Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

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Brian Lutz
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Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by Brian Lutz »

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/why-yo ... v66FgSZuKY

Costco is warning members that some imported goods normally sold in their stores may be in short supply for a few months, citing problems with shipping. Specifically, they cite a shortage of available shipping containers and backlogs at major West Coast ports due to increased demand and labor shortages due to COVID-19. Other retailers that rely heavily on imported products such as Dollar Tree are also being impacted as well, but the situation is expected to resolve itself within a few months.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by babs »

Brian Lutz wrote: March 10th, 2021, 5:02 pm https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/why-yo ... v66FgSZuKY

Costco is warning members that some imported goods normally sold in their stores may be in short supply for a few months, citing problems with shipping. Specifically, they cite a shortage of available shipping containers and backlogs at major West Coast ports due to increased demand and labor shortages due to COVID-19. Other retailers that rely heavily on imported products such as Dollar Tree are also being impacted as well, but the situation is expected to resolve itself within a few months.
This is a huge issue..you are seeing major stock outs at many retailers. It's a combination of stores restocking from low inventory during COVID and stores placing larger orders to take advantage of what's expected to be a major shopping spree from stimulus payments. The supply chain is stressed right now.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by Alpha8472 »

Perhaps on some items there is a shortage, but when I went the other day there were piles upon piles of toilet paper.

Walmart has way too much toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Lysol spray. It looks like they can't even get rid of it now.

Has the hoarding come to an end?
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: March 10th, 2021, 9:15 pm Perhaps on some items there is a shortage, but when I went the other day there were piles upon piles of toilet paper.

Walmart has way too much toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Lysol spray. It looks like they can't even get rid of it now.

Has the hoarding come to an end?
I think customers finally got overstocked on these items and realized it is time to quit buying. Now we will wait for some good sales on these items and stock up for the next round, whenever that is.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by Brian Lutz »

Alpha8472 wrote: March 10th, 2021, 9:15 pm Perhaps on some items there is a shortage, but when I went the other day there were piles upon piles of toilet paper.

Walmart has way too much toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Lysol spray. It looks like they can't even get rid of it now.

Has the hoarding come to an end?
Presumably the issue isn't so much with domestically produced items as imported ones. Many years ago, I worked a short term contract job in the IT department of the Kimberly-Clark Everett paper mill (shut down and mostly demolished in 2011) and aside from the usual KC brands (mostly Scott, Viva and Cottonelle) a significant portion of the mill's production was devoted to making Kirkland Signature toilet paper. I'm not sure where it is produced now, but I believe it is still domestic.

As an unrelated side note, I can tell people that I once had a job doing rollouts at a toilet paper facfory.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: March 10th, 2021, 10:47 pm
Presumably the issue isn't so much with domestically produced items as imported ones. Many years ago, I worked a short term contract job in the IT department of the Kimberly-Clark Everett paper mill (shut down and mostly demolished in 2011) and aside from the usual KC brands (mostly Scott, Viva and Cottonelle) a significant portion of the mill's production was devoted to making Kirkland Signature toilet paper. I'm not sure where it is produced now, but I believe it is still domestic.

As an unrelated side note, I can tell people that I once had a job doing rollouts at a toilet paper facfory.
Prior to the pandemic virtually all of the bath tissue, paper towels, and facial tissue sold in US Stores was domestically produced. There were some exceptions like those little "pocket pack" facial tissues often Made in China but not always. I have seen Kleenex Pocket Packs here Made in Italy also. There was pre-pandemic some, not much, paper product that came from Mexico in generic brands but distribution of that was fairly limited to places like Southern California or in places like 99 Cents Only, etc.

Then of course the pandemic hit and a lot more paper products started to get imported from Mexico in the actual brands used in Mexico due to supply shortages in the US. Kimberly Clark closed its Fullerton, CA paper plant in mid 2020 as well which did not help things and further made it so Mexico needed to be tapped into for product. Since then there are still some generic imported from Mexico paper products in certain stores in generic brands created especially for the US but these do not seem to be selling too well (Rite Aid has a whole aisle of "snow soft" paper towels from Mexico that sit and sit and Kroger has pallets of a dollar store looking generic bath tissue from Mexico).

I am surprised Costco is having supply issues. They are such a large company, I would expect their vendors would take care of them and ensure they are getting product. But I guess suppliers can't control an inefficient port.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by veteran+ »

Spoke to the Store Manager at Pavilions yesterday regarding consistent high out of stocks, one year later.

He explained how complicated and the surprising myriad reasons for the continuing disruptions.

From shipping to materials to labor, he said, this will continue for quite a while. The tentacles of cause and effect took everyone by surprise.
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Re: Costco warns of shortages of some goods due to high shipping demand

Post by Romr123 »

Not to be disagreeable, but in the north, there was a small but significant share of our paper goods coming from Canada---generally from Kruger and/or Irving, and particularly for facial tissue and paper towels...they were perfectly OK quality. Oddly enough--I'm in a market research study right now on toilet paper--got shipped a 4 pack to evaluate. Feels like the "luxurious" stuff--I really prefer the Scott 1000.
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