I run a business flipping houses and remodeling rental properties. I was talking to the owner of the electrical supply house in our county yesterday and he told me they sold the last 200 amp meter base they had in stock the day before. They were probably one of the last stores in Tennessee that had any in stock. You can't build a house without one.
He also told me our power company has been removing transformers that are feeding barns or workshops. They don't have any spares to fix broken transformers in residential areas so they are stealing them from places that affect the fewest people. They haven't received any new transformers in several months.
The areas affected by the tornados last week are calling utility companies everywhere trying to find transformers and poles to repair the damage but there are very many spares left. He said if that storm had hit our county, he didn't think we would have the parts to get the power turned back on any time soon.
Crazy times ahead.
I have been hearing this from many contractors in my area.....
Wiring for houses hard to get too
weird, there are panels, breakers and wire (all kinds) fully in stock at my local Home Depot. Lowe’s too. And Menards. Took me about 10sec to find them online. Not sure why you guys are having issues in your regions. Apparently the midwest isn’t seeing the same problems 🤷
When I search Home Depot’s website for a 200 amp meter base, shows out of stock. Doesn’t seem to matter what location I search it shows the same. Lowes too. I had to drive to three different stores today to find drywall mud. Maybe your town is different than the rest of the country. Can you get chips for new trucks too? Lol (kidding)
https://files.catbox.moe/qfr5yr.jpeg
and that ^ is in the chicago area as my VPN defaults to that area. in my actual location there are many more options available.
They're locking up the big rolls of 14/2 in Toronto area! Short supply and ppl are stealing them!
I am anticipated that and bought 2000 feet last July for my upcoming remodel.
And expensive if you can get it.
Yeah it is ... I had to use an extension cord to power an outlet I added. I didn't have wire at home, but still cut everything out and ran conduit to the outlet to make the final install simple. Ran to the stores, couldn't find any wiring. Thanks Brandon!
I can't believe people are stupid enough to believe that these shortages are the result of some roaring economy and post-COVID recovery.
The semiconductor shortage is going to lead to massive job losses very soon.
I'm so glad all of these companies saved all of that money fabricating pretty critical shit in China (well, Taiwan, but it seems the Commies have some heavy influence there). I hope they fucking implode. Idiots.
Well pumps and tanks are also in short supply in the northeast. Mine blew up last month and the repair guy only had a few left in his workshop. Supply warehouses get them only sporadically now.
Seems like we are completely severing trade with China, and it’s gonna be weird for awhile. How do you get America to start building shit again? You make it profitable and attractive. How do you do that? You cut off the supply coming from foreign slave labor and commie China government subsidizing.
We are paying the price of decades of our government selling out our businesses to the Chinese. All of that shit we gotta start making again.
I wish there was a way to track all of this down to its root manufacturing points and see where the bottlenecks are. My hunch is that we are at war with China and the EO kicked in and now we are punishing them economically.
You pay more in the long run when you purchase poorly made products from Chyna at a cheap price and then have to replace them very frequently. By quality and the product will last.
I can't see how making cheap shit here isn't a viable alternative. "Cheap" as recent as 30 years ago (for tools at least) meant that you'll get at least 10 years out of it.
The first ratchet I ever broke in my life was a Harbor Freight one ... I impulse bought something there that I thought was well built. It wasn't their bottom of the barrel no-name stuff, but the crap that's slightly better than their "Pittsburgh" line of tools. I went to use it to remove some bolts on a timing chain cover ... it wasn't anything crazy and the ratchet was sold as something that could easily handle that kind of torque. It frigging broke after the third bolt was removed.
They only offered me an exchange or store credit. I no longer buy anything there. It's hot garbage.
The chinese can make solid products. However, their good stuff rarely makes it to the USA ... the only things companies import from China to sell are garbage so that their bottom line looks great. Most of these companies that have their product manufactured in China deal with places that are run by idiots. Since they "save" so much in labor, they can handle yields in the 70% range and profit off them like mad.
You'd think that they'd have things done right the first time, but when you show some cash obsessed piece of shit that labor costs will be lower, they'll sign off on production ... if you use a better company to fabricate something, the cost is higher. Since the bean counter only counts on the bottom line, they'll only sign off on the shitty version since consumers are trained to expect everything to break in a year or two. Some of these companies would have been out of business in the 50s/60s ... people were far less tolerant of garbage products back then.
Yes. Like the coffeemaker and the chainsaw and furniture. It all has to come home and be produced here so we're independent.
God I love your username!
As I college kid I knew Wild Bill Clinton was damaging America when he welcomed China into the WTO. I buy American every chance I get, and have never owned a foreign car and never will.
The return to American manufacturing will be very innovative and glorious. It will be a long struggle to return my industry here, but certainly attainable. Hopefully the millennials can learn from the experienced folk that used to run the industries and carry the torch onward.
As a college kid, I marveled at how all the MSM could talk about was Bill's saxophone and the Republicans trying to impeach him because he got a blow job.
Meanwhile, we knew he was taking money from the Chinese if we were paying attention.
100% on board with this.
Only problem is that we don't know how to make alot of stuff anymore. It's going to be a steep steeo learning curve if they can e en get employees and start up money in this environment. If you go too far back into the stone ages you can't really rebuild
.
Looks like it's already time to start mining the landfills.
"landfills are the goldmines of the future"
These are all items we should be able to manufacture here in the US without much problem assuming steel is available. We rely on foreign manufacturing too much.
It’s threads like these that make me feel somewhat better about many of the choices I have made over the past 5 years. Some of them include stockpiling candles, installing wood cook stove for heating and cooking, long-term packaging tons of flour/sugar/yeast/salt/dry grains, buying years and years worth of seeds and hydroponic gardening nutrients and supplies, spending my free time collecting thousands of mason jars/lids/canning supplies, having a well drilled with emergency hand pump capability, building coops and brooders and raising my own chickens for meat and eggs, planting a 60 tree orchard, and prebuying all building materials for several other upcoming projects as I watched farm/feed store inventories declining and not being replenished. Are the lights/electricity going out..? I sure hope not, but I have become more and more skeptical of relying on others over the years and I’d like to have some way to take care of my family and NOT have to rely on others or the government to take care of me.......after they will have likely caused the crisis requiring care.
I can’t predict what is coming, but I can surely take some educated guesses and prepare. That little prick Fauci talks about more viruses and variants and I buy more hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. Gates starts mentioning smallpox pandemic and then suddenly strange vials are found in Philadelphia that are either smallpox vaccines or cultures and I order some bottles of sarracenia purpurea. I’m just doing what I can.
Other than some of things I have mentioned above does anyone have some other good ideas for prep items? I’m always about 1 year ahead on toilet paper/toothbrushes/soap and other hygiene supplies as well. Other ideas welcome!
And it's posts like yours that make me feel like a slacker when I thought I was doing good 😟 Great job!!!
Never enough time especially when traveling for work. Going into 16 straight days home now will have a 4 acre pasture fenced in for the pigs and turkeys coming this Spring. Smokehouse/dehydrator next. Ima be dug in here like an Alabama tick come what may. God speed anons!
If you or your family (pets) are dependent on any meds you may want to stock up on what every you can now.
Not just contractors. Manufacturing is being hit as well.
Wiring, copper, steel, even plastics are just disappearing (or bought up and not being replenished).
Tried to argue that under the circumstances, would be prudent to double or triple stock and order it prematurely while possible.