Foam shortage may mean shopping even earlier this year for Christmas

CANTON, Mass. — If you’ve tried to buy furniture, mattresses, vehicles, boats, or appliances recently, you’ve probably noticed higher prices and longer waits, sometimes up to 6 months.

“The prices are going up,” said Maria Decordova of Brookline after walking into her sixth furniture store Friday. “Finding furniture has been a nightmare. I just moved a month ago and every time you go to any store they really are asking you to pay and then will deliver in six months, eight months.”

Don’t blame the store; instead, blame a nationwide foam shortage.

“We’ve been feeling the effects of a shortage for a couple of months now,” said Yanni Konstantinidis, owner of Lousso Designs. “The wood, the foam, the straps, all of these materials are experiencing shortages and running behind schedule.”

Customers and businesses alike are hit with the double whammy.

“We received a shipment recently later than we expected and when I took the bill it was two times what the listing price was,” said Konstantinidis.

“In some in some products, I believe that we’re mid-year next year before we really start feeling comfortable again,” said Bill Wappler, chief executive officer of Surgere.com.

Wappler studies supply chains and say the reason you may have to start your Christmas shopping now is simple economics: Supply and demand. The problem is there is more demand, but less supply.

“We have all the new goods in the supply chain,” said Wappler. “We’re trying to now catch up with some of the delayed products because of a lack of workers. We’ve all been home working right from our homes that has changed demand significantly. Now we have more demand in places that we typically don’t and we have a production model that is unable to keep up with the pace.”

He said every step from manufacturing to transportation to storage has all been slowed because of COVID-19. Add a labor shortage and that explains why Decordova has been driving all over town.

“Everything at home is taking longer than It used to,” said Decordova.

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