The number of challenges facing the toy industry has become so numerous and complex that we have decided to regularly report on the industry’s disruptions rather than treat each as a one-off event. As a result, we have created a new feature on Global Toy News called “The Disruption Report.”
The Disruption Report #76: America Just Set a Record for Building New Factories, A West Coast Port Strike Is Getting More Likely, and a Strike Could Cost the Economy $500 Million a Day
America Is Building Factories, Lot’s of Them The United States…
Disruption Report #75: Big Layoffs at Funko and Disney, Game Stop Returns to Its Roots
Walt Disney Co. Eliminates 7,000 Jobs and One Executive Walt…
Disruption Report #74: Near Shoring Is On the Rise, Its Payback Time for Shippers, and What Retailers Are Headed for Bankruptcy
NEAR SHORING ON THE RISE – ManufacturERS Shift PRODUCTION Closer…
The Disruption Report #73 – A Potential U.P.S. Strike, Slack-Fill, Tik Tok Interns, and Anti-Influencers
A TEAMSTERS STRIKE AT U.PS.? Those of us who grew…
Disruption Report #72 – Product Returns Up 63%, Container Prices Are “Collapsing,” Bed Bath & Beyond Considering Bankruptcy, and a New Book on Economic Policy in a More Uncertain World
Bed Bath & Beyond Is Considering Bankruptcy “Bed Bath &…
Disruption Report #71: Mexico On the Rise, Hong Kong Is Back, Inflation Eases
China Eases Its Covid Protocols and the Hong Kong January…
Disruption Report #70 – China Eases Up On Covid, Congress and Biden Prevent a Railroad Strike, and U.S. Orders from China Down 40%
U.S. Orders from China Down 40% It’s hard to believe,…
Disruption Report #69: Ocean Freight Carriers Are Panicking, Bob Iger Returns As CEO of Disney, and Railroad Strike a Real Possibility in December
Railroad Strike During December Is a Real Possibility We have…
Disruption Report #68: Too Many Containers, Inflation Is Down, and China Eases its Covid Restrictions (a little)
Too Many Containers Do you remember last year when you…
Disruption Report #67: Container Rates Down Sharply, West Coast Longshoreman Talks on Hold, and There’s a Diesel Fuel Shortage in the Southeast
West Coast Longshoreman Talks On Hold The lack of movement…
Disruption Report #66: Good News – Americans Are Having more Babies, Ocean Rates Near Pre-Covid Levels, The U.S. Dollar Is Strong, and That’s a Problem
Good News – Americans Are Having more Babies, OCEAN RATES…
Disruption Report #65: Will Too Much Inventory Force a Race to the Bottom? A Possible Railroad Strike Is Back on the Table. Too Many Containers and Too Little Demand.
Morgan Stanley: Declining Demand Plus a Glut of Inventory Is…
Disruption Report #64: Bricks and Mortar Is Back, Container Rates Are Down, and Hong Kong Ends Hotel Quarantines
BRICKS AND MORTAR RETAIL IS BACK After several years of…
Disruption Report #63A – UPDATE: Tentative Agreement Reached on Railroad Strike
(September 15, 2022, 9:04 AM) Rail freight companies have reached…
Disruption Report #62 – UPS Strike Looking Likely, Cost of Shipping from China Down 60%, New Container Ships Are Arriving and Boosting Ocean Freight Capacity
Ominous Warnings About a Potential UPS Strike The Disruption Report…
Disruption Report #62 – Amazon Increasing Third-Party Seller Fees, Walmart Canceling Billions of Dollars in Orders, and Warehouse Space Availability at Record Low
Walmart Canceling Orders Walmart is canceling billions of dollars in…
Disruption Report #61: Change in Hong Kong Quarantine Rules – China Launches World’s Largest Container Ship – and Supply Chain Capacity Increased while Freight Costs Declined in July
Change in Hong Kong Quarantine Rules Sources in Hong Kong…
Disruption Report #60: Blame Baby Boomers for Shipping Delays, Euro and Dollar Reach Parity, Possible Railroad Strike On the Horizon
The Euro and Dollar Reach Parity Many Americans who have…
Disruption Report #59 – Potential Railroad Strike, Dollar Tree Makes Big C-Suite Changes, and Manufacturing May Be Staying in Asia
Dollar Tree UNEXPECTEDLY Releases Five Senior Executives On December 13,…
Disruption Report #58: Ocean Freight Company Revenues Are Up a Ridiculous Amount, 3,113 Containers Lost at Sea, Just In Time Inventory May Be on the Way Out
