Why so many product shortages?

[BrAndreyu]

However, between Sao Paulo and LA are eight (poor, often dysfunctional) countries’ worth of dense, mountainous jungle, whereas between Shanghai and LA are zero countries’ worth of open ocean.

It doesn't necessarily have to be Brazil that is manufacturing our goods. Mexico already assembles most of America's domestic cars. If Mexico began manufacturing most of our goods, it would be better for both nations as a whole because the US could get off of our dependence on a totalitarian communist nation who fundamentally does not like our way of life or what we're about & Mexico could bring some more money in to improve the quality of life, meaning that people could stay there and live decent lives.

Unfortunately Mexico is currently infamous for the amount of corruption and organized crime it has.

 

[Landon Caeli]

The GDP per capita in Brazil is higher than the GDP per capita in China, India, or Vietnam. That means Brazilians are wealthier. Companies can make clothes cheaper in Bangladesh than South America as those people worked for lower wages.

Nicaragua has a GDP of 12.62 billion...
China has a GDP of 14.72 trillion...

...So Nicaragua is much, much, much poorer.

 

[Landon Caeli]

El Salvador's GDP - 24.64 billion
Honduras' GDP - 23.83 billion
Guatemala's GDP - 77.6 billion
Costa Rica's GDP - 61 billion

Vietnam has a GDP OF 271.00 billion
Taiwan has a GDP of 759.00 billion
Malaysia has a GDP OF 336 billion
Indonesia has a GDP OF 1.058 Trillion

....So it should be cheaper to make products in Central America than in Asia in general, as well as being cheaper to ship.

 

[chevyontheriver]

If it's not paint, it's grass seed, toilet paper or something else. So remind me again why it's a good idea to import so many valued goods from overseas, when instead, they could be produced in South America, and sent North on trains? Or maybe even right here in our own country.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2021/09/major-product-shortages.html

The other main part of it is that 'Just-In-Time' supply chains have been disrupted all over the world. So a delay in production of a widget in China means a component in Europe can't be made, meaning a Vietnamese factory closes for a week, meaning the ship is held back until it's hull is filled with some other product, and the packager in Mexico switches to a month of packaging some other kinds of widgets, so when the stuff arrives it sits in bins awaiting a packaging run which won't happen until November. By the time it gets to stores Christmas is over. Woops.

Another huge part is there aren't enough truck drivers. Not for long haul or short hall. The upper midwest is jammed for train cars as grain cars are full, sitting on side-lines waiting to go to Duluth and oil tanker cars are full, sitting on side-lines to move oil from the Bakken to market. And what was that pipeline that got canceled? Trucks and trains in a pickle.

The rational buyer decision making process will have to shift from 'Just-In-Time' to 'Scavenger Mode' where if you see something you want you buy it and stockpile it. JIT got rid of stockpiles, but for now JIT isn't gonna work. That is a MAJOR change.

 

[Landon Caeli]

The rational buyer decision making process will have to shift from 'Just-In-Time' to 'Scavenger Mode' where if you see something you want you buy it and stockpile it. JIT got rid of stockpiles, but for now JIT isn't gonna work. That is a MAJOR change.

Oh great, I normally operate at 'scavenger mode' to begin with.

 

[Occams Barber]

El Salvador's GDP - 24.64 billion
Honduras' GDP - 23.83 billion
Guatemala's GDP - 77.6 billion
Costa Rica's GDP - 61 billion

Vietnam has a GDP OF 271.00 billion
Taiwan has a GDP of 759.00 billion
Malaysia has a GDP OF 336 billion
Indonesia has a GDP OF 1.058 Trillion

....So it should be cheaper to make products in Central America than in Asia in general, as well as being cheaper to ship.

You may well be right but it's a little more complicated than straight GDP figures.

• For a start you need to take population into account so the figure you want isn't GDP it's GDP per capita.

• Then there's the way GDP is distributed. If a small elite has all the money then the ordinary people may be poorer than those in a country with low GDP but a more even distribution of wealth. To measure this you need to use the GINI Index.

• Then there's supply. Are the raw materials needed for manufacture readily available?

• Then there's infrastructure - particularly transport. Products are useless if they can't be moved.

• Security is a biggie. Is the local drug cartel likely to blow up your factory? Is the government stable?

• Then there's the availability of skilled technical labour for things like building and equipment maintenance

• What about local taxes and charges?

• Then there's investment - who is going to build the factories etc.? Can you imagine the ruckus in the US if the US government subsidised factory building in Mexico or Brazil??

As I said at the start - it's a bit more complex than GDP.

OB

 

[iluvatar5150]

GDP is partly a function of population size. China’s GDP is so big partly because they have a gazillion people.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

If it's not paint, it's grass seed, toilet paper or something else. So remind me again why it's a good idea to import so many valued goods from overseas, when instead, they could be produced in South America, and sent North on trains? Or maybe even right here in our own country.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2021/09/major-product-shortages.html

No product shortages here in Germany or Europe from what I can tell. I live in a semi suburban area.

