We have restocked our latex sheeting this past week. We had run low and completely out of certain colors and you will now find that they have been updated.
Summer is a great time to experiment with working with latex and perfect your craft prior to the fall when everyone gets busy working on projects for Halloween, parties, and Christmas.
Another thing to keep in mind is that prices are increasing. Inflation is set to go up at record amounts and the fabric industry is not immune from the cost of goods going up. We’ve had to make our first price increase in five years with this past shipment and despite the rising costs we absorbed some of those increases, but we can’t do that forever.
It is our expectation that prices will continue to rise, so again, stock up now as we will most likely see no less than two more price increases this year. Another problem that we are facing is labor shortages and exploding labor costs.
Our staff has shrunk to 1/3 the size it was prior to the pandemic and the cost we are paying is almost 2x this year what we had to pay last year. The reason for the staff shortage is that there just aren’t people applying for jobs in our area. Unemployment is at an all time low and this has resulted in incredibly high wages and also incredibly low recruitment. So again, expect that prices will rise as we continue to increase wages in an attempt to recruit more staff.
Our long term goal is to automate as much as we can in order to keep prices low as labor costs rise, but these changes will most likely take 1-2 years to implement. It’s a weird time to be alive, but as entrepreneurs we do our best to solve problems as they occur. Here at MJTrends we will do our best to continue serving you with quality products, advice, and support.
The idea of using the summer lull to refine latex techniques is smart, it’s much less stressful than last-minute holiday builds.
Running a business through labor shortages and rising costs sounds exhausting, especially while trying to maintain quality and support.
Interesting to hear about the plan to automate over the next 1–2 years, hopefully that helps stabilize prices long term.
That closing line about it being a weird time to be alive sums it up, but it’s good to see you adapting and communicating openly.
Glad to see the latex sheeting colors back in stock, I had been waiting on a couple that were completely gone last month and it stalled my project.
Hearing that there could be at least two more price increases this year definitely makes me want to stock up now rather than later.
The staffing situation sounds rough, dropping to a third of your previous team while paying nearly double wages must be incredibly challenging.
I noticed some of the previously out-of-stock colors were back when browsing, so this update explains that perfectly.
I didn’t realize how much wages had increased year over year, nearly double is a huge jump for any small business to absorb.
It’s reassuring that you’re still focused on quality products despite all the supply and staffing issues mentioned.
Appreciate the transparency about the price increase after five years, especially with you absorbing some of the costs already.
I’ve been putting off buying sheeting, but with prices expected to keep rising, this feels like a nudge to act sooner.
The reminder about fabric industry inflation is helpful, people often forget how material costs ripple through everything.
It makes sense that low unemployment is affecting hiring, but I hadn’t realized how much that impacts niche suppliers like this.
The note about summer being the best time to practice before Halloween rush really hit home, I always end up scrambling in October.