Community Chat

[On It]

60 Minutes did a story on the shipping bottlenecks at the ports and along the railways. If you did not see the story, I recommend trying to find it and watch it. A lot of blame has been deflected, but clearly the system needs an intervention.

The inflation we are seeing is shipping and storage fees, not the cost of goods. One toy company had to pay a million dollars in storage fees in September. The owner said there was no way he could pay that kind of money out of pocket. The cost would have to be passed on to consumers. His containers are in Chicago at a rail yard at the bottom of a large stack of containers. He cannot get them through no fault of his own but is nevertheless being charged storage fees.

[GrailSeeker]

I saw that last night.  What a bunch of hooey.

[proudlyfromNJ]

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@GrailSeeker wrote:

I saw that last night.  What a bunch of hooey.

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@GrailSeeker  So what's the real story? I didn't see it.

[millieshops]

@On It   Before I go looking for that show -  did they cover what's to be done?  I'm tired of reading reports about the problem without plausible solutions.  

[On It]

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@millieshops wrote:

@On It   Before I go looking for that show -  did they cover what's to be done?  I'm tired of reading reports about the problem without plausible solutions.  

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I came in late and missed the beginning of the story. They did say the problem was not a shortage of truck drivers.  The man in charge of the port said they are working to resolve the issues with all the parties involved. It seems like gridlock. One man even called it a form of piracy.  There are so many moving parts that it seems some type of Czar with power needs to be appointed to get things moving.

[GrailSeeker]

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@proudlyfromNJ wrote:

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@GrailSeeker wrote:

I saw that last night.  What a bunch of hooey.

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@GrailSeeker  So what's the real story? I didn't see it.

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"One problem with the U.S. system is-- we-- the ports are owned by the cities that they're in. And ultimately the capital expenditure for building terminals, for dredging, for you know, for investing in these ports comes down to decisions made at a local level. You know, this is a national infrastructure, it's to serve the entire country. So there's a real role for federal government to come in and step in."

Packed ports and empty shelves: Inside the issues behind the U.S. supply chain crisis 

[catter70]

@proudlyfromNJ , @millieshops  you can see it on Utube. I just searched 60 Minutes shipping crisis or something to that effect and there it was.

[tansy]

How's it hooey, @GrailSeeker?

[sunshine45]

my daughter and i were in MICHAELS last week looking for some christmas items and yarn. i was so surprised to see very little christmas in stock. even a lot of the skeins of yarn were depleted and it was difficult to find 6 or more of the same color. we were speaking with a long time employee and she said they just got a large shipment of halloween items in that they had to mark down drastically in order to get rid of it. i always enjoy picking up holiday items at michaels and managed to get a bag full at 40% off, but am hoping that more of their holiday items are on the way......they had no ribbons, bows, gift bags, or tissue paper......and only a little bit of wrapping paper.

[GrailSeeker]

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@tansy wrote:

How's it hooey, @GrailSeeker?

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I just said that in lieu of cursing.  It's a huge problem that is causing inflation on an unprecedented scale.  I did not mean that the report was not accurate.  It is of great concern.