approximately 5,184 injured.

Israel has declared a total warfare stance on Gaza, imposing a ruthless blockade that denies over two million Palestinian residents of Gaza access to electricity, water, food, fuel, medical supplies, and any humanitarian aid. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explicitly stated this strategy on 9 October 2023, saying: “We are imposing a complete siege on [Gaza]. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.”

Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war demands the international community immediately respond with unwavering urgency and resolve.

Israel is indiscriminately decimating hospitals, schools, mosques, markets, and entire neighborhoods. Further, Israel threatened Egypt that it would bomb humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, prompting Egypt to withdraw its aid convoys. The Rafah Crossing into Egypt, the sole international exit from Gaza, has been bombed by Israel three times in a 24-hour period. This calculated assault severs Gazans’ only means of escape from ceaseless bombings or access to essential humanitarian aid. With Israel cutting off Gaza’s source of electricity, the only source of power was the Gaza Power Plant, which has just run out of fuel. In the case that it receives more fuel, Israel has threatened to attack the plant.

Israel’s assault is deliberately destroying any infrastructure that allows Gazans to support themselves. Vital agricultural and fishing infrastructure, crucial for food production, have been mercilessly attacked. Fisher folk cannot access the sea, into which sewage is spilling. The seaport is damaged, and tools are obliterated. Farming areas, often near the fence, have become vulnerable targets in Israeli airstrikes, and farmers whose land has not been destroyed cannot access it for daily agricultural practices. The Ministry of Agriculture reports that the bombing has done immense damage to agricultural areas and poultry farms, but the conditions make it impossible to precisely assess the situation in the field. There is a catastrophic decrease in food stocks, with shops across Gaza reporting severe shortages. The land and sea will face unimaginable environmental damages following these attacks, further preventing efforts to rebuild livelihoods.

Israel’s strategy aims to ensure that those who survive the bombs are condemned to a future without sustenance.

OCHA reports that the assaults have disrupted the UNRWA food operation, impacting at least 112,759 families. The poultry and livestock sectors are on the brink of collapse due to the severe shortage of fodder, endangering the livelihoods of more than 1,000 herders and affecting over 10,000 producers. This jeopardizes the provision of animal protein and the availability of meat and fresh sources of protein for Gaza’s entire population. Transportation of poultry to markets has virtually halted, and dairy cattle milk cannot be refrigerated nor marketed to factories, resulting in an expected daily spoilage of 35,000 liters of milk. More than 4,000 fisheries are at risk due to the closure of the sea. Gaza’s agriculture, poultry, cattle, fish, and other products are suffering from a lack of refrigeration, irrigation, incubation, and other machinery due to electricity cuts, causing spoilage.

Israel’s use of these tactics is not new by any means. Before Saturday, around 65% of the Gazan population was food insecure. More than 46% of the agricultural land in Gaza was inaccessible, and the fishing industry was severely struggling since fishing off the coast of Gaza has been restricted by Israel to 3 to 6 nautical miles.

Food insecurity is a human-made crisis, and Israel is manufacturing a mass starvation of the Gazan people.

It is the moral and legal obligation of the international community to intervene and end this crisis immediately. Food, as a basic necessity, must be allowed to reach the people of Gaza, and the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure must cease without delay.

We call upon the international community to take immediate action to stop Israel’s massacre of the Gazan population, demand the lifting of the siege, and establish humanitarian corridors for entry of aid.

[zhounauts]

₊˚✩彡 — nutelloco for u ft. jake x f!reader warnings cursing wc 673 words

if there were zero fans of nutella acai bowls left on earth, that would mean that you were deceased, not breathing, and buried six feet underneath the ground.

so it was safe to say, when you went to the acai shop and were denied your order by the new, very cute cashier you were flabbergasted.

“what??” you ask, “you’re out of. . .the acai base??”

“yeah,” the boy says, “sorry about that, we’ve been having like uh some sort of shortage recently,”

“oh,” you mumble.

“you could get the nutelloco bowl instead! it’s similar, just coconut base,” he interjects eagerly.

“no, i’m good,” you sigh, “thanks though,”

“jake!”

“what?’

“oh uhm,” he mumbles, “i’m jake,”

“okay. . .?” he blinks at you, “i’m yn??” his blank face quickly widens into a bright smile.

“pretty name,” he tells you, “sorry about your bowl,”

you feel heat rushing to your face, before you quickly cough, “right, uhm, thanks, jake,”

“AGAIN??” you yell, much louder than you meant. you quickly quiet down, sending an apologetic look to other people in the shop, before slamming your hands down on the counter in front of you.

“okay,” you seethe, “let me get this straight jake,” he gulps. “an acai bowl shop is out of acai??”

“yes. . .” jake says meekly, “there’s a shortage! and like inflation and shit!,” he insists. you stare him down, “you could get the nutelloco bowl?”

“inflation and shit?? also why are you so set on making me order that??” you ask.

“it’s the same as the nutella bowl! just a different base,” he says, “just give it a try,”

“no thanks,” you mumble, “there better be acai tomorrow jake, or i will be fighting you,”

jake watches as you sulk out the door the second day in a row, glancing at your retreating figure. he can’t help but feel guilty as he stares at the very much full-stocked fridge full of frozen acai berries. one more try, or else jungwon might kill me for doing this

despite it being eight in the morning, you were on a mission.

you’re seething, fists clenched, as you stomp-walk down the pier to the acai shop, to confront a certain cashier about the fact that you know he has been lying to you, and preventing you from getting your order. you throw the door open, the door chime's smashing together, to find a very surprised jake setting up behind the register.

“oh you are so dead,” you exclaim, striding towards the cashier.

“morning. . .?” jake asks.

“don’t play with me,” you hiss, “i know you have that acai base, and you’re withholding it from me!” jake winces at your words, rubbing his neck in guilt.

"about that i-"

“don't give me a half-assed apology jake, you better give me a thesis statement on why you've been gatekeeping the nutella bowl from me and absolutely demanding me to get the nutelloco bowl! i know the nutella bowl's basic but it tastes really fucking good and i’ve been craving it—”

“cause i’m nutelloco for you?” he blurts. it comes out as a question, but as soon as you hear it, your words die in your throat.

“. . .what?” you ask, staring at the boy. his face goes red, and he crosses his arms awkwardly to stare at you.

“haha!” jake robotically laughs, “i was just joking actually! i’m sorry for what i did! i'll reflect and you can go report me to my boss, his name's jungwon, and his numbers actually 94850--”

“wait wait wait. let me get this straight,” you say, “you didn’t let me order what i want for the past two days because you wanted to use a cheesy pickup line on me??”

”yes. . .?” jake answers.

“you are a fucking dork,” you hiss, glaring at him.

“but did it work?” he asks. you can only stare at him, the words to deny him, stuck in your throat. you grumble, and turn away from the register, "did it?"

“get me that nutella bowl first, then we can talk whether or not i’m 'nutelloco' for you to,"

a/n stupid, short drabble but it is an ode to my love for acai bowls

@a-dream-bookmark

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Shortbread, part 6

word count: another micro part 811

tags: @bolontiku , @rampant-salamander , @castiels-sunflowers

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 (will link when I am on my laptop)

__________

In the aftermath of your clumsy lovemaking, it occured to you that maybe the reason you and Bucky had fit together so well in your time was because you’d been made for one another in his time. Except Bucky told you everything, and if he’d been previously married to someone who looked just like you, he would have said something. Steve would have said something when you’d first met. But you couldn’t shake the feeling that the reason your bodies had been so compatible in the future is because Bucky had learned his own body with you. At any rate, you reflected, breathless and snuggled into the hollow of his arm, Bucky had been an eager student, not once judging what was probably a scandalous amount of experience in his bride as you’d consummated the marriage.

“It’s like you were made for me,” he murmured, brushing a soft kiss across your forehead. “I feel like I’ve finally found where I belong, and I have to climb on a damn ship tomorrow and -”

“You talk too much, Buck.” You interrupted him by leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips. “I don’t care about tomorrow. I care about tonight.” You slid your hand through his chest hair and shifted your weight against his hip.

“Mrs. Barnes, you are insatiable,” he hummed against your lips, his hand sliding across your hip.

“Shut up and make me remember you, Mr. Barnes,” you demanded, your voice husky.

