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RE: Art Supply Stores Running Out

in #art3 years ago

That looks like the ammo shelves at gun stores for the last 10 months. It's been in short supply and the supply has become even shorter in the last few months. I'm not sure if supply of raw materials is an issue, as ammo manufacturers have actually made videos telling their customers the shortage isn't a conspiracy and they're doing round-the-clock shifts to make more.

When it comes to ammo, shortages lead to people buying everything they can when available which leads to shortages. And we saw the same thing with toilet paper last spring. Maybe it's a universal thing, and shortages of many things will lead to hoarding them, until the hoarding stops and everyone has a garage full of toilet paper, ammunition, art supplies, and Twinkies :)

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Yes, it was funny in the beginning seeing people horde toilet paper... unless you ran out yourself that is. 😖

However, I can tell you from personal experience there now logistic problems, which in turn of course means there are supply chain problems. The transport / shipping networks have slowed down to a viscous tempo.

Before all of this I shipped my artwork to the US, 7 - 9 work days. It now takes 1.5 - 3 months, and that is with air priority! I was eventually informed that it could be possible to get it there on time if I paid the most expensive rate, three times that of "priority"... but still no certain guarantee, but it would get there faster.

Shipping to the UK is now problematic because of Brexit and the restrictions. What previously took 5 work days now takes a month.

Within the EU, there is still one company that I find reliable and can still deliver on time because they are transporting via road.

The problems arise when anything has to be freighted by air or sea. The era of budget airlines was possible because the aircraft also carried freight and mail. Now with travel restrictions the number of flights have been drasticly reduced, meaning less freight travelling via air.

Compounding delays further are restrictions placed upon workers for "health" reasons. For instance in Vienna the backlog of mail to be sent via air, meant that pallets of mail were left out in the rain.

Sea freight has also slowed to the point the shipping companies are now selling their older ships, which are in perfect working order, for scrap because they can't afford to have them sitting idle. The ships are now worth more as scrap steel because of the massive demand for steel in China for their road building boom.

Why are Billions of Dollars Worth of Ships Being Intentionally Destroyed?

World trade is not like a light switch that can be turned on and off. The impact of these current restrictions will multiply the longer they go on.