I've been buying and eating Slim Jim products for over 25 years. The last 4-5 years I've been able to buy the 48-count Original Single sticks for between $5-6 at Walmart, Sam's and a few other wholesale type outlets. I would buy them out every time, one time I even bought 14 48-count packs for a little over $80, I eat them myself and bring them to the childrens center I volunteer at, most of the kids love em! I understand there was a plant explosion in North Carolina that killed three workers and destroyed a part of the processing plant, my heart goes out to the victims family and friends. This happened in early July I believe, and ConAgra Foods said the tragedy would only affect production and distribution for a few weeks as the majority of the plant was not damaged. I noticed the lack of Slim Jims immediately, not only did they disappear from store shelves, but many store managers have discontinued all Slim Jims products indefinitely. I contacted both ConAgra Foods and the multiple retail stores that sold them, and both sides say the other has forced the discontinuations and that none of those are related to the plant explosion. ConAgra Foods even sent me a list of stores in my 100 mile radius that they say still sell Slim Jim products, I contacted everyone and every store manager has said they no longer carry Slim Jims and that ConAgra has stopped distribution to them. A few stores has some Slim Jim singles and meat&cheese packs, but they also had been discontinued indefinitely. Even most C-stores, convenience stores, have stopped getting shipments. ConAgra Foods first said 2 weeks, then a month, we are now almost in October, almost 3 months after the fact and no change in the situation. The only change that has come is a bad one, ConAgra has decided to layoff 300 Slim Jim employees permanently, a move that comes only a few weeks after all employees were guaranteed no layoffs. lol This seems to be a rare case of a big company not caring about their employees and the consumers, it's usually one or the other. How on earth is such a popular longtime snack now non-existent? And the other sad part is I cannot find a replacement. I've looked everywhere, there is nothing out there that has the taste and affordability as the Slim Jim. I know one may read this and think "what a loser, it's just a snack!" To me it's more than just that, it was an everyday food I have eaten for many years. I'm picky about what I eat, I avoid most snacks and all pop, my favorites are Slim Jims, Soft Pretzels and Milk Chocolates. Slim Jims are ??? Nobody sells soft pretzels at a decent price so I learned how to make them myself, and a person should only eat so much chocolate daily. The absence of Slim Jims has really affected me and the fact ConAgra Foods can't get their story straight about the future of Slim Jims has angered me greatly. Can anyone even name a product so popular that ever just disappeared? I'm in communication with ConAgra Foods, if they ever give anymore info or if Slim Jims reappear I'll post back. Anyone know where to buy Slim Jim 48 or 100 count packs? I see amazon has some but most of those sellers don't have any and the few that do are charging $50 for 100 packs! Even my jerkyjoe site is out of everything, except Jack Links. UGH!