Service of More and More Shortages
May 6th, 2021
Categories: Appliances, Automobiles, Furniture, Shortages
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Local and national news outlets report shortages daily. A dearth of kitchen appliances join lumber as well as microchips that choke manufacturing in auto and computer industries.
According to a segment on 60 Minutes, 75 percent of microchips come from Asia. Intel, which passed on the opportunity to make chips for iPhones early on, doesn’t currently have the ability to make the small chips here.
Image by Michael Schwarzenberger from Pixabay
A friend ordered a sofa at the end of April and was told to expect it in September. Segments of the furniture industry have a reputation for slow deliveries but lately, a lack of shipping containers is partly to blame.
Not all shortages are pandemic-driven. A three-day fire last August at the Biolab chemical plant in Westlake, Louisiana, crippled operations and impacted availability of chlorine tablets for swimming pools. Most were manufactured there.
We’ve just begun to see changes in our lives as a result of the pandemic. Will we be back in the manufacturing business here? Have we reached the end of the heyday of cheap prices because of our reliance on products made abroad by poorly paid labor? Will we want more control over essential goods? What shortages would impact your life or already have?
Photo: lowes.com
Tags: Biolab
Life is all about change, so It appears as if it should be all about adapting. Shortages of pills for swimming pools, or desired furniture, are inconvenient as well as a cause of economic distress, but they aren’t “must have” items. If it’s food and medicine that starts missing, then it’s time for concern.
Harsh times call for stern measures. They call for moderation and generosity, when possible, to help the needy. This shall pass, and society will emerge in one piece, given the exercise of common sense. In short: Let’s not sweat the small stuff!
Lucrezia,
If you total your car, which you need to get to work, and you discover that there’s a paucity of new and secondhand cars in your price range, a car no longer becomes a luxury. I heard on the radio that because few people rented cars last year the car rental companies that supply the secondhand car market aren’t giving them up this year–causing a dearth.
Same goes with a computer if yours–or your kids’–goes on the fritz and you can’t replace it imagine the stress.
The lumber shortage is adding $30,000 to the cost of a new house.
There are towns in California and Florida in which as many houses come with pools as don’t. If someone had a pool and couldn’t find the tablets that kept the water safe they’d have to shut it down. Lack of food is more important but if swimming is the only fun a family whose breadwinners are out of work can enjoy, it takes on a different perspective.