__________

Too soon it was morning, and the daylight streaming in your window woke you both. You glanced at the clock, and assured it was still early, you slipped from Bucky’s arms to make him breakfast. In your time, you were anything but the model housewife. You barely cooked, you relied on Stark-Tech to clean, and you devoted as much time to your career as you did to your relationship with Bucky. He loved the advantages of modernity, loved your independence and advantages. But this was 1940s Bucky, and you didn’t want to hit him with more culture shock than he’d already experienced in the wedding bed. And you did make a mean breakfast. You thanked the stars you’d grown up camping with your grandparents as you sorted out how to make coffee with the percolator on the stovetop, and pulled eggs and bacon from the icebox to start cooking. You were about halfway through when the scent of hot bacon and fresh coffee pulled Bucky out of bed. He looked so innocently domestic in his white army issue boxers with nothing more than his dog tags hanging around his neck. The shadow of a beard was starting on his jaw, and ran your hand across the stubble, rubbing your fingernails against it with satisfaction. He dipped his head to kiss you good morning.

“It smells amazing in here.” His voice was rough with sleep. He reached over your shoulder and stole a slice of bacon out of the pan. “Where did you get bacon?”

“Let me have my secrets,” you teased. You actually had no idea how your kitchen had wound up so well stocked with the rationing that was going on. You poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

“I was half worried that you’d run when you woke up this morning,” he admitted. You stopped turning the bacon and raised an eyebrow at him.

“James Buchanan Barnes,” you laughed. “Don’t play insecure with me! You’re handsome and tall and brave. A girl could do so much worse. Why would I run away?”

“Because I’m shipping out in a few hours and maybe you think you made a mistake,” he shrugged.

“And there’s a war out there, and there’s a shortage of good men as a result. I might never get another chance. It’s not like fellas are lining up to marry a nurse.” You had to think on your feet. You knew some history but hoped it was enough that you didn’t seem completely deranged to him.

“I think nurses are doing okay for themselves,” he teased, leaning in to kiss you. “You’re sure?”

The puppy dog eyes through his thick lashes killed you. This was closer to the Bucky you knew so well. The insecurity, bred from multiple lifetimes of being used like a machine, it was so similar to this Bucky’s uncertainty about your decision.

“I’m certain.” You met his eyes and nodded. “Whatever comes, Bucky, I’m not turning back on this decision.”

“I think I might just fall in love with you, Mrs. Barnes.” The tense wrinkles in his forehead relaxed and he cupped your face in his hands, leaning in for a gentle kiss.

“That’s kind of the idea,” you teased. “Make you love me so much you have to find your way back to me. No matter what.”

“I promise,” he swore, kissing you again.

[rjzimmerman]

Massachusetts Land Trust to Tackle Affordable Housing and Land Conservation in One Project. (Sierra Club)

Excerpt from this story from Sierra Club:

In Easthampton, Massachusetts, there isn’t much open land left. The area’s housing shortage means that most unprotected areas are attractive lots for real estate developers to add stock to this post-industrial artist’s haven, where old mill buildings house studios turning out pottery and paintings and new restaurants and microbreweries. The skyrocketing demand for housing then prices out land conservationists who aim to protect wildlife and air and water quality, and connect residents with nature. A new project in the city seeks to overcome the either-or narrative between sprawling cul-de-sacs and conservation, a shift rippling throughout the conservation movement. On a 53-acre parcel of land in this former mill town, Kestrel Land Trust will conserve 42 acres and will work with a partner organization to develop the other 11 acres into affordable housing. 

“We’re dealing with a climate crisis, a biodiversity crisis, and a housing crisis all at the same time,” said Mark Wamsely, conservation director at Kestrel Land Trust. “The effectiveness of the projects—both in terms of addressing the various crises as well as their practicality and feasibility—might be better if we focus on all of them at the same time.”

In recent years, land trusts across the country have begun to reevaluate their historically narrow missions, which prioritize traditional land conservation, and to consider how they can better serve all members of their community. As workers at land trusts began to watch local residents and their own colleagues struggle to afford housing, this shift in priorities has increasingly led to more collaboration between conservation land trusts and affordable housing organizations. Kestrel received an anonymous donation specifically earmarked for such collaboration. 

“I think [the donor] was reading the tea leaves in this particular community,” Wamsely said. 

Conservation land trusts acquire and manage land or conservation easements, which are agreements between landowners and trusts, or governments, that put permanent protections on land. Some critics say this takes land needed for housing out of circulation, thus worsening a housing crisis that disproportionately impacts marginalized groups. Collaboration between conservation land trusts and affordable housing groups is sometimes difficult due to past disagreements and cultural differences between the two groups. 

Most of the housing options in Easthampton are large farm houses or old mill housing in poor condition, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said. A report published in 2021 found that more than half the renters in the area are “cost burdened” and spend more than the recommended 30 percent of their income on housing, but longtime residents were hesitant to support developments that changed the city’s small-town feel. In order to maintain a sustainable local economy, LaChapelle’s administration knew it needed to look for new, innovative opportunities for affordable housing upon taking office, when Kestrel’s novel plan landed on her desk. 

Kestrel’s partner in this new mission is the Community Builders, a national nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing. It already owns a senior living community adjacent to the parcel earmarked for this collaboration, allowing for intergenerational connection, in addition to the other benefits of the project.

Kestrel’s conservation acreage will protect forests, floodplains, and a tributary of the Connecticut River, while the Community Builders will develop 87 affordable rental units. The low-income housing tax credit will help finance the project, making the units affordable to people making 60 percent of the area’s median income or less. Residents will pay 30 percent of their monthly income for rent.

[dkaufmandevelopment]

Texas Housing Shortage Deepens Despite Record Construction

Despite leading the nation in homebuilding, Texas faces a worsening housing shortage that is inflating housing costs statewide. Let’s dive into the data and explore what this means for real estate developers and investors.

The Numbers: An Escalating Crisis

The Texas housing shortage grew to 320,000 homes in 2022, up from 306,000 in 2021, despite Texas building more homes than any other U.S. state. This gap underscores the fact that even with a surge in new homes, primarily in suburban areas, population growth continues to outstrip supply. The nonprofit housing policy group Up For Growth reports these figures, highlighting the significant demand-supply imbalance.

Drivers of the Shortage

Rapid population growth, particularly in cities like Dallas, Houston, and Austin, has driven up housing prices and rents. Many new Texans are moving from states with higher costs of living, adding to the strain on housing availability and affordability. Historically, Texas has managed housing demand by building detached, single-family homes in the suburbs, keeping housing costs relatively affordable. However, this approach is no longer sufficient to meet the current demand.

Need for Denser Housing Types

Experts, including David Garcia of Up For Growth, suggest that outward expansion can no longer address Texas’ housing needs on its own. In urban centers, limited land availability and strict zoning rules hinder the development of denser, lower-cost housing types like townhomes, duplexes, and smaller apartment complexes. Loosening these restrictions could ease the strain by making it easier to build multi-family homes and other affordable options.

Regional Differences

The housing shortages vary by region across Texas, with some cities making progress in expanding their housing stock:

- Austin-Round Rock: Reduced its housing shortfall by a third, leading to a 16-month decline in rent, though the area remains short by nearly 24,000 homes.

- Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth: Saw their housing shortages grow despite greenlighting more construction projects than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

- El Paso: Has seen a minor easing of its housing shortage, a unique trend within the state.

Zoning Reforms: A Path Forward

Many housing advocates argue that restrictive zoning laws contribute significantly to the Texas housing crisis. While permissive toward single-family homes, Texas cities often restrict land for denser housing types, limiting the construction of affordable housing options. By adjusting these restrictions, cities could increase the housing supply and provide more affordable options for residents. However, zoning reforms face resistance from neighborhood groups and existing homeowners who often oppose denser housing developments.

Upcoming Policy Efforts

The Texas Legislature is expected to address the housing crisis when it reconvenes in Austin next year. A major topic will likely be the extent of state intervention versus local control in setting zoning laws. Some advocates propose state-level mandates to ensure all cities contribute to solving the housing shortage, while others emphasize the need for flexibility at the local level to tailor solutions to community needs.

“While every community should be accountable, the state can set expectations to ensure all cities are helping meet the housing demand,” Garcia said. Balancing state and city powers will be central to any meaningful progress in addressing Texas’ housing issues.

For real estate developers and investors, understanding the dynamics of Texas' housing market is crucial. The state's rapid population growth and significant housing shortages present both challenges and opportunities. Addressing zoning laws and supporting affordable housing initiatives will be key to managing this demand and capitalizing on the burgeoning market.

Join the Conversation: What are your thoughts on the Texas housing shortage and potential solutions? How do you plan to navigate these trends in your investments? Share your insights and engage with our community!

