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Sticker shock at Lowe's

because Biden cheated and causing such unrest ,explain how a divorce settlement has to do with economy
Whos to decide who pays there fair share.
The old arguement that corporations don't pay there fair share is an arguement the Dems have been howling about for years, but have they changed the laws? If corporations are not doing anything illegal there not doing anything the vast majority wouldnt do including the people who wanna howl about corporations not paying there FAIR SHARE. You ever worked for a middle class or poor person? I havent.
Ask yourself who 90% of poltician are, Lawyers, Accounts or Lobbyists so you change the laws to not have to rely on them you actually think there gonna vote themselves out of a pretty lucrative job!
Sorry cptjack didn't mean to quote you.
 
Last year before this covid thing hit, 7/16" OSB wall sheeting was 7.35 per sheet. My math says your price today is closer to 10 times that amount. The lowes store in Midland, Mi yesterday was 47.99 for a 7/16" sheet of OSB.
Almost exactly the same in Southside VA................
 
I asked the local lumber yard what they do about their material quotes as the price keeps jumping and they said they were good until the end of the day. Try working up a bid on that.
I saw a really interesting piece on the subject that said there is actually an excess of trees/raw material and that the supply chain and processing is the problem.
 
This has nothing to do with inflation and it isn't the logs or the loggers that are making out.
In the 1970-80's the government started to pay farmers to grow trees over corn which had reached huge stockpiles across the nation. Trees have a long growth cycle compared to corn so they didn't back then have to worry about flooding the market.

Then the plandemic happened. Mills were shut down and what was available was what was left in the warehouse. What happened next no one thought about. All those people that were off of work through 2020 were doing home improvement and expansion projects thanks to the bonus they were getting from the federal government in their unemployment check. Many were making considerably more than at the job. Then in the 3Q2020 the construction industry got thrust into full gear, making up for lost time earlier in the year and a new demand for affordable housing. This depleted the balance of the warehouses.

The mills didn't start back up really until the 4Q2020 and more so into 2021. They are still playing catch up.
So this brings us to the distributors and the retailers. They are all getting their share of the benefit by profiteering what stock was available and driving the prices through the roof.

As for the tree growers, the mills are full and the farmers are having to take whatever is offered. They are still getting prices comparable to 1980 prices and less.

And yes this is privateering not capitalism.
 
You elect a bunch of whacko environmentalists to Congress and the White House, and then you're shocked, SHOCKED, that lumber prices have gone up 500% in a year?

The only regret the Dims have is that they have not done the same to the price of gasoline.

Yet.
Have you bought any gas lately. Our prices here in the PNW have gone up about $0.75 per gallon and if our governments have a say in it, it isn't over. They don't want us to travel. They like us locked down. We travel, we talk, we will learn the truth.
 
I need to replace a few sheets of plywood on my deck and went to Lowe's this morning. Half inch exterior sheathing was
$71.25 a sheet. Yikes! The cashier apologized about the price and said that it is 5 times higher than last year. Just glad that I'm not trying to build a house.
Over $40.00 a sheet for OSB.
 
There is coil and slab sitting in containers off the coasts that has been there for months. There is no raw material shortage in lumber either. The prices are being artificially manipulated by the mills.
 
Loggers should say the hell with the lumber mills and not deliver a single log to any mill for the next 12 months, let’s see who makes the money then...

In the West, loggers don't own timber. The companies that manufacture are the ones who own the timber. Examples are Weyerhaeuser, Roseburg Forest Products, Seneca, etc. They make more money off selling the logs than they do making lumber and plywood.

Today, we are used to getting what we want when we want it. This has driven manufacturers to make only what sells and keep inventory to a minimum. There isn't much excess capacity, especially in the forest products industry.

So when you put a three month hole in production due to the extremely ill-advised COVID lockdowns, the industry will not catch up until the next recession. Then if you decide to add a bunch of money to the economy, you have just created rapid inflation.

We need to manufacture our way out of this by adding production capacity. However, who wants to put up their money for a new plant that will not likely be operational until the next downturn?
 
There is coil and slab sitting in containers off the coasts that has been there for months. There is no raw material shortage in lumber either. The prices are being artificially manipulated by the mills.

It's simply supply and demand. The mills don't have enough economic clout to artificially do anything. 2019 wasn't a great year for forest products and in early 2020 they were all were headed for disaster with layoffs and shutdowns do to COVID. Doug Fir lumber was $350ish per thousand which probably a loss.

The three month hole caused by the shutdowns combined with all the extra money that was put into people's hands is what has caused the price increases........like it always does. So the real blame lies with Government intrusion into the market.......like always
 
It's simply supply and demand. The mills don't have enough economic clout to artificially do anything. 2019 wasn't a great year for forest products and in early 2020 they were all were headed for disaster with layoffs and shutdowns do to COVID. Doug Fir lumber was $350ish per thousand which probably a loss.

The three month hole caused by the shutdowns combined with all the extra money that was put into people's hands is what has caused the price increases........like it always does. So the real blame lies with Government intrusion into the market.......like always
Due to government intrusion, like you mentioned, the labor market is in the shitter, because of that (and a few other things) the mills are refusing to take raw materials to produce more product, causing the supply side to be choked. This in turn creates higher pricing.
 
Due to government intrusion, like you mentioned, the labor market is in the shitter, because of that (and a few other things) the mills are refusing to take raw materials to produce more product, causing the supply side to be choked. This in turn creates higher pricing.

The mills are making as much as they can. They need to make as much money as they can when the market is good so they can survive the losses when the market is bad. With lumber, plywood, PB, EWP as high as they are I promise you the mills will make as much as they can.

They just don't have any surge capacity and haven't had any for a long time.
 
Unemployment numbers out, it rose "unexpectedly". Unexpected by who. The worst is yet to come. Companies will raise prices to offset tax increases, fuel costs, materials. Doesn't matter if it's McDonald's, Maytag, John Deere, Chevrolet. Teachers Unions will demand higher pay. Wait until 5.00+ gas and diesel in the heartland.
 
I'm struggling with the whole housing situation right now. I can't get a house built in less than a year (and without the lumber price changing 1000 times) and I can't buy a house for less than 125% of appraised value. My new job starts on 6 July and I have a 50/50 chance of being homeless by then. I'll likely rent another crappy house. That's my "thank you for your 27 years of service!" from today's America.

68W40
 
Lowe's and Home Depot are not the good deal stores people think. I bought Trex decking, siding and MDF trim from a local lumber yard cheaper. I found a shower enclosure $270 cheaper at a local plumbing supply, same brand and part number, that was a 33% savings plus the sales tax. It pays to shop.
 

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