Page 6 - HW March 2022

editorial
Dear diary –
where did the
time go?
COMPILING THIS ISSUE’S “Then as now” section (see page 55), where we look back at how far the hardware channel has come in the decades since we started covering its goings on, I paused to consider some recent history.
It seems a lot longer but in fact it was this month, just two years ago, that we first experienced the effects of the Covid- 19 pandemic, with a Level 4 lockdown starting on 26 March 2020.
It would be mid-May 2020 before
we were able to move around relatively freely once more, only for Auckland
to go back into Level 3 in August with Aucklanders remaining close to home until 8 October.
Much of last year afforded us the relative luxury of freedom of movement. But, come August 2021, we were back
to Level 4 – those of us in the City of Sales anyway.
Thanks for all the messages of support from the South Island during that time, by the way.
“Just two years”? Seems a lot longer, doesn’t it?
Much has happened, much of it unexpected.
And much of it persistent.
The effects of the pandemic on
our chosen industry have been well documented, here and elsewhere, but let’s just take stock for a moment:
Supply lines, which took to working to no normal sense of the order of things, have become slightly less irregular.
Be that as it may, even today’s less than optimal supply chain still costs a lot more.
And now these issues of irregularity and rising costs aren’t confined to international freight.
The block on immigration and a static population has put a focus firmly on taking care of one’s employees.
At the same time, demand for building and building products has never been higher.
Buy local, say the pundits.
Trouble is, enforced shutdowns have exacerbated our already stretched local manufacturing base.
Merchants and retailers have had
to look way outside of their normal partnerships to procure core products.
Merchants and retailers have been stocking up on popular lines if not actually stockpiling.
And, on top of the effects of Omicron, we have the Commerce Commission looking hard at issues of competition in the supply of home building products.
Just being able to supply would be nice.
Steve Bohling, editor steveb@mpm.nz
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