Man I'm getting pissed

[Phil3333]

Most of the ebay sellers don't have them in stock I called a bunch,but I got lucky and found a set of open box and got them

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[redrider]

No use getting pissed - you can't fix it, you can't do a thing about it, it's no one person's or business's fault. It's a screwed up covid world with production shutdowns and reductions and companies can't find anyone to fill empty positions as things pick back up. I talked to a manager type guy with Pella Corp yesterday and he says even with incentives and promises of extra time off, bonus for sign-on, etc. - they can't fill spots in the company and they are trying to expand in several states. Can't get people to work.
I'm hearing the same thing all over.

When you get paid to sit on your ass this is what happens.

 

[Dakarider]

Its not just auto parts, all kinds of stuff. I had ordered a little power tool attachment that ended up taking 6 months to get. I just got it a couple weeks ago.

 

[Dakarider]

Here in Oregon I'm surrounded by logging and sawmills, wood treatment, pulp, paper, plywood all manufactured here, but for some reason the cost is higher than anywhere else in the country. But now...with pandemic prices? It's crazy what construction lumber costs.

Here in Black Hills of SD, they closed two lumber mills, one closed because they cannot get enough raw lumber to operate and that is primarily due to the US Forest Service reducing logging in Black HIlls Nat'l Forest.

 

[booneja]

Here in Oregon I'm surrounded by logging and sawmills, wood treatment, pulp, paper, plywood all manufactured here, but for some reason the cost is higher than anywhere else in the country. But now...with pandemic prices? It's crazy what construction lumber costs.

Try being in a place that provides the raw resources to south of the border and get the final product back at 4 times the cost. for example.....gas here is $1.51/ ltr or $6.00 a gallon (less than $1.00/ lt one year ago......... or paying $4.00 for a 2x4, used to be less the $2.00, simply ridiculous how much things cost right now

 

[CrazyCooter]

When you get paid to sit on your ass this is what happens.

I've been hearing reports of $50+ being paid for people to just come fill out and application/show up for an interview? Every business owner I come in contact with no matter what business says the same thing.....They would hire more people IF they were available.

I can't just put warm bodies into a position at my shop and it appears that the people who were looking for work pre-pandemic are largely unemployable do to lack of skill, ambition, drugs, no driver's license, serious criminal record, etc.......

One thing I have always hated with group type events (4X4, cycling, motorcycling, etc) is the bigger the group, the less people seem to be willing to do their part........ I'd like to think this isn't the starting or the end of our country, but it sure looks similar to what has happened in many other countries.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein

 

[stickshifter]

I can advise you that if something is not deemed essential it will not sniff anything resembling urgent or normal shipping. Working for one of the largest logistics companies in the world everything is backed up and will remain so likely through the year. Every major port around the world has massive congestion. On the West Coast, loaded containers are likely to sit for 2-3 or more months before even moving to a location to be offloaded. It's a 3-4 month wait to get space on vessels to ship stuff from many locations and don't even talk about Asian lanes. The steamship lines are making a fortune and so is everyone down the line and they are in no rush to get things back to normal. Shipping container prices have quadrupled in the last few months. A flat rack to or from Asia used to cost around $3,000 since the beginning of the year the prices have climbed steadily to where they are costing around $21,000 now and that is if you can get one and find space for it. Breakbulk vessels are filling so fast and they can ask any price they want. Trucking prices have skyrocketed. We are paying triple for a load now compared to the end of last year/beginning of this year. Guess what all that means ?? Trickle down. All of those costs will be passed down to us and your still going to have to wait for your stuff.

In your opinion, what is causing shipping costs to rise so much? Has global shipping increased to levels higher than the pre-Covid norm? Is there a shortage of dock workers (longshoremen)? Is it a combination of the two? If there is a shortage of dock workers, are they sick or are they choosing not to work in order to collect unemployment? Does the longshoreman's union even provide workers such an option?

According to a January 24 article in the Washington Post: "The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. The increase reflects dramatic shifts in consumption during the pandemic, as consumers redirect money they once spent at restaurants or movie theaters to the purchase of record amounts of imported clothing, computers, furniture and other goods."

I'm curious if the W.P. is accurate here, and I'm genuinely interested in hearing your take on this. It certainly looks like we're in for a bout of inflation. Thanks in advance for your reply!

 

[AZCooWhip]

Great argument against globalization right there.

Trickle down costs plus the inevitable inflation from the what $11 trillion flooded into the economy....

Hold on to your butts.

There is a reason why used car prices are skyrocketing besides the chip shortage. There is a reason for the chip shortage beyond covid.

It isn't hard to look around and see, things are not getting better in any respect.

This. All. Day. Long.

Build. Back. Better. And to just think for a brief moment.....it was a mere 15 months ago that we had the most robust economy and pick a number, they were fantastic.

We haven’t even seen the tip of the berg yet.

 

[yoda13]

They are a forum sponsor, have you reached out to @Quadratec ?

Which only makes them bigger, but it's sometimes easier.

I always give the Jeep shops near me a shot, or even the resellers like Quadratec a shot, before I resort to Amazon. Amazon is always last on my list, but lately it’s the only way I’ve gotten any joy on parts that I’ve wanted.

 

[yoda13]

This. All. Day. Long.

Build. Back. Better. And to just think for a brief moment.....it was a mere 15 months ago that we had the most robust economy and pick a number, they were fantastic.

We haven’t even seen the tip of the berg yet.

The amount of debt we have and the amount of money we print are out of control. It’s been a very long time since we have had a president, Democrat or Republican who has behaved like they give a crap about debt and/or deficit.

