Quote from Badgersmilk,
One new thing to consider with all these shortages is something I picked up on at Best Buy a few months ago. Talking to a store manager, he said they were sold out of everything because they use credit to purchase from their suppliers. Even though they have good credit the suppliers are afraid to send out large orders in fear of not getting paid. It could be gun shops, even the size of Midway are seeing a pinch from suppliers in the same way. Didnt somebody post something about Sportmansguide closeing down a bunch of places? So maybe there is some threat to even suppliers in this industry getting paid.
Could very well be a component of whats happening, along with a reluctance by Management to get caught with a large inventory when the bubble bursts. Most Corporations (and most smaller companies) in industry have been working for years to lower on hand inventory because it takes up space. to the bean counters space = money, (Property taxes, insurance, facility expenses) most companies nowadays try to keep about 1 weeks inventory on hand.
I was working in Medical device manufacturing, you would think that was the most secure type of manufacturing you could find, people either use our product or DIE. I got laid off because our customers are reducing inventories even further so are not submitting new orders.