2021 Supply Disruptions

[TonyTrafficLight]

Trophy components have been hard to get. Wood plaque boards, acrylic awards also. Sadly all that stuff is made overseas for the most part now.
I own an engraving shop and make trophies engrave plaques etc...

[Pink Jazz]

As you should know, Post owns Malt-O-Meal, and Post just bought TreeHouse Foods' cereal division, so they now make a lot of the private labels as well as the Ralston brand.

[Duke87]

Prices on just about every grocery item have gone up noticeably. I feel like we're reliving my high school years economically.

That comparison may be apt.

Everyone, of course, is going to continue blaming covid for any ongoing disruptions, but I suspect that ultimately this is disguising a bigger problem that the economy is redlining.

Consider a few key points here:
- while labor shortages and logistics bottlenecks aren't helping with their backlog, the port of Los Angeles nonetheless processed a record number of incoming containers in September 2021. Americans are importing more stuff from overseas than ever before.
- while everyone was initially concerned about shutdowns killing the economy, generous unemployment benefits and stimulus checks left Americans awash with cash and caused the average household debt last year to go down.
- People who are able to work from home are still reaping ongoing cost savings from not needing to commute. Some, depending on their specific circumstances, may be paying less in taxes too.
- even before covid arrived, the stock market was booming, and official fed policy involved keeping interests rates low in an effort to continue driving it higher and higher

All this adds up to an overheating economy, which drives increasing inflation rates and causes constant shortages of this and that as supply is unable to keep up with sky-high demand. Now yes, given time some of the supply issues may sort themselves out as the rest of the world works to get itself vaccinated and get to a point where they're comfortable operating as normal - but that alone may not be enough. The economy may need some cold water poured on it.

[hbelkins]

Noted yesterday from a trip to the two local Dollar General stores and the grocery store:

*Shortages of laundry detergent and supplies, pet food, garbage bags, disposable cutlery and plates/bowls, Pringles, paper towels, and toilet paper.

*Increased prices on grocery and non-grocery items from the previous week.

[Bruce]

That might just be the one chain.

From what I've seen over the past week at a few Safeways, Fred Meyers (aka Krogers), and Grocery Outlets in the Seattle area, the only consistent shortages are in energy drinks and cheese for some reason.

[hbelkins]

I haven't noted a cheese shortage around here, but I have noted a price increase. The same pack of sliced mild cheddar I bought for $2 on Oct. 9 cost $2.19 one week later. I didn't major in math, but that adds up to a price increase of nearly 10 percent.

[vdeane]

I was grocery shopping last night and the frozen foods section was completely decimated.  My usual brand was completely unavailable and the other brands were sparse, with many products being out and the remainder being low.  If this keeps up, I'm not sure how I'm going to get dinner... while I do have a couple things I'll cook occasionally, it's hard living on your own as you have to use up family-sized products (like sour cream, shredded cheese, etc.) before they go bad, which means you need to make a bunch of meals using them all at once... and with the current product shortages combined with the looming Thanksgiving/Christmas travel season, I'm not confident on that front.  Plus I'm not that good with cooking to begin with.  It's far, far more complicated, both from a food preparation perspective and from the perspective of getting the grocery shopping done in the first place.  So much to keep track of.  At least with my current system, I can say "I'll buy X, Y, and Z", and barring travel disruptions (and the odd week where I have to go grocery shopping twice, because I'm synced up with cartons of eggs rather than week days), it never varies.

[hotdogPi]

I have noticed absolutely no disruptions at all the last few months.

[Rothman]

I was grocery shopping last night and the frozen foods section was completely decimated.  My usual brand was completely unavailable and the other brands were sparse, with many products being out and the remainder being low.  If this keeps up, I'm not sure how I'm going to get dinner... while I do have a couple things I'll cook occasionally, it's hard living on your own as you have to use up family-sized products (like sour cream, shredded cheese, etc.) before they go bad, which means you need to make a bunch of meals using them all at once... and with the current product shortages combined with the looming Thanksgiving/Christmas travel season, I'm not confident on that front.  Plus I'm not that good with cooking to begin with.  It's far, far more complicated, both from a food preparation perspective and from the perspective of getting the grocery shopping done in the first place.  So much to keep track of.  At least with my current system, I can say "I'll buy X, Y, and Z", and barring travel disruptions (and the odd week where I have to go grocery shopping twice, because I'm synced up with cartons of eggs rather than week days), it never varies.

