Right now the board is filled with story after story about procurement issues with everything from bearings, to Dodge trucks, every car part in the land, building materials, and pretty much everything made of any sort of metal. WITHOUT flinging any poo in either direction at the red and blue teams, what is actually going on? This has been building for months and I think we are in for a pretty rough time ahead. I deal with around 30 or so companies that most of you know and use parts from and a few you may not know. These are the companies that make our stuff. A lot are companies based here and some are importers for various products. BOTH of these are months behind schedule and getting worse. The overwhelming arch that connects them all is MATERIALS. You cannot make your widgets without raw material in some fashion. Where are they???? People are ordering parts in record numbers at least here.

People are calling from everywhere hunting parts of every sort. As Mopar guys (and gals) we are often used to having to wait for parts. A lot of other people are not! I call it drive through mentality. I often here from folks new to our side of the car culture that they had no idea things were so hard to get. The last twenty years have seen a flood of new parts that everyone is all to eager to purchase. While aluminum hemi blocks have always been a wait for it.....most of the commonly needed parts were available with a bit of hunting. Hey company S does not have it available but company J does. I believe the reason that S and J are having so many issues is their sales teams are overloaded with the "where is my stuff calls" and managing back orders which have become a GRADE A nightmare for anyone trying to manage it. I have more open invoices than I have ever had by an order of 10.

I ordered a commonly available part that is in wide usage from an age old supplier. We use enough to order 50 at a time to keep them available. I waited for a full year. Nothing. You cannot complete any engine build without one so started hunting. Found some sources on the web. SO now I have to order 1 little part from three suppliers to keep up with orders. Now these guys are running out. Everyone is waiting on parts for everything and it keeps getting worse. No dodge trucks!! Say what? I talk to lots of people everyday (including some of you) and nearly everyone is ticked off and upset about the way things are going these days.

I know it is easy to blame the Covid, and politics for what is going on but this seems different to me. I have no grand conspiracy plan to unveil or politician to blame but it is starting to feel like we are being "herded". Which brings me to my point. Buckle up. I think this is just the start of coming attractions. Even my international customers are asking me " hey are you guys ok over there"? I have some more thoughts on the logistical reasons a lot of this is going on but they are just symptoms of a growing problem. I just cannot see things going back to anything that most of us would call normal anytime soon. Feel free to flame.
Todd