The Supply shitshow

[old goat]

Went to Ferguson's plumbing for a couple of 5ft pieces of galvanized. $73 each. (Went to Mountain Hardware--$23 each. First time in history Mountain Hardware ever underpriced anyone.) Still, the trip to Ferguson was a good excuse to get a cheesesteak at Full Belly Deli.

[nickwm21]

Yup. There will be all sorts of price discrepancies as the supply chain catches up. A lot of retailers made bad buys during the height of the craziness.


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[XXX-er]

I think retailers that go thru a lot of product might be cheaper becuz they have already sold off the shit they bought while it was high ?

[nickwm21]

I think retailers that go thru a lot of product might be cheaper becuz they have already sold off the shit they bought while it was high ?

Or they have such a huge account they can swing their weight around to negotiate out of a bad deal…


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[dunfree]

Or they have such a huge account they can swing their weight around to negotiate out of a bad deal…


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How is it a bad deal if they already sold through the merchandise? Inventory turns for Walmart is >8x TTM right now, Home Depot >5x TTM, the big chains generally have much higher inventory turns than locals ime. IMO price discrepancy like og mentioned is more a function of retail competence.

[old goat]

The guy at the desk at Ferguson's spent a lot of time on the computer looking up 5 foot galvanized--probably an online glitch rather than an actual outrageous price. Maybe someone entered the price for 50 feet of galvanized. So maybe doesn't belong in this thread but it gave me a chance to put in a plug for Full Belly. Not that they need it.

I like Ferguson's, they treat me like I'm competent, rather than like the DIY hack I am.

[Thaleia]

... gave me a chance to put in a plug for Full Belly. Not that they need it.

Heh - I'm 2,500 miles away from you and I googled the place when I saw your post yesterday. Looks great.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Got a quote on a Marvin Elevate patio door today, price was in line, +10% of last summer, timeline BAD with a first week of Dec. delivery opposed to 4-5 weeks, but I expected that. Was told that Marvin Signature is spring 22, lol.

[old goat]

Good article in the WP on the supply chain issue. Seems to be something that's pretty much in the hands of private business to figure out, or not.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ports-backlog/ But with everyone losing money and nobody with anything to gain from the log jam it would seem there's a powerful incentive to get things fixed, and maybe start paying truck drivers more.

In the meantime there's an easy fix. Stop buying stuff and building stuff you don't need until supplies ease and prices come down. That won't completely solve the problem of course but it will help some. Look at Cuba--they've been driving the same cars for 60+ years.

[XXX-er]

In the meantime there's an easy fix. Stop buying stuff and building stuff you don't need until supplies ease and prices come down. .

wow ! its almost like lumber is a commodity

[old goat]

wow ! its almost like lumber is a commodity

I forgot to mention the second thing we can do here--stop buying anything that comes from Canada.

[jackstraw]

Went to Ferguson's plumbing for a couple of 5ft pieces of galvanized. $73 each. (Went to Mountain Hardware--$23 each. First time in history Mountain Hardware ever underpriced anyone.) Still, the trip to Ferguson was a good excuse to get a cheesesteak at Full Belly Deli.

I'm assuming mtn hardware is a little local store? If so, they (a) haven't bought at the higher price yet. (b) haven't updated their costs in the computer yet. Maintaining and updating computer costs when you support hundred or more different vendors is a daunting task right now for a small business. Every vendor provides their cost to you differently a and then you need to map it into your ERP all while hoping your data is clean so it syncs. Steel pricing has gone through the roof and is currently staying high. Much of the plumbing worlds steel is imported.

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[paulster2626]

I forgot to mention the second thing we can do here--stop buying anything that comes from Canada.

But we provide smart-ass polite banter for free

[old goat]

I'm assuming mtn hardware is a little local store? If so, they (a) haven't bought at the higher price yet. (b) haven't updated their costs in the computer yet. Maintaining and updating computer costs when you support hundred or more different vendors is a daunting task right now for a small business. Every vendor provides their cost to you differently a and then you need to map it into your ERP all while hoping your data is clean so it syncs. Steel pricing has gone through the roof and is currently staying high. Much of the plumbing worlds steel is imported.

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Mountain Hardware is Ace. And they have everything. OK not everything--I once saw a woman who couldn't find a Hanukah Menorah there. But what you say makes sense. So much goes on behind the scenes that the retail customer has no clue about.

But we provide smart-ass polite banter for free

Headline in the NYT today "Biden imposes 200% Tariff on smart-ass polite banter from Canada. Dow doubles"

[XXX-er]

I forgot to mention the second thing we can do here--stop buying anything that comes from Canada.

well then you would just pay more for lumber then wouldn't you !

[old goat]

well then you would just pay more for lumber then wouldn't you !

I'm into adobe.

[altasnob]

Went to buy paint at Sherwin Williams to buy paint and was told that they are sold out of all exterior paint and don't expect any more until mid October.

[old goat]

Went to buy paint at Sherwin Williams to buy paint and was told that they are sold out of all exterior paint and don't expect any more until mid October.

Sounds like you hit the jackpot.

[XXX-er]

I'm into adobe.

dobe dobe do !

[abraham]

I was looking for a new part for a design today, starting with pretty loose criteria. Click the in stock filter and the number of options went from from ~45,000 to 77. Using normally stocked instead of in stock gets me 3,000 options which is more normal.

[Danno]

The supply shitshow has highlighted how crappy the websites of many retailers are (and how others handle inventory better). I was looking for a printer recently, and of course they are in short supply. You can read reviews for all sorts of models, but good luck finding any of those models in stock. Anyhow, in searching at the usual suspects for office equipment -- Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy -- it is astonishing how bad their websites are at telling you what actually is in stock and available, either in store or to be shipped.

[dunfree]

The supply shitshow has highlighted how crappy the websites of many retailers are (and how others handle inventory better). I was looking for a printer recently, and of course they are in short supply. You can read reviews for all sorts of models, but good luck finding any of those models in stock. Anyhow, in searching at the usual suspects for office equipment -- Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy -- it is astonishing how bad their websites are at telling you what actually is in stock and available, either in store or to be shipped.

my experience is it isn’t the website, it’s the company doesn’t actually know what’s in stock. This can be a software issue, a process issue, a training issue, or usually all 3. It’s seems now some retailers aim at a deliberate miss on inventory transparency, perhaps to mute customer expectations (your website said you had 6 in stock. What do you mean you don’t have 6? “Sorry man, the stoned moron at the distribution center keyed the tag for 6 but we only got one, and I’m too undertrained to fix it”)

[old goat]

How many retailers have IT that automatically updates the availability on the web site the instant someone else places an order for an item? Especially online drop ship retailers. And how many of those are selling the same items from the same shipping company's inventory. In ordinary times there's enough stock around that it doesn't matter. When so many items are unavailable there's no way the retailers can keep up. It does the company no good to sell an item it doesn't have and can't get. No upside, just a pissed off customer and a bad review. Maybe better IT--but all the good IT people are too busy dealing with ransomware.

[Danno]

my experience is it isn’t the website, it’s the company doesn’t actually know what’s in stock. This can be a software issue, a process issue, a training issue, or usually all 3. It’s seems now some retailers aim at a deliberate miss on inventory transparency, perhaps to mute customer expectations (your website said you had 6 in stock. What do you mean you don’t have 6? “Sorry man, the stoned moron at the distribution center keyed the tag for 6 but we only got one, and I’m too undertrained to fix it”)

Yeah, that makes sense based on what I have seen.

[riser4]

Drop shipping should be a capital offense. Parasites.