MOUNT POCONO, Pa. — Another bout of winter weather is on the way and with this visit, expect ice.
Cramers Home Centers near Mount Pocono only had a few bags of rock salt and one lonely shovel when Newswatch 16 stopped by.
"Just about every other person wants a shovel, rock salt, or ice melt. We have plenty on hand. We have one shovel left right now, but we have tons of salt and ice melt right now," said Phillip Cooke, Cramers Home Centers.
Ice storms could bring possible power outages.
Employees at Cramers tell Newswatch 16 that making sure your generator is in working order beforehand is very important.
"Inactivity is the biggest problem with all this equipment. It needs to be exercised. It's like a body; it needs to have some movement. When it sits dormant for months upon months, it creates some trouble, and we are doing our best to try and get that taken care of with gasoline and things of that nature, oils, lubricants, trying to get fresh fuel in it and trying to get it to run because there's a sense of urgency," said Scott Sebring, Cramers Home Centers.
"Not only are people buying generators, but they are also picking up chain saws and lots of rock salt ahead of this icy storm," said Sebring.
Sebring says one issue the business is running into this year is a shortage of parts.
"Because of COVID, of course, and also the fact that last year there was not a lot of snow, so the manufacturers didn't tool up for an awful lot of equipment or replacement parts. We are finding backorder situations, which is frustrating for us and the customer. We are trying to do our best to improvise, adapt and overcome," said Sebring.
Workers at Cramers say they encourage people not to wait until the last minute to get supplies and only use backup generators in an emergency and not as a main source of power.