Blame it on the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Bar and chain oil, outboard motor oil, dish soap, hand soap, toilet paper, you name it, Stephen Skeels is having a hard time getting it.
Skeels, the owner of Buck’s Hardware, said customers are frustrated because he can’t always get what they want. Still, he explained, “Ever since the pandemic, manufacturing has slowed down and businesses can’t keep up with the demand.”
In short, supply chains have been broken because COVID-19 has enveloped the world.
Jim Joynes, the owner of Joynes Ben Franklin, recently said his store received a pallet and half of goods, which was nice, but they were expecting four pallets.
Grocery stores are having a hard time advertising sales because they don’t know which sale items will actually be delivered to them.
Down at the Grand Marais Rec Park, Dave Tersteeg said he has a difficult time keeping ice stocked for campground visitors. A vendor brings in ice once or twice a week, but this year they don’t always show up. Last summer, when it was cold, Dave said the vendor would come by two, three times a week, trying to sell ice. “This year it’s hot, and where are they?
“We ran out of ice on July 5, and we couldn’t get any from the gas stations because they had also run out. Imagine that, running out of ice on the July 4th weekend?” Tersteeg said.
Tyson Cronberg, owner and operator at the Beaver House, shook his head “no” when asked if his angling orders are filled.
“Nope, there are many things I order that don’t come in this year. Simple things like rods and reels, Rapala’s or bobber stops, I can’t always get those items.
“Can you imagine I can’t get bobber stops?” Tyson quipped incredulously.
An ice-making machine—normally an order that’s easy to fill— has been on back order at Birch Terrace Restaurant for six weeks. “They tell me it’s coming every week,” said David Larsen, who is buying ice from the local gas stations. “I hope it gets here before winter,” he added.
Even though many factories have opened back up, they are running with smaller staffs to practice social distancing. Skeels said seven factories that supplied Orville products had shut down. And even though Orville is up and running, they can’t find packaging, bottles, or cans for their products.
Scotts Miracle-Gro is a popular product at Bucks, but Scotts suspended their production, Skeels said.
He has also noticed that when he orders an item, manufacturers are making fewer products, limiting production lines to producing the items that have the highest sales volume.
Some places can’t get their trucks out on time, noted Skeels, and the trucks will show up a day late. And still, some companies have informed him that nothing he has ordered will be filled because his store is too far from their current supply route.
In monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and its effect on supply chains and operations, Goker Aydin surmised, “For a business to deliver its promise to its customers, it must have a properly functioning supply chain. Without an intact supply chain, a manufacturing business will starve for key inputs into its production process. A retailer will have empty shelves.”
Aydin is an expert in operations management and business analytics from the John Hopkins University of Carey Business School. The above quote came from the March 6 edition of the HUB, a publication of Johns Hopkins University.
In short, Aydin was saying the same thing that Cook County vendors have been saying to frustrated customers, blame this shortage on COVID- 19 breaking supply chains, and not the store owners or its employees.
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