To borrow a catchphrase from baseball, “we’re headed into the bottom of the ninth and things ain’t looking that good for the home team.” Today we learned that the December Forces of Valor shipment that was supposed to come in around the end of November will likely arrive at our distributor in early January. Despite re-routing the shipment from Savannah, Georgia, to New York, virtually all of our ports are too congested to be of much good taking in product for the holidays. Between the ports getting slammed to the shortage of truckers hauling the goods around the nation, 2021 is stacking up to be a dismal year. Likewise, the September/October shipment of Hobby Master products, which was also diverted to New York, will almost certainly suffer from the same fate and get delayed again. There’s a possibility it could arrive in late December, but I think you know as well as I that is most likely wishful thinking on everyone’s part. Follow-on shipments are, from a figurative sense, almost certainly “in the same boat”, meaning they will likely get pushed back as well, although there’s no telling by how many days, weeks or even months. Its conceivable that a lot of what we were expecting could arrive en masse within a 30-90 day time frame some time in 2022, although here again there’s really no way of knowing since everyone is remaining mum, shrugging their shoulders and twiddling their fingers, although not necessarily in that order.
We’ve also put in a call to Corgi to determine where they stand but here again we fear the worst. Its entirely possible that everything still to come in for 2021 may get pushed back into early 2022. If that’s the case, we’ll certainly have a bang up New Year, Presidents Day, or Easter, depending upon when all of this stuff finally gets here. Obviously we will continue to update everyone should things suddenly take a turn for the upside, but we’re trying to remain realistic instead of optimistic based upon everything that has transpired thus far. Black Friday may have one meaning for some retailers but quite another for others.
Note: After we put this post to bed, we learned that three Corgi Aviation Archive aircraft arrived at our distributor and are now on their way to us. Also, our Solido military vehicle order came in so we will be making shipments to everyone that pre-ordered these vehicles later this week. Additionally, our first pair of JC Wings military aircraft are now en route to us, although it appears as if the balance of our order will likely arrive some time after the New Year. As it stands now, the only remaining shipment still AWOL for 2021 is our September/October Hobby Master shipment. No firm date of arrival has been set and our distributor is working in earnest to ensure that this shipment still comes in for holiday disbursement.
On December 2nd, our distributor reported that their Forces of Valor shipment, originally slated to arrive in late November/early December, is now expected in late January. As a result, we have pushed back this shipment to February, since its more than likely it will still be affected by port issues, warehousing problems or trucker shortages. We’ve also pushed back other FOV products that were purportedly due in early 2022 to spring 2022, although here again these items could be delayed even further for any number of reasons.
As a bit of bright news, Corgi reported that several Aviation Archive models are expected to clear customs shortly and arrive at their facility in Portland, Oregon, within the coming days. Of course, they are also indicating that they have been inundated in orders, largely due to the late arrival of these and other items that have been repeatedly delayed by disruptions in the supply chain. So, while the models listed below may be reaching their warehouse soon, it likely means they will transit the US and reach our facility in NYC around the second week of December, barring any further calamity. Its possible these models will be available in time for Christmas although we aren’t making any promises since several of the major carriers (USPS, UPS, FedEx) could themselves be overwhelmed with late orders as more product, stranded at sea for weeks and in some instances months, finally make it off the cargo ships and on their way to their ultimate destinations.
Under ordinary circumstances, things are typically very fluid for the month of December, as product updates are passed along to us on a weekly basis. This year, said updates are being exchanged almost on a daily basis, as the manufacturers and distributors struggle to get their cargo containers offloaded, into their facilities and on their way to their retail network. While some items are being shunted into 2022 others look like they may still make it under the tree for 2021. Fingers crossed.
