100 and Under
What the Supply Chain Shortage Looks Like Now and What We Can Do About It
We can minimize the personal damage
Shelly Fagan wrote an insightful article that addressed the questions I had. Her article cited reasons for the supply shortage our country has now.
What is going on?
We have all seen empty shelves at stores and sighed. With the gridlock at US ports and rising gas prices making it hard on truckers, we have wondered how long this will last.
We hope to get back to “normal” soon, but I agree with Shelly that the issue is likely to linger. Consider food grown in this country. The farmer is fighting weather conditions to produce the crop. Most crops are perishable, so delivery is time-sensitive.
Crops go from the farm to a processing plant. Many of these closed during the pandemic. Even those that are open again are struggling because of losses and not enough workers. In July 2021, the Labor Department stated that there were 490,000 warehouse job openings.
Distribution is the next step in the supply chain. The American Truckers Association said in 2019 they expected a 60,000 driver shortage, but this number increased because of the pandemic.
How long will this last?
The short answer is that no one knows. Experts think we can expect to see shortages into 2023. Not exactly encouraging, but they believe it will end.
What can we do?
While we can’t fix the problem itself, there are things we can do to help our individual situations.
One possible solution is farmer-to-consumer sales. D2C (Direct to Consumer) is becoming popular. Blue Apron, Hungry Root, and Sprouts Farmers Market are examples of this sales model. Most towns have a farmer’s market, which is a small-scale D2C example.
A partial solution is to become as self-sufficient as possible. Grow some of your food. Make your own cleaning products. Plan ahead for purchases. There are many sources to help you get started.
This will make it easier to be prepared and save money at the same time.
Check out this story by Tim S. on 100 and Under:
