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By Beth Stibal |

The high cost of the “Everything Shortage”

Consumer Prices
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Everything is in short supply and what’s available costs Americans more making shoppers a bit “chippy.”
Just as demand increases, supply shrinks due to the breakdown of the global supply chain.
One of the hardest hit industries is new car sales due to a semiconductor chip shortage.

Institute of Semiconductor Physics
Two employees of the Institute of Semiconductor Physics (IHP) supervise the clean room of the IHP, the work process on an 8-inch wafer loader, on 15 December 1999 in Frankfurt. The construction of the IHP will be inaugurated on 20 December 1999. The cost for the construction amounted to 128 million DM. Kernstueck is the clean room, which was handed over in September. With the clean room, the IHP is to become one of the most modern microelectronics research institutions in the world. Here also the US company Motorola is researching who had entered into a strategic partnership with the Frankfurt Institute in June this year. Both partners intend to develop the next generation of technology in mobile communications. (AP Photo)

As a result, used cars are in demand thus their value is increasing.
Some shoppers have already noticed empty new car lots and sales of used-cars are up as a result.
New vehicles are often packed with thousands of individual chips which are in short supply.
Today, millions of products such as cars, washing machines, and smartphones rely on computer chips, also known as semiconductors.
Currently, there aren’t enough of them to meet industry demand. As a result, many popular products are in short supply.
Toyota, Ford and Volvo have had to either slow or temporarily halt production at their factories.
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FILE – In this Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020 file photo, A row of 2020 Ford Escape sports-utility vehicles sits at a Ford dealership in Denver. A widening global shortage of semiconductors for auto parts is forcing major auto companies to halt or slow vehicle production just as they were recovering from pandemic-related factory shutdowns. Ford had scheduled down time next week at its Louisville, Kentucky, assembly plant, but moved it ahead to this week. The plant makes the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair small SUVs. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Apple is warning that the chip shortage could affect iPhone sales.
With the Christmas shopping season approaching, it’s possible that even more products will become scarce.
The non-existent chips perform a myriad of functions in many products, and there are often more than one in a single device.
Thus, the shortage.
Industry news site Semiconductor Engineering highlighted the risk of a chip shortage, partly due to a lack of 200mm manufacturing equipment, back in February 2020.
In addition to the chip shortage, there’s also a global supply chain bottleneck.
Supply chains depend on containers, ports, railroads, warehouses, and trucks to all function in unison like a well tuned orchestra. Unfortunately, every stage of this international assembly line is breaking down and playing out of tune. Container ships are bobbing off the coast of Los Angeles unable to off-load at the port.
And then there’s the labor market. In the U.S., job openings have hit record highs in restaurants, hotels, and other leisure and hospitality sectors.
And companies are struggling to fill these jobs and to keep factories and businesses operating at full capacity due to entitlement payments and COVID infections.
And the final nail in the coffin, there’s the mail.
The U.S. Postal Service reduced its use of air transportation to save money in October.
The USPS estimates this reduction will delay nonlocal deliveries by one or two days.
Merry Christmas.