EVERYTHING is "out of stock"

[Dollygirl2008]

Literally having one of those days. Talk talk is down in my area so I'm ploughing through mobile data. But literally EVERYTHING I'm trying to order is out of stock and it's driving me mad! I'm trying to find garden furniture, a bin store, a new rug, clothes for my daughter - it goes on and on!!

Just ranting!!!!!

I'm in Wales. No shortage of bread or milk here. Just been to Aldi on a Friday night living the dream and they even had ham!

Can anyone get sparkling water at the moment?? Tesco’s has been out for weeks it seems here!?

@Quit4me

Can anyone get sparkling water at the moment?? Tesco’s has been out for weeks it seems here!?

I've no no issues getting it. I buy it fairly regularly.

I saw loads of sparkling water at Lidl last week.

@XingMing

I only buy milk bread and ham from local companies. I am fortunate to have agency and money to do so. Should I be apologising?

Not at all. We have been trying to buy as much British produce as possible over the last 5years. Some may be dearer - like the beef, chicken, bacon etc but also the meat that we eat has never been more than 30miles from the butchers shop that we buy it from. Compare the environmental emissions caused by that compared to lamb being flown in from NZ or beef from Argentina.

TKMaxx online is brilliant I find.

This is not a U.K. specific problem (and I suspect has very little to do with Brexit, although obviously some people would prefer to believe that)

I tried to buy a dishwasher in Canada last summer, nope, nothing was getting through.

@SpiderinaWingMirror have you looked on facebook marketplace? There are usually loads of dog crates available there.

We bought garden furniture a few weeks back, after being unsuccessful last summer, bloody grateful I was idly browsing judging by the delays quoted here!

I had heard the shortage of pet food was due to a lack of packaging for the pouches - hence why tins and trays are still readily available but boxes of Felix/Whiskas etc are like rocking horse poop

@AcornAutumn

I've been wondering if Argos are planning to close.

I’m going to say yes.

Shops showing out-of-stock items displayed on their website won't just remove it as it shows the range carried by them, most sites I have clicked on have a checkbox option to only show available items.
the real issue started years ago when people wanted cheaper and cheaper, so manufacturing moved to places that can make it cheaper, and the same people are now complaining that their cheap goods are poor quality and now becoming expensive.

Nothing to do with Brexit. Containers out of China (where most stuff is made) are at a premium, cost have gone up massively -backlogs from shut down, Suez Canal has been fucked creating massive backlog. A lot of container ships in wrong place. Global lock downs interrupted both manufacture and distribution. Less commercial flights which normally also carry goods in their holds (leasing companies are trying to convert some passenger planes to freight).

People are at home everywhere, money that is normally spent outside the home is now being spent at home. The economy has not adjusted quickly enough.

Friends in several countries are having the same issue. It’s a global crisis having a global effect

There are global logistics issues at the moment for a variety of reasons. Lots of ships are returning to China empty (which is doing okay because they are not sabotaging their own trade routes) or in many cases, ships sitting around empty. Things are not moving at many major ports. Obviously this is a much larger problem for UK and Ireland businesses and their markets because the paperwork, lack of expertise even if they could afford it, and extra tax is making things impossible, which is why so many are going under. Just thank your stars that your problem is not being able to get produce you want rather than being a producer or importer about to co under, who is doing everything right but is being crucified by Brexit.
It is going to get worse, by the way.

The issue with China is when it shut down containers stop being shipped or were stuck in the wrong place for months. They ended up being in the 'wrong' place for trade. A bit like when there is a problem with planes and they ended up in the wrong airport for the next scheduled flight.

So prices skyrocketed. This still hasn't got back to normal. Partly because people have been priced out to rectify containers being in the 'wrong' place.

Furniture in particular is an issue. The significant proportion of furniture we buy in the UK is imported from China . Being a bulky product its been particularly badly affected by container issues.

This has been coupled with backlogs, production delays and sky high demand.

