Shortages of goods in America.

[Fielder 3,671]

https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-us-port-breaks-multiple-record-cargo-ships-import-delays-2021-9

A 'real boat traffic' utility for MSFS would show 65 cargo ships stuck in Southern California harbors waiting to unload instead of the normal 0 or 1.

"Judah Levine, the head of research at Freightos, told Insider that the price for transporting a 40-foot container between the US and Asia jumped 500% from this time last year to $20,586. Ultimately, the ports are facing backlogs as a result of COVID-19 disruptions and a labor shortage paired with spikes in demand."

If you order a major kitchen appliance in America there might be a 4 month wait, instead of the normal 2 days. It's hit or miss. Such as trying to buy your favorite type of new automobile tires or your normal brand of pet supplies. Plumbers perhaps can't find the special fittings they need. Some medical centers are begging for nurses. You may have to scrounge the internet if your local walk in store is out of stock.

So it's not just GPU boards with sky rocketing prices because of low supplies.

[charliearon 3,024]

Pretty much the same with anything being shipped or even manufactured.  My best buddy and his wife are moving Oct. 1 into an apartment from the boat they have been living on the past 20 years or so.  They ordered all new furniture and they don't expect delivery until Christmas for most of it.  It'll be packing crates and pillows until then!

[Fielder 3,671]

Wow! October, November, December... sitting on blow up bean bag chairs. !

[psolk 3,040]

11 hours ago, Fielder said:

https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-us-port-breaks-multiple-record-cargo-ships-import-delays-2021-9

A 'real boat traffic' utility for MSFS would show 65 cargo ships stuck in Southern California harbors waiting to unload instead of the normal 0 or 1.

"Judah Levine, the head of research at Freightos, told Insider that the price for transporting a 40-foot container between the US and Asia jumped 500% from this time last year to $20,586. Ultimately, the ports are facing backlogs as a result of COVID-19 disruptions and a labor shortage paired with spikes in demand."

If you order a major kitchen appliance in America there might be a 4 month wait, instead of the normal 2 days. It's hit or miss. Such as trying to buy your favorite type of new automobile tires or your normal brand of pet supplies. Plumbers perhaps can't find the special fittings they need. Some medical centers are begging for nurses. You may have to scrounge the internet if your local walk in store is out of stock.

So it's not just GPU boards with sky rocketing prices because of low supplies.

It's everything and it's not a US only problem... 

You can't get pool supplies, we waited 9 months for a heater still waiting for a salt dispenser.  When they got stock on the heaters they gave you the option of paying a markup of $500 or waiting for another shipment.  I chose the price markup over an indefinite wait.  The 4 week wait for the stone for our retaining wall has already been 20 weeks.  GM is shutting down production lines entirely for weeks at a time because they can't get chips, I have customers waiting 11 months for products right now and we have one of the strongest supply chains in the world.  Our competitors are claiming 52-60 week lead times.  In some cases we have had to raise prices 400% to accommodate for our manufacturing and shipping cost increases.  It's been like this for at least 6 months now.  The first huge hit I saw was lumber spiking 5x a few months ago and everything has subsequently followed.   

You can't find a car right now, Porsche wants to buy mine back for EXACTLY what I paid 2 years ago but can't get me a new car for 9 months and it's being manufactured in Germany so it's not the US.   Used car prices are absurd going for above KBB and homes are also going for above appraisal.  So now you also have lenders saying, sure go buy that house for $600,000 even though it appraised for $450,000 but we aren't lending the difference because we don't want to end up under water so the buyer has to bring the $150k difference themselves.  Same with cars, a lender won't lend for over KBB so if that used car worth $10,000 is selling for $15,000 you better have $5k in cash.  

It's actually harder to find something that is not impacted right now than things that are... 

And just wait until the evictions and foreclosures begin on the back end of all of this.  It's not going to be pretty.  

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by psolk

[birdguy 3,943]

17 hours ago, Fielder said:

If you order a major kitchen appliance in America there might be a 4 month wait

We ordered a new dishwasher in May and didn't get it until July.  And we considered ourselves lucky.  

Noel

Edited September 22, 2021 by birdguy

[birdguy 3,943]

And the crews of those 65 cargo ships waiting to unload have to paid don't they?  Those labor costs have to be added to the shipping costs.

[birdguy 3,943]

I leased a new Prius three years ago.  The lease is up in December.  It only has 2500 miles on it so instead of waiting for a new car I'll just buy the one I already have.  Although when I bring it in for service there always seem to be a lot of new Toyotas on the lot.

Noel

[Doug47 574]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

We ordered a new dishwasher in May and didn't get it until July.  And we considered ourselves lucky.  

Noel

You ordered a new wife? 

[birdguy 3,943]

Heh-heh-heh.  No Doug.  At my age I wouldn't know what to do with a new wife and besides my current old one wouldn't stand for a new one.

Noel

[Mace 1,925]

It's like that with everything/every business/industry I know of.   In my line of work we're short-handed and backlogged as a result

I don't think the wider public understands that fully.

I just got an e-mail from the local Chamber of Commerce and they have a list a mile long of companies needing to hire.  I don't know where all the workers are.

[birdguy 3,943]

53 minutes ago, Mace said:

I don't know where all the workers are.

Enjoying extended unemployment benefits.

My youngest daughter is the CFO of a mortgage company.  She can't get the people they let go at the start of the COVID thing to come back.  They're staying at home.  

Noel

[Luke 782]

59 minutes ago, birdguy said:

Enjoying extended unemployment benefits. My youngest daughter is the CFO of a mortgage company.  She can't get the people they let go at the start of the COVID thing to come back.  They're staying at home.

If her employer is paying about as much as UI and has a history of laying off people at the first whiff of trouble, I'm not surprised that people aren't clamoring to come back.

Blaming UI benefits and implying that people are lazy is the easy way out - the hiring problem exists at all levels and it's a case of people finally reaching a point where they're simply not going to work at a place where the pay isn't great and/or they don't treat people well. We have problems retaining and attracting people at comp levels *far* above expanded UI.

The companies that are succeeding are ones that react by offering good pay and benefits. Others that have spent the past two decades assuming workers were fungible and there would always be a surplus of desperate people... not so much. I'm reminded of the Biblical verse that talks about reaping what you sow.

Cheers

Luke

[birdguy 3,943]

You're right up to a point Luke.  But there are people who will lower their lifestyle to persue what they enjoy and if unemployment compensation suffices they will milk it for as long as they can to say, spend all day flightsimming, for example.

Did you ever see the movie or read Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat?  That group of men eschewed work just to hang out.  They would make enough money to sustain them for a while and then just loaf.  Unemployment compensation would have been great for them.

Somewhat related when I was looking for jobs after I got out of the service I would choose a lower paying job over a higher paying one because I thought it would be more fun.

One of the things I loved about the Air Force was the ability to cross train.  You get tired of one job put in to cross train into another.  I loaded bombs on airplanes, was an electronic technician, seismologist, and weather forecaster all in the course of 21 years.

I can't imagine a lifetime career of doing the same thing year after year after year.

While making enough money to keep one fed and sheltered is important, there are other things that are more important than making more than you need.  And sometimes unemployment compensation is enough.

Noel

Edited September 22, 2021 by birdguy

[Fielder 3,671]

Right now there are more job openings than people willing to work in those jobs at those wage levels. In other words lots of supply, lots of jobs for the willing.

Companies often have little reason to pay better wages above that which allows for what they believe to be a nice profit. They usually have the more profitable options like not expanding, or closing some branches.

Profits drives this American economy just as it does the Scandinavian economies (who have less bushiness taxes then America, they are more 'bushiness friendly'). As is Canada. The higher level of social programs funded by high personal income and sales taxes on the other end of their economies does not alter the basic business friendly profit producing motivational features of these economies. The reward for their economic policies is a relatively high average standard of living.

 

[Luke 782]

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

And sometimes unemployment compensation is enough.

In my state, unemployment insurance maxes out at $356 a week, for 26 weeks. I'd love to hear how you pay for rent, utilities, transportation and food at around $800/month, never mind flight sim and other hobbies. I've found that most people who think social benefits are overly generous have never actually tried living on a similar amount. (As a similar exercise, try eating for a month spending only as much as you'd get for EBT. It won't be porterhouses.)

Could you live on $800/month, assuming you didn't have Medicare and a paid-for house?

Cheers!