Question DEF Shortage

[sheridany]

The newspaper today is talking about a potential DEF shortage coming. Has anyone seen this in their travels not being able to get DEF?

 

[Neal]

Been hearing about this, biggest issue is it will trigger hoarding. Fear is our biggest enemy of late.

 

[Neemer]

There is most DEFinitely a scarcity of packaged DEF at several outlets nearby me. Walmart has been out for over month, and Autozone was out when I checked a few days ago. O’Reilly’s had about ten boxes, as did Advance Auto. The cashier at Autozone told me about people buying more than they would normally need at one time, so hoarding has begun and will only get worse as this story becomes more widespread.

I’ve yet to hear of any shortages of bulk at truck stops. I won’t be concerned until that happens.

 

[AbdRahim]

I thought you could only keep this stuff for so long? If so, hoarding won’t do much good.

 

[MapNerd]

I thought you could only keep this stuff for so long? If so, hoarding won’t do much good.

That’s true. The shelf life is about 6-months, less if it’s not kept in a dark, cool environment. It’s just fools wasting money, making a small supply shortage way worse.

The only thing I panic buy is beer.

 

[Rich W.]

Traveling a little over 4500 miles in the last month, Northern Ca to Louisiana and back, mostly back roads, but some time on 10 and 20, I saw no evidence of any shortage. I looked at every fuel stop, and any stores I visited that would normally carry DEF, and every one of them had stock, some with quite plentiful supplies. I did see one DEF pump at a truck stop with a note “no DEF at this time” on it on I-5 near Coalinga. I dont buy bulk DEF for my coach, but I didn't notice this elsewhere and probably would have.

What I did see however were insanely high prices in Texas for box DEF - around $20 and as high as $26 for one 2.5gal jug. When I asked about it the clerks all stated they had no idea why the price went up. My guess is that while there may be plenty of DEF to go around store owners are relying on rumors of a shortage to justify the price increase. At home I pay around $12/2.5 gal for box DEF and this is still the going rate here.

 

[Dona40]

If we've leaned anything about shortages, it that once the panic word is out, Most manufacturers can't keep up with the hoarders. Ammo, Toilet paper, Safes to keep your toilet paper etc.