Has An Egg Shortage Hit Walmart?

Groceries have never been the most glamorous weekly expense. With the price of food going through the roof, grocery shopping has become an exercise in adaptability. Trying to save money at the grocery store and wandering the aisles hunting for food items that would normally be in stock (but are now hard to find) have been all-too-common occurrences in 2022. Local shops aren't the only ones low on supply as even the big-name chains aren't immune to the shortage.

A Reddit thread showing a photo of empty freezers where eggs are normally kept has been making the rounds on r/Walmart. The thread began when one Redditor posted the picture explaining that there have not been eggs for days and Walmart shoppers are asking why. Many Redditors replied with similar experiences at the Walmart locations where they work and others came just for the jokes. "It's because they are eggspensive" and "They were more than a dime a dozen," are some examples of those finding humor in the thread.

Kidding aside, it's frustrating for customers to go to the store and not find the items on their list. But employees are just as frustrated as the customers. 

The original poster captioned the empty egg aisle post with "No eggs for days now. Customers yelling at me asking why there's no eggs." When one Redditor asked the OP when different items will be back in stock, someone answered, "I have no idea." Another commenter aired their grievances about customers who think that employees "have all the answers about the supply chain that is completely out of our hands."  

While this is certainly frustrating, it's not an unexpected occurrence as there was an egg shortage in 2021 and also a prediction that poultry and eggs might be included in the food shortages we see in 2022. One reason for the missing eggs could be, as USDA notes in an Egg Market Overview, that the demand for eggs was unusually high this Independence Day weekend. The above-average demand put a strain on the already tight supply market. 

If, unlike these Redditors, you can find eggs at your neighborhood grocery store, you might be experiencing sticker shock as egg prices have risen nationwide (via USA Today). Furthermore, grocery shortages are expected through 2022 and we're only halfway through the year. 

Eggs or not, grocery shopping still needs to get done and as a result, Walmart customers are attempting to battle inflation by heavily monitoring their grocery carts.