Will the current cargo ship / truck driver back up in the US ports cause a shortage in imported mandolins? Eastman supply? Are Eastman’s still coming into retail shops?
Will the current cargo ship / truck driver back up in the US ports cause a shortage in imported mandolins? Eastman supply? Are Eastman’s still coming into retail shops?
I'm kind of wondering what's in those ships, but mandolins probably aren't what most folks are interested in.
It feels like, based on browsing, that the lower end of the supply has eased up some, as most of the Eastman and Kentucky $1k-ish and lower models are at least available now, though I doubt there's much haggling going on. (And, still, it looks like a used MD315 in the classifieds went pretty much instantly.) The mid-range supply ($2-3k) still looks constrained - probably one of those decisions about which sells the most for the lowest cost being made by the factories at this point, so producing fancier models that catch people's eyes but ultimately are slow sellers is down the list. But, I digress...
2018 Kentucky KM-950, 2017 Ellis A5 Deluxe
Almost everything that's imported is likely to see a slowdown in availability and the good news is that includes banjos.
Now if it gets desperate, the mandolins can be dropped in the harbor and float in on the tide. The banjos will sink. Problems solved.
-I sure hope so.
In the last twenty years Asian countries have produced literally millions and millions of cheap, high quality musical instruments.
Banjos, ukuleles, mandolins, guitars. Quality music can be enjoyed now by so many of us on the planet.
I see that a great service to humanity!
Really.
-got to thank YouTube as well, for being able to hear all these people, pretty incredible!
And a lot of thanks to MandolinCafe too
And thanks to William Shatner. And where’s his MandolinCafe thread?!
Supply chain bottlenecks probably won't be alleviated until next year.
So -- buy used! They're already here...
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Eastman Mandolins are widely available from a lot of retailers right now. Certainly not up to what they were pre-pandemic, and retailers always want more, but it's not difficult to locate them, and some of them are sitting awhile. I had one retailer tell me Eastman has three different ways to get their inventory to their store depending on the size of the shipment.
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From what I understand It's getting so hard for truckers to make a living with all the restrictions, and cost of fuel going up and up along with everything else, they are just getting out of it with almost no younger people wanting to take their place. Not good for any of us when we can't get goods from the ports.
Eastman 515 Mando
Gibson J-30 Guitar
RK-80 Banjo
You know at the beginning of a horror movie?
It's midnight, terrible rain storm with thunder and lightning, the camera shows a view of the old castle, there’s a top window and someone’s left all the red lights on? and there is this terrible screeching music and lots of people are screaming for no apparent reason?
And it’s like all the people have suddenly gone nuts just because it's raining?
Or just because they don’t like the music?
Well when I read the title of each thread here on MandolinCafe, sometimes they remind me of some funny movie I've seen before.
Maybe for independent truckers but according to ZipRecruiter most long haul trackers make 52000 to 76000. Not getting rich but livable. But it's a lot of time away from home. Maybe the pandemic has caused truckers to rethink their priorities. Time to start hoarding toilet paper and mandolins
Very similar situation here in Australia. They predict that up to 30% of truck drivers will leave the industry.
New and used mandolins are in short supply... It seems that the very cheap and the very expensive are slightly available
But hardly any mid range in any brand... And oval hole mandolins are almost impossible. Unfortunately postage out of the US is also a problem... It's taken nearly 3 months for some V Picks
to get from Nashville to Sydney... So I still don't have them yet in Adelaide.
Fees and regulations are hurting all truckers, and the young are just not getting into it. I'm not sure if it's a Ca. thing, but you have to be 21 to drive big rigs, and the kids fresh out of high school will simply not wait that long to get into something. Things like fees, regs, age, and gas prices need to change. We need them to supply our Mandolins and TP!
Must have pushed the wrong button. This was supposed be a quote to DaveGinNJ above.
