If you have bought any home appliances or furniture recently, you may experience some delays.
I know I have.
The IKEA wall shelving that's supposed to arrive in mid-March has now been delayed to mid April.
I not in a hurry to move in to my new place. Time is on my side. Heck, I don't even have a move in dateline or goal...
Well, in my weekend sales gig, halve my product range is now out of stock. Shipment delayed.
First thing I ask new customers is when is their delivery expectations. If they can't wait till early May, I'll promote another brand that got stock, or pass the customer to another promoter.
I'm not the dog in the manger. If I can't do any sales; no one else should also.
As for pending customers expecting deliveries this April, some are "easy" like me, "No worries. I can wait."
These customers are the best! Like the Thai song, "Sabai, sabai..."
Then there are those irate customers who rightfully are angry and frustrated. You know, the precision in 2 decimal places, Just-In-Time, SMART goals people.
I tell them, "tongue-in-cheek", the delay is due to the "jam" at the Suez canal.
While getting a earful, I have a fun time figuring out which customers know geography, which doesn't.
LOL!
One sales staff cannot take it anymore and chided me.
"You full of shit. Your products are made in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. What has the jam at the Suez canal got to do with the delays for your brand?
So I gave this colleague a lesson on what is bei kambing knowledge and street smarts knowledge (euphemism for insider knowledge).
Hello, the container for Singapore sitting at Yiantian Shenzhen port is waiting for the container vessel from Europe to arrive, unload, load, and then drop off at Singapore port on its return run back to Europe.
If Suez canal is blocked, the container vessel has to make a LONG detour around Africa.
And what happens when all the delayed container vessels arrive at Yiantian port at the SAME time?
So its not just the delay in ocean shipping time, we need to add the bottleneck waiting time for unloading and loading.
Yes, even if your container vessel is not from Europe, you're still stuck in "traffic" when there's a port congestion.
Wink.
You get the picture.
Even our big daddy minister (that's why he earns more than you) warned the jam at the Suez canal has implications to Singapore. I bet his message flew over the heads of many...
Most bei kambing "fundamental" retail investors have a hard time understanding why the share price is tanking when everything they've read in the annual reports is blue skies and bright sunshine???
Similarly, they couldn't fathom why the share price is moving up when everything reported in the media and discussions at bei kambing retail investor forums are all doom and gloom???
Don't worry.
You are not alone.
Peter Lynch is right.
Most retail investors invest in companies they have no edge whatsoever.
The doctor investing in fishing stocks; the fishmonger vested with biotech stocks.
P.S. I'm not smarter. I just happened to work with Supply Chain before.
"Most retail investors invest in companies they have no edge whatsoever."
ReplyDeleteOK. Then DCA on ETFs. No worry on what edge. No?
CW,
DeleteYup. Passive investing is, "Look ma! No brains needed!"
You can also call it "Faith-based" investing ;)
I thought Europe pass by Suez..then SG before Shenzhen?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, everything is interwind. The stock market and every markets nowadays don't make sense. Covid, prices increase, bitcoin increase... so common sense is no longer that common anymore
Rolf,
DeleteMy products are made in Asia.
On first thought, to use the jam at Suez canal as an excuse for late deliveries can be like that joke about being caught in a MRT "jam" as an excuse for being late to work...
LOL!
My smart aleck colleague though he knew more than me, so I can't help myself in "enlightening" him ;)
For people who have no clue about shipping or port operations (don't buy HPHT), I can use a more everyday example.
Even if I only take public busses, if MRT has a major breakdown, I would be affected too.
How to get up the bus if they are overflowing with passengers that would otherwise have taken the MRT?
Yup. Its an anomaly. Common sense is really hard to find!
When we say someone has common sense, what we actually meant is that person CAN THINK for himself ;)
But hor,
ReplyDeleteMy MIL read newspaper say coffee and toilet paper supplies might be affected. And she want to go buy lots lots wor.
I told her is 30 ships for goodness sake, and most of them oil.
So I am the stupid one
Sillyinvestor,
DeleteSee?
Life is less stressful when we don't take ourselves too seriously ;)
Jokes aside, this post is a parody on myself too.
I've learnt the hard way too many times knowing a bit of something can be more dangerous than knowing nothing at all...
Sillyinvestor,
DeleteI think we have a fetish for toilet papers.
Not only your mother-in-law, we see people go crazy and hoard toilet papers all over the world during the early days of this Wuhan virus!?
If I'm selling toilets, I'll use this opportunity to promote those bidet toilets commonly found in Japan.
Any readers selling toilets at this watering hole?
Just give me a bidet for my new BTO flat, I'll sing like a canary for you!!!
Hi Smol,
DeleteWe already got cheap Asian bidet in most flats here.
Somemore can wash floor or wash face lol.
PS: I used to work in an institution where people wash their below and their hands using the flushing water. No need bidet!
Spur,
DeleteThat is the "gardening hose" variety.
With my dexterity and "sotongness", I'll probably make a mess.
Nope. I prefer the Japan variety where the bidet is integrated into the toilet.
I still remember the first time I used that in Japan. Was like a little kid. Wheee!
Smol,
ReplyDelete"Hello, the container for Singapore sitting at Yiantian Shenzhen port is waiting for the container vessel from Europe to arrive, unload, load, and then drop off at Singapore port on its return run back to Europe"
That's what happens when shipping lines are all calculative bean counters with extreme JIT, and ships must be 100% utilised at all times ... no down-time or slack-time. Spare buffers & lead times are for slackers & money burners! 😂
It's like sending your maid to clean up your parents' home in the afternoon after finishing with yours. And then your in-laws as well lol.
Spur,
DeleteI'm the coach and cheerleader for LEAN at my former workplace.
Yet at the same time. I'm fully conscious if we push LEAN, Just-In-Time, Efficiency, and Cost Savings too much, we may lose sight of Effectiveness...
Big daddy made this mistake with the MRT and public buses. Once a new MRT line is up, the bus routes that "compete" with that line will be "redeployed" - you know, the focus on redundancy... (Assuming MRT will never breakdown)
That's until we had that spate of MRT breakdowns.
HK is the opposite. Same route, I can take MTR, big double-decker bus, or small bus. Let free market competition decide!
I'm sure there's an investing/trading lesson we can use here too ;)
First focus on Effectiveness - making money!
What's the point of low costs (this platform cheaper, that platform free) if you can't make money?