I have been wondering how far outside of normal operations the covid-19 pandemic has affected Grizzly Industrial with issues like being able to get machinery produced [certain models discontinued] or even receiving shipments from China with the geopolitical tensions with the US administration. The covid pandemic being China's fault, etc. Sometimes, the end customer does not have a clue about what an importer of machinery may be dealing with, even down to the issue of quality control that has been affected by what the manufacturer in China or Asia may be dealing with in their normal operations due to covid-19 conditions there. They could very well be struggling to keep production and quality at normal levels, and I would think it would be true across all brands, not just the Grizzly brand. I would venture a guess that with WoodCraft, Grizzly and others, having supply problems, that the Covid-19 pandemic is what is affecting all of them.
It's hard to get any accurate information out of China concerning the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. I'm sure it has affected their production and probably shipping. I think there may also be some U.S. consumer backlash against anything made in China. Especially large ticket items. Buying a large expensive wood lathe may not be at the top of someone's list if they are income insecure. There's been a lot of that lately. I'm hoping we will put all this behind us and get back to normal in 2021.