They’re talking about gas shortages but that’s from Russia and unrelated.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

Also that one cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal *did not* help matters at all. It backlogged global cargo shipping

 

[dqhall]

Nicaragua has a GDP of 12.62 billion...
China has a GDP of 14.72 trillion...

...So Nicaragua is much, much, much poorer.

El Salvador is poor too. Uruguay is richer.

 

[com7fy8]

why it's a good idea to import so many valued goods from overseas, when instead, they could be produced in South America, and sent North on trains? Or maybe even right here in our own country.

Here is a Forbes article, about this >

7 Products That Are Harder To Find Right Now, And What That Means For Your Money – Forbes Advisor

It seems there is no one problem causing shortages. And each shortage can have different causes.

You can have a product which depends on parts from different countries. All you need for a shortage, then, is to have one country failing to make enough of one part.

If you use trains, you need qualified workers, including security people for the trains and the tracks. And landslides and weather items can effect if trains can pass through the various terrains of South America, Central America, and Mexico. Plus, ones are going to be concerned about how many illegals will try to use the trains, which would be in quite large numbers needing enough security people to check them. And you have to pay for all that.

I suppose one ship can move a lot of stuff, for a lot less expense of workers and security and fuel.

Have you seen the different sorts of environment trains would pass through? And there would be the issue of how fuel exhaust could effect the areas near the tracks . . . both wildlife and farming zones.

You might need to build more track routes, and this would dig up a lot of natural environment. And one derailment could hold up a lot of stuff. But if one ship gets in a problem, the others can just sail right around a ship with a problem.

You can look at one of those container ships. One stretch of containers from one end of the ship to the other would need at least on locomotive, maybe. So, how many locomotives would be needed to replace one ship? I think a ship is much more efficient.

Plus, if . . . when . . . trains derail, cars can fall down steep slopes > they would need to have special equipment to rescue and salvage. And moving such equipment to winding rails on steep slopes could effect other trains getting through. It might be more efficient to abandon fallen cars in certain areas . . . not what they do with containers on those ships. People could make quite an illegal living, by derailing trains where the stuff will be abandoned in the ravines even thousands of feet below the broken tracks.

But I'm guessing

 

[chevyontheriver]

Oh great, I normally operate at 'scavenger mode' to begin with.

That IS the mode of the poor, of people raised to expect the possibility of poverty, much of the third world population. JIT is a rich person methodology, and the advantage is you don't have to have the inefficiencies of stockpiles.

I stockpile things. Lots of worthless things like screws and bolts and scraps of wood. But I'm a bibliophile too. My choice as to whether to buy a book is based on whether it's in print or out of print, whether I can buy it any old time or whether I may never see it again. For so many book titles there is no JIT. You have to grab it when you see it. So much of the economy seems like it's headed that way.

 

[Landon Caeli]

That IS the mode of the poor, of people raised to expect the possibility of poverty, much of the third world population. JIT is a rich person methodology, and the advantage is you don't have to have the inefficiencies of stockpiles.

I stockpile things. Lots of worthless things like screws and bolts and scraps of wood. But I'm a bibliophile too. My choice as to whether to buy a book is based on whether it's in print or out of print, whether I can buy it any old time or whether I may never see it again. For so many book titles there is no JIT. You have to grab it when you see it. So much of the economy seems like it's headed that way.

...And even then, I only scavenge because other people expect me to. I'm more of a procrastinator - that's the real issue here.

 

[SkyWriting]

If it's not paint, it's grass seed, toilet paper or something else. So remind me again why it's a good idea to import so many valued goods from overseas, when instead, they could be produced in South America, and sent North on trains? Or maybe even right here in our own country.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2021/09/major-product-shortages.html

The problems are in all countries. Not just overseas.
Notice the local "Help Wanted" signs in every other store? That is world wide.
I've seen fast food restaurants closed for a day or two now and then.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

The problems are in all countries. Not just overseas.
Notice the local "Help Wanted" signs in every other store? That is world wide.
I've seen fast food restaurants closed for a day or two now and then.

Not sure. I don’t really see it here in Germany.
COVID-19 and the Labor Market

 

[Bob Crowley]

My wife has complained the last few weeks about the shops being out of several items of stock on a regular basis. That's in Australia.

Part of the reason is that many people have been diagnosed as having COVID or are in a COVID affected household, and they have to quarantine. This has affected the workforce numbers eg. logistics staff.

It got worse once the states reopened their borders (mostly in November 2021), and COVID started to romp through the community.

But it will eventually ease off. They're beginning to loosen the quarantine restrictions to a limited extent.

 

[Postvieww]

Maybe the shortages are by design and according to plan?

 

[Desk trauma]

Maybe the shortages are by design and according to plan?

Maybe it’s gremlins?

 

[Postvieww]

Maybe it’s gremlins?

Yep, Gremlins in the Deep State (liberal left) and that does include some Republicans. Yes there really is a Deep State that wants to dominate you and me. Believe it!

 

[Desk trauma]

Yes there really is a Deep State that wants to dominate you and me. Believe it!

I don’t find that belief credible.