Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 19 N OV E M B E R 1 , 2 0 2 1 F O C U S L O G I S T I C S / T R A N S P O R TAT I O N Kate McAleer C EO, BI XBY & C O. Freeze-dried raspberries are an essential ingredient for one of our most popular items, and 90% of raspberries are sourced from the West Coast. e growers have been devastated by drought compounded by massive [wild] fires. e crop for 2021 was pretty much destroyed. Short term, we bought out the stock from alternative sources at quite an increase in cost. is was a stop- gap action. We have had to suspend product and sales temporarily of the raspberry-based products and wait until the 2022 crop. ere are no other sources in the interim. [For] peanuts and peanut butter, our sources have been directly from the farms in the Carolinas. Chronic flooding has adversely affected the 2021 crop harvest. Along with severe labor shortages that have delayed production and processing. Normal lead times were within three weeks of placing an order, lead times are now two months or more. Our major farm supplier has become totally unreliable, and we have been able to research and bring in a new supplier. With packaging, we were used to a three-week turnaround for the order- ing and delivery of boxes, pouches, flow wrap film and wrappings. Delays of three to four months are now the norm. Add to that freight delays, extended timelines and soaring freight costs. Our attitude has been to get creative to try and get ahead of issues and communicate constantly with our partners. Constant commu- nication is the key to navigating the white water rapids. Tim Winkeler PR ES I DENT AND C EO, VI P TI R ES & S ERVI C E, AU BU R N We have experienced out-of-stocks when attempting to order certain auto parts from our primary parts supplier, O'Reilly Auto Parts stores. Products impacted most often were oil filters and brake rotors. In every case when O'Reilly was out of stock, our teams have been able to find suitable replacement parts from different stores such as NAPA, AutoZone or Advance. Concerning tires, of which we keep in-stock approximately 2,000 tires in most VIP stores, we have run into certain tires (specific brands and/or specific sizes of tires) that are out of stock from the manufacturer, but similarly to auto parts, we have been able to find secondary sources to buy other brands of tires in those sizes so that we have all sizes in stock, just maybe not all the same brands we would normally have. No products have been impos- sible to source, but when we have to order parts from car dealers, many of those have a much longer delivery time than normal, like 2 to 3 weeks for dealer parts that are normally 2 to 3 days … Our teams, both in our centralized tire purchasing team and our teams in all VIP stores buy- ing parts every day, the supply chain shortages have caused us to work harder to source what is needed for our customers, but we've always been able to find a way to get our custom- ers what they need. e other impact we are experiencing is significant inflation for both auto parts and tires. For example, most tire manufacturers have raised their prices at least four times in the last 12 months, by up to 8% each time. C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F V I P T I R E S & S E R V I C E P H O T O / DAV I D C L O U G H Kate McAleer Tim Winkeler

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