Ocean FreighT COMPANY REVENUES INCREASED IN 2021 MORE THAN THE…
Disruption Report #57 – West Coast Port Strike Deadline July 1, Ocean Shipping Reform Act is Law, Ocean Freight Carriers Unhappy
Ocean Shipping Reform Act IS NOW LAW The Ocean Shipping…
Disruption Report #56 – 96% of Jobs Are Back, Apocalyptic Inventory Levels at Walmart, and 30% of Japan’s Population Is Over 65
96% of Jobs Lost During Pandemic Are Back According to…
Disruption Report #55: Birth Rate Up, Domestic Freight Rates Peaking, and Hong Kong Maintains Its Quarantine Policy
Birth Rate Up – Biggest Increase Since 2014 The U.S.…
Disruption Report #54: Supply Chain Challenges May Get Worse, Importers Accuse Shipping Lines of Price Gouging, and American Consumers Vote for Global Trade with Their Wallets
Investigation into Ocean Freight Carriers Over PricE-GOUGING The New York…
Disruption Report #53: Thirty-Five Percent Chance of a Recession, White House Warnings, and Improving Conditions at West Coast Ports
35% Chance of a Recession A Bloomberg headline caught my…
Disruption Report #52: Wooden Pallets Foil the Russians, Mattel Doubles Down in Mexico, and the Party May Be Ending for Ocean Freight Companies
Wooden Pallets Foil the Russia’s PLANS IN UKRAINE We reported…
Disruption Report #51: A Longer Hong Kong Flight, 50% Chance of Dock Workers Strike, and Shanghai Under Lockdown
The Flight to Hong Kong Just Got Longer The Hong…
Disruption Report #50: Shenzhen Factories Reopen, FOMO and Container Prices, and Flights to Hong Kong Resume
SHENZHEN factories reopen Last week in Disruption Report #49, I…
Disruption Report #49: Chinese Toy Factories Shut Down and Grocery Prices Up 11.5%
Shenzhen In Lock down Means Trouble for the Toy industry…
The Disruption Report #48: A Potential West Coast Dock Strike, U.N. Votes to End Plastic Pollution, and Birth Rates Normalizing
A West Coast Dock Workers strike: “hope for the best…
The Disruption Report #47: WAR, Toy Stocks Mixed, and Plastic Set to Increase in Price
WAR There is no greater disruption to life itself than…
Disruption Report #46 – Fuel costs on the rise, container manufacturing costs drop and the power of demand.
Fuel Costs On the Rise – Will the Shipping Lines…
Disruption Report #45 – Mixed Messages on the Supply Chain, A Coming Container Ship Glut and a Potential Cap on Plastics Production
Mixed Messages on Supply Chain Chaos There are conflicting reports…
Disruption Report #44, More Cargo Planes, No End in Site for Supply Chain Snarls, and a New Way to Source in Mexico
Ocean Shipping Lines Are Buying Cargo Planes One of the…
Disruption Report #43 – Customer Returns Up 6%, a Cardboard Box Shortage and Wages Increase 4%
And Now There’s a Cardboard Box Shortage Yes, there is…
Disruption Report #42
“The Mother of All Supply Shocks” China is aggressively fighting…
Disruption Report #41: Congress Passes Shipping Reform Act, Lego Invests in Vietnam, JP Morgan Predicts a Full Economic Recovery in 2022
Things are getting marginally more optimistic as I prepare this…
Disruption Report #40: Shanghai to L.A. Spot Market Container Rate Now $9,942; Air Freight Competitive with Ocean Freight?; and Searching for a New Normal
Average Shanghai to Los Angeles Container Spot Rate is now…
Disruption Report #39: New Spending on Ports, bridges and highways, and Container Dwelling Times Are Down
Progress at Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles The…
Disruption Report #38: 80,000 Truck Drivers Wanted, L.A. Clogged with Empty Shipping Containers, Fines In Place for Ocean Carriers Slow to Move Freight
U.S. Domestic Truck Driver Shortage Worsens The experience of the…
Disruption Report #37: 200,000 Containers Wait Off the Coast of Los Angeles, Toy Companies Return Manufacturing to China, and Cost of Air Freight At All-Time High
Toy Companies Returning to China A business contact in China…
Disruption Report #36: Container Prices Decline, Ports to Stay Open 24/7, and Cyclone Hits Port of Yantian
Los Angeles Ports to Open 24 Hours, 7 Days a…
Disruption Report #35: The end of “everything’s a dollar,” inflation here to stay for a while, and a big year for gift cards.
