June 28, 2021
Thank you for your continued support during the pandemic and moving forward as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times.
The global impact of the COVID pandemic continues to impact our business today. Supply chains are running late and costs for production and shipping are changing daily. We would like to address several issues that are influencing not only our industry, but all global markets:
Companies including restaurants, caterers, hospitality, and event industry, who reduced their workforce to survive the economic downturn in 2020, have been slow to ramp back up to meet current demand. The ready supply of labor is at an all-time low and wages are increasing at a significant rate.
The demand for inventory and raw materials is far out pacing the supply. This is causing rapid price increases from our manufacturers and shortages of such items such as fabric, glass, warehouse supplies and other items essential to our business.
Domestic freight and shipping are feeling impact as well with the shortage of CDL drivers in the US causing issues with deliveries and costs to rise. Additional truck rental availability must be scheduled weeks in advance and even with the most careful planning; there is no guarantee of availability and drivers.
To further stress, soaring demand from the US for everything from cars to computers is leading to surging amounts of imported containers. The largest US cargo port recorded its busiest month in their history this past May. Vessels are waiting up to five days just to be allowed into the US port and then up to 10 or more days for a container to be loaded onto trains. The shipping cost for a container overseas pre-COVID was on average $5,000. Today, it is a bidding war with costs rising to an average of $20,000 per container.
POSH is using all available resources to maintain our standard of service to our customers. We will continue to seek solutions for labor, transportation, and inventory. We ask for your patience during this difficult time. As the year progresses, we ask that you book your event as early as possible as some items may be sold out. In addition, there may be times that our production schedule will be maximized over some dates.
We value all of you, and working together, we will get through these times all while producing lovely events together!
Jami and Laurel