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Staff member
Good Morning Class
!
I just wanted to put this out there as I worked late into this morning on a business proposal that relies heavily on import-export. There is so much going on out there right now and it seems like all of the mass media chooses what to report & how to politicize it, and many important things are just getting a snippet if any coverage at all.
I hope you understand my twisted sense of humor by now, and the last thing I want to do is increase anyone’s anxiety levels right now. I was lucky to have a number of relatives that worked in The Financial Markets, so I was recruited by the age of 16 to start my internships on the stock market. So I’ve been doing this for too long!
The reason I am posting this is I think all of us have seen quite a few things missing off the store shelves as of late. Many things we can adjust or buy something else. What makes “our” situation unique is that just because the global supply chain is in a huge tailspin right now, our incontinence or need for diapers and other types of protection doesn’t change.
Most of the disposable products we use here in the US are designed in USA/ Canada/ Europe, but manufactured in China. I’ve been watching the shipping closely, we know what happened to all of those Cruise Ships with Covid stranding them at sea for at times, months. At the same time the container ships had the same thing going on with many Seamen dying of Covid as they weren’t allowed into many ports. Based on this many are refusing to go back to sea causing a huge shortage of workers to run these massive ships. Similar thing with our truck drivers here in the US, only about 62% of drivers from 2019 are back on the road.
The going rate for a container from China to Long Beach, California was steady at about $1000-$1500.00 for many years depending on route, weight etc. In June I watched as the cost per container crossed above $15,000! In July it crossed above the $20,000 cost per container. Despite this the ports are still jammed with full ships going nowhere and shipping brokers are driving up additional fees & cherry picking what freight gets shipped & when.
The whole point of my message is to give you enough info to research and come to your own conclusions, but I expect we will begin to see product back orders and substantial price increases in the very near future, and this is one component that has to be passed on to us. I really can’t tell you what that increased cost will look like in the Incontinence Products yet. In some of my other business it has already resulted in 20% price increases and 4-6 month delays on shipping so far. Cost for an axle bearing & seal for my Jeep was about $40 in 2019, and available overnight, now it’s over $200 and I’ve been waiting 3 months…
On a positive note for those on Medicare will probably be seeing the largest increase in history. This is a lagging indicator (a result of increases that have already happened), so this says very clearly our government knows exactly what is going on and has done little to stop it…
The Sky is NOT falling, but it is getting cloudy… I personally have ordered double what I normally require for about 12 weeks, and I have added additional cloth & plastic pants just as back up. I apologize if I sound like Debby Downer, not at all my intention! This may sound crazy to some of you. I utilize a number of different forums similar to this for hobbies & business, but for whatever reason overall this forum has some of the brightest most well informed members of any of the other dozen or so forums I take part in. I’m simply trying to share the information so you can all take the steps you feel appropriate for yourself.
Again, I hope this isn’t too depressing, I think we all have enough on our plates, but Knowledge is Power! I do this every day, but I miss a lot of other stuff in the process. I’m lucky to have a wonderful wife who keeps me up to speed on the rest of what I miss!
Take care,
Tom
!I just wanted to put this out there as I worked late into this morning on a business proposal that relies heavily on import-export. There is so much going on out there right now and it seems like all of the mass media chooses what to report & how to politicize it, and many important things are just getting a snippet if any coverage at all.
I hope you understand my twisted sense of humor by now, and the last thing I want to do is increase anyone’s anxiety levels right now. I was lucky to have a number of relatives that worked in The Financial Markets, so I was recruited by the age of 16 to start my internships on the stock market. So I’ve been doing this for too long!
The reason I am posting this is I think all of us have seen quite a few things missing off the store shelves as of late. Many things we can adjust or buy something else. What makes “our” situation unique is that just because the global supply chain is in a huge tailspin right now, our incontinence or need for diapers and other types of protection doesn’t change.
Most of the disposable products we use here in the US are designed in USA/ Canada/ Europe, but manufactured in China. I’ve been watching the shipping closely, we know what happened to all of those Cruise Ships with Covid stranding them at sea for at times, months. At the same time the container ships had the same thing going on with many Seamen dying of Covid as they weren’t allowed into many ports. Based on this many are refusing to go back to sea causing a huge shortage of workers to run these massive ships. Similar thing with our truck drivers here in the US, only about 62% of drivers from 2019 are back on the road.
The going rate for a container from China to Long Beach, California was steady at about $1000-$1500.00 for many years depending on route, weight etc. In June I watched as the cost per container crossed above $15,000! In July it crossed above the $20,000 cost per container. Despite this the ports are still jammed with full ships going nowhere and shipping brokers are driving up additional fees & cherry picking what freight gets shipped & when.
The whole point of my message is to give you enough info to research and come to your own conclusions, but I expect we will begin to see product back orders and substantial price increases in the very near future, and this is one component that has to be passed on to us. I really can’t tell you what that increased cost will look like in the Incontinence Products yet. In some of my other business it has already resulted in 20% price increases and 4-6 month delays on shipping so far. Cost for an axle bearing & seal for my Jeep was about $40 in 2019, and available overnight, now it’s over $200 and I’ve been waiting 3 months…
On a positive note for those on Medicare will probably be seeing the largest increase in history. This is a lagging indicator (a result of increases that have already happened), so this says very clearly our government knows exactly what is going on and has done little to stop it…
The Sky is NOT falling, but it is getting cloudy… I personally have ordered double what I normally require for about 12 weeks, and I have added additional cloth & plastic pants just as back up. I apologize if I sound like Debby Downer, not at all my intention! This may sound crazy to some of you. I utilize a number of different forums similar to this for hobbies & business, but for whatever reason overall this forum has some of the brightest most well informed members of any of the other dozen or so forums I take part in. I’m simply trying to share the information so you can all take the steps you feel appropriate for yourself.
Again, I hope this isn’t too depressing, I think we all have enough on our plates, but Knowledge is Power! I do this every day, but I miss a lot of other stuff in the process. I’m lucky to have a wonderful wife who keeps me up to speed on the rest of what I miss!
Take care,
Tom
