The following email from one of my suppliers in response to a Purchase Order calling for shipment of items I need in my stock from this source has motivated this blog, because this is a very often received note from most suppliers in the philatelic world:
“We received your email and PO. I created a new order.
Unfortunately a majority of the items you ordered are on backorder. The pandemic has caused a lot of frustration for us all. We have a large shipment on it’s way from Germany. We expect it to arrive in early to mid September. “
I hope that this blog will be beneficial to collectors in dealing with the pandemic and its effect on our hobby. Patience is the word of the day and this from a very impatient person. My definition of a ‘New York Minute’ is the elapse time between when the light in front of you turns green and the cabby behind you honks his horn. But I want to be sure not to be one of those people who berate the fast-food employ for being slow. We here about them on the news, but we are all in this together.
It is worth noting that in addition to the supply-chain issues we all face, the hobby is encountering a very positive growth in participation as collectors who have been dormant for years are rekindling their enthusiasm for the hobby, as they are confined to home more than before. This has an understandable impact on demand at a time of supply challenges
Some examples of the situation, beginning with Scott Album Binders. This is a classic because it actually began before the China Virus hit our shores. The binders for the International Album have been out of stock since March. While the binders are produced in the United States, the fabric to cover the binders is from China. Making it more interesting, during the pandemic the plant in Ohio that produced the binders closed and production was shifted to Pennsylvania. When some small size specialty albums (ACBR01) were received there was a glimmer of hope.
Then Amos Publishing close down to move to a new warehouse and now they are back up and shipping this week and we again have hope. In the mean time I have offered customers with back orders a glimmer of hope and in so doing lost a lot of credibility.
Showgard Mint Sheet Pages were out of stock for several months while material for production of the SSMP3 pages waited. We finally got them in and are shipping.
Received word last week that the back ordered glassine envelopes will be shipped this week by the large company that produces them. Not China related, as I have access to glassine envelopes produced in China and they are yellow and unacceptable, so we waited the two months for production to start up again.
Received word that the Lighthouse Supplements 2019 will be shipping this week. Only Two months late. And we still do not have Schaubek Hingeless Albums or supplements, but soon, trust me!
The solution to this major failure of the hobby to respond to the pandemic is a rethinking of inventory management. Just-In-Time Inventory Management has been the mantra from business schools for decades. Smart cash flow management designates the winner as the business that can best project future inventory levels, time necessary to process and receive an order, and a gold star if you have a shipment arrive on the day inventory reaches zero.
The pandemic calls for a new model, which can be stressful for cash flows of small businesses, but must be undertaken. I call it Just-In-Case Inventory Management. After a career in Insurance and Risk Management this may be an understandable shift in my thinking, but we need to maintain extra inventory for ‘Just-In-Case’ there is an international disruption, or ‘Just-In-Case’ the plant in Ohio closes due to fire, etc. We will also be working to maintain alternate sources for much of our goods, but Scott only comes from Scott, and Lighthouse only comes from Lighthouse, and SAFE only comes from SAFE, and so on.
Hopefully we have learned a valuable lesson in this, what has been an international challenge to collectors. But with patience we will persevere and continue to enjoy a wonderful hobby.