Hm.  Frozen food section at Wegman's was packed full on Tuesday night.

[ozarkman417]

I ordered a laptop for school from HP recently. I definitely won't be surprised if my custom order (that is already not supposed to arrive until late October) gets delayed as a result of part shortages.

As a direct result of unexpected supply constraints, we now expect your order to ship on a revised date of  [One month after the original shipping date]

Thanks HP for literally lying to me multiple times. The support person I dealt with claimed it was currently in production (being built) earlier this month. 

[RobbieL2415]

I know that the Port of LA is backed up, but is it at all possible to rework the supply chain temporarily to send more ships to Miami, Baltimore, Philly, New York and Boston?

[MikieTimT]

I know that the Port of LA is backed up, but is it at all possible to rework the supply chain temporarily to send more ships to Miami, Baltimore, Philly, New York and Boston?

That only moves the worsening bottlenecks to the Panama Canal, as most freight is coming from Asia across the Pacific.  And the ports have to be built to handle specific types of vessels, which isn't an overnight change.  Many of the ports would have to be dredged to handle the deeper drafts, even if they circumnavigated the globe (which would worsen Suez Canal bottlenecks), or went around the tip of South America, which gets treacherous this time of year, much like the Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea does, limiting Alaskan cruise seasons.  Flying freight in is really the only realistic alternative right now, and that is an order of magnitude more expensive than shipping by sea.  It's workable for smaller, higher value shipments, but doesn't make financial sense with most low-margin products.  Patience or a willingness to pay more are the only solutions for pretty much the next year.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll start to make things in this country again in completely robotic factories as we don't like to pay American level labor costs.

[RobbieL2415]

I know that the Port of LA is backed up, but is it at all possible to rework the supply chain temporarily to send more ships to Miami, Baltimore, Philly, New York and Boston?

That only moves the worsening bottlenecks to the Panama Canal, as most freight is coming from Asia across the Pacific.  And the ports have to be built to handle specific types of vessels, which isn't an overnight change.  Many of the ports would have to be dredged to handle the deeper drafts, even if they circumnavigated the globe (which would worsen Suez Canal bottlenecks), or went around the tip of South America, which gets treacherous this time of year, much like the Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea does, limiting Alaskan cruise seasons.  Flying freight in is really the only realistic alternative right now, and that is an order of magnitude more expensive than shipping by sea.  It's workable for smaller, higher value shipments, but doesn't make financial sense with most low-margin products.  Patience or a willingness to pay more are the only solutions for pretty much the next year.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll start to make things in this country again in completely robotic factories as we don't like to pay American level labor costs.

How is the rail network leading from East Asia into Europe? Could intermodal freight be shipped via rail to, say, Gibralter, and then floated to the East Coast?
Could the Navy activate its reserve fleets to help out?

[Dirt Roads]

I know that the Port of LA is backed up, but is it at all possible to rework the supply chain temporarily to send more ships to Miami, Baltimore, Philly, New York and Boston?

As of last week, there were ships lined up in the Atlantic waiting to get into Miami, Savannah and New York/New Jersey (and perhaps others).  Part of the issue is that many of the railroads have embargoed inbound container traffic (intermodal) from the ports because of difficulties within the trucking industry in the Midwest.  The embargoes started in late July and may have subsided by now.

[ZLoth]

From Ars Technica:

No end in sight for chip shortage as supply chain problems pile up
"We're not talking about quarters. We're talking about years."

Earlier this year, the chip shortage seemed like it might ease sometime in 2022. Now, that forecast appears to have been optimistic.