#RealEstateTrends #HousingShortage #InvestmentOpportunities #TexasRealEstate

What are your views on the Texas housing market and its challenges? Let’s discuss below! 💬🏡

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Harold Ridgwell

Dr. Ridgwell is one of two Doctors with a unique texture (the other being Dr. Hughes). Unlike the stock Doctor skin that features a green Tyrolean hat and yellow wellies, his hat and boots are red. Practically, as with Hughes, this is to help the player identify the particular Doctor they are meant to be seeking out in a malpractice of them. Dr. Ridgwell is currently head of Wellington Health and since Dr. Hughes is the only named Doctor working at Haworth Labs, we can perhaps assume that Hughes is head of the Doctor contingent there.

My favorite thing about Dr. Ridgwell is this memo he wrote admonishing the staff and students for complaining about being made to study botany. Aside from the respect to disciplines peripheral to his own, it also indicates that this is a guy who is aware of the broader community and industry. Which, you know, actually a good thing for an organization like Wellington Health.

Also the criticism of Sally's ability to go into business for herself rather than work towards the greater good. Which is something I rarely see talked about actually. Like, in a post-war England - especially an isolationist one that lost said war and is suffering shortages of all kinds - Sally's abrupt departure from Haworth Labs would be considered selfish and unpatriotic. You do see others in the game approach the precipice of calling her out for this (Harry Cavendish's glib statement that "when love fades, you must move on"; Dottie Lloyd-Ramsey saying that she might have told Verloc that Blackberry wasn't based on Coconut) but their English propriety prevents them from outright saying that her selfishness has caused civic and personal suffering.

Although really, what Ridgwell is criticizing isn't that Sally has elected to profit off her skills rather than put her shoulder to the wheel, so much as that she's been allowed to. Back in his day, if you were that valuable to the town, they wouldn't let you play dickdick with them about it.

Anyway, Ridgwell's also aware of the shortages in his own organization and in the town's population. In this other note to the admissions director, he points out that the populace simply does not have many people in it who can qualify for training as Doctors. Aside from the bad Joy taking out possible applicants that he mentions, there's also the fact that Doctors have a height (i.e. strength) requirement on top of the intellectual demand of the job. Wellies are malnourished (which results in shorter, weaker people), but Doctors still have to be able to lift and restrain patients. Especially with so many of them being plague Wastrels these days. It's like that fungus gives them extra strength or something.

But let's be real, you probably asked about Ridgwell because you want the tea on his rivalry with Verloc.

I mean, Ridgwell obviously has opinions about the guy.

That said, the environmental storytelling of Wellington Health is complicated. The motilene-filled room with Ridgwell's draft letter and the chest? I remember the level designer blogging about designing the environmental storytelling in that area, but I have no clue what the story is supposed to be there. Like, Ridgwell doesn't seem like he's planning to bug out otherwise. That the admissions office has been converted into plague wastrel patient cells? I mean, I guess if you can't find students, you don't need the offices, but there's nothing saying they need the space otherwise. Both of those things are just sort of there, you know? They don't go anywhere with it.

I honestly think this part of the story and accordant level was one of the most contested and revised areas, particularly with regard to what was supposed to be happening here. Then, because of the confused environmental storytelling, there was also confused supposition in the fanbase as to what it all meant.

That is, because of this statue in here, people assumed it meant that Verloc used to be head of Wellington Health. after all, Ridgwell donated a fuck-off big statue for his own office, surely an egomaniac like Verloc would have too.

I do not think this is the case.

Usually when I have a question like this, I start digging around in Poedit to get hints as to what the intent might have been. If I can see what was or where they might have been headed, then I can usually assume whether a detail was revised or jettisoned. But there's nothing in there suggesting that Verloc was head of Wellington Health at any point. And I also think that he's too young to have become head of this organization while still having to work in subordinate roles at Haworth Labs. If he'd become head of Wellington Health, going to Haworth Labs would only make sense as a lateral move, especially for a guy with an ego like Verloc. One does not go back down the ladder. A guy who was head of Wellington Health does not write a letter like this.

But... I have a concept.

Verloc has two statues in Wellington Health. One in the hallway, that he apparently donated himself.

And the toppled one in Ridgwell's office.

That the one in Ridgwell's office is knocked over and vandalized and not just removed entirely suggests that Ridgwell's ascension to that role is recent. And as I supposed in that other post about Verloc and Haworth, there are no statues of Haworth at Wellington Health despite inventing Joy, but there are these statues of Verloc. Suggesting that Haworth is not a Wellington Health alumnus, but since Verloc is, they can be proud of and take some credit for his becoming head of the other (competing) medical organization in the town.

What if the previous head of Wellington Health then considered Verloc's acquisition of Haworth Labs to be his own vicarious greatest accomplishment? I mean, this guy probably taught Verloc, maybe thought he was quite promising. Verloc does have that effect on people after all. Maybe this guy even thought he was raising up a protegé.

But Verloc's also fairly good at hiding his disdain for the people of Wellington Wells and he doesn't need a mentor at this point because he's young and invincible and his uncle is still alive. Also, he has no intention of serving the greater good. So regardless of whatever machinations this former director had for him, Verloc gets his degree and defects to Wellington Health's competitor. Which, that's fine, this former director thinks. Brings Haworth Labs into the Wellington Health fold to have it under the watch of an alumnus. Or so he might have hoped.

Ridgwell clearly never liked Verloc, stating particularly that his refusal to share his healthy test subjects with them is not unexpected. I don't think they were students together, but rather that Ridgwell may have been a professor at the time. Might maybe even advised the former director against investing so much energy into Verloc above other more reliably tempered students.

And he was right. Verloc refuses to collaborate or share resources, which hinders progress for both organizations and is very modern and unbecoming behavior typical of the youth these days. Would that they could just be conscripted still.

So shit plays out how it do, former director puts a statue of Verloc up in his office because he's just so damn proud, but isn't it actually sad because that's not even his accomplishment, it's that of a student who probably thinks about him only as a stepping stone to where he actually wanted to be, if at all. Indeed, we don't even know this guy's name because he's ultimately unimportant.

And when Ridgwell succeeds him, he knocks down that monument to misplaced pride and replaces it with one celebrating his own achievement.

What a familiar pose he chose!

And why not? If anyone is going to save Wellington Wells with the next big medical breakthrough, it'll probably be someone who can work well with others and is willing to entertain disciplines beyond his own field of study.

[theculturedmarxist]

Welcome to BIG, a newsletter on the politics of monopoly power. If you’re already signed up, great! If you’d like to sign up and receive issues over email, you can do so here.

Today, as the U.S. is drawn into wars in Israel and Ukraine, as well as the defense of now-peaceful Taiwan, I’m writing about war. Not the policy choices, or whether U.S. military power is a net force for good or ill, but the actual practical machinery behind the American defense base that produces the weaponry necessary to sustain the military.

As stockpiles dwindle, there is now widespread agreement among policymakers that America must rebuild its capacity to arm itself and its allies. But according to a new scorching government report released this week, that’s mostly just talk. The Pentagon doesn’t bother tracking the guts of defense contracting, which is who owns the mighty firms that build weaponry.

But first, I have a personal announcement. I am going on leave this week, and I’ve hired a colleague named Lee Hepner to take over for BIG while I am out. You are in for a treat. Hepner works with me at the American Economic Liberties Project. He’s a lawyer with over a decade's worth of policy and political experience at the state and local level, and when I have a question on the law or procedure, Hepner’s one of my go-to people. He’s drafted important legislation, and has recently been focusing on the airline industry, labor issues, and a lot of the major antitrust litigation I've written about here, including the trials of the Meta-Within merger, the Microsoft-Activision acquisition and the Google monopolization case. You're in good hands.

And now, let’s talk the defense base. Here’s an exceptionally boring chart that involves all the money in the world. Welcome to the Pentagon.

One of the more important side stories to the recent wars in Ukraine and Israel, and competition with China over Taiwan, is that the U.S. defense industrial base, composed of 200k plus corporations, is being forced to actually build weapons again. Defense is big business, and since the end of the Cold War, the government has allowed Wall Street to determine who owns, builds, and profits from defense spending.

The consequences, as with much of our economic machinery, are predictable. Higher prices, worse quality, lower output. Wall Street and private equity firms prioritize cash out first, and that means a once functioning and nimble industrial base now produces more grift than anything else. As Lucas Kunce and I wrote for the American Conservative in 2019, the U.S. simply can’t build or get the equipment it needs. There are at this point a bevy of interesting reports coming out of the Pentagon. The last one I wrote up earlier this year showed that unlike the mid-20th century defense-industrial base, today government cash goes increasingly to stock buybacks rather than actual armaments. And now, with a dramatic upsurge in need for everything from missiles to artillery shells to bullets, we’re starting to see cracks in the vaunted U.S. military.

