We’ve seen welcomed improvement from last year in the resumption of events and “business as usual.” But with this growth and recovery, operational challenges remain in both domestic and international markets due to: shortages in raw materials, delaying production of consumer products and increasing the cost to make them, transportation delays and congested ports with unreliable timeline, increased costs for container space, with pricing more than 10 times the cost compared to last year, labor shortages, increasing unit production time, and factory closures caused by COVID-19 outbreaks.
Despite these challenges, we remain resolute in providing you with high quality promotional items at fair prices that meet your timeline.
We invite and encourage you to plan ahead to account for increased production lead times and shipping delays. In an industry where 5-7 business days was the standard production time, it is not uncommon for production to now take 15-30 business days. Backorders used to be the exception rather than the rule, but we’re seeing more and more items unavailable and with a restock date several months into the future.
Know that we’re working hard to secure inventory and find alternative options when items are unavailable. We appreciate your partnership as we work through these challenges together.