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Anyone making last-minute holiday purchases might have noticed something strange this year. Shipping times are dragging on for weeks throughout the entire logistics industry. Why are logistics companies stretched so thin right now? What’s going on with shipping? The US is currently facing a perfect storm of problems that have ground deliveries to a standstill.
The primary issue in the global shipping industry is a lack of workers. The past two years have seen a record-breaking volume of employees leaving their jobs to seek other opportunities. Shipping is a labor-intensive business. Packages need to be carried, sorted, organized and handled at every leg of their journey.
When the industry experiences a worker shortage, it causes a ripple effect. Fewer workers at delivery facilities result in bottlenecks in the entire receiving process. Deliveries can be delayed by days or weeks as workers struggle to keep pace with demand. These delays cause shipping prices to increase, passing more costs to customers.
The shipping industry is facing unexpected demand this year. Many customers deferred their spending in 2020 and skipped vacations in 2021 due to the global medical situation. This scenario has left many consumers itching to spend money on holiday presents, adding significant demand to an already-constrained industry.
Another factor adding demand to the mix is the appetite for consumer electronics. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are popular holiday gifts, and orders for these systems continue to break records. Sony and Microsoft have struggled to keep these systems in stock, and restocks sell out in a matter of seconds.
Manufacturing constraints have slowed the production rate for most goods, complicating matters further. Factories that produce consumer electronics are struggling to meet deadlines this year. The semiconductor shortage has stifled the production of everything from cell phones to new cars.
These constraints have caused shipping times for most appliances and electronics to skyrocket. High holiday demand only makes the situation trickier for manufacturers to address. As the shipping crisis worsens, delivery times will continue to drag on.
Currently, there’s little that the average customer can do to make the situation better. Experts suggest shopping in physical retail stores to have products in hand right away. If in-person shopping isn’t an option, then you’ll have to be patient. There’s no way to avoid long shipping times, especially around the holidays.
With any luck, things will be better next year. In the meantime, good things come to those who wait.