Eastman 515 Mando
Gibson J-30 Guitar
RK-80 Banjo
Drivers leaving the transportation industry is not new. I spent 20 years in the long haul trucking business. In the 90's we had a 300% turn over rate. Some of those people left the industry for jobs that allowed them to stay at home more (meaning be home every night, even local driving jobs). Some left to go to other companies that paid better. The slack was always taken up by the schools pumping out drivers. The companies involved realized that was untenable and by 2020 had it down to 92% for larger companies and 72% for smaller companies. That's still pretty bad. I seriously doubt there are many industries with that sort of turnover rates. Again, that's long haul trucking. The Less than Truckload carriers had rates much lower but still nothing to write home about. There appear to be other factors at play. I seriously doubt its a money issue. Companies will pay more when they need to. They always have.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
1. Number one profession for men without college degrees, is driving (not just long-haul trucking, of course).
2. Self-driving cargo vehicles are on the not-too-distant horizon, which is gonna send ripples -- hell, tsunamis! -- through the labor market in the next couple decades. I for one don't look forward to having a driverless semi bombing toward me on the interstate, but that's from watching too many episodes of Highway Through Hell and Heavy Rescue 401 on the weather channel. Self-driving trucks probably won't make all the bad judgment calls that human drivers do -- will they?
3. China's economy is experiencing some heavy weather; still expanding but plagued by electric power shortages, and economic policies that have cut back overall growth. Musical instruments, even with the mass production factories that churn out low-enders, are a minuscule part of Chinese production -- important as Eastman and Saga/Kentucky are to us, they're hardly a blip on the overall trade "radar screen." I'd be a bit worried about the lower priority that shippers and cargo handlers might give to a container of instruments.
4. No surprise that a historic pandemic has broadly affected international production, trade and distribution. So, as I opined above, hit the "used" market! Or get your local luthier to build you one. Always alternatives...
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Not just mandolins, it seems....
,
A year and a half later we are still feeling the effects of the pandemic, besides the obvious loss of life. Initially, toilet paper hoarding, limits on Bounty towels, etc...FWIW, just this week I went to the grocery to pick up a few quick items......no original Philly cream cheese (they had the weird flavored varieties), no "normal" size containers of Sour Cream -- just the teeny ones and the half gallon sizes. No Diet Pepsi or Sprite Zero -- none -- went to three different stores and finally gave up the search. Also, the deodorant aisle -- a section of shelving approximately 6 feet tall by 6 feet wide had maybe 5 brands and only 2 or 3 of each (none of which I liked), where normally there are 50+ brands and plenty of each........the list goes on......I asked several stores -- truck driver shortage seems to be the answer everyone gives....
Fortunately, produce section has been mostly well-stocked, one day they were out of celery, another day the bananas looked like crap, but overall OK.
I remember in the 70's, 60 Minutes did a piece on grocery shopping in Russia showing bare shelves with no food, aisle after aisle -- something inconceivable to an American....well folks -- we are here!
I guess a "Chinese mandolin supply shortage" would qualify as a First World problem...(along with running out of my favorite deodorant....)
Like Allen says, plenty of used ones out there!
Last edited by Jeff Mando; Oct-18-2021 at 8:49pm.
I guess a "Chinese mandolin supply shortage" would qualify as a First World problem...(along with running out of my favorite deodorant....)
Like Allen says, plenty of used ones out there![/QUOTE]
Call me spoiled, but I just can't bring myself to buy used deodorant...
Approximately 200,000 shipping containers, about two weeks' worth of work, remain gridlocked off the coast of Los Angeles.
CNN
The truckers shortage is also all over Europe. Many UK trucking agencies and corporations also relied on cheap rate truckers from Eastern Europe who could work under EU Freedom of Movement rules. It seems many of them in UK worked under a setup where they were a one person corporation driving someone else's truck - fake self employed, like so much of the UK 'gig economy'. The Revenue moved to close off this loophole - effectively the UK taxpayers were susidising the cost of truck drivers to UK corporations. Loads of Eastern Europe truck drivers working in UK went home when the tax change came out in April, and didn't come back, because it wasn't worth working there any more - and who could blame them? Maybe UK truckers will see higher pay as a result of the shortage - a lot of them were driving for less pay than the guys unloading the trucks on delivery bays.
Good one! I think I can top it......true story -- my friend and I were at a yard sale a few years ago and noticed the seller had a partially used tube of Preparation H on her table. We pointed at it and chuckled, which offended the elderly seller. She defended it by saying, "oh, just wait, you'll get old someday...."
Well, now I'm older, but still not ready to go there......
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