One thing this pandemic has taught us is you can’t always get what you want.

Many products we normally run to the store to pick up are just not there. Shelves are depleted quickly. Products are back-ordered. Demand surges for this and drops off for that. Suppliers struggle to keep pace. Things that used to be . . .

so easy to find may now not be available for months to a year or more.

It’s the supply chain, folks, and it’s not working like it used to.

Companies working with minimal staff due to labour shortages is a big part of the problem. In turn, shortages of lumber, plastic, steel, gas and oil have jacked prices up for these commodities and everything that is made from them.

Scarcity of component parts like the almighty microchip has confounded production of everything from cell phones to computers to vehicles.

It’s all forcing consumers to come to grips with what we can and can’t afford, and make cuts from the household budget. The same holds true for businesses.

A container ship blocking the movement of goods through the Suez Canal earlier this year showed us how vital that distant trade route is to our daily lives, and gave us a taste of things to come. Since then, the inability of California ports to handle the volume of cargo and container ships rushing to fill the surge in demand has left scores of vessels anchored off-shore for days and weeks.

In the time of COVID, Canada’s higher-than-usual demand for products has caused imports to exceed exports. Consequently, more shipping containers are coming into the Port of Vancouver than are going out, leading to a buildup of empty containers. But B.C.’s supply chain chaos only got worse last week when floods and mud slides severed several of the province’s major transportation arteries. More heavy rain in the forecast this week can only add insult to injury in the devastated province.

With the holiday season fast approaching, there will be many products that will be in very limited supply or not available at all. In many cases, supplies might not be back to any kind of normal until well into 2022.

One thing is clear. However frustrating it may be, it’s important to remember it really has nothing to do with the clerks and staff of local businesses. They can only provide you with what is shipped to them. What is going on in the global economy, or any parts of the supply chain along the way, is very much beyond their control.

The people in our local businesses who are trying their best to serve you are our daughters and sons, mothers and fathers, and members of our community. The very word ‘community’ means that we are all in this together.

So let’s treat each other with the respect and decency we all deserve.

With a little patience, we’ll get through this. And, eventually, we’ll all get what we need.

Katherine Hynes