Ikea was having a lot of problems last summer with key products. And thas continued for months. I bought our garden furniture last August. I'd been trying to get hold of it for two months and had to buy items separately and from different branches because of shortages in store. I was checking daily for stock to come in. This was prior to duty issues and even stockpiling products in the run up to exiting transition.

Given the shortages there were last spring for certain things, I've been proactive in getting certain things months early or being prepared to wait much longer than normal for certain items.

I am not exactly pro-Brexit, but I'm certainly aware enough to be willing to say there's much more going on than simply blaming shortages on Brexit.

I’ve not experienced these problems - looking forward garden furniture IKEA had what I wanted on click n collect - booked for Monday
DP needs new washing machine - curry’s plenty of choice - free delivery or collect
DD and I went shopping for other garden stuff last week eg gazebo, water feature, pots, lights etc - found everything we wanted in stick at Tesco, home bargains and B n M, also picked up a few things at local garden centre

@AngryAngel

There are global logistics issues at the moment for a variety of reasons. Lots of ships are returning to China empty (which is doing okay because they are not sabotaging their own trade routes) or in many cases, ships sitting around empty. Things are not moving at many major ports. Obviously this is a much larger problem for UK and Ireland businesses and their markets because the paperwork, lack of expertise even if they could afford it, and extra tax is making things impossible, which is why so many are going under. Just thank your stars that your problem is not being able to get produce you want rather than being a producer or importer about to co under, who is doing everything right but is being crucified by Brexit. It is going to get worse, by the way.

God yes.

As I say I think people are in for a shock over the coming months.

You will need to think carefully about what you want and when you will need it...

Suez boat my arse. It was a fun story with a happy ending. A diversion with better photos. I agree about lack of containers though. Demand has outstripped supply. Even bulk cardboard boxes have got more expensive. Don't worry, things will get back to some kind of normal. Some businesses have profited massively out of the combo of Covid and Brexit. And they will be providing us with what we need from now on, no doubt.

The international supply chain relies on two way traffic
That has broken down over the last year
more for some countries than others

life has changed

Yes that's Brexit 🤷‍♀️

this week I've bought a few books, a microwave, a laptop, garden netting, a chopping board and a pastry mat - some were simple research/click and buy, others I faffed around forever with a range of retailers looking for the right thing - didn't come across any out of stock issues.

and a personalised cat collar.

Oh, and the laptop said it would take 28 days (or 28 April maybe?) but was delivered the day after I'd ordered it, placed order after 6pm.

Suez boat come back - anything is better than wall to wall Prince Philip coverage.

@ListeningQuietly

The international supply chain relies on two way traffic That has broken down over the last year more for some countries than others

life has changed

Family in China say there are problems there, factories which shut down during covid workers left the cities and returned to their homeland, orders cancelled because retailers were shut down. Chinese new year closed factories again. Containers being in short supply thus pushing prices up. It is a global problem shipping wise. We have lost eight months of retail sales in the last year instore, money is very tight and delivery so uncertain. The chinese are used to having the money before they ship the goods, if they cannot ship them. It is ever decreasing circles.

Yep, pretty much given up on Argos, waste of my time. Can't deliver, can't click & collect, sometimes I play with the 'change store' to see where they ARE selling the item I want - nowhere, is the answer, so why are they even on the screen? Wilkinsons keep running out of stock too but thankfully seem to get them back in. Ditto Dunelm.
Next? Ordered some dining chairs a week or two ago. They are arriving in JULY.

I'm an importer. Covid struck China first so the factory workers stayed home. This has caused massive delays in manufacturing. Shipping/haulage costs have gone through the roof. We have decided to leave some of our stock in China for now. Paid out 20 grand but once all the shipping costs come into play we will never be able to sell the goods (leisure goods). This is obviously a very simplistic way of explaining it. The 'new world' after covid is going to be horribly expensive.

@LemonRoses

It’s what people voted for, sadly.

🤦🏼‍♀️ FFS!

No, it's more likely Covid related - factories running at 25/50% capacity, etc.