JAMESTOWN – You may want to start your holiday shopping now as a shipping crisis is making many items on your holiday list a bit more difficult to find and more expensive.
“Right now, you know, it’s a huge problem,” explained Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “Companies have been able to keep up, but it’ll just, it’ll be more of what we’re seeing essentially higher prices.”
Riamondo admitting computer chip shortages will likely to lead to price increases for some of the items on your holiday list.
Meanwhile, shipping issues are so severe that some big retailers are taking drastic measures to make sure there’s enough supply to meet the demand this Christmas.
Costco is chartering ships and renting containers to transport inventory between Asia, the U.S. and Canada. The move comes as Costco deals with major delays in toys, computers, tablets and video games.
“I think we’re gonna be struggling with it well into next year until we can really um, smooth out some of these bottlenecks,” said Riamondo.
Meanwhile, top toymakers say their products will be harder to find and more expensive this holiday season, blaming higher shipping costs that typically get passed down to consumers.
“We do see inflationary pressure in freight costs in ocean freight cost and material,” explained Ynon Kreiz, Chairman & CEO, Mattel. “So, we have to address that.”
It’s also Christmas trees and decorations that will be more expensive. Some large sellers of artificial trees say they are already increasing their prices by double-digit percentages.
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