The signs are unmistakable. In Ukraine, fighters are rationing shells. Taiwan can’t get weapons it ordered years ago. The Pentagon has put together a secret team to scour stockpiles to find high-precision armaments in demand on every battlefield and potential battlefield. But the problem goes beyond national defense. In Lake City, Missouri, the largest small arms ammunition plant in the world has decided all ammo production is going to the military, meaning that there is going to be a domestic shortage for hunters, sportsmen, and maybe even police. This shortage may look like a story of a sudden surge in demand, but it’s actually, as Elle Ekman wrote in the Prospect in 2021, a story of consolidation and de-industrialization.

Surges due to wars aren’t new, and there’s always some time lag between the build-up and the delivery. But today, the lengths of time are weirdly long. For instance, the Army is awarding contracts to RTX and Lockheed Martin to build new Stinger missiles, which makes sense. But the process will take.. five years. Why? What is new is Wall Street’s role in weaponry. We used to have slack, and productive capacity, but then came private equity and mergers. And now we don’t. The government can’t actually solicit bids from multiple players for most major weapons systems, because there’s just one or two possible bidders. So that means there’s little incentive for firms to expand output, even if there’s more spending. Why not just raise price?

But don’t take my word for it, take that of the Pentagon. In 2022, the DOD reported that “that consolidation of the industrial base reduces competition for DOD contracts and leads DOD to rely on a more limited number of suppliers. This lack of competition may in turn increase the risk of supply chain gaps, price increases, reduced innovation, and other adverse effects.” And that’s why, more than a year into the Ukraine conflict, the ramp-up is still not where it needs to be.

This week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is a Congressional office charged with investigating problems in government and business, explained why. The GAO came out with a report on how the Pentagon is doing essentially zero oversight of Wall Street’s acquisitions of defense contractors. The title is as boring as you’d expect, designed to have few people pay attention, but offering a red-alert to procurement officials.

The report is simply jaw-dropping. Despite all the chatter about consolidation at high levels within the Pentagon, and in Congress, the bureaucracy has made essentially no progress whatsoever. For instance, we have a trillion dollar defense budget, but there are just two people in the Department of Defense who look at mergers in the defense base. You couldn’t staff the morning shift of a small coffee shop with that, and yet two people are supposed to look at the estimated four hundred mergers plus going on every year among defense contractors and subcontractors.

Four hundred mergers every year is a lot, but of course, that’s just an estimate. Why don’t we know how many acquisitions happen in the defense base? As it turns out, it’s an estimate because the Pentagon isn’t tracking defense mergers anymore. To put it in boring GAO-speak, Pentagon“officials could not say with certainty how many defense-related M&A now occur annually because they no longer track or maintain data on all M&A in the defense industrial base.” So the DOD is almost totally blind to the corporate owners of contractors and subcontractors, which might be one reason that, say, Chinese alloys are being discovered in sensitive weapons systems like the state of the art F-35.

It gets worse. There’s no policy or guidance on mergers, and DOD doesn’t even require contractors or subcontractors to tell them that there is new ownership when an acquisition occurs. In fact, the Pentagon relies on public news to learn of mergers. They often do not know that the mergers are going on, or that the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing them. When big mergers happen, even if the Pentagon is concerned, no one tracks what happens after it closes. They do no analysis of industry sectors, as their “M&A office is not collecting robust data or conducting recurring trend analyses that could help them identify M&A in risky areas of consolidation among defense suppliers.”

The Pentagon’s head-in-the-sand approach is why Lockheed now has a chokehold on nuclear missile modernization, since it bought the key supplier of rocket engines and denies those engines to rivals bidding for the contract to upgrade what is known as the nuclear triad.

So how does the U.S. government manage defense base mergers? Well, the Pentagon defers to the antitrust agencies to look solely at competition. “While DOD policy directs Industrial Base Policy and DOD stakeholders to assess other types of risks, such as national security and innovation risks,” wrote the GAO, “they have not routinely done so.” Basically, dealing with their own defense base is someone else’s job.

What I found most useful about the GAO report is the Pentagon’s response, a classic bureaucratic hand wave. The DOD agreed with all the conclusions of the GAO. It should track mergers and what happens afterwards, it should have more personnel doing so, it should consider national security aspects of corporate combinations, and it should have clear policy on mergers. But it doesn’t. The DOD says it will have a better strategy to deal with mergers… by 2024. Basically, you’re right, but it’s not our problem.

Every day, it seems like political leaders and consultants are saying it’s time to really get that arsenal of democracy going, and to re-industrialize for real. It’s quite possible to get a lot done. The FTC and DOJ now have significant amounts of national security-related information on mergers due to a Congressional change in pre-merger notification laws in 2022, so the DOD could easily do a better job of tracking what’s happening in the defense base.

More to the point, the Pentagon is very powerful. The Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks could simply start smashing heads on competition and begin telling contractors that if they don’t shape up, she will start an internal war against them. Or the head of the Armed Services Committees could threaten the cushy cash flow that leads to record stock buybacks among contractors, if the ramp-up doesn’t start. Or they could grant antitrust authority for the DOD straight-up, which would rely on a national security standard that allows widespread corporate restructuring without the long slog of a court case. There are many paths.

But if you actually look at the guts of the bureaucracy, nothing is happening, because doing something about our industrial base means thwarting Wall Street, and that’s generally not something that’s considered on the table among normie policymakers. Giant bureaucracies are hard to change, but they are not immovable. One of the ways that you know a previously non-functional bureaucracy is on the right track is, ironically, if there is bitter infighting and anger among staff, who are being tasked to do things differently. But as the GAO showed this week, that’s just not happening in the Pentagon, or at least, not happening nearly fast enough.

And that’s why America is increasingly out of ammunition.

[teaveetamer]

You people are funny. "If Engage doesn't sell as much as Houses it's not necessarily because the writing and advertising were bad, it's because Hopes scared people away!"

Ok I'm gonna let myself be a little bit of a bitch tonight, as a treat.

Bro if you hate my takes so much then why bother sending me an ask? Do yourself, and me, a favor and just block me or move on. And if you're gonna send me little whiny bitch ass anons about my posts the least you could do is read them. No one said Hopes was bad therefore no one bought Engage. We said retailers overestimated demand and overstocked Hopes, and that might have led to them understocking Engage. Which, and I don't know if you know this, is not a commentary on whether or not any of the games involved were actually good or not. If you assigned value or meaning to that statement beyond "did they print enough copies for people to purchase" then I don't know what to say to you, other than "touch grass" because I'm sick of 3H stannies misinterpreting everything that even minorly nudges their feefees in the wrong direction just so they can start a fight over absolutely nothing.

The fact that Hopes was overstocked and Engage was understocked is not up for debate. Amazon doesn't run 50% off sales of games that just released if they're moving their stock, and you don't have tons of reports of stock shortages if you stocked enough copies to meet demand.

And yes, believe it or not, being consistently understocked is going to have a marked difference on your sales of physical copies, which is what I'm looking at. Is the PS5 an underselling console just because it sold fewer units than the PS4 in their respective launch years? No, because there were obvious external factors that would have prevented the PS5 from selling more. Which is why, again if you'd actually bothered to read the post, you would see that I noted that this is more of an art than a science. Because, you know, there are numerous external factors which could be impacting things and we need to wait until we have official sales numbers from Nintendo before making definitive calls on anything.

I also offered several explanations for Engage being understocked that have nothing to do with Hopes (such as parts shortages or competing for factory time with Pokemon, Zelda, or other big Nintendo franchises that would take priority over FE) but sure, don't mention those, clearly I'm just in denial and out to get the 3H fans.

I'm sorry you're upset that enough people didn't buy your fucking anime Three Kingdoms waifu game for you to get the DLC that will actually make its cobbled together mess of a story make sense, but that's not really my problem.

Can't wait for you to send this in your discord or wherever and whine about how Vee was just such a big meanie to you. I'm happy to talk about basically anything, but I'm not going to waste my time with you if you're going to send me whiny ass strawman bullshit like this.

[mariacallous]

For now, Alex Lagetko is holding on to his Tesla stocks. The founder of hedge fund VSO Capital Management in New York, Lagetko says his stake in the company was worth $46 million in November 2021, when shares in the electric carmaker peaked at $415. 

Since then, they have plunged 72 percent, as investors worry about waning demand, falling production and price cuts in China, labor shortages in Europe, and, of course, the long-term impact of CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. After announcing his plans to buy the platform in April, Musk financed his acquisition with $13 billion in loans and $33 billion in cash, roughly $23 billion of which was raised by selling shares in Tesla. 

