This year there has been a lot of widespread concern over shortages surrounding holiday items.
Many people have done their holiday shopping early because of the lack of inventory due to supply shortages. These shortages are a result of lack of supplies and an increased demand. In addition, less people are working to create and deliver these supplies because of Covid. There are not as many people who are working on ships and trucks to deliver these goods to stores.
Many common gifts given for the holidays have been hard to come by. Electronics containing chips, such as laptops and many cars may be harder to find because of the supply chain shortage of chips. Many car dealerships have almost no cars on the lot and the demand is so high that the prices are nonnegotiable and rising. Car factories have had to slow down and even stop their production because there are no smart chips available to complete the cars.
Popular gifts given for the holidays are getting more difficult to find in stores and in order to get the desired item, often times it must be ordered online weeks ahead of time. Children’s toys and books may be scarce on shelves and online due to many factory shut downs.
Suppliers for chain stores are also having a hard time keeping up with the shortages. OA student, Mia Corradini, who works at Starbucks says “the supplies of syrups and cups are dwindling as a result of shortages from our supplier.”
There have been multiple reports of Christmas tree shortages, especially taller 8 to 10 feet trees. This is partly due to the Pacific Northwest having long droughts and hot weather over the summer that damaged many of the trees. The other half of this shortage is less workers being able to plant and take care of the trees. Even artificial trees are expensive and hard to come by, as they are often imported from overseas.
Junior Cassie Passias tells the Daily Olivian that “I went to Langwater this year to get my tree and they did not have any trees larger than 6ft due to the shortages.”
Although there are widespread shortages on items for the holidays, it is important to not panic-buy, as that only feeds into the problem. For this holiday season, I suggest that you consider shopping local and only buy what you need!