Waiting is the name of the furniture game. Author: Tiffany Craig Updated: 9:02 AM CDT April 9, 2021
HOUSTON When Jim and Erin Shelton went to the La-Z-Boy store for a sleeper sofa, they were surprised to hear that delivery could take nine months.
“It was, like, Wow, I can’t believe it’s gonna be that long, ” Jim Shelton said.
The salesperson explained some of the shipping issues and it made sense to the couple from Montgomery, Texas.
“Companies are really having a hard time right now with that shutdown and people losing their jobs,” Jim Shelton said.
Waiting is the name of the furniture game, according to Greg Portell, a partner in consumer and retail practice at consulting firm Kearney.
U.S. Economy Rebounds as Pain Caused by Pandemic Eases: Live Updates
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The economy picked up speed last quarter, shaking off some of the lingering effects of the pandemic as consumer spending grew, bolstered by government stimulus checks and an easing of restrictions in many parts of the country.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the economy expanded 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021, compared with 1.1 percent in the final quarter last year.
On an annualized basis, the first-quarter growth rate was 6.4 percent.
G.D.P. is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
2019 Q4 LEVEL
and seasonality, at annual rates
April 29, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
Procter & Gamble is raising prices on items like Pampers and Tampax in September. Kimberly-Clark said in March that it will raise prices on Scott toilet paper, Huggies and Pull-Ups in June, a move that is “necessary to help offset significant commodity cost inflation.”
And General Mills, which makes cereal brands including Cheerios, is facing increased supply-chain and freight costs “in this higher-demand environment,” the company’s chief financial officer, Kofi Bruce, said on a call with analysts.
These price increases reflect what some economists are calling a major shift in the way companies have responded to demand during the pandemic.
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President Biden doubled down on big spending and higher taxes.Credit.Pool photo by Melina Mara/EPA, via Shutterstock
The next 100 days
Today is President Biden’s 100th day in office, and yesterday he delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress. In his speech, he laid out an agenda that, The Times’s Peter Baker writes, represents “a fundamental reorientation of the role of government not seen since the days of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society and Roosevelt’s New Deal.” The centerpiece of his address was a plan for some $4 trillion in spending, split into two bills, on top of the $1.9 billion in economic aid already passed earlier in his term.
Diapers, cereal, and, yes, toilet paper are going to get more expensive boston.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from boston.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.