This.
I’m trying to buy a mountain bike right now. Some bikes have just went up randomly 10-20%. There are bikes back ordered from last year. There are very few bikes in stock. And I’m not taking some niche brands either. I’ve been told there are hiccups in the supply chain where bikes are fully built but are missing one part and so they sit. Or there are no shipping containers to ship them. Some manufacturers aren’t even giving ETAs anymore.
It’s a mess. Sounds like it’s hitting all markets.
Yup, the reality of global supply chains hitting. It's always been known that they save a few cents per unit when things are working well. And when things aren't working well it's a train wreck. Even when you buy local that local thing may have upstream parts that come internationally.
Probably 10 years back I read a report that reckoned that on-shoring would be the new thing. Chinese staff were paid about 30% of what a US worker earned. But they were half as productive, then you have shipping costs, inventory costs, etc. And Chinese staff were getting pay rises of 8-10% a year as they become a middle income country, US staff about 2%. The crossover point where it was just cheaper to do it onshore wasn't that far off.
If your market is pile them high and sell them cheap, then you squeeze out that last cent. Offshore components make sense. But if you're making quality product, the intangible cost of not being able to go down the road and have a chat to your supplier to tweak designs and get a product that's a bit better is quite high. And there are a lot of quality control problems with sourcing components from someone you don't even have a common language with and can't easily visit.
I expect the next decade to see a lot of manufacturing shifting closer to the consumer, helped by some more automation and a bit of technology like 3D printing for some elements. People are getting more interested in hand crafted stuff, and Americans are slowly becoming a bit more European in their outlook - quality is starting to be more important than quantity.