If your family name is on the door of a bakery, restaurant, coffee shop or boutique, you most likely are experiencing a daunting new dilemma:
A packaging shortage! And a bad one at that.
Who would have thought a mere couple of years ago that we would see the makers of boxes, bags, wraps and cups struggling as they now are to keep up with demand?
When Covid fears ebbed and the world opened up again, every eatery and shop from New York to L.A. needed to stock up. Manufacturers kept turning gears to crank out product, and distributors such as MrTakeOutBags.com worked at a frantic pace to supply all those clients flinging open their doors and getting back to work.
We realize that product shortages, and long lead times, add a new wrinkle to your stressful day as a business owner. Let us help you to understand what’s going on.
Manufacturers cut back
One reason you may not be able to get the bag or box you are accustomed to using is that the manufacturers are cutting back on their offerings. We are seeing fewer sizes, colors and shapes of some of the most popular packaging solutions being made available.
Many of them say the reason for this is that they just don’t have the staff or materials to keep their current product lines going.
Shipping stalled
Just about everything needing to be shipped – from consumer electronics to paper coffee cups — is seeing a massive demand, as well as shipping backlogs.
As shippers such as UPS and FedEx struggle to keep up, they are also facing huge price increases and varying lockdown protocols amid the continuing Covid 19 crisis.
Shortages in everything from port labor, to truck drivers and shipping containers is hindering their ability to get your products to you as well.
Every industry is vying for the same shippers’ time. This has led to skyrocketing demand and pricing – a frustrating trend seen in all industries across the globe. Yes, even packaging.
Demand soars, supplies shrink
As manufacturers move at breakneck speed to try to keep up with the demand for takeout packaging, the raw materials to produce these items have become unavailable.
Resins and pulp needed to make bakery boxes, for example, are much harder to come by. That trickles down to many restaurateurs and coffee shop owners like you.
As an illustration of how this impacts our customers here at MrTakeOutBags, look toward the Lone Star state. Petroleum based glue adhesive troubles stemming from Texas’ freeze and blackouts meant some of our more popular products were not available. Some shopping bags were even produced without their handles for a short period of time.
And businesses now able to welcome back their patrons are in competition with others down the street for the same containers, glasses and totes.
Work force woes and other issues
Many entities down the supply chain are having trouble keeping folks on their crews. We are seeing shortages all over the country in workers for line production, shipping and fulfillment.
Unfortunately, all of these issues combined have led to others. Some manufacturers have had to shut down over state mandates or safety protocols when staff are exposed or infected by Covid 19.
In the meantime, Chinese tariff laws were changed to push toward domestic market – yet domestic manufacturers were not prepared for the influx of demand.
We know all of this hurts our clients the most
All of the troubles in the world don’t change the fact that for you to keep serving your customers, you need the best packaging on the market. And, a reliable source for finding it.
Rest assured, at MrTakeOutBags.com, we work hard every day to make sure we can get you what you need. It may not always be the exact bag, box or cup you are used to, but we’ll come up with something to help pull you through.
So when it comes to your custom or stock packaging order, let us help. We’ll all get through this together.
Thank you for reading. We welcome your ideas for this blog. Please leave a comment with any ideas or topics!
Comments are closed.