“Many investors, particularly retail, who invested disproportionately large sums of their wealth largely on the basis of trust in Musk over many years were very quickly burned in the months following the acquisition,” Lagetko says, “particularly in December as he sold more stock, presumably to fund losses at Twitter.”

Lagetko is worried that the leveraged buyout of Twitter has left Tesla exposed, as interest payments on the debt Musk took on to fund the takeover come due at the same time as the social media company’s revenues have slumped.

But Tesla stock was already falling in April 2022, when Musk launched his bid for Twitter, and analysts say that the carmaker’s challenges run deeper than its exposure to the struggling social media platform. Tesla and its CEO have alienated its core customers while its limited designs and high prices make it vulnerable to competition from legacy automakers, who have rushed into the EV market with options that Musk’s company will struggle to match.

Prior to 2020, Tesla was essentially “playing against a B team in a soccer match,” says Matthias Schmidt, an independent analyst in Berlin who tracks electric car sales in Europe. But that changed in 2020, as “the opposition started rolling out some of their A squad players.”

In 2023, Tesla is due to release its long-awaited Cybertruck, a blocky, angular SUV first announced in 2019. It is the first new launch of a consumer vehicle by the company since 2020. A promised two-seater sports car is still years away, and the Models S, X, Y, and 3, once seen as space-age dynamos, are now “long in the tooth,” says Mark Barrott, an automotive analyst at consultancy Plante Moran. Most auto companies refresh their looks every three to five years—Tesla’s Model S is now more than 10 years old.

By contrast, this year Ford plans to boost production of both its F-150 Lighting EV pick-up, already sold out for 2023, and its Mustang Mach-E SUV. Offerings from Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV6 could threaten Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 in the $45,000 to $65,000 range. General Motors plans to speed up production and cut costs for a range of EV models, including the Chevy Blazer EV, the Chevy Equinox, the Cadillac Lyric, and the GMC Sierra EV. 

While Tesla’s designs may be eye-catching, their high prices mean that they’re now often competing with luxury brands. 

“There is this kind of nice Bauhaus simplicity to Tesla’s design, but it’s not luxurious,” says David Welch, author of Charging Ahead: GM, Mary Barra, and the Reinvention of an American Icon. “And for people to pay $70,000 to $100,000 for a car, if you’re competing suddenly with an electric Mercedes or BMW, or a Cadillac that finally actually feels like something that should bear the Cadillac name, you’re going to give people something to think about.”

While few manufacturers can compete with Tesla on performance and software (the Tesla Model S goes to 60 mph in 1.99 seconds, reaches a 200-mph top speed, and boasts automatic lane changing and a 17-inch touchscreen for console-grade gaming), many have reached or are approaching a range of 300 miles (480 km), which is the most important consideration for many EV buyers, says Craig Lawrence, a partner and cofounder at the investment group Energy Transition Ventures.

One of Tesla’s main competitive advantages has been its supercharging network. With more than 40,000 proprietary DC fast chargers located on major thoroughfares near shopping centers, coffee shops, and gas stations, their global infrastructure is the largest in the world. Chargers are integrated with the cars’ Autobidder optimization & dispatch software, and, most importantly, they work quickly and reliably, giving a car up to 322 miles of range in 15 minutes. The network contributes to about 12 percent of Tesla sales globally.

“The single biggest hurdle for most people asking ‘Do I go EV or not,’ is how do I refuel it and where,” says Loren McDonald, CEO and lead analyst for the consultancy EVAdoption. “Tesla figured that out early on and made it half of the value proposition.”

But new requirements for funding under public charging infrastructure programs in the US may erode Tesla’s proprietary charging advantage. The US National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program will allocate $7.5 billion to fund the development of some 500,000 electric vehicle chargers, but to access funds to build new stations, Tesla will have to open up its network to competitors by including four CCC chargers.

“Unless Tesla opens up their network to different charging standards, they will not get any of that volume,” Barrott says. “And Tesla doesn’t like that.”

In a few years, the US public charging infrastructure may start to look more like Europe’s, where in many countries the Tesla Model 3 uses standard plugs, and Tesla has opened their Supercharging stations to non-Tesla vehicles. 

Tesla does maintain a software edge over competitors, which have looked to third-party technology like Apple’s CarPlay to fill the gap, says Alex Pischalnikov, an auto analyst and principal at the consulting firm Arthur D. Little. With over-the-air updates, Tesla can send new lines of code over cellular networks to resolve mechanical problems and safety features, update console entertainment options, and surprise drivers with new features, such as heated rear seats and the recently released full self-driving beta, available for $15,000. These software updates are also a cash machine for Tesla. But full self-driving features aren’t quite as promised, since drivers still have to remain in effective control of the vehicle, limiting the value of the system.

A Plante Moran analysis shared with WIRED shows Tesla’s share of the North American EV market declining from 70 percent in 2022 to just 31 percent by 2025, as total EV production grows from 777,000 to 2.87 million units.

In Europe, Tesla’s decline is already underway. Schmidt says data from the first 11 months of 2022 shows sales by volume of Volkswagen’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB) vehicles outpaced Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 by more than 20 percent. His projections show Tesla’s product lines finishing the year with 15 percent of the western European electric vehicle market, down from 33 percent in 2019.

The European Union has proposed legislation to reduce carbon emissions from new cars and vans by 100 percent by 2035, which is likely to bring more competition from European carmakers into the market. 

There is also a growing sense that Musk’s behavior since taking over Twitter has made a challenging situation for Tesla even worse.

Over the past year, Musk has used Twitter to call for the prosecution of former director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci (“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci”), take swings at US senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders over government spending and inflation, and placed himself at the center of the free speech debate. He’s lashed out at critics, challenging, among other things, the size of their testicles. 

A November analysis of the top 100 global brands by the New York–based consultancy Interbrand estimated Tesla’s brand value in 2022 at $48 billion, up 32 percent from 2021 but well short of its 183 percent growth between 2020 and 2021. The report, based on qualitative data from 1,000 industry consultants and sentiment analysis of published sources, showed brand strength declining, particularly in “trust, distinctiveness and an understanding of the needs of their customers.”

“I think [Musk’s] core is rapidly moving away from him, and people are just starting to say, ‘I don’t like the smell of Tesla; I don’t want to be associated with that,’” says Daniel Binns, global chief growth officer at Interbrand.

Among them are once-loyal customers. Alan Saldich, a semi-retired tech CMO who lives in Idaho, put a deposit down on a Model S in 2011, before the cars were even on the road, after seeing a bodiless chassis in a Menlo Park showroom. His car, delivered in 2012, was number 2799, one of the first 3,000 made.

He benefited from the company’s good, if idiosyncratic, customer service. When, on Christmas morning 2012, the car wouldn’t start, he emailed Musk directly seeking a remedy. Musk responded just 24 minutes later: “...Will see if we can diagnose and fix remotely. Sorry about this. Hope you otherwise have a good Christmas.”

On New Year’s Day, Joost de Vries, then vice president of worldwide service at Tesla, and an assistant showed up at Saldich’s house with a trailer, loaded the car onto a flatbed, and hauled it to Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, to be repaired. Saldich and his family later even got a tour of the factory. But since then, he’s cooled on the company. In 2019, he sold his Model S, and now drives a Mini Electric. He’s irritated in particular, he says, by Musk’s verbal attacks on government programs and regulation, particularly as Tesla has benefited from states and federal EV tax credits.

“Personally, I probably wouldn’t buy another Tesla,” he says. “A, because there’s so many alternatives and B, I just don’t like [Musk] anymore.”

[uboat53]

All right, something has come up that has sparked a thought that I need to get out of my head. Specifically I need to tell you exactly why the "take care of yourself" individualistic approach we've adopted toward Covid and toward disease in general here in the United States is a terrible idea. LONG RANT (TM) time!

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?

Recently, as you may have noticed if you have kid(s), infant/child Tylenol is in very short supply. It's not a coincidence that this is happening at the same time as outbreaks of RSV, Flu, and other respiratory and inflammatory illnesses are hitting kids hard and sending many of them to the hospital.

As far as the individualism, it's the general American idea that people should take care of themselves. We don't have a universal health insurance program, you have to buy it yourself (or, if you're lucky, get it through your work). We don't have a universal health care system either, people are asked to navigate a highly decentralized system of hospitals, urgent care centers, and private providers who may or may not be covered under their insurance; even the same provider for a different procedure.

Where these come together is in terms of drug distribution. You see, in many places if there was a shortage of a drug there would be a centralized system to collect and distribute it according to need. In our decentralized system, individuals are responsible for getting their own drugs.

HOW DOES THIS CAUSE PROBLEMS?

