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We will try in these coming weeks to be as transparent as possible regarding shipping. As always, COVID has a role to play. This thread will try to answer some FAQ regarding shipping, along with supporting articles.
QUESTION: Why is it taking so long to get books from printers? ANSWER: Production was shut down during the spring and summer, so now everything that was supposed to come out then is being made now. It's created a global backlog for suppliers and shippers.
There has been global unrest at ports, with labor strikes and walkoffs as workers are justifiably upset at having to work overtime in dangerous conditions during a pandemic. There is also a global shortage of shipping containers. https://bit.ly/3olnKye
Anticipating a massive uptick in online shopping, companies have been buying up cardboard shipping products like mad, creating a global box shortage as well. We've had to receive our shipping products in small batches, paying a premium to get them. https://bit.ly/2VX3IOx
Add to this the calamity that is Brexit, and you've got a nightmare scenario if you're in the shipping/ supply chain. This trickles down to the companies expecting product and the customers expecting the product. https://bit.ly/39QN4Ij
QUESTION: Why don't you hire more staff to meet demand for the holidays? ANSWER: We have, but we are limited to how many people we can hire because of COVID-19 restrictions. We have to maintain space in our facility and cannot exceed mandated parameters.
To violate these mandates would make our facility a superspreading zone. We can't do that to our staff and their families, it's irresponsible at best. So we have limited hands we are allowed to work with. Also we are a small company that can only afford so much staffing.
QUESTION: Why are vinyl components being dropped / orders modified? ANSWER: The music industry writ large is experiencing a vinyl crisis.The biggest producer of vinyl in the world is in the Czech Republic, which is now the biggest COVID hotspot in Europe. They went into shutdown.
This causes vinyl production to be shifted to other countries, who, while open for business, have their own backlogs to deal with. Bigger labels get priority because of bigger jobs. Small batch artists keep getting pushed. If you want a record pressed, you have two options:
1) Wait until a press time opens up, which can be weeks to months, or 2) pay a premium for a slot and have the items bulk shipped by airmail. Choosing option 2 kills all profitability of even putting out a record, so many have opted to either wait or not put out a record at all.
We are experiencing this with the labels who are responsible with supplying vinyl to us, many of whom are deciding to temporarily suspend their vinyl programs until COVID subsides.
Add to this that a fire took out one of the three only lacquer producers in February, and it's a huge mess. https://bit.ly/3qIuTL4