 

[BAT]

In your opinion, what is causing shipping costs to rise so much? Has global shipping increased to levels higher than the pre-Covid norm? Is there a shortage of dock workers (longshoremen)? Is it a combination of the two? If there is a shortage of dock workers, are they sick or are they choosing not to work in order to collect unemployment? Does the longshoreman's union even provide workers such an option?

According to a January 24 article in the Washington Post: "The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. The increase reflects dramatic shifts in consumption during the pandemic, as consumers redirect money they once spent at restaurants or movie theaters to the purchase of record amounts of imported clothing, computers, furniture and other goods."

I'm curious if the W.P. is accurate here, and I'm genuinely interested in hearing your take on this. It certainly looks like we're in for a bout of inflation. Thanks in advance for your reply!

Its not really just one thing but a whole bunch of things that have sort of compounded to create the beast. The Post info is fairly on point. Shipping cost started to rise as the Virus set into place. People buying and shipping things went through the roof which put strains on the supply chain and the shipping/trucking industry. Steamship lines started to raise rates and charge more for containers and space and the rates are still climbing. The prices really started to ramp up toward the end of the year with the holiday market and the beginning of this year Bunker Fuel went up when the new administration came on board. Bunker continues to rise which will drive the prices higher on ocean vessels. The strain on the container market has driven people to crating up and putting cargo onto break bulk vessels which were more used for much larger cargo, project cargo, etc. But now their vessels are filling up so fast they cannot get enough on the water and they are naming whatever price they want. You have road transport capacity issues on all sides of the water. Not enough trucks and drivers which creates increased cost on the inlands as well as fuel increases again for the trucking. We have to wait 4-5 weeks often on the East and West Coast to get trucks to move containers from the ports to destinations. They can't find drivers other than the one's on drugs and no company can risk them due to oversight and the heavy regulations. A mishap would put them out of business. The older drivers are retiring and the younger gens don't want the work from what I hear. No matter what they are offered. We can't get lumber for packing so that is driving up the cost. Our Lumber cost have increase 50% since last year which means we have to increase our cost to cover. You have containers stacking up at all the ports as things that are not deemed essential sit and wait months. Fuel increases and labor shortage driving up the prices at all the ports handling the cargo. You could probably add more to this list. Everything is just snowballing and the cost go up and up which has to get passed on to someone. I guess you could say its like a perfect storm that looks like its only going to get worse. I work mostly as a pricing analyst for the industrial side of the company which deals mainly with very large project cargo's but I do work also with the container and GC folks so I see what they are dealing with on a daily basis.

 

[BAT]

Oh sorry also forgot Go Green. The big eco push to become carbon footprint neutral is forcing almost all the ocean liner companies to have to constantly retrofit their vessels to produce less and less emissions or they wouldn't be allowed to operate. Many vessels could not be retrofitted so they had to be scrapped which took a lot of vessels off the water so they have to rebuild to replace which they are slow to do cause the market is hot now but if it dies they are stuck with a lot of Expensive ships with nothing to do. So they are going to milk it for as long as they can

 

[stickshifter]

Its not really just one thing but a whole bunch of things that have sort of compounded to create the beast. The Post info is fairly on point. Shipping cost started to rise as the Virus set into place. People buying and shipping things went through the roof which put strains on the supply chain and the shipping/trucking industry. Steamship lines started to raise rates and charge more for containers and space and the rates are still climbing. The prices really started to ramp up toward the end of the year with the holiday market and the beginning of this year Bunker Fuel went up when the new administration came on board. Bunker continues to rise which will drive the prices higher on ocean vessels. The strain on the container market has driven people to crating up and putting cargo onto break bulk vessels which were more used for much larger cargo, project cargo, etc. But now their vessels are filling up so fast they cannot get enough on the water and they are naming whatever price they want. You have road transport capacity issues on all sides of the water. Not enough trucks and drivers which creates increased cost on the inlands as well as fuel increases again for the trucking. We have to wait 4-5 weeks often on the East and West Coast to get trucks to move containers from the ports to destinations. They can't find drivers other than the one's on drugs and no company can risk them due to oversight and the heavy regulations. A mishap would put them out of business. The older drivers are retiring and the younger gens don't want the work from what I hear. No matter what they are offered. We can't get lumber for packing so that is driving up the cost. Our Lumber cost have increase 50% since last year which means we have to increase our cost to cover. You have containers stacking up at all the ports as things that are not deemed essential sit and wait months. Fuel increases and labor shortage driving up the prices at all the ports handling the cargo. You could probably add more to this list. Everything is just snowballing and the cost go up and up which has to get passed on to someone. I guess you could say its like a perfect storm that looks like its only going to get worse. I work mostly as a pricing analyst for the industrial side of the company which deals mainly with very large project cargo's but I do work also with the container and GC folks so I see what they are dealing with on a daily basis.

Thanks a lot - I really appreciate your detailed reply. All this makes sense and corresponds to what I've been reading - but I don't have your insider vantage point. Its really helpful to hear from someone who works in the industry. Again - thanks for the response!

 

[Jonny A]

Related to this post as far as shipping... Anyone in your area notice a pick up in freight on trains? I have. A set of tracks next to a work site. Very long, loaded up train cars, 60 to 80 cars long, 3 locomotives. Every 45 minutes throughout the day. I never saw that much train activity here before. Seems the Pan-Am Rail Service is trying to pick up where trucking is lacking.

Also I have a product on back order to ship June 13th, I really have my hope that it is. Reading this post kind off makes me feel a bit bummed. We will see I guess, if Quadratec will come through. I received everything else as promised on time from them.

 

[jo.jacques]

Honestly, since COVID, I find that the service and delivery delays I am getting from "smaller" companies is just horrible. I try to order from smaller retailers and avoid shops like Amazon whenever I can, but its hard to do so when you get so many bad experiences :/

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