By ARTHUR VIDRO
By Arthur Vidro
At the supermarkets, dollar stores and drugstores these past two months, some shoppers have complained about not being able to buy enough paper towels, disinfectant spray or wipes, bathroom tissue, meat and other items.
The inability to purchase whatever we want, whenever we want it, is not new. During World War II, Uncle Sam issued each family ration books containing coupons. Without giving the seller the appropriate coupon, you could not purchase that item.
Rationed items included meat, sugar, cheese, shoes, butter, milk, jams, coffee, tires, even firewood and stoves. Some folks traded coupons with neighbors. For instance, “I’ll give you my meat coupons if you give me your coffee coupons.”
Shoes, too, were rationed. Maybe today’s shoe stores have been deemed “non-essential businesses” and were temporarily closed, but during World War II the stores remained open – only you couldn’t get what you wanted, unless you had the proper ration coupon. No coupon, no transaction.
The shortages were due, to a large degree, to diverting those items to the military for its equipment and soldiers.
New cars and bicycles were not available to civilians, at any price.
Gasoline was rationed. Doctors were allowed a higher ration than, say, a newspaper editor, because the doctor had to drive to make house calls. Back then, the sick stayed in place while medical pros moved around to tend them — makes sense to me.
Because of the novel coronavirus, our shopping hours have changed a bit too. In the past month, residents of Onodaga County in New York state have been encouraged to spread out their essential shopping trips, based upon years of birth. Those born in odd years shop Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; those born in even years shop on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
That is one way to keep an overly large crowd from massing at a store. It also might keep certain supplies from being snapped up all at once.
But it is not so far-fetched. Some of us remember a different odd versus even approach in the 1970s when gasoline was in short supply, twice.
First, the Arab oil embargo between Oct. 1973 to March 1974. Shortages ensued and gas prices soared. Long lines of vehicles sat at gas stations – and often a station ran out of gas before your turn came. Some weeks about 20% of all gas stations had no gas at all.
Some states used a color-coded flag system: green to denote gas was available and without rationing; yellow to denote gas was available but was limited (for instance, a 10-gallon maximum); and red to denote sorry, folks, all sold out.
To combat the lines — and the subsequent frayed nerves — the nation experimented with a federally ordered odd-and-even scenario. If your license plate number ended with an odd digit — or if you had no numbers on your plate — you could buy gasoline on the odd dates of the month. If the number on your license plate ended with an even digit, you could buy gas on the month’s even dates.
It was easy to enforce the 1973 rule. It helped that folks then did not fill their own tanks. Everyone knew what date of the month it was. Everyone’s license plate could be seen by gas-station attendants, by the police and, most importantly, by other motorists who might turn violent if you tried to horn in on “their” day for gas when it wasn’t your day.
As for last month’s Onodaga County rule, well, who is going to know your year of birth? If you are out strolling and decide to buy a newspaper and a bottle of milk at the gas station, will you be required to show an ID?
I don’t see how Onodaga can enforce its rule fairly.
But we enforced rules for the gas shortages. The 1979 shortage had a different trigger point – revolution in Iran – but the effects were equally dire. Lines of cars to tank up seemed to stretch even farther beyond the gas stations than six years earlier.
Prices soared, then stalled at the never-before-seen 99.9 cents a gallon. It then took a while for the price to reach $1 because in those predigital days, the signs lacked a dollars column. So new signs had to be made and ordered.
Despite the price shock, most drivers were more peeved by the gas shortages.
Today’s COVID-19 crisis is scary and wreaking havoc as we try to find a long-term path to safety, without knowing if there is a safe path.
Along the way, consumers are encountering shortages.
But today’s deprivations are mere pittances compared to what we have gone through in the past.
Ifyou have consumerism questions, send them to Arthur Vidro in the care of this newspaper, which publishes his column every weekend.
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