ORLANDO, Fla. — Earlier this year the appliance industry was forced to raise prices due to tariffs on common appliances like washer machines.
What You Need To Know
- The COVID-19 pandemic has cause supply problems for appliances
- Businesses say they can't keep up with demand
- Delivery times are currently estimated to be 2-12 weeks
Tariffs are no longer a problem for the appliance industry, but product is.
Over the summer, school teacher Lauren Martinez had the time to invest in her home.
“We had replaced our fridge in January, so we wanted things to start matching,” Lauren Martinez said.
In June, she bought a new stove and microwave. She got heated however when the stove took two months to arrive.
“We wanted the family to come over and see the remodeled kitchen," Martinez said. "The old stuff was a black, but we wanted it to match the stainless.”
Southeast Steel Appliance Warehouse President Stu Kimball, who has been in the appliance business for 54 years, said buyers have to cool their expectations due to delays caused by the manufacturers.
“The supply line, they can’t get the product," Kimball said. "It's the social distancing in the production line, they can’t produce as much.
Inside Kimball's store there are plenty of refrigerators, but occasionally you will see empty spots. That's due to the store needing to sell floor model to keep up with the demand. Many of the items he's waiting on he sometimes just can't get in.
Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer recently released a statement saying in part:
“We have implemented the proper safeguards in our plants in line with the guidelines provided by the CDC and other health organizations around the world, and continuously monitor and adjust on a daily basis. This includes heightened cleaning protocols, increased distances on our production lines and making the decision to slow production lines down or reduce lines as needed.”
That means less product is going out to consumers.
“This is industry wide," Kimball says. "It's all brands, it's the Korean brands, it's GE, it's Whirlpool, it's everybody in the boat.”
Expected delivery for most appliances now range from two to twelve weeks
Southeast Steel Appliance Warehouse also said that with so many people doing home improvement projects during the pandemic this has been one of their best years of sales in the company’s 80 years of business. The supply however, is just not meeting the current demand.