So let's think of this in terms of market forces. If something is plentiful you're not going to worry about it; you'll just go out and get it when you need it. If the supply is restricted for some reason, or if you think it might be, you'll probably try to stock up when you have the chance to get it.

If enough people stock up on it who don't actually need it, they can actually end up causing exactly the problem that they fear. Enough people buying and stockpiling can create exactly the shortage that they were buying and stockpiling in order to protect themselves against. This is known as "panic buying".

Of course, if someone who hasn't pre-emptively stockpiled the thing needs it, they may be out of luck.

THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW

After several years where respiratory diseases weren't much of an issue due to measures taken against them (masks and social distancing worked guys!) they've suddenly come roaring back. RSV, Flu, Covid, and others are now hitting kids particularly hard for a number of reasons and have overwhelmed pediatric wards in much of the country.

Even kids who don't get sick enough to go to the hospital are still getting sick and their parents are doing what we all do, giving them cold and flu medication to help ease the illness. More importantly, parents whose kids are not sick (yet?) have heard of the shortage of kids cold and flu medication and are stocking up in case their own kid gets sick.

What this means is that there a lot of parents whose kids are sick who cannot get any medication for them while some parents whose kids are not sick have medication they are not using.

And I want to be clear, this is not the fault of any of those parents. I'm one of them, I have extra Tylenol in case my own kid gets sick. This is the fault of a system that shifts responsibility for a society-wide issue onto individuals.

MARKET FORCES

Understanding the issue is best done by understanding some of the theory behind it.

Let's say that, in normal times, X amount of a good is made. When something happens to increase the demand for that good, those factories have to increase production to X+Y amount. This takes a certain amount of time. You have to secure additional raw materials, additional labor, and, if necessary, additional equipment.

In the meantime, while production gets up to speed, you encounter a potential shortage. If more people need the good than what was initially able to be produced and especially if, in addition to that increased demand, people who don't immediately need the good are stockpiling it in fear of a shortage, you can quickly run out of that good until such time as the factory or factories can increase output to meet the new demand.

In the case of something that isn't immediately necessary, this isn't terrible. If, for example, string cheese were the product in question, I think we'd all agree that it's okay and we can survive until production gets ramped up.

In the case of medication, however, this situation can literally cost lives. Children's Tylenol isn't exactly the kind of thing that will cause you to die immediately if you don't have it, but a lack of it will cause the symptoms of some children who don't get it to escalate to the point where they will need to go to the hospital when they otherwise wouldn't. Once at the hospital they will take up other resources which are also limited and which another child may die without. In other words, the lack of children's Tylenol is causing shortages of other goods which are more critical.

I should point out that none of this section is controversial, even those who promote market and individual solutions over government or centralized solutions acknowledge that these periods of adjustment occur under their proposed systems, they just believe that the benefits outweigh the costs. I simply disagree.

CONCLUSION

By making each American responsible for their own individual outcomes rather than making even the slightest effort at providing some form of centralized assistance we have created the conditions that lead to enormous market inefficiencies whenever a scarcity exists or even if one is feared to exist.

Ordinarily these are just annoyances, but when it comes to medication these inefficiencies can cost lives. There are some goods that simply need to be available when they are needed.

In a rational system we would acknowledge that some goods cannot be simply left to market forces, but our current system leaves us vulnerable to market swings when unexpected events force changes to supply and/or demand. In this way, our dedication to hyper-individualism is quite literally killing us and it would be wise of us to think about the things that we could make better instead of leaving each person to fend for themselves in a system that we know will kill some of them.

[leevallc]

"Leeva Home Depot Inventory Tool: Optimize Stock Management and Enhance Retail Efficiency"

Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool is designed to provide streamlined, real-time inventory management specifically tailored for Home Depot products. Recognizing the unique demands of retail operations and stock control, this tool offers Home Depot managers and associates the flexibility and control to keep products organized, accessible, and readily available to customers. With an intuitive interface and features that prioritize accuracy, Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool is ideal for managing stock levels, tracking product details, and ensuring efficient restocking.

Key Features of Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory Tool

1. Real-Time Inventory Updates

Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool offers real-time tracking capabilities, ensuring that stock levels reflect current availability. When an item is sold, restocked, or returned, the inventory automatically updates across the system, minimizing the risk of discrepancies and stockouts. This real-time information also helps managers make data-driven decisions on inventory replenishment and product placement.

2. Detailed Product Information and Categorization

The tool provides robust fields for recording essential details for each item, such as SKU, price, description, supplier, and restock dates. It also allows users to categorize items by department or specific section within Home Depot (e.g., hardware, appliances, lumber, or seasonal items). This categorization improves the accessibility of information, enabling users to quickly locate any product’s status, availability, and price.

SKU and Barcoding Integration: Leeva’s system supports SKU and barcoding for quick scanning and identification, making it easier for staff to update stock levels or locate items within the inventory.

Price and Promotions Tracking: Managers can view pricing changes and track promotional offers for specific products, making sure prices align with current Home Depot promotions or seasonal sales.

3. Smart Stock Alerts and Forecasting

To prevent stock shortages or overstocking, Leeva’s inventory tool includes smart alerts and demand forecasting:

Low-Stock Alerts: The system notifies users when an item reaches a low-stock threshold, helping managers to reorder products before they run out.

Demand Forecasting: Based on past sales data, Leeva’s tool can project future demand, providing insights into which products may need extra stock during peak seasons or holiday periods.

These predictive insights make it easier to balance inventory levels, minimize excess stock, and reduce storage costs.

4. Seamless Mobile Integration for In-Store Use

Leeva’s inventory tool is mobile-friendly, allowing Home Depot associates to access and update inventory on handheld devices directly on the sales floor. This mobility means staff can look up product availability, check prices, and even assist customers without needing to go back to a computer terminal.

On-the-Go Scanning: The barcode scanning feature on mobile devices allows associates to instantly update stock levels or confirm product details while walking through aisles.

Customer Assistance: Associates can quickly locate items, answer product questions, and even initiate special orders or backorders if items are out of stock.

5. Reporting and Analytics

Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool includes customizable reporting features that give managers an in-depth look at product performance and inventory trends. Key metrics include sales data, turnover rates, stock discrepancies, and seasonal demand variations. This data helps managers optimize stock levels, identify popular products, and remove slow-moving items to free up space.

Monthly and Quarterly Reports: Generate periodic reports to review stock levels, analyze performance, and adjust inventory strategies as needed.

Loss Prevention Insights: By tracking inventory discrepancies, Leeva’s tool aids in loss prevention, allowing managers to identify potential theft or mismanagement quickly.

6. Integration with Point-of-Sale Systems

Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool integrates seamlessly with point-of-sale systems, automatically syncing sales and returns data to ensure accurate, up-to-date stock levels. This integration provides a complete view of inventory across the store, aligning the sales floor with back-end operations.

Benefits of Using Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory Tool

With Leeva’s Home Depot Inventory tool, managers and staff can maintain a well-organized, efficient inventory management system that supports daily operations and enhances the customer experience. Accurate stock tracking and real-time updates ensure that customers can reliably find what they need in-store or online, while managers benefit from streamlined operations and minimized inventory costs.

Leeva’s tool delivers a comprehensive solution for Home Depot’s retail inventory needs, offering a seamless experience that empowers managers and enhances customer satisfaction.

[miosalonvioletsoftware]

The Shocking Benefits of Membership Programs for Saudi Nail Salons

However, for nail salons to truly maximize the potential of membership programs, they must also have robust inventory management in place. Without efficient inventory systems, nail salons can struggle with stock shortages, operational inefficiencies, and dissatisfied clients. In this blog, we will explore the challenges faced by the nail salon industry without proper inventory management, the importance of inventory control, and how membership programs, combined with inventory management, can revolutionize your nail salon business.

Challenges Faced by the Nail Salon Industry Without Inventory Management

In the nail salon industry, maintaining an organized and efficient inventory system is critical to the day-to-day operations. Yet, many nail salons still rely on outdated methods such as manual tracking, which leads to several challenges:

1. Stock Shortages

Without a proper inventory system in place, nail salons often face stock shortages of essential products like nail polish, gel removers, or manicure kits. This not only delays services but also creates frustration among customers who expect top-quality treatments without disruption.

2. Overstocking

On the flip side, some salons overcompensate by overstocking products, leading to wastage and increased costs. Overstocking also takes up valuable space, resulting in a cluttered and inefficient salon environment.

3. Inconsistent Service Quality

If a salon frequently runs out of specific nail products or tools, service quality can become inconsistent. Clients may notice these discrepancies, which can negatively affect their overall experience and trust in the salon’s ability to deliver high-quality services.

