2021 Steel Shortages and Updated Pricing

July 29, 2021

"As a company, we are experiencing supply chain volatility like we've never seen before.  As a result, 2021 has been full of decreased supply and increased costs.  Material costs such as lumber, composite HDPE, and steel have increased in dramatic fashion.  The biggest volatility that we are currently experiencing is in the steel market, where increases are as much as +200% from just six months ago.  As a result of these increases, the market cost of our products has also increased for the first time since 2018.

We are just about caught up with the summer backlog of orders.  We anticipate that lead times will get better, but with the autumn months just around the corner (combined with short steel supply from the mills), we could start experiencing slightly longer lead times again.  We will provide an update on the market conditions at that time if necessary.

"Curbside Pick Up" has proven to be a very popular option to our local customers.  As a result, we will continue to offer this 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 currently seeing our lead times begin to normalize, however due to the volatility of the steel market, we will very likely see an increased demand in our products during the autumn months and possible 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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