Supply Chain By Linda Stowe
Maybe it’s just me, but I think people are more aware of how the price of goods and services works ever since the toilet paper shortage during the Covid-19 epidemic. I’m certainly noticing more stories about this in the media.
Some time ago, after that cargo ship took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge and closed the Baltimore Harbor, one of the federal responses was to bring together businesses and industries whose supply chain will be affected by the disruption. Also recently, stories went out about the largest egg producers halting production because avian flu has been detected. This means that egg prices will once again climb. Even if production is resumed right away, it will take a while to replace the more than 2 million chickens that were destroyed.
Beyond supply chain issues, the public spotlight is also focusing on corporate greed and how it is affecting the goods and services we have come to depend upon.
A few years ago, a popular comment was, “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs?” It was used in situations where the speaker seemed to be going off-topic. Now we are learning that things are very interrelated in our world. That new car you buy next year might cost more because a cargo ship lost power and hit a bridge. The eggs you get at Kroger’s may end up costing more until the bird flu situation is resolved. And then something else will affect the price of things. Just today I read an article about how the solar eclipse is expected to impact the supply chain because of traffic slowdowns. It seems that the cost of eggs is more involved than just keeping the chickens fed.
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Polly here.
Yet another great piece. I should note, once again, that Linda writes these as a part of our “Wordle Words” game that she and I play. So, some of these have been sitting in my “possible blogs” bag for quite some time. This one included.
With that said, back to the topic at hand: Connections.
As John Muir once said: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” And this is true. A butterfly flaps its wings, and so it all goes.
Every moment is dependent on the next. That is how the Universe works. Time, as we understand it, unfolds in a linear manner. So. For you to be born, your Great-Great Grandmother Eloise had to be at that barn dance to meet your grandfather, on that exact night, near that bale of hay, right after she did the Two-Step Do-Si-Do with Elmer Fugate. If all that didn’t happen just right, you wouldn’t be here. And a million moments otherwise.
It all has to do with everything.
I always heard the saying, “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?” I’d never heard the one about the price of eggs. It’s funny how that goes, too. But trust me. It DOES have something to do with the price of tea in China.
Supply Chain By Linda Stowe
