By Phil McCausland -
NBC News
Almost two years after the pandemic began, the coronavirus has infected millions of people and killed hundreds of thousands more in the country, but it also continues to disrupt the powerful supply chain that moves products from factories to homes.
Manufacturers of alcoholic beverages cannot get enough glass to make bottles.
A fast food restaurant had to cancel its marketing campaign because a labor shortage led to a shortage of chicken strips.
Lincoln Logs kits languish in factories because of missing plastic doors.
And citizens are having trouble getting wheelchairs in the United States because the COVID-19 outbreaks in Vietnam have held back rubber tires.
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Furthermore, gasoline production is not increasing at the same rate as demand, which means that prices at gas stations could remain high in the coming months.
The long list of problems underscores the fragility of the US supply chain and is preventing people from buying or forcing them to pay a premium for their favorite products.
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NBC News analyzed
seven articles affected by delays or rising prices,
and spoke with industry leaders and experts about supply chain issues that have made items more expensive or difficult to find.
Beer, wine and spirits
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
The
producers of beer, wine and spirits warn that have difficulty maintaining production
and constant distribution to customers.
Brewers are looking for carbon dioxide, commonly used to carbonate beers, due to a shortage that started in the UK even before the pandemic.
Metal parts for machinery, aluminum for cans, and even malt and hops are also hard to come by.
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The
wine producers have lost the West Coast vineyards by forest fires
and smoke.
Wine and spirits producers are also struggling to replenish their supplies after last year's surge in demand, especially as wine and spirits often take longer to produce.
However, the most constant hurdle for many beer, wine and spirits manufacturers is
obtaining glass bottles,
especially if these are specially shaped.
Although domestic glass manufacturing is in full swing, according to Scott DeFife, president of the Institute of Glass Containers, the country imports between 20% and 30% of its glass from abroad (from Italy and France).
For Roman Roth, a winemaker at Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Long Island, New York, the colorful
labels, bottles and packaging are part of the brand identity
that his customers love, but it's really hard to get all the glass they need.
Chicken strips
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
The median price in major retail supermarkets for chicken strips has risen from
$ 4.76 per pound in November 2020 to $ 5.20 per pound this month
, according to the Department of Agriculture.
The cost of a pound of organic chicken strips rose $ 1.51 in the same period.
This has also affected restaurants.
A&W, the root beer chain, canceled a chicken strip marketing deal this year because its supplier couldn't deliver more poultry to its restaurants.
KFC said it had trouble getting its normal supply of chicken this year, although a spokesperson said in an email that "the supply of products, including chicken, has improved."
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Hattie B's Hot Chicken, a popular chicken restaurant chain in Nashville, Tennessee, said the price of all parts of the chicken skyrocketed during the pandemic.
The chain is facing
higher shipping, plastic and packaging costs, as well as a lower quality product.
The main problem lies in the supply chain, as
meat processors struggle to hire and retain workers
after their workforces suffered an increase in illness and death at the height of the pandemic.
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During Tyson's call to investors in August, the company's CEO Donnie King said
hiring workers remained one of his biggest challenges.
More recently, the company noted logistics costs and the cost of ingredients and packaging materials.
Medical supplies and equipment
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
For months,
Cecilia Blackmon has struggled to source common medical supplies, such as crutches, wheelchairs and walkers,
for her store, Family Medical Supply Store, in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.
"Fortunately, each time we have asked for enough to get ahead, but
with wheelchairs it is difficult," he
said.
"I can't give a patient something they need, and that has happened with some of the wheelchairs - I just can't get them," he added.
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The
oxygen tanks are
also scarce,
because they are still in
high demand by patients with coronavirus.
Meanwhile, hospitals in several states are asking people to donate their little-used wheelchairs and crutches due to shortages.
Although most of these types of supplies are produced domestically,
some individual components come from Asia and are stuck in ports,
causing huge delays.
Some are also facing labor shortages at their production facilities in the United States.
Larry Jackson, president of Sunrise Medical North America, said he has more than $ 10 million in inventory of partially produced medical supply equipment that his company has been unable to complete due to lack of parts.
Tires typically take five weeks to travel from China or Vietnam but can now take about 90 days to arrive at the company's Fresno, California facility, which is 10% short of the labor it had before the pandemic, Jackson added.
Toys
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
Many of the leaders in toy manufacturing have little expectation of being able to stock the shelves with this year's favorite toys before people start opening the presents.
In a recent earnings call, Hasbro said it expected to suffer a
loss of $ 100 million
this holiday season because supply chain problems are making it difficult to fulfill orders.
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Toy companies face multiple challenges this year, starting
with the heavy reliance on production in Asia
and importing items across the Pacific.
Costs have skyrocketed, with shipping companies charging an average of $ 10,000 per container in recent weeks;
Before the pandemic, it cost about $ 1,500, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.
Although West Coast ports are beginning to clear, thanks to extended hours ordered by the Joe Biden Administration, there are still problems finding truckers to move toys across the country, said Jay Foreman, CEO of BasicFun. , the company that produces popular items such as K'Nex, Tonka Trucks, and Fisher-Price toys.
Video game consoles
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
Rising demand, accompanied by a holiday boom, has many businesses scrambling to keep up.
The biggest challenge is the
shortage of microchips and semiconductors.
"We have seen unprecedented demand for Xbox Series X | S, and we are working as quickly as possible with our manufacturing and retail partners to streamline production and shipping to keep pace with continued supply constraints," said a spokesperson for Microsoft.
Panic, a gaming company that has developed a handheld gaming device that features a black and white screen that it has called Playdate, said that after receiving a flood of pre-orders for the gaming system, it immediately placed a new order. to your factory.
The company was told it wouldn't be able to get the core processor it needed for 730 days, or two years.
Sweatpants
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
For many people, the transition to work from home began with the shift from office attire to sweatpants and other soft, stretchy garments.
The purchase of
athleisure
clothing
,
as these wardrobe items are known, skyrocketed last year, and the surge in demand has continued this year.
Clothing is an everyday item that is rarely produced in the country:
More than 97% of clothing sold in the United States is made in other countries,
according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association.
Much of the production was based in China until the Trump Administration made major changes in US trade policy.
Gasoline
Anuj Shrestha / NBC News
Perhaps one of the most striking price changes that many people have had to deal with is the
cost of gasoline
.
The
median price in the United States rose to $ 3.40 a gallon
earlier this month, according to AAA.
It is the highest price in years and comes after the oil market bottomed out at the peak of last year.
"Americans are simply paying more because of an imbalance between supply and demand,"
said Patrick De Haan, head of oil analysis at GasBuddy, a technology company that studies gas prices in real time.
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De Haan said it may seem to some people that gasoline prices rose shortly after the country elected Joe Biden to replace Donald Trump as president, but said politics had little to do with rising costs. .
It is simply an imbalance of supply and demand created by COVID-19.
The expert predicted that gasoline prices will not grow much more, but will remain near this peak during the holidays and next year.