DWB Posted January 23, 2023 Report Share Posted January 23, 2023 Purpose of this thread is to provide explanations, for any topic you want, that isn't "publicized". "Supply chain issues" For the past (almost) 2 years we've heard the phrase of "Supply Chain Issues", as the default excuse for items being out of stock, delays in product deliveries, and even service deliveries. What you're NOT hearing is that shutdown of the economy for Covid caused extreme financial stress for virtually every company, and even more so on small companies, and local businesses. For a small business, Cash flow is king. With no demand, businesses still had overhead to pay, utilities to pay, interest on existing loans to pay, wages, benefits, etc. The result is that even today (2 years later) most small and local businesses have lousy credit with their vendors. Most businesses are already over extended, and hanging on by a thread. So when you have to order something (since they don't have it in stock anymore), it could very well be that their credit is lousy and they have to pre-pay the the vendor before they see shipment. And the vendor has the same issue with their suppliers. Something to consider if you're about to buy a big ticket item from a small or local business. It's easy to point a finger upstream. Not everything should be put at the feet of the ports being backed up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drroogh Posted January 23, 2023 Report Share Posted January 23, 2023 3 minutes ago, DWB said: Purpose of this thread is to provide explanations, for any topic you want, that isn't "publicized". "Supply chain issues" For the past (almost) 2 years we've heard the phrase of "Supply Chain Issues", as the default excuse for items being out of stock, delays in product deliveries, and even service deliveries. What you're NOT hearing is that shutdown of the economy for Covid caused extreme financial stress for virtually every company, and even more so on small companies, and local businesses. For a small business, Cash flow is king. With no demand, businesses still had overhead to pay, utilities to pay, interest on existing loans to pay, wages, benefits, etc. The result is that even today (2 years later) most small and local businesses have lousy credit with their vendors. Most businesses are already over extended, and hanging on by a thread. So when you have to order something (since they don't have it in stock anymore), it could very well be that their credit is lousy and they have to pre-pay the the vendor before they see shipment. And the vendor has the same issue with their suppliers. Something to consider if you're about to buy a big ticket item from a small or local business. It's easy to point a finger upstream. Not everything should be put at the feet of the ports being backed up. When I was still working, finding new vendors became one of my primary jobs. I was a tooling engineer? I was all over the world virtually. Can say I had never communicated with someone from Bulgaria before. The problems are real all the way up and down the supply chain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reacher Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 Ah, the story behind the story thread.... As for the supply chain, there are many issues. Many companies want out of business and or laid off employees resulting in @Drroogh searching for replacements or companies just unable to handle the increased demand from the recovery. Add in retiring employees, employees missing time due to covid sickness and the supply of labor was down when we needed more. Some companies (lumber industry for example) decided it just wasn't prudent financially to expand or add that second shift to increase production for a short term increase in demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrflynn03 Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 (edited) Since egg prices have been hitting record highs I've been hearing people complaining about price gouging ect. In addition to the increase in feed prices and energy, bird flu has knocked out about 60 million chickens. Hens lay one egg per day if they lay at all. What people probably don't know is it takes about 20 weeks before a chicken begins to lay eggs that can be sold. So a decrease of 60 million eggs per day for about 5 months will do that. Also, with labor shortages comes higher wages and more incentives to attract employees. Who pays these costs? Consumers ultimately through higher prices. Higher wages sound great until the costs trickle down to our wallets. Eggs are used for more than shell eggs sold in cartons. So producers still have to supply their liquid commercial and retail product. Due to higher demand in other sectors of the economy producers can't redirect very much of their supply to shell eggs. The solution? Find a local or small farmer who sells eggs if you can. I'm still paying about $2.50 a dozen for farm fresh. They're more nutritious and taste better anyway. Edited January 24, 2023 by mrflynn03 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drroogh Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 People don’t realize the games that China is playing as well! We were in need of some specialized magnets supplied from China. Contacted them directly and they said they couldn’t supply them to us because we were in America. As it was, my main tooling source was only a 45 minute drive from the magnet supplier. They drove over and bought a few thousand for us. Even they still had some minor difficulties with customs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrflynn03 Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 6 minutes ago, Drroogh said: People don’t realize the games that China is playing as well! We were in need of some specialized magnets supplied from China. Contacted them directly and they said they couldn’t supply them to us because we were in America. As it was, my main tooling source was only a 45 minute drive from the magnet supplier. They drove over and bought a few thousand for us. Even they still had some minor difficulties with customs. Guess who processes and supplies about 80% of the world's cobalt and 100% of the world's graphite? You know, 2 critical components of lithium-ion batteries. China. And they are buying up all the mines in the DRC which has about 70% of the world's supply of cobalt. It's not just phones and cars. It's a national security issue because the military relies on these elements too. One positive thing though is not far from me is crane naval base. They have a science and industrial park and they are building a facility to produce chips domestically. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reacher Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 2 hours ago, mrflynn03 said: Guess who processes and supplies about 80% of the world's cobalt and 100% of the world's graphite? You know, 2 critical components of lithium-ion batteries. China. And they are buying up all the mines in the DRC which has about 70% of the world's supply of cobalt. It's not just phones and cars. It's a national security issue because the military relies on these elements too. One positive thing though is not far from me is crane naval base. They have a science and industrial park and they are building a facility to produce chips domestically. Even US lithium goes to China to get processed and then sent back here. Can't get new mines, battery and semiconductor factories built soon enough! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reacher Posted January 24, 2023 Report Share Posted January 24, 2023 The story behind the demise of Pastini pasta- https://thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/the-shape-of-metal @Drroogh you will appreciate this. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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