Small Businesses Are Harmed By A Broken Supply Chain, Which Must Be Addressed Immediately

Friday, 24 December 2021, 5:13 pm
Article: Hugh Grant

Who would have guessed that a COVID-19 outbreak would result in a shortage of Christmas lights and increased pricing a year and a half ago?

The Christmas light scarcity is a microcosm of what's going on in the US economy as a whole. Because more people have remained at home due to the epidemic, they are decorating more enthusiastically, driving up demand for Christmas lights and other hardware made mostly in Asia.

Because of well-documented congestion at ports and a shortage of drivers to make delivery, those items have been late to arrive in U.S. retailers. As a result, supplies are scarce. When there's a lot of demand, prices go up.

The present dilemma extends well beyond interior design. Drive by virtually any car dealership and you'll see a lot of vacant parking places, thanks in part to a shortage of computer chips. Almost every restaurant will have a notice advising that some menu items may be unavailable due to a scarcity of ingredients. Also, good luck getting a low-cost laptop or television.

The majority of small company owners anticipate a period of interruption in the spring.

Of course, all companies are impacted by the challenges that have resulted in ships being stranded for days at a time at American ports. Big firms, on the other hand, have more resources, clout, and purchasing power, so they may prioritize their shipping demands.

Small enterprises, on the other hand, are not so lucky. Some people are in a precarious situation.

One small business owner in Middle Tennessee, Jeff Abrams of Curve Solar, recently said that he sent an employee to the West Coast to plead with port authorities to discharge a container containing ingredients needed in the production of their goods.

Since June, the container has been lying on the docks, delaying order fulfillment for big retailers and stifling job development in Tennessee.

That company owner isn't alone. According to the National Federation of Independent Company's newest COVID-19 poll, 62 percent of small business owners say supply chain interruptions have become worse in the last 90 days. Furthermore, 90% of business owners think the interruptions will last until spring.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee joined 14 other governors in November to establish "Operation Open Road," a campaign to convince the Biden administration to solve the supply chain issue by reducing distribution bottlenecks.

Lee urged the government to "suspend unnecessary rules on the trucking sector... guaranteeing small companies and American customers have access to the items they need this Christmas season."

The governor also signed Executive Order 93, which instructs the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to identify deregulation possibilities impacting the trucking sector and to work with other state agencies, the Tennessee Board of Regents, Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technologies, and private firms to expand commercial driver's license (CDL) training and certification options.

It also encourages third parties to broaden the sorts of CDL applicants and licensees eligible for training and testing.

Of course, transportation is just one factor causing supply interruptions, but small business owners applaud Governor Lee for stepping up and doing all he can to help, not only over the holidays but also in the coming months.

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