Dollar Tree Breaks the Dollar Barrier. The End of an…
The Disruption Report #34: Americans Don’t Understand the Supply Chain, an Attempt to Warm Chinese and American Business Relationships, and Chinese Port Backups
Americans and the Supply Chain; a profound disconnect “Americans are…
The Disruption Report #33: Big Box Retailers Fight for Inventory while Small Retailers Struggle; Ports to Stay Open 24 Hours & China to the U.S. is Now 71 Days
Longer Hours at West Coast Ports The Ports of Los…
Disruption Report #32: A Freeze on Some Freight Rates, Exorbitant Profits for Ocean Freighters, and Mexico and America Meet About Trade
A Freeze on Spot Market Ocean Freight Rates CMA CGM…
Disruption Report #31: The Government Gets Involved, Port of L.A. Sets New Record for Backups and What the Restrictions on American Travel to Europe Really Mean
Port Disruptions: Your Government at Work You wouldn’t know it…
Disruption Report #30: Chinese Labor Shortages, and Dollar Tree Is the Inflation Canary in the Coal Mine
Labor Shortages in China There has been much talk of…
The Disruption Report #29: FedEx Surcharges, Walmart Charters Entire Container Ships, and Chinese and U.S. Ports Back Up Continues
Walmart Chartering Its Own Container Ships Major retailers like Walmart…
Disruption Report #28: Another Port Closure, Reshoring and U.S. Business Calls for Cuts in Chinese Tariffs
And Another Chinese Port Closes All inbound and outbound container…
Disruption Report #27: How Mattel and Hasbro Are Managing, U.S. Infrastructure Is a Major Obstacle, and Where Is Mexico?
U.S. Infrastructure, Yet Another Obstacle for the Supply Chain We…
The Disruption Report #26: Young People Don’t Want to Sell, Shipping By Rail Is a Problem, and the Economy Is Slowing Down
Young People No Longer Want to Be in Sales The…
The Disruption Report #25: The FMC Steps In, Where Are the Trucks, and the Biggest Container Shipping Companies Are…
Are Containerized Freight Companies Over-Charging? The Federal Maritime Commission Wants…
Disruption Report #24: $5,000 Freight Surcharges and Container Ship Captains Step on the Gas
Excessive Ocean Freight Surcharges Mike Wackett, writing for The Loadstar,…
Disruption Report #23: “The Worst Shipping Disruption Since World War II”
The Upward Trend in Container Costs It seems like only…
Disruption Report #22: Freight at the Speed of Sound, UnVaccinated Seafarers and Dollar Tree Fights Inflation
UnVaccinated Seafarers a Threat to Shipping It’s not only landlubbers…
Disruption Report #21: Retailers cutting back on orders, Biden Admin Going After Container Shippers, and more
Retailers Cutting Back on 3rd and 4th Quarter Purchases We…
Disruption Report #20: FedEx dropping customers, $100,000/day ship leasing, & Yantian is getting back to business
Richard Gottlieb – Global Toy News Port of Yantian Is…
Disruption Report #19: Christmas May Be a Challenge, and Some Additional Reasons for the Shipping Logjam
By: Richard Gottlieb, Global Toy News “More than 360,000 empty containers…
Disruption Report #18; Pallets Prices at an All-Time High, The Fed Chief Gets Humble and My Outakes from Chairman Powell’s Press Conference
Pallet Prices at an All-Time High Pallet prices are through…
Disruption Report #17: Shipping Problems Worsen, Chinese Factories Close to Preserve the Power Grid, and Inflation Continues.
“I am tearing my hair out every day trying to…
Disruption Report #16, Size Matters, Troubles at the Port of Yantian, and Why People Are Taking Their Time Going Back to Work
The Supply Chain Tie Ups Are Getting Worse Manpower at…
Disruption Report #15: A weaker dollar, and Chinese factories are absorbing cost increases
A Weaker U.S. Dollar and a Stronger Chinese Yuan Bloomberg…
Disruption Report #14; The Labor Shortage, Entertainment vs. Toys, and Port Backups Worsen
Port of Los Angeles Backup Increases When it comes to…
Disruption Report #13; A Scarcity of Everything
If you enjoy the Disruption Report. You can find all…
Disruption Report #12: Container Rates to Return to a “Higher Normal” in 2022
If you enjoy the Disruption Report. You can find all…
Disruption Report #11: Container Prices Are Rising…Again
If you enjoy the Disruption Report. You can find all…
The Disruption Report #10: Slow going as pallets become scarce and containers keep falling overboard
Pallet Shortage Who thinks about pallets? They’re just ugly, utilitarian…
Disruption Report #9: Delivery Times Are the Worst Since 1951
The Backup in L.A. Eases While the Port of Oakland…
The Disruption Report #8: When It Comes to Container Ships, Big Is Not Better
MORE CARGO OVERBOARD One of the questions I keep getting…
The Disruption Report #7: Plastic Prices Spike, More Containers Overboard, and the Suez Canal is Unplugged
Plastic Prices Near Record Highs In The Disruption Report #6,…
The Disruption Report #6: Passenger Jets, Bad Weather, Plastic Shortages & More
PASSENGER JETS CONVERTED TO CARRY FREIGHT Prior to Covid, passenger…
The Disruption Report #5: A Ban on Gender Signage, Chaos in the Supply Chain and Shippers Bet on China
Chaos in the Supply Chain This New York Times Headline…
The Disruption Report #4: Orders postponed, tractor-trailers in short supply and some companies are buying their own containers
Some companies are buying their own containers A Bloomberg News…
The Disruption Report #3: Rising Oil Prices, Supply Chain Disruptions and Semi-Conductor Chip Shortages
Rising Oil Prices Oil prices are now at their highest…
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