I just thought I would throw out some information from behind the scenes so to speak. The Corona thing has laid waste to many supply chains across the country and globally. I tell customers every day that the supply chain is broken, and by all visible clues it is not going to get better in the marine industry any time soon.
When we reopened in May, pretty much everything was available to order. Today is a much different picture. 50% of everything we order is no longer available and it is getting worse every day. Typically as the summer season nears an end, this happen every year, but no where to this extent. When a customers needs something we do not have in stock we now check our distributors first before we say "sure we can get one of those for you".
Our distributors used to say, check back in a week or two for availability. Recently they have become more realistic and are saying "you may not see that item until next season". We have even been told as of late that "you wont see that as the company is gone". This happened in a big way in 2008 when 42% of all marine related companies went out of business. When people come in to purchase an older matching part, I say to them that "if it was manufactured before 2008, there is a 42% chance that it is now unavailable". People hate drilling new mounting holes for some reason.
So... if you are a live aboard or long distance cruiser, grab what ever spare parts you need now. Most of you will probably say "too late" as much of them are already gone. I was in our local West Marine the other day and they are empty as anything labeled West Marine is China based and there hasn't been a shipment out of China since before Christmas because of the Chinese new year shut downs and then Corona. We tend to carry quality over price type items, and most of them are non China based so we are in much better shape.
As an example, we carry Taylor fenders which are very well made and have a one year burst/rupture guarantee. These are made in America and are still very much available. In the case of fenders we also carry the cheapest fender we can find to compete with West, and these aren't worth buying but people insist. They would rather spend hundreds on repairing damage to their hull rather than spending $50 on a good fender. We also carry Polyform, another great US company.
Rope has been an issue for us this season as well. We normally sell 25,000 feet a season and stock a rainbow of colors and patterns. This year finding line has been an issue and we have almost emptied our back room of excess spools of stock. Now we could sell Depot House quality cordage, that has a much higher margin per foot, but we just like to sleep at night. The cheap low quality line also doesn't splice well or at all and the majority of our line sales require a slice.
It appears it is only going to get worse as time goes on, so if you need something grab it.
I was talking to the hardware store near us the other day, literally a mom and pop old fashioned squeaky floor place. They are my first stop when I need something non marine related, and they said spring was rough for them acquiring stock but things were getting better. They also handle more domestic names and that maybe a factor. I do know that many of the hooks in the hardware departments in the Home Depots by us have been empty weeks.
Dale Tanski
Obersheimers
Buffalo New York
Maruska
Hull #40
Two month deliverery time for some Schaefer cleats I ordered.
Dana works at a West Marine super store and they are very low on stock. Especially SUPs and kayak gear. They're not doing "ship to store" anymore and the warehouse is almost empty. Fortunately we haven't needed much of anything this year, but that might change in the very near future.
Thanks for the heads up Dale.
Keep us posted on "the near future"...