MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Whether you are buying groceries with cash or plastic, be prepared to shell out more for plastic products in the weeks ahead, as the global supply crisis continues to impact our local goods.
The disrupted supply chain is fueling a surge in costs along that supply chain, and those costs are increasingly being passed to the consumer in the everyday plastic products we buy.
"Never seen it this bad. I've been in the plastics industry ten years, distribution for over 20 years, we've never seen it," Farco Plastics Supply General Manager Rich Anderson said.
Anderson said the challenges are unprecedented these days, with fewer products in stock and higher costs to get them.
"This year alone we've had over 100% price increases on some of the products that we sell," Anderson added.
He said the shortened supply of plastic products is worsened by added demand and fewer sales.
"We've had to tell customers that 'I'm sorry, I'm out of this product' that is normally an every day stocking item for me, so that's a snowball. Now they can't make their products," Anderson said.
Put all of those plastic problems together - locally and internationally - and the consumer suffers, since added costs are increasingly being passed down at grocery stores and elsewhere.
"Anything with plastic, you are going to see those prices reflected in consumer goods, if they have any plastic-related in that plastic good," Anderson said.
Aside from a higher grocery bill, Anderson said certain plastic products will be harder to find as we move through the upcoming holidays.
"You see shortages on the shelves right now, you know, of a lot of consumers goods, which you know backtrack to our plastic, which is somewhere in that supply chain," Anderson said.