Across the county, many businesses have begun posting notices to inform their customers that some products, from Chick-Fil-A sauce, diapers, cars, and electronics to name a few, are in limited supply due to supply chain issues. But how and why exactly is the supply chain issue impacting almost every facet of American life? And what does this mean for the holiday season and upcoming year?
At the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020, as millions sheltered in place and began working from home, spending habits drastically changed as many sought escapism in the form of online shopping. Money that had once been allocated for discretionary spending in the form of in-person experiences was redirected to home remodeling efforts, electronics, and particular food items.
At the same time as this was happening, the world’s manufacturing hubs (China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Germany), were amongst the hardest hit and the ones with the strictest lockdown restrictions, which resulted in factory production either grinding to an indefinite halt or drastically reducing production. In an effort to adapt to the global emergencies, shipping container and trucking companies and ports implemented safety and quarantine measures for their workers. They also began unloading previously-filled containers to prioritize the transportation of protective gear to certain parts of the world (West Africa and South Asia) that are not normally known to send shipping containers back to China. This action inadvertently caused a logistical nightmare when manufacturers resumed production in an attempt to meet consumer demand and had no shipping containers in which to put the finished goods. And when they did, some shipping liners had to reroute when the container ship Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal in early March.
The strain of the global supply chain has been growing since the beginning of the pandemic, but has only recently become apparent and felt by most consumers because of the rising prices of goods. Many consumers already under financial stress have asked the question, “why didn’t factories just produce more goods?” The short answer is globalism–oftentimes a product that is assembled in one part of the world requires parts made in other countries. Many nationally operated businesses, in preparation for the holiday season, attempted to order their goods earlier and to stock up on supplies–companies mirroring the panic-buying behavior of consumers which resulted in outages of toilet paper.
In an effort to alleviate the rising financial toll on both businesses and consumers, President Biden announced plans to expand the hours of operation for two of the country's busiest ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach, and entered talks with dock workers unions and the nation’s largest retailers and shipping companies for assistance in moving product. In addition, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach began issuing $100 “Container Dwell Fees”–fines to shipping carriers if they did not move their cargo within 6-9 days.
While the above steps are short-term effective efforts that have helped move consumer goods, many have stressed that the current supply chain issues the country is experiencing are due to the aged supply chain system infrastructure that needs immediate attention. More long-term solutions have been proposed, and some are included in the recently passed infrastructure bill which allocated upwards of $17 billion to update the national supply chain by modernizing ports and marine highways, deepening harbors for larger cargo ships, and updating the inspection facilities systems.
It is important to note that the current supply chain issues are a result of a breakdown in the logistical transportation of goods and materials. It is inaccurate to solely blame supply chain issues on the pandemic, as many have pointed out. There is no telling how long the supply chain issues will persist, but as the holiday season quickly approaches, expect that some of the things on your shopping list might not be available or might be more expensive than you remember.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.