What's wrong with the United States? Shipping containers are out of stock, toilet paper and computers are in short supply!

The situation in the United States has been quite unstable recently. The raging wildfires in California and the second outbreak of the epidemic have caused frequent problems in the United States.

Global ocean freight rates have been skyrocketing recently.

The situation is particularly severe on North American routes, where space bookings are scheduled for three weeks in advance and shipping costs are at an all-time high, causing sellers to complain bitterly.

Many small sellers say that such shipping prices make their average order value so low that they have almost no profit.

In addition, affected by the epidemic, the volume of containers exported from China is increasing, but the volume of containers imported from abroad is decreasing. This has caused shipping companies to have empty ships or short loads on return trips from abroad. In order to save the losses, shipping companies have switched to using small boats for transportation or several companies have shared one ship.

This practice leads to the phenomenon of container shortage and cabinet suspension .

There are problems with sea transportation, and land and air transportation are not ideal either.

Due to the impact of hurricanes and California wildfires, logistics delays are inevitable.

The 20+ FBA warehouses in California may also be engulfed by the fire. Sellers who did not ship to California breathed a sigh of relief, while sellers who shipped to California were not in a hurry and even joked: "It's okay, it burns, it burns, anyway, we can compensate. No need to worry about returns."

I have to say, I admire this kind of Ah Q spirit.

The end of the country can no longer hold on and supplies are in short supply.

Affected by the second wave of the epidemic, the American people have begun to rush for toilet paper again. On Amazon's official website, you can see that the prices of most toilet paper are still ridiculously high.

Some sellers are charging $45 for a dozen of toilet paper, which is three times the normal price . And some products are delayed in delivery after orders are placed, which means they are out of stock.

American supermarkets have also begun to implement purchase limits on toilet paper, but many businesses are still out of stock.

The shortage of toilet paper is understandable, but could you have predicted the shortage of computers?

The second outbreak of the epidemic has caused many states in the United States to issue stay-at-home orders. Students have to take online classes at home and office workers have to work from home. For a time, the demand for computers has skyrocketed.

Of course, no matter how great the demand is, it will still be available.

According to the Associated Press, Tom Baumgarten, a California school inspector, originally wanted to order Lenovo computers for his students, but was stopped by the supplier on the grounds that Lenovo was "blacklisted by a government agency."

It turns out that the shortage of computers is not just due to the epidemic. The Trump administration’s sanctions on Chinese suppliers are also one of the reasons for the current computer shortage.

Even the Americans themselves joked: "Who would have thought that in our country, computers would be as in short supply as disinfectants."

It seems that these conditions in the United States are closely related to some of its own policies.

Sellers on the US site don’t need to panic. These phenomena are only temporary and there will always be a day when everything will calm down.

(Source: Seller Growth Academy)