On the SAU Campus, there is a shortage of supplies in the Cosgrove Cafeteria, the Rogalski Food Court and even the Beehive coffee shop. Whether it was not being able to get your favorite drink in the Beehive or not spotting your go-to meal in the cafeteria, there has been a recent, visible shortage in supplies.

While the SAU campus feels it, the limit to the shortage has yet to be grasped. There is a shortage for nearly every major city around the globe, for more supplies than just coffee beans or plastic straws.

So, what exactly happened?

This supply chain shortage can’t be pinned down to only one root cause.

The main reason could be attributed to the pandemic. The pandemic has led to shut down factories, severely shortened the workforce, and damaged the availability of manpower needed for production in multiple areas. 

Another reason could be attributed to the rise in climate-related disasters as climate change becomes a climate crisis, leading to Christmas tree shortages all across America.

In the US, there have been many disastrous floods and storms battering part of the county before the end of the year approaches, closing roads and making delivery much more difficult.

The shortage is expected to continue and get worse as the holidays arrive and many people order gifts online. Customers can expect orders to arrive weeks to months behind schedule.

Locally

While the shortages had a considerable impact on the national scale, locally the SAU campus had few noticeable impacts.

The students were understanding—which made business run as usual on the SAU campus. 

“It didn’t affect us [business] much, as students just picked different products. We still had a lot of options available,” Leni Grap, a Sodexo worker, stated.