"The shortages are going to continue indefinitely,"  Brandon Kulik, head of Deloitte's semiconductor industry practice, told Ars. "Maybe that doesn't mean 10 years, but certainly we're not talking about quarters. We're talking about years."

It is becoming clear that snarls in the semiconductor supply chain are weighing on economic growth. Yesterday, both GM and Ford said that missing chips led to slashed profits for the third quarter, and Apple is rumored to be cutting this year's production targets for its iPhone lineup, the company's cash cow. Chip woes have become so widespread that a division of Wells Fargo thinks the pressures will curtail US GDP growth by 0.7 percent.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[ZLoth]

From FreightWaves:

Ocean carriers will pass on fines for lingering containers to importers
LA, Long Beach ports pressure liner companies to clear cargo faster, while California Gov. Newsom tries to alleviate shipping backlog

Logistics industry professionals say retailers and other cargo owners will ultimately bear the cost of drastic new fees announced Monday by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in response to mounting congestion disrupting the entire U.S. economy.

The fees ostensibly penalize ocean carriers for not quickly clearing out imported containers piling up in their terminals, but a lack of details in the press release left freight industry stakeholders confused about how the rules will be applied.

The two Southern California ports said they will begin charging ocean carriers $100 per container, compounding in $100 increments each day, for containers scheduled to move by truck that sit for nine days or more, beginning next Monday. For containers moving by rail, shipping lines will be charged if the container has dwelled for six days or more.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[tolbs17]

There were empty shelves on the candy aisle in Walmart.

[formulanone]

There were empty shelves on the candy aisle in Walmart.

It's very close to Halloween, so that's normal.

In other news, no shortage of "Ask Me Anything..." threads.

[ozarkman417]

Today, I received an RTX 3060 Ti after waiting ten months in EVGA's queue. Said queue currently not accepting any new entries.

[LM117]

Oh Deere...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-10-000-deere-co-workers-strike-after-failed-uaw-n1281486

Looks like they're on the verge of a deal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/deere-uaw-agree-new-6-year-contract-subject-union-vote-n1282786

[ZLoth]

Today, I received an RTX 3060 Ti after waiting ten months in EVGA's queue. Said queue currently not accepting any new entries.

This is so frustrating. Thank you Cyberminers.

[hbelkins]

There were empty shelves on the candy aisle in Walmart.

It's very close to Halloween, so that's normal.

Most of the shelves formerly occupied by Halloween candy at the Jackson, Ky. Walmart are now occupied by Christmas candy. So last-minute shoppers for trick-or-treaters who had to buy Christmas candy may be falsely accused of handing out leftover Christmas candy from last year.

[ErmineNotyours]

There were empty shelves on the candy aisle in Walmart.

It's very close to Halloween, so that's normal.

Most of the shelves formerly occupied by Halloween candy at the Jackson, Ky. Walmart are now occupied by Christmas candy. So last-minute shoppers for trick-or-treaters who had to buy Christmas candy may be falsely accused of handing out leftover Christmas candy from last year.

There were no post-Halloween candy sales at Fred Meyer today, except for candy corn because nobody likes candy corn.

[Takumi]

There were empty shelves on the candy aisle in Walmart.

It's very close to Halloween, so that's normal.

Most of the shelves formerly occupied by Halloween candy at the Jackson, Ky. Walmart are now occupied by Christmas candy. So last-minute shoppers for trick-or-treaters who had to buy Christmas candy may be falsely accused of handing out leftover Christmas candy from last year.

There were no post-Halloween candy sales at Fred Meyer today, except for candy corn because nobody likes candy corn.

That and, as we all know, all the candy corn that was ever made, was made in 1914. (NSFW)
https://youtu.be/jklghkb8XNA

[ZLoth]

From Eat This, Not That! - 8 New Grocery Shortages Shoppers Have Reported This Week (October 31st). On the list:

• Sandwich Fixings
• Pasta Sauce
• Candy Corn
• Eggs
• Canned Pumpkin
• Turkey
• Cream Cheese
• Alcohol

Also, Shoppers Are Seeing These 15 Shortages at Their Local ALDI and Trader Joe's.