Costco is putting limits on your irrational behavior - The Dallas Morning News

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Costco Wholesale is reinstating limits on some items as COVID-19 cases spike, adding to an already stretched supply chain.

The limits at Costco are on are bath tissue, paper towels, bottled water and high-demand cleaning products. Signs may start popping up on more store shelves as they did with other COVID-19 spikes.

Consumer purchase limits are coming as retailers try to operate within a long list of supply chain and inflation pressures, said Richard Galanit, Costco’s chief financial officer: “Higher labor costs, higher freight costs, higher transportation demand, along with container shortages and port delays, increased demand in certain product categories, various shortages of everything from computer chips to oils and chemicals, higher commodities prices.

“It’s a lot of fun right now,” he said after rattling off the list. He was on a call with analysts Thursday as the company reported a 17.5% quarterly sales increase.

Add a couple more to that list: COVID disruptions and truck and driver shortages.

Anecdotally, Galanti said, major brands are requesting longer lead times. “So planning is crucial, which I feel people have done a great job with over the last several months.”

Costco has chartered three ocean vessels for the next year to transport containers between Asia, the U.S. and Canada, and it has leased several thousand containers for use on the ships.

For now, furniture delays and some shortages have caused traditional deliveries to go from 8 to 12 weeks up to 16 to 18 weeks, he said.

“In some ways, we think that’s an advantage,” Galanti said. “We’re selling out,” he said, adding that more merchandise is being ordered and earlier.

That’s true with toys and seasonal, too, he said. “We’re bringing in some of the items early.”

Overbuying of products such as toilet paper has become predictable since the start of the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean the stores and distribution centers can handle prolonged panic buying.

Limits are one of the few ways stores can ease the pressure, especially at Costco and Sam’s Clubs with their supersized packages.

Sam’s Club spokeswoman Rachel NIpper, said “We have limits from time to time but we’re working hard to make sure our members get all the love.”

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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