Member-only story
No, Your Holiday Won’t Be Spoiled Because of Container Ships.
#Katafin Week 40
I am tired of seeing images of container ships followed by dire predictions of holiday shopping in peril because of supply chain issues. Your loved ones' presents are likely not sitting on those ships; they are on store shelves today and sitting in warehouses and trucks in between. The container ship hype is just that and even worse, it will create hoarding that DOES cause shortages of some goods. Why do you think a Sony PS5 still sells for $1,000 on StockX? People hoarded them and are turning a profit in the resale arena.
I’ll give you two data points that lead me to believe the supply chains aren’t stuck on containers. The first is that the warehouse space is almost full. The cargo on ships can’t move from the docks even if it was unloaded. Sure there are trucking delays, but if there were empty shelves,it stands to reason that there would be drawdowns in warehouse inventory unless it’s just not the right stuff which is likely part of the problem. The next factor is that our trade deficit with China hit yet another record high last month and is over 14% higher than the previous month before the pandemic.
“Even if [warehouses] were open 24/7, there is simply no space,” said Jason Tolliver, an executive at real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield PLC. About 98% of warehouses in Southern California’s logistics-heavy Inland Empire region are fully occupied, and the entire Western U.S. has a 3.6% vacancy rate.”
We have plenty of stuff. Or so it would seem. Once again, shoppers are hoarding, prompted by images of logjammed container ships dancing in their heads. Hoarding is exacerbating kinked supply chains across the board. Meanwhile, stepping into stores, shelves are packed with holiday goods, consumables and premium items. We ventured out to Costco with some visiting family members to return an item and the crush of shoppers in the store not to mention the gas pumps was overwhelming. I was reminded why we don’t have a membership to a warehouse club; it just encourages overconsumption. Plus, Amazon can happily bring everything right to…
