Can’t find disinfectant wipes at the stores it is because they are going to be in short supply until 2021 or so. It’s our own version of the Soviet Union “scramble to buy stuff” (except this isn’t a product of Government planning, just tremendous consumer demand).
Before you go check out: Screwing Around with the Free Market is Never Good Long Term
Back in March when the WuFlu pandemic was starting to really ramp up, most folks were panicking about touching anything – either in their homes or outside. Even bringing home groceries, when we didn’t know much about the virus and its transmission vectors, was a scary thought for some.
Yes, I was one of those (being close to that “older” cohort with co-morbidities that have oft been talked about, I masked up and gloved up when shopping. And I was the only one that ventured out of the house to do such errands. We wiped pretty much everything down with Clorox wipes to make sure that any infectious agents were dealt with before bringing them into the home so as to protect TMEW and the Grandson.
I have to admit, I kept a canister in the truck to make sure that my hands were “clean” after touching a lot of “touched public surfaces” when out in public (e.g. doors, gas pumps handles, shopping carts – even money). That meant a lot of wipes were being used in the beginning and I mean a lot. The problem was that there wasn’t a lot of replacements to be had. Demand outstripped supply by orders of magnitudes and we got creative in making substitutes.
Anyways, I came across this article at the beginning of last month and never got around to posting it.
Here’s Why There Is A Shortage Of Disinfectant Cleaning Wipes In Your Store.
It lays out why these formerly easy to find products became the Yahtzee! product when shopping (“Hey, honey! I scored a canister of Clorox Wipes, YIPPEE!”).
…If you’re the designated shopper in your family, you know that you can’t find a Clorox antiseptic cleaning wipe. The wipes quickly flew off the shelves at the very beginning of the pandemic outbreak and we haven’t seen them since…Get used to it, fellow shoppers. Clorox CEO Benno Dorer says that the product won’t be back on store shelves in an adequate supply until sometime in 2021.
…Clorox and other companies like Lysol were caught unprepared to meet the increased demands of consumers. Clorox is the world’s biggest cleaning products maker. The company sites a six-fold increase in demand for its disinfectants.
NO company could have forcasted that level of consumer demand uptick over a month or two’s time frame. But some things were easier to get than others just not these. And something I didn’t know,
…Supply for most products, like liquid bleach, will improve dramatically over the next four to six months – but not wipes, Dorer said on Monday…“Disinfecting wipes, which are the hottest commodity in the business right now, will probably take longer because it’s a very complex supply chain to make them,” Dorer said.
Really? Mix some liquids together, get those looms making that cloth…oh wait:
It turns out that the supply chain is stressed because the cleaning wipes are made with polyester spunlace, a material currently in short supply. It is also used to make personal protective equipment like masks, medical gowns, and medical wipes. “That entire supply chain is stressed. … We feel like it’s probably going to take until 2021 before we’re able to meet all the demand that we have,” Dorer said. Though in May Dorer predicted that store shelves would be restocked by the summer, that has not materialized.
And now summer is over and it hasn’t happened to the levels we generally expect to see shelves be. Walmart, BJ’s, Market Basket, Shaw’s, Staples – all places I go to, have been pretty much empty most of the summer for these items. Sure, a couple of times, I’d see some product on the shelves but the little tags said “One per customer” – hey, it’s the store’s private property until you pay for it so they can regulate what they sell at any time.
But it is starting to become a bit more available – Clorox, Lysol, and the private label manufacturers. I’m betting that more suppliers will enter the marketplace seeing that there is a window for profit there, especially if they make that spunlace precursor:
…On Monday, Clorox reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that widely topped analysts’ expectations, driven by a 33% increase in revenue from its health and wellness business, which makes cleaning products and accounts for more than 40% of total sales.
…Lysol’s revenue was up over 50% in the first quarter of 2020, but its parent company Reckitt Benckiser continued to ramp up production to meet the high demand.
The gap exists for smaller players in the industry too. Seventh Generation, a leading manufacturer in green cleaning and hygiene products, has already delivered 63% more product in the first half of 2020 than in 2019, but demand spiked 300-400%, according to senior director of the supply chain Jim Barch.
This will drive Socialists like Bruce Currie mad with anger – you know, those “Profit over People” folks (even as they LOVE the “Government over People” philosophy even if they won’t say it out loud).
Those are big number increases in sales (and hopefully their profit margins grew too). When numbers like that come out, with dreams of profits, other people will want to enter that marketplace. When they do, more products will be available.
Profit and prices are data points – they signal to suppliers that there is opportunity. Not withstanding the Socialists decrying the “unorderedness” of the free marketplace, it doesn’t need overlords to regulate production. Information by price and demand is sufficient to be self regulating. People want more, more suppliers will come in. Sure, the price may come down as competition increases placing profit margins at risk, but that will then force some manufacturers out of the market as they then cannot compete on efficiency points. Sucks for them but better for we consumers.
Who Chooses? We should – not some government bureaucracy deciding for us. The market will take care of itself because it hates a vacuum.
(H/T: Hot Air)