4. Time-Consuming Manual Tracking

Manual inventory tracking is time-consuming and prone to human error. Salon staff can spend hours trying to keep track of product usage, restock levels, and supplier orders. This detracts from time that could be spent delivering excellent customer service.

5. Inaccurate Financial Reporting

Without accurate inventory management, salons may struggle with financial reporting. It becomes difficult to calculate the true cost of goods sold (COGS), which can lead to incorrect pricing and profitability analyses.

The Importance of Inventory Management in Nail Salons

In a nail salon, inventory is one of the most valuable assets. Products like nail polish, manicure kits, pedicure tools, and cleaning supplies form the backbone of daily operations. Effective Nail Salon Management software equipped with inventory control features can make all the difference in running a successful and profitable business. Here's why inventory management is essential:

1. Optimized Stock Levels

With a robust inventory system, nail salons can maintain optimal stock levels of all products. This means avoiding both stock shortages and overstocking. Having just the right amount of inventory ensures that you can consistently meet client demand while minimizing waste.

2. Improved Cash Flow

Efficient inventory management ensures that your cash is not tied up in excess stock. By tracking usage patterns and product demand, salons can order inventory as needed, freeing up cash flow for other essential business operations or investments.

3. Enhanced Client Experience

Clients expect a smooth and seamless experience when they visit your nail salon. With a well-managed inventory, you can ensure that all the necessary tools and products are available to deliver high-quality services without delays or disruptions.

4. Reduced Wastage

Inventory management helps track product expiry dates and usage trends. This minimizes wastage by ensuring that older stock is used first (first in, first out) and that products are ordered in quantities that match actual client demand.

5. Increased Productivity

By integrating inventory management into your nail salon software, you can automate the tracking of products, restocking levels, and supplier orders. This reduces the manual workload for salon staff, allowing them to focus on serving clients instead of managing stock.

Benefits of Inventory Management in Nail Salon Management Software

With the right Nail Salon Management software, you can automate and optimize your entire inventory system, making it easier to track, manage, and reorder products. Let’s explore the key benefits of using nail salon software with integrated inventory features:

1. Real-Time Inventory Tracking

The best nail salon software allows for real-time inventory tracking, meaning you can always have a clear picture of what’s in stock and what needs to be reordered. This feature ensures that products never run out unexpectedly, reducing the chances of service disruption.

2. Automated Restocking

An integrated POS system for nail salons can automatically notify you when stock levels are low and even place orders with suppliers. This eliminates the need for manual stock checks and ensures that products are always replenished on time.

3. Product Usage Reports

With Nail Salon POS software, you can generate reports on product usage, helping you understand which products are most popular and which ones may need to be discounted or removed. This data-driven approach ensures that your inventory is always optimized for client demand.

4. Cost Control

By accurately tracking inventory levels and usage, nail salon scheduling software helps you control costs associated with overstocking or wastage. This ensures that your nail salon is operating efficiently, with maximum profitability.

5. Seamless Integration with Membership Programs

When integrated with membership programs, Nail Salon POS systems can ensure that members receive exclusive discounts on products while allowing the salon to track which items are most popular among members. This provides valuable insights that can be used to further customize membership benefits and improve client satisfaction.

Benefits of Notification Systems in Nail Salons

In addition to inventory management, another critical feature that can significantly improve your nail salon's efficiency and client engagement is the use of notification systems. These systems ensure that clients receive timely reminders for upcoming appointments, promotional offers, and membership renewals. Let’s explore how notifications, when paired with Best Nail Salon software, can elevate your business:

1. Appointment Reminders

Appointment reminders sent via SMS or email reduce no-shows and cancellations, ensuring that your salon operates at full capacity. Clients are more likely to remember and honor their appointments when they receive timely reminders.

2. Promotional Offers

By sending targeted notifications to clients, you can inform them about special promotions, discounts, or new services. This not only increases sales but also keeps your clients engaged with your salon.

3. Membership Renewals

Membership programs are a powerful tool for fostering client loyalty, but they need to be managed efficiently. Nail salon booking software with built-in notification features ensures that clients are reminded to renew their memberships, maintaining consistent revenue flow for the salon.

4. Inventory-Related Alerts

Some nail salon scheduling software systems also offer inventory-related notifications, such as alerts when a specific product is running low. This ensures that stock levels are maintained and that services are not interrupted due to product shortages.

How Membership Programs Benefit Nail Salons in Saudi Arabia

Membership programs are a highly effective way for nail salons in Saudi Arabia to build long-term relationships with their clients. By offering exclusive benefits and discounts, these programs provide an added incentive for clients to remain loyal to your salon. But to run a successful membership program, it’s crucial that you have efficient nail salon management software that integrates membership management with inventory control. Here's how these programs can benefit your business:

1. Increased Client Retention

Membership programs encourage clients to return to your salon regularly. With exclusive discounts on products and services, members are more likely to choose your salon over competitors.

2. Consistent Revenue Stream

Membership programs generate consistent income for your salon through monthly or annual fees. This predictable revenue can help stabilize your cash flow and support the growth of your business.

3. Exclusive Offers and Customization

By leveraging data from your nail salon software, you can offer members personalized promotions based on their preferences and past purchases. This level of customization makes members feel valued and increases the likelihood that they will continue to engage with your salon.

4. Improved Inventory Management

When linked with inventory management, membership programs allow you to track which products are most popular with members. This data can be used to optimize stock levels and ensure that members always have access to their preferred products.

Conclusion

In the fast-evolving nail salon industry, particularly in Saudi Arabia, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just offering great services. Efficient Nail Salon Management software with integrated inventory and membership management can significantly enhance your salon's operations and improve the client experience. By adopting tools like nail salon POS systems, real-time inventory tracking, and automated notifications, your nail salon can avoid common pitfalls such as stock shortages and service disruptions.

Moreover, by implementing a membership program, you can foster long-term client loyalty while generating consistent revenue. The combination of these features will not only streamline your business but also elevate your salon to new heights of success.

Maximize Your Nail Salon’s Potential Today!

Ready to transform your nail salon with cutting-edge inventory management and membership programs? Request a demo of our best-in-class nail salon software today and discover how we can help you streamline operations, boost client satisfaction, and grow your business!

[nailsalonbookingsoftware]

The Shocking Benefits of Membership Programs for Saudi Nail Salons

However, for nail salons to truly maximize the potential of membership programs, they must also have robust inventory management in place. Without efficient inventory systems, nail salons can struggle with stock shortages, operational inefficiencies, and dissatisfied clients. In this blog, we will explore the challenges faced by the nail salon industry without proper inventory management, the importance of inventory control, and how membership programs, combined with inventory management, can revolutionize your nail salon business.

Challenges Faced by the Nail Salon Industry Without Inventory Management

In the nail salon industry, maintaining an organized and efficient inventory system is critical to the day-to-day operations. Yet, many nail salons still rely on outdated methods such as manual tracking, which leads to several challenges:

1. Stock Shortages

Without a proper inventory system in place, nail salons often face stock shortages of essential products like nail polish, gel removers, or manicure kits. This not only delays services but also creates frustration among customers who expect top-quality treatments without disruption.

2. Overstocking

On the flip side, some salons overcompensate by overstocking products, leading to wastage and increased costs. Overstocking also takes up valuable space, resulting in a cluttered and inefficient salon environment.

3. Inconsistent Service Quality

If a salon frequently runs out of specific nail products or tools, service quality can become inconsistent. Clients may notice these discrepancies, which can negatively affect their overall experience and trust in the salon’s ability to deliver high-quality services.

4. Time-Consuming Manual Tracking

Manual inventory tracking is time-consuming and prone to human error. Salon staff can spend hours trying to keep track of product usage, restock levels, and supplier orders. This detracts from time that could be spent delivering excellent customer service.

5. Inaccurate Financial Reporting

Without accurate inventory management, salons may struggle with financial reporting. It becomes difficult to calculate the true cost of goods sold (COGS), which can lead to incorrect pricing and profitability analyses.

The Importance of Inventory Management in Nail Salons

In a nail salon, inventory is one of the most valuable assets. Products like nail polish, manicure kits, pedicure tools, and cleaning supplies form the backbone of daily operations. Effective Nail Salon Management software equipped with inventory control features can make all the difference in running a successful and profitable business. Here's why inventory management is essential:

1. Optimized Stock Levels

With a robust inventory system, nail salons can maintain optimal stock levels of all products. This means avoiding both stock shortages and overstocking. Having just the right amount of inventory ensures that you can consistently meet client demand while minimizing waste.

2. Improved Cash Flow

Efficient inventory management ensures that your cash is not tied up in excess stock. By tracking usage patterns and product demand, salons can order inventory as needed, freeing up cash flow for other essential business operations or investments.

