Glass Bottle Supply in a Pickle!
America now faces a vinegar shortage severe enough to cause the supply of pickles to disappear off the shelves! However, it’s not just the vinegar that is running on empty, but also the supply of the glass jars in which they are stored.
According to Supply Chain Management Review, the glass jar shortage is due mainly to municipalities dropping their glass recycling programs to cut costs, paired with an increase in demand for glass jars for home canning — and pickling.
“We have no glass inventory in California, however, we were able to secure inventory in Taiwan given a 12 week lead time.
This shortage of vinegar and glass has reduced our overall transportation revenues, in both inbound and outbound loads, due to the lack of raw materials. In turn, this has resulted in lost sales for retailers.
We look forward to a time when the supply chain is running smoothly again, as well as to have the ability to reasonably source goods and not have it be a critical everyday routine.”
Another AW2 Customer tell us that they have gone from 2-3 weeks for glass bottle orders up to a 90 day eta. “I’ll certainly run out of certain products without being able to resupply. It hasn’t happened yet, but I can foresee it coming because I have to plan months in advance.” This customer is already looking for alternative forms of bottling their product. It’s a last ditch effort to remain in business into the Fall and get their product into the hands of consumers.
With the virus still a live threat with a number of regions and economies in lockdown, while others emerge into a very different world, the disruption to supply chains continues to be severe.
As economies restart, the supply chain will be critical to supplying goods and services quickly, safely and securely.
Business leaders must make rapid decisions and take immediate actions to sustain business operations to serve their customers, clients and communities, as well as protect and support their workers. AW2 Logistics is playing its part in developing strategies with customers in order to deal with this challenging, and rapidly changing, environment.
For more information, please contact us at 1-877-223-0605 or complete the form below.