Supply Chain Breakdown and Inflation

[RZehr]

Even if the crane operators union would simply permit the port to hire more crane operators to work night shifts, that would be helpful. But no, they won’t agree to that either. (At least they haven’t in the past. Hopefully that is changing)
Because of the port unions power and lack of work ethic, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have some of the least efficient container handling scores across the world. They are just slow. And work short daily shifts. And take ridiculously long breaks and lunches.

While it is true that there is a truck shortage, that is not impacting the container problem and the 100 ships anchored at sea waiting to be unloaded. But if the crane operators did kick it in gear, it is true that trucking could very well become the next bottleneck.

[Josh]

Even if the crane operators union would simply permit the port to hire more crane operators to work night shifts, that would be helpful. But no, they won’t agree to that either. (At least they haven’t in the past. Hopefully that is changing)
Because of the port unions power and lack of work ethic, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have some of the least efficient container handling scores across the world. They are just slow. And work short daily shifts. And take ridiculously long breaks and lunches.

While it is true that there is a truck shortage, that is not impacting the container problem and the 100 ships anchored at sea waiting to be unloaded. But if the crane operators did kick it in gear, it is true that trucking could very well become the next bottleneck.

Then why wasn’t this a problem 2 or 3 years ago?

[steve-in-kville]

Every anabaptist business owner I have talked to (some quite conservative) has staffing issues. What 18 y/o want to slave away in a wood shop for $15/hour when they could get into the construction trade for $20+ out of the gate?

[Ken]

Every anabaptist business owner I have talked to (some quite conservative) has staffing issues. What 18 y/o want to slave away in a wood shop for $15/hour when they could get into the construction trade for $20+ out of the gate?

If only there was some way to remedy that problem.

$15/hr. is $2,400 per month or $28,800 per year if you don't take any vacations.

[mike]

Every anabaptist business owner I have talked to (some quite conservative) has staffing issues. What 18 y/o want to slave away in a wood shop for $15/hour when they could get into the construction trade for $20+ out of the gate?

If only there was some way to remedy that problem.

$15/hr. is $2,400 per month or $28,800 per year if you don't take any vacations.

There are 52 weeks in a year, so your math is a little off. At 40 hours/week that brings it to $31,200/year. Most of my full-time employees who make in excess of $15/hour often earn 5-10 hours or more of overtime per week. Overtime for 5 hours/week adds close to $6,000 a year.

[RZehr]

Even if the crane operators union would simply permit the port to hire more crane operators to work night shifts, that would be helpful. But no, they won’t agree to that either. (At least they haven’t in the past. Hopefully that is changing)
Because of the port unions power and lack of work ethic, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have some of the least efficient container handling scores across the world. They are just slow. And work short daily shifts. And take ridiculously long breaks and lunches.

While it is true that there is a truck shortage, that is not impacting the container problem and the 100 ships anchored at sea waiting to be unloaded. But if the crane operators did kick it in gear, it is true that trucking could very well become the next bottleneck.

Then why wasn’t this a problem 2 or 3 years ago?

It’s been a real problem for decades. It’s just multiplied due to the virus economy. Such a problem that only shipment that are unable to avoid the west coast are still using them. The container port union in Portland Oregon was so bad for so many years that the container ship lines one by one quit going to Portland, until today there is no ship line serving Portland, and the container yard is defunct. And today it sure would be handy to have another west coast container port operating.
This month Hapag-Lloyd announced that they would be discontinuing container service to the west coast. This is because of the same hard headed behavior of the ports. I believe Hapag-Lloyd was our last European ship line serving the west coast.

[Ken]

Every anabaptist business owner I have talked to (some quite conservative) has staffing issues. What 18 y/o want to slave away in a wood shop for $15/hour when they could get into the construction trade for $20+ out of the gate?

If only there was some way to remedy that problem.

$15/hr. is $2,400 per month or $28,800 per year if you don't take any vacations.

There are 52 weeks in a year, so your math is a little off. At 40 hours/week that brings it to $31,200/year. Most of my full-time employees who make in excess of $15/hour often earn 5-10 hours or more of overtime per week. Overtime for 5 hours/week adds close to $6,000 a year.

Yeah, I was just multiplying by 4 weeks per month which is 2 days short so that adds up. Point being, $15 isn’t really very much money if someone is supporting a family or a household (rent, bills, transportation expenses, etc.). It’s OK if you are a dependent student or something just making cash on a the side. But I doubt many people working in woodworking factories or cabinet shops are kids doing side jobs. Those are more like grocery store or fast food jobs. By contrast, entry level salaries for nurses, police officers, and other careers that are reported to be in short supply start at about $50k, at least around here. Sometimes higher.

And yes, in the construction trades, entry level skilled workers are in the $20+ per hour.

Unfortunately people don’t really need hand-made Amish furniture when there is IKEA selling functional particle board stuff for 1/4 the price made in places like Indonesia. Yes it is disposable junk, but that is the world we live in. My daughter and her roommate needed a new max 700 watt microwave for their college dorm room and found one on Walmart.com for $35 with free delivery. I don’t even know how that is possible but sure enough, you can get a new microwave delivered for $35 that came all the way from Asia. This is the stuff that is clogging up the supply chain I’m guessing: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Proctor-Sile ... lsrc=aw.ds

[steve-in-kville]

I honestly don't know what the woodworking industry is like now anyway. One local to me just had a fire over the summer and they are still rebuilding. They were able to save the warehouse, though.

[Ken]

I honestly don't know what the woodworking industry is like now anyway. One local to me just had a fire over the summer and they are still rebuilding. They were able to save the warehouse, though.

Around here it is pretty much vanished other than super high-end custom stuff. I have a cousin in Seattle who does woodworking but he mostly does it in the context of high-end remodeling (custom designed built-ins and that sort of thing). He can’t do things like make tables, chairs, dressers, etc. anymore because there is no money in it. The only money is in custom built-in stuff that can’t be mass produced. Even out here in the Pacific Northwest we still have Amish Furniture stores: https://www.amishtraditionsfurniture.com/ but I don’t know where they get their stuff. It certainly isn’t local as we don’t have local Amish. But almost all the other furniture stores sell imported junk or ultra-high end euro-style stuff.

[RZehr]

They haul it in from back east. I went to school with the owner, and live a few miles from him.