3. Enhanced Client Experience

Clients expect a smooth and seamless experience when they visit your nail salon. With a well-managed inventory, you can ensure that all the necessary tools and products are available to deliver high-quality services without delays or disruptions.

4. Reduced Wastage

Inventory management helps track product expiry dates and usage trends. This minimizes wastage by ensuring that older stock is used first (first in, first out) and that products are ordered in quantities that match actual client demand.

5. Increased Productivity

By integrating inventory management into your nail salon software, you can automate the tracking of products, restocking levels, and supplier orders. This reduces the manual workload for salon staff, allowing them to focus on serving clients instead of managing stock.

Benefits of Inventory Management in Nail Salon Management Software

With the right Nail Salon Management software, you can automate and optimize your entire inventory system, making it easier to track, manage, and reorder products. Let’s explore the key benefits of using nail salon software with integrated inventory features:

1. Real-Time Inventory Tracking

The best nail salon software allows for real-time inventory tracking, meaning you can always have a clear picture of what’s in stock and what needs to be reordered. This feature ensures that products never run out unexpectedly, reducing the chances of service disruption.

2. Automated Restocking

An integrated POS system for nail salons can automatically notify you when stock levels are low and even place orders with suppliers. This eliminates the need for manual stock checks and ensures that products are always replenished on time.

3. Product Usage Reports

With Nail Salon POS software, you can generate reports on product usage, helping you understand which products are most popular and which ones may need to be discounted or removed. This data-driven approach ensures that your inventory is always optimized for client demand.

4. Cost Control

By accurately tracking inventory levels and usage, nail salon scheduling software helps you control costs associated with overstocking or wastage. This ensures that your nail salon is operating efficiently, with maximum profitability.

5. Seamless Integration with Membership Programs

When integrated with membership programs, Nail Salon POS systems can ensure that members receive exclusive discounts on products while allowing the salon to track which items are most popular among members. This provides valuable insights that can be used to further customize membership benefits and improve client satisfaction.

Benefits of Notification Systems in Nail Salons

In addition to inventory management, another critical feature that can significantly improve your nail salon's efficiency and client engagement is the use of notification systems. These systems ensure that clients receive timely reminders for upcoming appointments, promotional offers, and membership renewals. Let’s explore how notifications, when paired with Best Nail Salon software, can elevate your business:

1. Appointment Reminders

Appointment reminders sent via SMS or email reduce no-shows and cancellations, ensuring that your salon operates at full capacity. Clients are more likely to remember and honor their appointments when they receive timely reminders.

2. Promotional Offers

By sending targeted notifications to clients, you can inform them about special promotions, discounts, or new services. This not only increases sales but also keeps your clients engaged with your salon.

3. Membership Renewals

Membership programs are a powerful tool for fostering client loyalty, but they need to be managed efficiently. Nail salon booking software with built-in notification features ensures that clients are reminded to renew their memberships, maintaining consistent revenue flow for the salon.

4. Inventory-Related Alerts

Some nail salon scheduling software systems also offer inventory-related notifications, such as alerts when a specific product is running low. This ensures that stock levels are maintained and that services are not interrupted due to product shortages.

How Membership Programs Benefit Nail Salons in Saudi Arabia

Membership programs are a highly effective way for nail salons in Saudi Arabia to build long-term relationships with their clients. By offering exclusive benefits and discounts, these programs provide an added incentive for clients to remain loyal to your salon. But to run a successful membership program, it’s crucial that you have efficient nail salon management software that integrates membership management with inventory control. Here's how these programs can benefit your business:

1. Increased Client Retention

Membership programs encourage clients to return to your salon regularly. With exclusive discounts on products and services, members are more likely to choose your salon over competitors.

2. Consistent Revenue Stream

Membership programs generate consistent income for your salon through monthly or annual fees. This predictable revenue can help stabilize your cash flow and support the growth of your business.

3. Exclusive Offers and Customization

By leveraging data from your nail salon software, you can offer members personalized promotions based on their preferences and past purchases. This level of customization makes members feel valued and increases the likelihood that they will continue to engage with your salon.

4. Improved Inventory Management

When linked with inventory management, membership programs allow you to track which products are most popular with members. This data can be used to optimize stock levels and ensure that members always have access to their preferred products.

Conclusion

In the fast-evolving nail salon industry, particularly in Saudi Arabia, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just offering great services. Efficient Nail Salon Management software with integrated inventory and membership management can significantly enhance your salon's operations and improve the client experience. By adopting tools like nail salon POS systems, real-time inventory tracking, and automated notifications, your nail salon can avoid common pitfalls such as stock shortages and service disruptions.

Moreover, by implementing a membership program, you can foster long-term client loyalty while generating consistent revenue. The combination of these features will not only streamline your business but also elevate your salon to new heights of success.

Maximize Your Nail Salon’s Potential Today!

Ready to transform your nail salon with cutting-edge inventory management and membership programs? Request a demo of our best-in-class nail salon software today and discover how we can help you streamline operations, boost client satisfaction, and grow your business!

[bulkcbddistributorsblog]

Enhancing Profitability: The Benefits of Bulk CBD Purchasing for Your Business

With the rapid expansion of the CBD industry, finding efficient ways to cut costs, improve business processes, and increase profits is essential. One highly effective strategy that many CBD businesses in the USA use is bulk purchasing of CBD products.

Whether you run an e-commerce store, a retail shop, or a wholesale company, buying CBD in larger quantities can significantly support your business's growth.

Let’s explore the benefits of buying CBD in bulk and how it can elevate your business.

The Role of Wholesale CBD and Bulk Buying

As consumer demand for CBD products grows in the USA, driven by its potential health benefits, it's crucial to maintain a stocked inventory. CBD wholesale distributors USA provide businesses with opportunities to buy in bulk at discounted rates, helping maintain competitive pricing and avoid supply shortages.

What Bulk CBD Means and How It Benefits Your Business

Bulk CBD refers to purchasing substantial quantities of CBD products from suppliers, including oils, capsules, edibles, and topical items. By buying in larger volumes, you benefit from lower unit prices and can sell these products to customers in smaller quantities at a profit.

Benefits of Bulk Purchasing for CBD Businesses

Cost Efficiency Partnering with CBD wholesale distributors USA allows you to purchase at reduced unit costs, increasing your profit margins and lowering inventory expenses.

Consistent Stock Bulk buying helps you keep your inventory fully stocked, ensuring you meet consumer demand even during peak periods.

Enhanced Profitability With lower acquisition costs, you can offer competitive pricing while maintaining good margins, leading to higher profitability.

Types of CBD Products Available for Bulk Purchase

You can buy a variety of CBD products in bulk, including:

CBD oils

CBD capsules and edibles

CBD skincare products

CBD topicals such as balms

Diversifying your product range allows you to cater to different customer preferences and expand your market reach.

Choosing a Trusted CBD Distributor

When selecting a CBD supplier, it’s important to ensure they offer:

High-quality, lab-tested products

Competitive bulk pricing

A dependable supply chain

Regulatory compliance

Top CBD Wholesale Distributors in the USA

Several companies provide wholesale CBD products in the USA, but Bulk CBD Distributors stands out for its quality and reliability. Their premium-grade products make them a trusted partner for CBD businesses.

Why Work with Bulk CBD Distributors?

Bulk CBD Distributors is a top supplier, offering high-quality products, competitive pricing, and excellent service. Partnering with them ensures your business remains well-stocked, providing you with the consistency needed for growth.

The Importance of Consistency in Bulk Purchasing

Maintaining product consistency is critical for any CBD business. By sourcing from a reliable distributor, you ensure that your products are consistently high in quality, fostering trust with your customers and encouraging repeat purchases.

Gaining a Competitive Edge Through Bulk Buying

Offering your customers lower prices without sacrificing product quality gives you a competitive edge. Bulk purchasing allows you to offer attractive pricing, helping you grow your customer base and market share.

Conclusion

Buying CBD products in bulk is an effective way to reduce costs, maintain inventory, and increase profitability. By working with a reputable CBD wholesale distributor like Bulk CBD Distributors, you can ensure the continued growth and success of your business.

[teaveetamer]

I can't speak for other countries, but in NA I have no problem finding physical copies of Engage. Target and Wal-Mart have plenty.

I mean North America is a pretty big place and it’s not like stock shortages hit every area exactly equally. Demand doesn’t distribute exactly equally and different places likely order or receive different amounts of copies just depending on population, previous demand, the corporate point person in charge of the region, etc. One of my NA mutuals just started seeing the game on shelves like this week, and I’m sure other places have had no issues with stock.