Demanding Customers Don’t Know About Supply And Demand

I work for a distributor of high-end video equipment, or at least that’s what we were doing before the current health crisis; now it seems the entire industry has pivoted to web-presenters and streaming equipment. At least, that’s what the customers have done. The manufacturers are struggling to keep up, leading to too many conversations like this.

Reseller: “Look, I just don’t understand; you never had issues like this in the past.”

Me: “I know, sir, but unfortunately, with the change in demand, we’ve been having issues keeping up with the supplies.”

Reseller: “So how does that affect me? Shouldn’t you have stock?”

Me: “We should, sir, but… let me put it this way. Right now, the manufacturer of this product can process about 500 per week. We have been averaging orders of over 800 a week since the quarantines started.”

Reseller: *Pauses* “Oh… do you have any ETAs?”

Me: “Looking at when your order was entered, we’re currently estimating two to four weeks.”

Reseller: “I just don’t get why this takes so long.”

Me: “I suppose it’s because the manufacturers didn’t plan on a global quarantine situation six months before it happened?”