Getting Stuff

Starting a little over a year ago with something as innocuous as toilet paper, we experienced and continue to experience a real pressure on our infrastructure and the ability to get things made and delivered. 

The picture attached to this blog is the best single example I ran into. The street in front of the building I work in is putting in new sewer pipes. 

A little over a week ago, the people responsible for the project came to talk. There was no question it would disrupt things here for a while. The affected area which has impact on the business I work at is about two blocks. When they came to talk to me, I was told they complete about a block a week, so in my mind, we were looking at two weeks. It is now Thursday and there has been virtually no progress this week. Why? One would think there had been rain or bad weather. Nope, not the case. What stopped this project was running out of pipe. What they are using is not an uncommon product, it would just appear they can't get it at this point.

There is no shortage of examples of this type of situation. A couple come to mind:

* Last week, through a person we know at work we were told one of the car dealers in town has a large number of fully commissioned salespeople, yet has less than one vehicle for each of them to sell, from a purely numbers standpoint. Also, if you have not been by any of the car lots lately, take a moment and swing by. You will find out there is not much there, and I would argue what is left are vehicles with something abut them people just don't like.

* When we decided to get a new dishwasher for the house, we discovered the wait was probably 90-120 days, and it was.

* All of the trucks  I sourced this year, built to our specifications have now moved out at least an additional two months. Generally, this has been around the supply of digital components and around plastics.

* Plastic drums, which we use several of, are in very short supply, 

I could go on, and I am sure every one of you could add additional items to the list, but that is not what I am thinking about. I am clear back to the concept of working smarter, not harder.

It seems like this is the perfect time for companies to think about the breadth and depth of their product offering. Let's take the pipe example out in front of my building. From looking at what they have been using, my belief is it is one of several different SKUs of this pipe. No doubt, it is the best and easiest for the contractor doing the work to use. But if rather than trying to carry ten different types, sizes , and configurations of this pipe the supplier would have carried one big pile of the most generic and the fittings to work with it. Is it possible my street would be open at this point?  Maybe.

Go to the grocery store and stand in the section of picante sauce, or hot sauce. How many items are in the section? I would say at least dozens of different kinds. This happened over time as manufacturers attempted to differentiate themselves from the rest of the items in the category. Multiple items to manage at every level of the supply chain from the retail level all the way back to the manufacturer. When this happens, rather than trying to manage one big item everyone in the supply chain is forced to manage multiple items. This makes it much more complex and it makes it much easier to fail. 

Many years ago, when I was just a newbie with Payless Cashways, I was sent to South St Paul for a week. The reason was not a good one. The decision had been made to close the store and I was one of the people sent to help with the process. When the team I was with got there, the store had already done a couple of big promotions, 25% off everything, 50% off everything. The store was picked over. But I remember the thing most amazing to me was there were parts of the store which looked the same as when the store had been open and functioning in an ongoing way. These sections had not been touched, even when the offer had been 50% off. I remember thinking every one of the company's merchants should be in there, walking around, seeing the things it might not be important to have in a store on a regular basis. I wonder how this logic applies to the hot sauce aisle? If a merchant somewhere just stopped buying anything that went in to the hot sauce aisle, what would it look like in a year? Would it be completely empty as customers had seen the products as interchangeable and had just bought whatever was in stock? What would be the first item to run out?

I guess what I am advocating today, or maybe ranting about a little is it may be time to look at things and rationalize assortments. We all know how the 80-20 rule works; 80% of volume comes from 20% of an assortment, but maybe for a while, it is time to stop chasing the other 20% quite so hard. Let's focus our time and energy on the items that are the most important to our businesses and our lives, and quit chasing the rest. I remember Wayne Reimer telling us the best way to manage inventory was to figure out the slow moving items and order the minimum quantity of each when you ran out. I thought at the time he was crazy as it would make a store look horrible, but I am completely with him now. If I can get 80% of the items I need or want and I can get something to cover the other 20% even if it is not my ideal choice, I personally would be fine, in the short time for sure and probably even longer.

So, long an short of all of this, let's stay focused on the really important things and for a while, if we don't have all of the really specific extras, let's just decide to be fine with the situation.

Perspective

As we all have a greater opportunity to look back and think about the experiences we had and the way they have changed us, this spring is speaking to me very powerfully.  Although overall, Iowa did not have a bad winter, there were a few absolutely brutal weeks. The picture I included was one of those days. This is a picture of one of the streets on the way to my shop on a Saturday morning. Yes, in fact the day was as grey as shown, and yes, I was one of the first people on the street.

The interesting thing for me was where the experience took me. As I sat at the top of the hill, I went back to a time I sat in the snowplow with my grandfather, looking at a mile of country rock road, the only visible sign of where the road was being the fence posts on either side. I remember clutching the handle of the door, wondering if we were going to drive off into a ditch, or hit something unseen on the way to the other end. My grandpa, on the other hand, based on his age, time, and perspective, knew exactly what we were doing and what the outcome would be. He had done this dozens of times in his life. His perspective brought him comfort and confidence in a situation he had experienced before.

I don't know about you, but I find I am this way. With more time around a topic, I come to a better level of understanding and knowledge. The last year has been an exercise in this exact thing. As the pandemic descended on us, I found myself in a complete state of panic. Well, maybe panic is too big a word, but let's leave it there. As time has passed and i have more perspective on the situation we have found ourselves in, I am much better with it. I have come to understand the importance of wearing masks, social distancing, and other safeguards I take to help keep my family and friends safe. Yes, I miss going out to dinner and gathering with family/friends, but I have the ability to view these things through the lens regarding the future. I feel as though I have seen improvement in the overall situation, and I have faith I will see more.  This is a much healthier place for me to be.

The other thing I have realized is how often I touched my face.  Who knew?

I hope you are experiencing some of the same things. There is nothing about change that comes without discomfort. I think we have come through the largest part of the change around the world we live in. We have faced a worldwide pandemic and the results have been horrific. At this point we all probably know people the disease has had terrible effects on, or we have lost. But, we are still standing today and for me, I am more confident about the future of the country than I have been in a while.  Heck, I must be. We just finished putting a new roof on the house. This behavior is looking forward without question.

Things at the Toybox continue to move along briskly.  My daughter is keeping a couple of items on my list of projects to complete, and a few weeks ago we had a first at the Toybox. Andrew and Brian, a friend of Andrew's and now a member of my extended family, came to town to work on a project. Over one busy weekend, we completed a maple bedstead for Brian. Plus, we had a GREAT time in the shop and at home. Good food and camaraderie were watchwords for the weekend. I hope we will do it again sometime.

Finally, Sara and Megan did something cool this week. They put their first quilt out on Etsy. I am incredibly prejudiced, but I will put their work up against most others. Their attention to detail is quite good and they both have an eye for color and overall look.  I am including a link to the quilt on Etsy.  I hope you all like it.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/978378910/quilt-for-sale-55-34x-67-handmade