Shortages

[Beerstein]

THAT was a great post. Thank you for the time you put into it.

ditto.

 

[sibelman]

There's this false economy (I think) that relies on cheap overseas products. We think we get a deal with cheap overseas products. But I wonder.

False, perhaps. Fragile. Certainly new and different, and apparently unsustainable. OP's post shows that a lot of vulnerability comes with our new, global interdependence.

 

[madscientist451]

I'm wondering why the supply chain problems don't extend to the beer supply. Every store I've been in lately has been jammed packed full of product.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I work in small appliances, which means that 100% of our product comes from China. Super hard to get hold of microchips, limited batches of them means we can only do short runs, and the cost to book a container from China to California have gone up 250-300%...
Material shortages in China means that the cost of plastic and metal components has risen sharply, in our case pushing up FOB costs upward by 30-45%.
The labor shortage means we have containers of product floating around waiting for a berth.

 

[Beerstein]

I work in small appliances, which means that 100% of our product comes from China. Super hard to get hold of microchips, limited batches of them means we can only do short runs, and the cost to book a container from China to California have gone up 250-300%...
Material shortages in China means that the cost of plastic and metal components has risen sharply, in our case pushing up FOB costs upward by 30-45%.
The labor shortage means we have containers of product floating around waiting for a berth.

I had to buy a new gas stove mid last year, and it was excruciating. Everything was back ordered. The sales guy wouldn’t even order sell some brands even they showed in stock at the warehouse. I cant imagine how much worse it is now.

 

[BrewChem]

Recently received notification that the supplier of helium that runs some of our instruments is experiencing shortages and our supply is being cut by 35%… we’re also having a bugger of a time getting parts and service for the lab equipment too.

 

[day_trippr]

Well, let's not conflate problems. The helium thing is its own issue and has been for some time and will likely become more acute regardless...

 

[Jayjay1976]

Well, let's not conflate problems. The helium thing is its own issue and has been for some time and will likely become more acute regardless...

Tough time to be in the balloon business I guess. I would hope that the medical industry gets priority but it probably just goes to the highest bidder regardless. I'd guess the medical industry has deeper pockets,, wonder who else needs helium? Research? Coolant for particle accelerators maybe?

 

[Jayjay1976]

On a side note, this whole crisis has our leadership working on non-China suppliers (at long last..) and even digging around for potential domestic resources.

 

[BrewChem]

We’re an analytic lab and high-purity helium is critical for our gas chromatography instruments.

yes, helium supply has its historical issues but the recent upsets in transport and shipping coupled with the outage at the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) plant, a Saudi embargo and the delay of the startup of a processing and purification plant in Russia has put a strain on the market.

 

[Deadalus]

BUT, how do you suppose all americans bought american products until only recently? And that was with typically only one working person in the household.

There's this false economy (I think) that relies on cheap overseas products. We think we get a deal with cheap overseas products. But I wonder.

Sorry but I have to ask, how recently are you talking here? Dual income households were about equal to single (traditional) earner households as a percentage as far back as the late 1960's (45% to 45%). The US had some surplus and some deficit trade imbalances in the 1960s and 1970s, then deficits since the late 1970's. "'Cause the good old days weren't always good..." William Martin Joel

I'll try to keep it related to trade here in addressing the second part of your post and say it's more of a wage imbalance between countries resulting from the US dollar being the preferred currency of the world. The lowest paid workers in countries we import from are not paid the same amount as the US' lowest paid workers. It's a lot less and it's reflected in the cost we pay in the US and other wealthy nations. We simply can't produce some of those goods here in the US profitably.

I have had few issues buying things. I bought an RO system and that was shipped in reasonable dispatch. Brewing consumables are always hit or miss, this and that can be out of stock, not uncommon really. I needed a couple of washing machine parts that are on their way but a few weeks ago the part did not come on time but that's happened before. They overpromise shipping time in the appliance parts world, they don't always have the part on hand. I'm rarely at a grocery store, online ordering is better than sliced bread! I usually have 2-3 substitutions and 0-2 did not haves per order. I think part of that is just floor stocking and ordering time. It's not often specific to an item and sometimes I think they throttle the pick orders to allow inventory to stay in the store, in store only one order, curbside the next.

*Forgot one order, a Euro-style wall panel radiator. It's made in Europe. The two I ordered a couple years ago took 2-3 weeks maybe but I got a quote for 4-6 weeks but from a different cheaper supplier who I don't think actually has stock on hand, so 4-6 weeks and I am hoping that was already an adjusted shipping time.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

I'm wondering why the supply chain problems don't extend to the beer supply. Every store I've been in lately has been jammed packed full of product.

I feel this is due to the nature of the product, production times, the number of regional breweries, and the distribution networks that have been established.
There are so many options out there, if one supply starts to dwindle there are a dozen ready to slide in and fill the void. Seems like I see a new brewery on the shelf every time I am in the store.

 

[seatazzz]

60 Minutes did a great segment last night on the container freight situation; they focused mainly on LAX/Long Beach, with a mention of Chicago and rail issues, but the situations they discussed are happening in ALL seaports. Watched it with my boss today and both of us agreed it was well done & researched. The one thing they didn't mention was the labor issues at the actual ports; mentioned lack of truckers and such, but I wonder if the ILWU refused to comment. The one thing they got (slightly) wrong is saying that all of the US ports are "owned" by the local cities they are in; only the land is owned by the cities, and leased by the companies running the port; the actual port equipment is owned & run by the companies that lease the land from the cities. A new twist that we just found out about, the steamship lines are now fining the ports when containers sit too long without being picked up; which is ludicrous to say the least. Ships keep coming in, and new containers are stacked on top of the old ones; and the ports refuse to move the new ones to get at the older ones. On top of that, since there are so many loaded containers that can't be picked up, they are refusing to allow truckers to return empties as there is no room. No empty return=no equipment to pick up loaded containers, so the situation is just getting worse and worse. And who is going to pay for it? Why, you and me, the end consumers, in higher prices for goods.

 

[grampamark]

It’s not just containerized freight. Bulk commodities are being affected now, too.

Most of the crops grown in this part of the world are exported from terminal facilities at, or near, the mouth of the Columbia River. The grain is delivered to what are known as sub-terminal facilities in inland locations and loaded on to shuttle trains, so called because they can be loaded at one point of origin, delivered to one destination without any switching or splitting of the train, and returned to the same shipper, lather, rinse, repeat.

The trains are backing up at the ports because the ships can’t dock. Hopper bottom rail cars aren’t as numerous as shipping containers so, with loaded cars backed up at the terminals, there aren’t any empties to be filled at the inland elevators. All of the grain elevators is this area are shut down due to the lack of transportation. So, even though grain prices are at a 10-year high, we can’t deliver any crops right now. November is the month when, in Montana, half of the year’s real estate taxes are due, and the premiums for Federal Crop Insurance are also due. I guess we’re going to find out how much slack the Revenue Department and the insurance companies are going to offer.

 

[MaxStout]

I stopped in to my local Aldi today to pick up a few items. I noticed that the paper goods section was all but cleaned out and the pasta selection was slim. The store looked like a Soviet grocery store. I'm thinking it's a one-two punch of supply chain issues and people stocking up due to the lingering Delta wave in MN.

 

[madscientist451]

Beer prices will be going up soon:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-29/it-s-last-call-for-cheap-beer

 

[matt_m]

I had a heck of time finding tri-clamp fittings this week for a project. Ended up splitting the order between a homebrew shop and multiple Amazon sellers including one that wasn't shipped by Amazon which I almost never do.