Businesses in North Texas continue to struggle with supply chain shortages as they try to stock their shelves for the holiday season.
Manufacturing shutdowns during COVID-19 restrictions last year are one factor contributing to the problem. A scarcity of employees to fill warehouse and trucking positions, and a shortage of dock workers to load and unload ships, is also exacerbating the situation.
Candace Williams, the owner of 3 local toy stores, stated: “Business has not ever been this stressful. We’ve seen just a litany of missed shipments, things that have gone to the wrong store, just a lot of errors along that part of the supply chain that we normally don’t see.”
North Texas clothing company Southern Grace is having difficulty finding shirts, as well as the boxes and tape needed to ship them and to continue its business.
Vice President of Sales Samantha Siebenthall noted that shortages in those items lead to a domino effect. “It’s all kind of backed up, which just all in all creates backorders and creates a shortage of products that everyone’s needing,” she said.
The CEO of southern Grace, Adeel Mitha, added that increased shipping costs have added to the company’s struggles. “International shipping has gone up 260%. We’re dealing with rates locally and domestic about 50-60% [higher],” she stated.
However, hope is on the horizon that the supply bottleneck may slowly be unwinding.
On November 29, President Joe Biden met up with the heads of major retailers and grocers to get an update on their supply chain issues. One company, Walmart, reported a ten percent increase in inventory this year compared to a year ago.
Ports in the US are now operating 24/7, helping to ease the shipping backlog.
According to Fox 4 News, President Biden noted that “the number of shipping containers sitting for more than eight days is down by more than 40% this month.” But he also acknowledged that the effect of this progress is slow to trickle down to small businesses. The average shipment, globally, is taking twelve extra days to arrive at its destination, compared to last year.
According to WFAA News, experts have predicted that businesses and consumers will continue to feel the impacts of the supply chain shortages well into 2022.
