Lucas X-tra heavy duty grease sold out?

[Ddh1961]

Can’t get my Lucas green grease anywhere.
Anyone else seeing this where you live?
I need for my square baler and I don’t like mixing greases.

Same here. In my area in 2020 WM had Lucas green for less than $5 a tube and had a case in stock all the time. That ended last year, so I got a case off Amazon for $6 a tube. Now all the Amazon vendors are scalping Lucas for $13+ a tube. No thanks. I found a case of JD SD polyurea for a little over $7 a tube (with tax) and ordered that. Think it’s gonna be a challenge next year when reorder time rolls around…

 

[barts]

It appears that a major contributor to the grease shortage is the fire and explosion at the Rocktonm, Il. Chemtool plant.

Total Loss Expected From Chemtool Fire - Lubes'N'Greases

A devastating fire that started Monday continued to burn Tuesday at Lubrizol’s Chemtool grease manufacturing plant in Rockton, Illinois. No employees were injured, but the company said it anticipated a total loss of the facility as multiple emergency response teams continued working to control...

www.lubesngreases.com

This, combined with a sharp increase in demand as the economy started again, has led to supply shortages.

 

[BeezFun]

It appears that a major contributor to the grease shortage is the fire and explosion at the Rocktonm, Il. Chemtool plant.

Total Loss Expected From Chemtool Fire - Lubes'N'Greases

A devastating fire that started Monday continued to burn Tuesday at Lubrizol’s Chemtool grease manufacturing plant in Rockton, Illinois. No employees were injured, but the company said it anticipated a total loss of the facility as multiple emergency response teams continued working to control...

www.lubesngreases.com

This, combined with a sharp increase in demand as the economy started again, has led to supply shortages.

I remember when that happened, didn't connect what kind of facility it was at the time. I'm pretty sure that's the fire we could smell even though it's a good hour's drive from us.
Around here the grease shelves cycle between full and empty, when I see some on the shelf I buy 6 tubes instead of 2 because I know there probably won't be any next time. Everyone's probably doing the same thing so they run out right away when they get a shipment.

 

[barts]

I remember when that happened, didn't connect what kind of facility it was at the time. I'm pretty sure that's the fire we could smell even though it's a good hour's drive from us.
Around here the grease shelves cycle between full and empty, when I see some on the shelf I buy 6 tubes instead of 2 because I know there probably won't be any next time. Everyone's probably doing the same thing so they run out right away when they get a shipment.

This is an example of the Bullwhip effect in action.

The bullwhip effect is a distribution channel phenomenon in which demand forecasts yield supply chain inefficiencies. It refers to increasing swings in inventory in response to shifts in consumer demand as one moves further up the supply chain. The concept first appeared in Jay Forrester's Industrial Dynamics (1961)[1] and thus it is also known as the Forrester effect. It has been described as “the observed propensity for material orders to be more variable than demand signals and for this variability to increase the further upstream a company is in a supply chain”.[2]

Cory Doctorow talks about this in a recent piece: After inflation, the whip-crack.

His viewpoint will seem a bit radical to some here, but he makes some telling points:

The less a country can make on its own, the more vulnerable it is to shocks on the other side of the planet. The more the markets reward emptying out buffer stocks, casualizing workers, and selling off your physical plant, the more your company is at risk of failing if anything goes wrong, anywhere.

The more manufacturers and more competition we have, the better off we are... and when one accident with a High-Lift installing insulation causes years worth of grease shortages, its a clear indication that too much concentration has occurred.

 

[beenthere]

Can’t get my Lucas green grease anywhere.
Anyone else seeing this where you live?
I need for my square baler and I don’t like mixing greases.

Amazon might be one place..

 

[slckeys]

Amazon might be one place..

Is that the listing asking $39 for 1 tube?

 

[Hay Dude]

Amazon might be one place..

Jeffy’s price gouging.
I finally have found some locally for $6.99/tube.
Ordered a 30 pack from Summitt Racing for $150.

 

[nyone]

I have had a case of red and tacky on backorder through one of my mower parts distributors since the first part of May.

Why? Its available on ebay right now for $75 a case. Within $10 of when I ordered it a year ago.

They said grease and oil shortages where coming.

 

[ArlyA]

Seems there is still plenty of good grease out there, just maybe not your favorite flavor....

 

[RandyT]

Why? Its available on ebay right now for $75 a case. Within $10 of when I ordered it a year ago.

They said grease and oil shortages where coming.

Looks like my local Menards now has it for $6.99-11% Right now. 27 tubes in stock. I an not hurting for grease right now so I will wait on my normal backorder shipment because I pay less than that for a case.