A Common Theme Today: "Out of Stock"

Found a comic strip (of B.C. By Mastrolanni & Hart) in the morning newspaper that repeated the same situation you see in this photo of a tackle store's shelves. It showed a couple fellas sitting in their boat on a lake. Each had a line out, with a sign hanging from one that read "out of stock." The caption on the comic strip read: "I think we've overfished this lake."

Instead of bringing a chuckle, though, the comic strip served as just another reminder of how screwed up things in this world are at the moment. Everything imaginable is "out of stock." And as if that isn't enough, there are countless people whose brains appear to have taken a serious leave of absence, but that's a story for another day.

Getting back to those things that are "out of stock," I routinely do a fair amount of research on the Internet for one thing or another and usually can find what I'm looking for at several different outlets. But those days are more often than not becoming a thing of the past...as a good friend of mine learned when a new lure he had been waiting on finally made its debut recently. It no sooner hit the shelves 'til...you guessed it...those "out of stock" signs started cropping up faster than you could sneeze. He ultimately found the colors he wanted and successfully placed his orders but had to jump through a fair number of extra hoops to make it happen.

That, however, is the realities of life in this COVID pandemic. It seems like everything from soft plastics to fishing reels are out of stock these days. And when you're lucky enough to find products in stock, they're marked up higher than usual.

Shimano Southeast Regional Manager Robert Dufek explained the situation this way during ICAST 2021. "The gear shortage is caused by the perfect storm of lingering and resurging COVID-19 restrictions, rising shipping costs, and a huge increase in demand."

The pandemic and the government restrictions that come with it are causing massive shipping delays in Asia, where most fishing gear is manufactured. "Some of the Chinese ports are operating at 40, 50 or 60 percent capacity," said Dufek. "These ports are significantly larger than the Los Angeles port, which is the largest one in the U.S. So, containers are arriving at the port, but can't get out the door."

The cost of shipping those containers has gone up significantly as well. "A normal 40-foot-high cube container that would cost $4,000 to ship to California from China is now $14,000 to $18,000," Dufek explained. To make matters worse, bidding wars for containers and space on ships are common.

It's not that companies like Shimano aren't producing products or getting those products to retailers. It's that the products are selling out in minutes and demand is outpacing supply. "We're manufacturing far more products than we ever have in the history of Shimano," said Dufek. Shimano has factories throughout the world, including Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the U.S., all of which are operational. "We're setting record shipping numbers every month. It's not that we're not shipping as much as we did a year ago. We're shipping more...far more," he added.

According to a 2021 study by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF), 55 million Americans went fishing in the last year, and 4.4 million went fishing for the first time...a 42 percent increase. The obvious solution to this increased participation is to ramp up manufacturing, but expanding a manufacturing facility isn't a simple task.

"The other problem is our manufacturing facilities are very large buildings," said Dufek. "In order to expand the capabilities of that particular facility, it doesn't happen in three months." Instead, it would take about two years.

So how long will these issues last? Unfortunately, much of it depends on factors out of the manufacturer's control. If COVID-19 restrictions imposed by various countries are relaxed, then ports and factories can operate with a full workforce. Product flow from Asia to America is improving, but congestion in U.S. ports is worsening.

The other factor is how long the surge in demand will continue. The RBFF study found that 55 percent of people who tried fishing in 2020 likely would continue the activity in 2021, thereby keeping the demand for fishing products high. As the pandemic already has taught us, there's no good way to make any predictions about what the future holds. One thing is certain, though: Shimano and other companies like them will be doing their very best to get all the gear we want and/or need to us so we can continue our adventures on the water.