Shortages are now more prevalent.....

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Mike G

I was a bit concerned about the chip shortage, but my wife just brought home some Pringles and Ruffles, so we're good.

Exactly. But the bags keep getting smaller and the pre- stamped price keeps going up. Then they are on sale for a reduced price that is about where the old, bigger bags were pre-priced at. So less chips for more money and we are not supposed to notice. I don’t mind a fuzzy sweater but I don’t like being fleeced.
Iowa Dave

[Centex]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

.... I don’t mind a fuzzy sweater but I don’t like being fleeced.
Iowa Dave

priceless wit from Iowa

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

We ordered a couch back in early March. Last I heard, it might be coming in January. I'm guessing couches usually don't come from overseas, but made in the USA. I don't know what the delay is about.

In October, Amazon quoted a replacement Maxx-Fan gear lift mechanism as being available July 2022.

Covid, covid, covid. It looks like it will be the "issue" for years to come. New variants emerge about every 90 days .

It was once said by an American politician-never let a crisis go to waste.

I’m sure most companies have the same outlook.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

...never let a crisis go to waste. I’m sure most companies have the same outlook.

Sorry but that makes no sense at all. Why would companies want to be impacted by the supply chain crisis or by COVID? How exactly are they taking advantage of it?

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Sorry but that makes no sense at all. Why would companies want to be impacted by the supply chain crisis or by COVID? How exactly are they taking advantage of it?

Companies not impacted, or adjacent to the supply chain crisis are profiting from it.


Example: car dealerships are suffering from low inventory and a tight used car market. Their sales volume is down. They are more than making up for it by increasing sales prices. Profits are up even though sales are down.


Example: Companies operating in markets unaffected by chip shortages etc. and nevertheless finding consumers are anxious about being able to find things they want in stock. Companies can drive sales by implying that there is scarcity where none exists.

Finally, one of the biggest drivers of all of this spending is 21 months of consumers being unable to freely spend money in a broad category of normal areas......travel, dining, hospitality, sports, concerts. So the spending has shifted to consumer goods where there is an incredibly elevated degree of demand. This is good news for every company that makes 'stuff'. It is also, in a nutshell, why we are having a supply problem.....it's only partly supply disruption, but also very much tied into elevated demand.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Companies not impacted, or adjacent to the supply chain crisis are profiting from it.


Example: car dealerships are suffering from low inventory and a tight used car market. Their sales volume is down. They are more than making up for it by increasing sales prices. Profits are up even though sales are down.


Example: Companies operating in markets unaffected by chip shortages etc. and nevertheless finding consumers are anxious about being able to find things they want in stock. Companies can drive sales by implying that there is scarcity where none exists.

Finally, one of the biggest drivers of all of this spending is 21 months of consumers being unable to freely spend money in a broad category of normal areas......travel, dining, hospitality, sports, concerts. So the spending has shifted to consumer goods where there is an incredibly elevated degree of demand. This is good news for every company that makes 'stuff'. It is also, in a nutshell, why we are having a supply problem.....it's only partly supply disruption, but also very much tied into elevated demand.

I get all that. Any company - if they're led by sane people anyway - will try to make the best of a bad situation. They will have to shift strategies because of market conditions, supply, distro, etc.

What I was speaking to was the idea that somehow "most" companies wanted this crisis. It's a cynical viewpoint that paints most businesses unfairly - businesses that are right now desperately trying to stay afloat.

[Mike G]

I got some good news via phone call yesterday: the new recliner that I ordered in mid-October, which was due in before Thanksgiving but didn't show, is finally being delivered to me this Sunday. The (TX) furniture store's delivery guy told me over the phone that their NJ warehouse shipped it nearly 3 weeks ago to TX, and the LTL carrier (Roadrunner) had it for 17 days but still hadn't unloaded it from their trailer, let alone deliver it to the store. So the store finally convinced them to pull it (and some other chairs and a sofa) out of their trailer so the store could drive over to Roadrunner's terminal and pick it up themselves. Apparently they can't get enough help, so they have dozens of trailers sitting around the dock waiting to be unloaded and delivered, and they're refusing to take anything else at this point because they have no place to put it!


I don't know how they can stay in business.


This recliner turns out to be my Christmas present to myself, I guess. My current LazyBoy is about 20 years old, the lumbar sags, and the leather is all cracked up. I sat in a lot of recliners before finding The One which felt better than my old chair. The One is a Fjords Milan, in 'vintage cognac'. It's by far the most I've ever spent on a piece of furniture (heck, in the bedroom I still use the $40 yard-sale chest of drawers we bought when we were about to get married; the thing is solid!) but at my age I thought, a non-aching back is worth any price.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

What I was speaking to was the idea that somehow "most" companies wanted this crisis.

Conspiracy theories abound.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

I get all that. Any company - if they're led by sane people anyway - will try to make the best of a bad situation. They will have to shift strategies because of market conditions, supply, distro, etc.

What I was speaking to was the idea that somehow "most" companies wanted this crisis. It's a cynical viewpoint that paints most businesses unfairly - businesses that are right now desperately trying to stay afloat.

Not sure how you read into it that companies wanted this particular crisis to happen, I don’t think most anyone saw it coming much less wanted it.

But if you’d like to believe many politicians and large companies don’t do this,well-that’s your viewpoint.

Try this, go into a car lot and see if you think they aren’t taking this to their full advantage.

[Jim Bennett]

Amidst the grumbling and theorizing I would love to take a moment to turn this around and wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas. [emoji319][emoji318]