What Is Delaying My 2021 Furniture Or Mattress Delivery?

Have you ordered, or considered ordering furniture this year? If so, you may have heard a little about how international shipping and the supply chain will affect the date of your delivery. Perhaps you were told to expect delays and that any projected delivery dates are merely estimates and not set dates.

Here at Furniture Fair, we’ve had over 55 years of experience delivering furniture to homes throughout the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Louisville markets, and we can safely say that the current lack of in-stock furniture and delayed wait times is unlike anything the furniture industry has ever experienced.

Waiting for a new piece of furniture, or mattress to be delivered after you’ve paid for it can be trying for even the most patient people, and many might be wondering, “What on earth is holding up my furniture delivery?” As it turns out, several things may be holding up your furniture shipments, from the after-effects of the pandemic to a lack of the resources needed to build furniture.

Another factor contributing to long delivery times and frustrated furniture retailers and consumers alike is a lack of available overseas shipping container space. This article will detail what shipping containers are and how they could be holding up your furniture or mattress delivery.

First, let’s find out what shipping containers are and why they are involved in the furniture industry. Why does one element of a much larger supply chain have so much impact on how long delivery wait times are?

A shipping container is a large metal freight container used to transport goods over land and water. Containers are loaded as efficiently as possible and then stacked on freight ships to be sent from their port of manufacturing to their destination.

Overseas freight ships can carry anywhere from 10,000 to 21,000 individual containers, depending on the size of the boat. With so many ships able to transport large volumes of containers, you might be wondering how there could be shipping delays. If so, read on.

Prior to the pandemic, many companies, including Furniture Fair were able to offer speedy delivery times, with custom furniture orders often delivered in under 14 business days. Unfortunately due to the unprecedented five to nine months of the shutdown during Covid-19, swift easy delivery is now much more complicated.

Due to the pandemic of 2020 and the ensuing shutdown of non-essential forms of manufacturing, industries are scrambling to catch up with built-up demand and limited supplies. Because of the high demand for overseas shipping, many shipping companies are facing increasing backlogs of orders and have begun to charge more for container deliveries.

Container prices have tripled, or in some cases, quadrupled in cost due to demand-related markups. Ocean-freight price volatility has made getting furniture delivered from manufacturers in countries like Malaysia and Vietnam more challenging than before the shutdown.

In some cases, the containers are now more costly than the value of the product being transported. To avoid stiff price hikes on products, many industries, including the furniture industry, are waiting out the standard delivery delays to avoid raising prices for their customers.

Sadly, this means container deliveries quoted on furniture are estimated delivery times, and delays are expected industry-wide. If you’ve ordered furniture and are still waiting on a delivery, your furniture has most likely been manufactured and is waiting overseas for an open container.

Now that you know what shipping containers are and why they are being held up, what can you do? There are a few options you could go with, such as waiting to order furniture until the shipping routine is back on time or buying from furniture that is already in stock.

However, the safest way to get the furniture you want is to stay in touch with your salesperson and have them notify you as soon as your furniture gets in. As mentioned previously, the supply chain is very backlogged, and the average wait time for shipping from port to port is anywhere from six to eight weeks, not counting the time needed for overland freight delivery to stores.

Freight buyers are doing their best to get the furniture delivered as soon as possible; they also want to avoid predatory premiums that would cause prices to go up exponentially for customers. To avoid ridiculous price increases, unfortunately, means a longer wait time.

While an eight-week delivery time is a long time to wait for furniture, the supply chain is only getting more backlogged, and if your order is in, that means you are in line to receive your products.

In addition to wait times, canceling your order will also cancel your current price that you’ve agreed to pay and due to rising shipping costs, the price of furniture is only going up. Should you decide to buy the same product at a later date, the price will most likely be higher, due to higher costs needing to be offset.

While canceling an order may be the right thing to do if you need furniture now, a canceled order will only move you to the end of the same line and buying other furniture could end up costing you hundreds more than what you initially paid.

In-stock furniture is becoming rarer and rarer, with people desperately looking for any available furniture. The unfortunate fact is that all furniture companies are in the same boat right now, and that boat is stuck overseas.

Now that you know a bit more about the overseas shipping process and why your furniture delivery is being affected by freight backlogs and premium pricing, you can rest in the fact that your furniture is on the way.

Keep in mind that all industries are being affected by this shipping demand and many freight companies are charging unusually high prices for freight with the backlog of shipping orders only increasing.

Remember that Furniture Fair is working as hard as possible to make sure you get your living room, dining room, or bedroom furniture as soon as it gets to our warehouses despite the delays and premiums. We want you to have your furniture as quickly as possible.

If you are currently waiting on an order here at Furniture Fair, you can get in touch with your salesperson or customer care to find out when the most current estimated delivery time is.

You can also find out more about our delivery options or what you need to do to get your home ready for a visit from our in-house delivery team when your furniture is finally freed from those pesky shipping containers.