Don't worry about the Grinch stealing Christmas this year. According to a report from Bloomberg, toymakers say that shortages of shipping containers, congestion at ports and a lack of truck drivers are the real enemies for Christmas shoppers in 2021.
"I've been doing this for 43 years and never seen it this bad," Isaac Larian, founder and CEO of MGA Entertainment, one of the world's largest toymakers and the owner of the Little Tikes brand, told Bloomberg. "Everything that can go wrong is going wrong at the same time."
The issues are familiar to almost every manufacturer out there. The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down production at some toy production sites in Asia at different times while demand grew from parents looking for ways to keep kids occupied when schools were closed.
Add to that the congestion at ports where toys made in Asia wait to be unloaded.
Larian said he's paying about $20,000 for each shipping container now, vs. $2,000 before the pandemic. Jay Foreman's toy company, Basic Fun, has $8 million worth of finished goods such as Lite Brites and TinkerToys just waiting to be shipped. Basic Fun has been waiting six weeks for an opening to unload 600 shipping containers.
"There will be a shortage of toys this fall," Larian said. "It's going to be a tough year for retailers."
And a tough year for parents trying to convince kids to put items on their Christmas list that are actually on store shelves.