The last gift on the shelf

By TREVOR SOCHOCKI

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    GRAND BLANC, Michigan (WNEM) — Decking the halls this holiday season is going to be more challenging than ever.

“I’ve noticed going into the stores,” Sara Johnson said. “The toy shelves are empty. They’re empty. It’s really sad.”

Experienced shoppers like Johnson are bending over backward to get what they want.

“I had a friend who lives in Indiana, and I asked her if her store — it was Walmart — if they had a Magic Mixie there,” Johnson explained. “She actually went there for me and looked, and they did not, because [their website] said that they had one.”

The Magic Mixie toy — Johnson’s archenemy for months. The Grand Blanc mother of two little girls wants to give them everything for Christmas — but that simply isn’t possible.

“Insane is not even the word for it,” Johnson said.

Adding Grinch-level frustration on top of empty shelves — inflation. Just as quickly as two turtle doves become twelve drummers drumming, Johnson saw the Magic Mixie go from $50 a couple months ago to more than $100 today.

“When I went to go buy it, I was like, oh my goodness,” Johnson exclaimed. “I noticed the price and I just knew that I should have got it when I first saw it because I knew the price was going to go sky high.”

Another tip from Johnson — if a website says an item is in stock, don’t take it at face value. Buy it and keep looking — assume your order will be cancelled.

So, what the heck is going on?

“What the heck is going on is essentially COVID happened,” said Dr. Surender Reddy. “And we were totally unprepared for a pandemic to occur.”

Producers stopped producing and consumers stopped consuming. When supply started to return, demand didn’t. Then demand grew, and there wasn’t supply to match.

“Our supply chains have been very stretched for a long time,” Reddy said.

Supply chain hold-ups have left parents wandering empty toy aisles at major retailers, trying to find the last gift on the shelf.

“Everything that needs to be shipped, otherwise it’s not coming,” Reddy explained. “There’s not enough time to get goods.”

Dr. Reddy is a Professor of Management at Saginaw Valley State University, specializing in supply chains.

“You should probably see higher prices and less supply. Less choice. You may have fewer choices and higher prices,” he said.

We’ve seen the ships at ports and the containers waiting to be unloaded. But a chain is only as good as its weakest link.

“Even if you’re able to unload the ship, there’s a shortage of trucks,” Reddy said. “Because there’s a trucker shortage. And if you can get a truck, then there’s no space in the warehouse.”

Reddy doesn’t see this supply chain crisis ending until next summer.

“I think we’ll start redesigning our supply chains. There will be an impetus to come near to our shores. Rather than further away from our shores.”

Meaning more expensive production costs, but more responsive supply chains. Which could help other moms like Johnson who are constantly checking their Amazon accounts.

“I’ll leave it in the cart. And then if there’s been a price change it’ll say there’s messages about items in your cart,” Johnson said. “Then it’ll either be going up or it’ll be going down. Which I have not had anything that the price has gone down on yet.”

But after weeks of searching, Johnson finally found what she wanted to put under the tree.

“I told my husband, I said I’m just going to go down the toy aisle real quick to see if they have it,” she said. “I went down there and they had one and I kid you not, I about passed out, I was like ‘Oh my gosh Chuck,’ I said ‘You’ve got to come here.'”

The Magic Mixie, on the shelf. For Johnson, a true Christmas miracle.

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