May 15, 2021: Ongoing Shipping Woes

[RoboAdmin]

May 15, 2021: Ongoing Shipping Woes

Read this article on the Illuminator.

[DarkPumpkin]

It's interesting to hear the inside story on what it takes to run a business like SJG. I feel that we are in for a major economic transformation and this type of issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps one day, the products could even be manufactured in the USA once again.

[DouglasCole]

My wife builds biogas conversion plants (cow poop into natural gas) and one thing they're finding is that there's actually a shortage of containers.

They usually circulate, but this last year, people have been filling them with manufactured goods and letting them sit as temporary storage.

Things are weird all over. Between crazy shipping fees and doing the international tax wackiness...it's getting real real ugly to reach past the borders of the USA. And you HAVE to if you've got scale and want to do certain products.

[Fufu]

Typical for some countries not to have an estimated ship date. Russia is one of those countries. Do not be surprised. This situation of international shipping delays and increased shipping costs to the United States are more common than the typical consumer understands.

[JLV]

At some point, the cost and frustrations of overseas shipping might encourage you to consider buying American instead of Chinese...

[blueFire]

This is a wonderful opportunity for people looking to start a new business that produces these kinds of things locally (or at lease in the USA).

[mook]

Originally Posted by JLV

At some point, the cost and frustrations of overseas shipping might encourage you to consider buying American instead of Chinese...

One imagines if companies producing in America had been competitive, they already would have :)

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

My wife builds biogas conversion plants (cow poop into natural gas) and one thing they're finding is that there's actually a shortage of containers.

They usually circulate, but this last year, people have been filling them with manufactured goods and letting them sit as temporary storage.

However when they circulate many of those containers do at least one leg of the journey empty which isn't good either.

Originally Posted by blueFire

This is a wonderful opportunity for people looking to start a new business that produces these kinds of things locally (or at lease in the USA).

I suspect that this is a temporary situation and it will sort itself out in year or so.

[ColinK]

Has anybody tried using AMAZON or other 'print on demand' resources for creating new game books instead of going to more traditional printers first?

Is there any place other than China that makes economic sense for assembling a new boxed game?

Are there any companies ready and able to experiment with robotic assembly of a new product?

Seems as if the only way to avoid the China shipping hazards monster is to create new types of games that don't need box kitting and assembly, and even that only works if there are companies with the tooling and resources to produce those new types of games in the U.S. and Europe.

[Fufu]

The transparency SJGames has in its Illuminator a smart way to call for crowdsourcing. Therefore, companies do out source some or all of its production to its competitors for various reasons. It is another option worth exploring.