Supply Chain Crisis

By Sophia Guevara, Managing Editor

The effects of Covid have negatively impacted the United States as a supply chain backup has crippled the economy. The inability of ports to get barges unloaded, of trucking companies to find drivers, and the lack of rail workers to load freight trains have caused goods to sit undelivered on piers in Los Angeles and New York. This problem has resulted in many companies warning consumers to prepare for a lack of available goods as the holidays approach.

Covid has negatively impacted the world, but as individuals return to the normal pre-Covid lives they used to live, industries are scrambling to supply the public with all the goods that are wanted. With over half the population vaccinated, the majority of Americans have gone back to their normal lives which has caused this increasing demand in comparison to last year’s demand when America witnessed businesses and many retail operations close permanently. At this moment, Americans experience increased supply prices, shortages in supply, and an increase of national headlines that have a focus on the problem at hand due to the hard hit the supply chain has taken.

Almost all of America's posts are backlogged meaning that tens of hundreds of cargo trucks are just waiting to be unloaded and sent away. As of October 19, 2021 an estimated 200,000 cargo trucks were still unloaded while they sat on ships off the coast of Los Angeles. This number comes even after President Biden’s announcement on October 13th saying that the Los Angeles Ports would be working at all hours of the day, everyday.

The White House believes that the supply chain can be running smoothly in 90-days while some port owners are less optimistic and believe the slow down will not begin until February 2022.

“Backlogs and elevated shipping costs are likely to persist at least through the middle of next year because no immediate solution for the underlying supply-demand imbalance at US ports is available,” Goldman economist Ronnie Walker said in a note to clients.

The key factor in this struggle has to do with the country dealing with a major labor shortage. One might believe that with the increase in wages and job openings being at record highs, Americans would rush to fill positions that were shut down during the national lockdown. Despite this, hundreds of businesses in America are in desperate need of workers.

“Even when you go to the [Danbury Fair] Mall, stores like American Eagle, Hollister, and PacSun all have help wanted signs. I keep hearing about all these places needing people that are our age to work but I didn’t see it as that big of a deal. Also, businesses in Newtown are also looking to fill a bunch of empty positions in some of the popular restaurants,” NHS senior Rayna Toth said.

Specific job positions that are necessary to get the ball rolling in the supply chain, such as truck drivers and loading dock workers, are becoming increasingly more difficult to fill. Experts believe that this substantial drop in workers has to do with Covid regulations and scares and early retirements and especially those individuals with the qualifications necessary to employ are seemingly impossible to find.

“There’s rules that people have to follow for this time we live in and it leads to delays as we’ve seen. For example, I was just trying to replace my hot water heater and found that the prices were so much higher than they would usually be simply because of how hard it would be to get to my house,” NHS history teacher Mr. Foss said.

This leaves a grave issue for one of the busiest times of the year in terms of supply demand. With the holiday season quickly approaching and cargo ships unable to unload, the concern that Americans may not be able to get their toys in time for the holidays is a very real idea. Each 40-foot corrugated metal shipping container can hold thousands of toys and ugly Christmas sweaters. Already, the price of an ugly Christmas sweater is up 10% due to the guaranteed shortage that will exist this season. Like the sweaters, toys are not far behind. As it becomes more difficult to find the products that so many consumers want, it becomes very easy for prices to go up and consumers to compete for these products.