Good News! The ship has left Pittsburgh and our supply chain is working at 100%
Okay, there is no ship, it is actually a truck that hauls our Made in USA stainless steel from Pittsburgh or Tennessee to Ohio where it is slit to size and then sent to our facility in New York. Thank you, “family-owned” H&D Steel for being a reliable supplier. The other main inputs in flatware production are buffs and compounds that come from either Utica, New York, or Ohio. Thank you, family-owned Divine Brothers and Van Industries, for also being reliable suppliers. Looking at all those ships waiting to be unloaded, it makes us think how fortunate we are to source domestic and source local.
More good news! Because we are not waiting on a broken supply chain to keep production rolling, we have plenty of product on the shelves available for immediate shipment. This will allow us to set our customer’s table right for the holidays and make sure that there is a present under the tree. Sales are up almost 20% over last year and we attribute this largely to early Christmas shopping and supply issues with our competitors who depend on China and Vietnam for products.
Aside from getting it in time for Christmas, Made in U.S.A. has never been as important to the American consumer as it is right now. Perhaps this is because consumers have awoken to the many negative effects that 30+ years of globalization has caused in our communities. Strong buy American sentiment is not only changing customer behavior it is providing a much-needed boost to domestic manufacturers, employers, and employees alike, like Sherrill Manufacturing who managed to hang on during decades of offshoring as part of the race to the bottom in mainstream retail. What has happened during this period?
In our industry prices are lower but the quality has suffered tremendously. Yep, when you pay minimal wages to workers who have no rights or resources, ignore slack environmental standards, cut standards for quality and product safety, cut standards for raw materials, the result is that your product costs less to make. In the end, what you get is a cheap fork that also looks and feels like it. Ironically the main issue right now with those cheap forks is finding one in stock.
Here in Sherrill New York, down in Pittsburgh, and over in Ohio, we are all working hard to keep the shelves full. In addition to our flatware, we are stocking up on other American-made kitchen and tabletop items ranging from dinnerware to cookie cutters making our Liberty Tabletop website a one-stop-shop for American-made products. At LibertyTabletop you will find an ample supply of our flatware and other items to set your table right, stuff those stockings and have gifts under the tree this holiday season.
So thank you to our employees, our flatware production suppliers, and our partners who supply us with quality made in American hundreds of non-flatware tabletop items. And thank you to our customers for Buying American!
October 20, 2021
