2021 Steel Shortages and Extended Lead Times

March 30, 2021

"Even though we appear to be coming through the other side of the pandemic, we are still caught in the disruptive wake that COVID has left behind.  The pandemic has brought a significant increase in demand for building materials such as lumber, composite HDPE, and metal, all while decreasing supply from the marketplace.  As a result, material prices have sharply increased and supply lead times have stretched beyond what we experienced last year.  We have also seen shipping costs steadily increase through the pandemic.  As we continue to navigate through these difficult times, we will be updating both pricing and lead times for our products.  We will resume a minimum 2 Week Lead Time on all orders, with Artisan items currently at 3 Weeks.  Some orders may ship sooner, but we will be quoting a standard 2 Week Lead Time.

As we kick off the Spring season, we are already experiencing a large surge of orders at this time which have also caused lead times to stretch out longer than in our regular season.  Our team is working hard to fulfill all orders in a timely manner, most of which are all made to order.  Orders are fulfilled in the order that they are placed and based on the material/inventory we have on hand at the time of order.  For multi-piece shipments, we will be shipping items that are available first, and the remainder of the order as it becomes available.  Tracking information is assigned to the order when it is placed.  Orders may show that they are ready to ship, but tracking information will not show movement until the order is actually picked up by the carrier.  Currently we are filling up multiple FedEx and UPS trucks on a daily basis, and sometimes an order cannot fit on the truck even though it is ready to ship.  This adds to the already extended lead times, and because of this, we cannot provide exact delivery times on orders.  We appreciate your patience as we work through the overwhelming demand for our products.

We will be allowing a "curbside pick up" option for customers who place their order in advance and wish to pick up their order directly at our facility.  For your safety and ours, we will not be accepting payments in any form at our facility.  Pick up orders must be placed ahead of time and paid for at the time of order.  Arrangements will then be made to pick up the order outside of our facility.  There will be no public appointments within our shop at this time, for the safety of our customers and our employees.

 

To answer some of the frequent questions that we have been receiving during this time:

• Yes, we will be continuing the process to allow for a contactless "curbside pickup option".  Please contact us in advance with any questions regarding this process.  Orders must be placed online and orders must be paid before scheduling a pickup time/date.
•  We are experiencing extended lead times due to an overwhelming demand in our products and material shortages from our suppliers.  We are working tirelessly to get orders out in the order they are placed and based on product availability.  Please be patient with us as we work through the orders.

 

I would like to thank everyone for their support and patience during these volatile times, we sincerely appreciate it."

Matt Skillman
President & CEO, Ohio Flame Inc.

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