I bought a new Ford Truck this summer. It should be delivered in April. That’s the way it is all over the USA.

It’s a difficult time right now to own a gymnastics equipment supply company. It’s even more difficult to own the gymnastics equipment manufacturing company! . Many manufacturers I talked to were optimistic about recovering from the 18 months of lockdown but, the cold cool truth is- they haven’t recovered. They are essentially 6 months to a year behind in production of equipment and mats…and aren’t expected to catch up anytime soon. If you ordered something from most manufacturers today, it would most likely be a 6-12 month wait for delivery.

Why?

  1. All existing in stock items have been sold.
  2. There was essentially NO PRODUCTION for 18 months during the pandemic.
  3. When production could start, the manufacturer were dreadfully understaffed. Those let go during the lockdown found other jobs. Those companies are still struggling to hire qualified employees. Most new employees are not as skilled and experienced and take longer to train and produce products.
  4. Most of the competitive equipment made now is reserved for the competition season. The companies want to make sure the meets are supplied before serving individual programs.

What to do?

  1. Keep looking around. Do some serious research and who makes what you need, and how long do you expect to wait to get it.
  2. Think ahead. At least 6 months ahead. You should be ordering things you will need this summer right now.
  3. Be patient. It’s not the company’s fault they were shut down.

What not to do?

  1. Don’t go cheap. Avoid buying knockoff equipment and mats that probably wont last more than a couple years.
  2. Don’t let your equipment and mats get unsafe. It’s better to do without than have someone get hurt on unsafe stuff.
  3. Don’t build you own stuff. The liability risk isn’t worth it.

Let’s all hang in there and keep training our athletes to be the best they can be!

Coach Quin