There are crackers back there… And dirt. Ideally, there’d be an engine and a transmission on either side of this thing and it would be in my truck and out of my kitchen.
Today was even worse, however, as I tore the stupid internal liner bag too far and spilled part of the box behind the torque converter. That’s right. I have a torque converter in my kitchen. I’ve got a set of brake backing plates beside me on the desk. There’s a piston on the bar, taillights by the sink, and a full interior strewn across the living room, partially installed on the bench seat that’s behind the couch. This raises an important question: where’s this recession I’ve been promised all these years, where the world is supposed to grind to a halt so a guy can get his own stuff done? I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, all I can see is the pile of car parts that I don’t have time to deal with all over my house, exactly where they’re not supposed to be.
I talk to a lot of people in the space of a day, from consumers up to manufacturers and everyone in between, and they all tell the same stories. First of all, things are hard to get—raw materials, parts, components, finished products, packaging, labourers, couriers, everything. Second, prices are going up. Some increases are drastic, some are small, and some are small but frequent because death by a thousand cuts tests better with the consumer. The third thing is, despite the fact that prices are soaring, there is little-to-no push-back from the consumer. People may protest, but in the end, they seem willing to pay. I have a small list of truck parts that I don’t need immediately, but I’ll need them someday in the (hopefully) near future. I have some room between the couch and TV where they’d look nice for a month or two, so I called the guy up to get the wheels in motion. He’s the manufacturer and the retailer, farm-to-table, if you will. His story surprised me at the moment, but since then, it’s all I’ve heard from everyone. He said the prices on his website are subject to change without notice, and they do change weekly, so only use it as a loose guideline. He also said he’s having trouble sourcing steel, and can’t lock in a price or a bulk quantity. The courier companies are so busy that they’re not willing to give him a flat rate on shipments, either. All these pricing uncertainties would be hard on business, one would think. Nope, he says he’s busier than he can keep up with, if they call, they order, says he’s never seen anything like it. Luckily, I was able to cut him some slack and never placed an order, not because I don’t need the stuff, but because there isn’t the time to do it nor the (logical) space to store it until the time that I do. The fact that there’s been a massive recession looming for what feels like forever is concerning, but I guess I should just overlook that for now and take comfort in one important thing: The most overwhelmed guy I’ve talked to recently exclusively sells parts to put old trucks back on the road, and he’s shipped parts around here before. If those people get more done than I do, I hope to see them on the road next year. If not, I wonder what their kitchens look like?
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk
