Scouts honor, they're out of pepper

Dec. 11—Seems as though shortages and delays of any types of goods or services are going to be with us far into the future.

It's a far cry from the earlier days of pandemic panic buying that cleared the shelves of stores. Or when we all learned what a semiconductor was and that we couldn't easily buy a car, TV, video game or iPad until the semiconductor supply chain muddle improved.

A lot of the problems have improved, but often inexplicable shortages and delays continue. It does make trips to the grocery store more interesting — kind of a treasure hunt as items on your list aren't on the shelf. You can go to another store to look for them, change your plans for making dinner or do without.

The last couple of trips to the store found table salt aplenty but not one can of ground black pepper on the shelf. Why? Who knows.

The supply chain problems, which not only caused delays but spiraling costs that fueled inflation, have been largely reined in.

At the start of the year there were more than 100 container ships waiting off the California coast to unload cargo. Importers were paying $20,000 to send a single container from China to the United States — a cost often higher than the goods inside the container.

Today there are no freighters lingering off shore and containers from China cost $2,000.

While those issues clear up, one problem won't be getting better: We've run out of workers. Workers to make things in a factory, workers to load it on trucks, workers to get it where it's suppose to be.

While there was some sentiment that too many people simply didn't want to work, the extremely low unemployment rates across the country show we simply have full employment in most places. The Mankato area recently got some national press for having the lowest unemployment rate of any city in the country.

In September we had a 1.3% unemployment rate, far below the 4% rate that economists consider full employment.

We baby boomers are retiring en masse, families following us are having far fewer kids, and there aren't enough immigrants coming in to fill the gap.

While having to scramble to find black pepper or toilet paper is just an annoyance, not everything in short supply is simply a want, but a need.

The health system was awash in medical supplies during the pandemic; now there are broad shortages. Medical purchasing groups report that the current number of medical items in a shortage is about five times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

And lately, there has been a scramble for some antibiotics and over-the-counter medications, although alternatives have been available to treat illnesses.

Most of the occasional shortages we continue to see aren't a real hardship on anyone. If your treadmill doesn't arrive when hoped for, it's not a travesty.

But there was one serious problem created by supply chain problems — cookies.

Many Girl Scouts recently learned a lesson in customer service and dealing with irate customers as they had to inform buyers that their Samoas and Thin Mints were on back order.

Now that's a travesty.

Tim Krohn can be contacted at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com or 507-720-1300.