My Two Cents
First it was the inexplicable run on toilet paper as people cleared store shelves of not only that, but of any other paper product that might serve in a pinch. While you can now usually find plenty of toilet paper and paper towels, it’s still nearly impossible to find some types of cleaning products at the local grocery stores.
And now, over the past few weeks, there’s been the coin hoarding “crisis” developing across the country. In fact, the crisis has risen to the level of having its own 22-member task force representing government agencies, banks and businesses that in early August is expected to announce “steps that supply chain participants can take to address the current coin circulation issue.”
Apparently Coinmagedon was caused by several factors including that businesses that deal heavily in coins may have been closed. Coinstar reported that usage of its approximately 22,000 coin-cashing kiosks was down during city and state lockdowns. Coin production was also affected by the pandemic at the U.S. Mint’s production facilities in March and April.
Not to mention the coffee cans and mason jars filled with coins and tucked into corners and folks held on to their money during the economic downturn.
I learned about another shortage that doesn’t really surprise me, but that I had not even considered. I heard about it while dropping my bike off at the shop for a repair recently. The shop only had a couple new bikes on hand, although they were doing a brisk bicycle repair business.
Apparently while we were locked out of gyms earlier this year, fitness junkies turned to bicycling to get their fitness fix. When the wind’s not blowing too hard it can be a relaxing activity with the added bonus of being healthy.
But that’s only part of the reason people around the globe were buying bikes as quickly as shops put them out. One of the early responses to help battle the spread of COVID-19 was to shut down large mass-transit systems. Essential workers still had jobs they had to show up for, and bicycles were a convenient option.
Some countries even offered incentives as part of their stimulus packages. In Italy, citizens received a $575 “bici bonus” rebate for up to 60 percent of the cost of a bike.
The folks at my bike shop told me it would likely be this fall before they received any shipments of new bikes. That’s not surprising since nearly all of the bikes we buy here are assembled in China, where production was shut down early in the pandemic.
Companies are also dealing with a 25 percent tariff that was placed on bikes assembled there.
Bicycle sales this spring saw their biggest spike in the U.S. since the 1970s, said Jay Townley, who analyzes cycling industry trends at Human Powered Solutions.
Sales of adult leisure bikes tripled in April while overall U.S. bike sales, including kids’ and electric-assist bicycles, doubled from 2019, according to market research firm NPD Group.
Bike shops are another example of a small business, and an industry, that is actually weathering the pandemic successfully — and even growing in many cases.
Just imagine what’ll happen when the new bicycles begin to replenish the sold-out stores and people start spending all those nickels, dimes and quarters.
Bill Crist is the publisher of The Snyder News. Comments may be emailed to publisher@thesnydernews.com.