Global Bottlenecks & Price Increases

As our loyal customers, phamily, and phriends we want you to understand why costs are increasing despite our ongoing efforts to curb pricing volatility from year to year. Team Phun has always strived for the best customer service, most creative product solutions, and meeting tight deadlines while staying within our client’s budget, but over the course of the past year, we have been absorbing increased costs across many products and services. In hopes that our supply chain would stabilize, we maintained our client pricing whenever possible. However, a year later, prices are still going up.

If you're shopping anywhere (for anything), you may have noticed price inflation across all aspects of the economy; gas, bread, milk, and typical household items. The length of time to get a product after placing an order is taking longer than usual. (I ordered a couch in December 2020…..It is now April 2021, I may get it at the end of May, fingers crossed!).

Quite frankly there is a shortage in raw material from cotton to steel, tapioca to toilet paper, and so much more. When Covid hit, bottlenecks resulting from factories being shut down were only the beginning. Labor shortages and cargo delays added to the ongoing inconvenience of doing business as usual, and now monetary pressure is contributing to global inflation.

(Image of the global supply chain)

The economy is definitely rebounding, but at a much faster rate than anticipated. Factories that shut down for months are scrambling to make up for lost time. Consumers are now purchasing record amounts of clothing, computers, furniture, and other goods.

Cargo ports are currently overburdened and congested, with ships waiting to unload cargo and warehouses too full to take more in. The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November 2020 and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.

(Cost Increase of Cargo Shipping by Sea from Asia to North America April 2019-April 2021

Reference: https://fbx.freightos.com/)

Leading factors of price increases

1. Increased Regulations

2. Reduced Raw Material Supplies

3. Cost of Labor

4. Exchange Rates

5. Tariffs

6. Increased Shipping Expenses

(Infographic of Apparel Price Increases, Reference: https://www.sanmar.com)

We have no interest in price gouging our clients and have taken steps every year to mitigate cost increases from suppliers and manufacturers. While we are still pushing back against price increases, we also do not want to sacrifice the quality and turnaround you've come to expect from us at Team Phun, so you may notice increases in certain areas. We will maintain transparency when this happens and appreciate your patience and understanding as we all get through this.

We appreciate your loyalty and patience during this time. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to us!