Supply Chain Strain

The price of gas is something that is consistently complained about, no matter where you live. As long as you have a car, you pay rapt attention to the prices at each station you drive by. However, it doesn’t really matter what the prices are because you will have to refill your vehicle regardless. You might just drive around for a bit longer to find a gas station for 4 cents less. The thing is, gas prices have become a burden for many Americans. The cause of those prices? There is a lot of political discourse, but in reality, the prices point to one problem—the supply chain. 

The supply chain is the chain of businesses and contributors required to deliver goods and services to a consumer. The chain consists of many different steps like extraction, transportation, and distribution of a product.

For the past few months, a strain on the supply chain has been growing larger. This has caused shortages of everything from printer paper to cars. Gas has also taken a large hit with prices for gasoline soaring $1 above average across the country. This has greatly affected the life of the average American. Income salaries have not risen like the rising prices of necessities like gas. As we move into the holidays, people are finding it difficult to purchase gifts. 

We asked Riley High School Government teacher, Chris Jurkaites, to explain the causes of this strain. He explained, “There are several things contributing to the supply chain issues. One is that the pandemic displaced many people from their jobs and those people did not return to work. There are also not enough people to work the docks where many of our items are shipped and need to be loaded onto trucks.”

In a nutshell, COVID has played a very large part in the disruption of the supply chain. As people stayed home, the unemployment rate grew higher and higher and there were fewer people working in jobs that are crucial to the supply chain. The question is, what’s being done to help bring the supply chain back to life?

“Here in the United States and other countries around the world are trying to re-energize their supply chains with incentives to draw more people to their businesses. Offering signing bonuses, paid time off, as well as being paid daily to draw people back to work so they can get the supply chain up and running like it should be again,” Jurkiates told us. 

But what does the future look like for the supply chain?

“Until these shipping and trucking companies can have enough employees to fulfill orders I think this may turn into the new normal sadly,” Jurkaites says.

And that is one step of the solution. Companies need workers to bring the supply chain back to life.