{"id":630501,"date":"2026-09-20T13:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T13:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630501\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T13:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T13:36:20","slug":"crisis-even-bigger-than-covid-american-business-owners-are-barely-getting-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630501\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Crisis even bigger than Covid\u2019: American business owners are barely getting by"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Jeff Vojta can\u2019t catch a break.\n <\/p>\n

\n The CEO of Dilworth Coffee in Raleigh, North Carolina, contended with a miserable Brazilian coffee crop in 2024 that vaulted coffee futures to record highs. The next year, President Donald Trump\u2019s global tariffs raised coffee prices even higher.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then, this year, the Iran war started. And a Super El Ni\u00f1o.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBetween shipping disruptions, the lack of containers, high costs because of what\u2019s going on in the Red Sea and higher fertilizer costs, we have this period of disruption that we\u2019ve never encountered before,\u201d said Vojta, who founded the national coffee distributor more than three decades ago. \u201cThere\u2019s just so much uncertainty.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

\n Around the country, American business owners across myriad industries say they\u2019re in a similar boat. A closely watched monthly survey<\/a> from the Institute for Supply Management raised eyebrows earlier this month after several business leaders compared the current business climate to the pandemic.\n <\/p>\n

\n They said Covid was better.\n <\/p>\n

\n Massive disruptions and price instability are forcing businesses to make impossible decisions. They have no idea how to plan, and their inflation-wary customers are in no mood for more price hikes.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is a bigger problem than Covid, for sure,\u201d said Jack Buffington, director of the supply chain program at the University of Denver. \u201cThis is completely different. This is an energy problem.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The Trump administration has tried to frame the Iran war as a temporary economic blip \u2014 and once resolved, rebounding inflation will quickly reverse itself. But the historic supply chain struggles that America\u2019s business owners face show why resurgent inflation will not be easily resolved \u2013 even if the war miraculously ended tomorrow.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n \u201cOil prices will drop precipitously\u201d when the war with Iran is won, Trump said in a Truth Social post<\/a> on Labor Day. \u201cIt will all happen quickly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s precedent for that. In mid-June, when the Strait of Hormuz briefly reopened after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, gas prices fell below $4 a gallon and oil sank below pre-war levels.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOf course, gas prices are too high,\u201d Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press briefing on Wednesday. \u201cWhen we get that thing resolved in the Strait of Hormuz, that will have a direct effect on that, and it will help to bring down grocery costs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But much has changed since June. High fuel and shipping prices have started to bleed out into other parts of the economy. Core inflation<\/a>, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, rose last month by the highest amount since April. And it\u2019s showing up in higher prices of services \u2014 costs that typically don\u2019t come down after they go up.\n <\/p>\n

\n Diesel prices have doubled since March because of the intensifying war in the Middle East and Ukraine\u2019s continued bombardment of Russian refineries.\n <\/p>\n

\n But shipping costs have also risen because of an increasing number of weather disruptions \u2014 including back-to-back typhoons that effectively closed the port of Shanghai, the world\u2019s largest container port, for two weeks and continue to cause significant delays.\n <\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

\"Vessels<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Ending the war in Iran \u2014 itself an enormously tall task \u2014 will do nothing to end Russia\u2019s diesel export ban, which blocked off 12% of the world\u2019s seaborne diesel supply. It can\u2019t improve the weather.\n <\/p>\n

\n And it won\u2019t reverse the resurgence of the Iran-allied Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Both impediments have forced shipping companies to reroute their ships around the entire African continent to avoid attacks \u2014 reducing the amount of global shipping capacity by 15% this year, said Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, a logistics and supply chain software platform.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in logistics for 25 years, and I\u2019ve never seen anything as bad as this,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, businesses are at the breaking point, said Sean Brownlee, CEO of rope, cord and leash manufacturer Ravenox.\n <\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/p>\n

\n \u201cSmall businesses will absorb as much cost as they can until the very last minute,\u201d Brownlee said. \u201cNow we\u2019re feeling acute pressure.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Brownlee got into the business after a 25-year career in the US Marine Corps to create a US manufacturing company that supports American jobs. Now, the unpredictable environment is threatening his dream.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis issue really hits home,\u201d Brownlee said of expensive supply chain disruptions. \u201cWe just want predictability.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It was alarming when an ISM survey respondent argued the current supply chain situation is a \u201ccrisis even bigger and more complicated than during and post Covid.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2020, container ships were stuck for weeks trying to enter ports. Stores couldn\u2019t keep toilet paper, masks or hand sanitizer on shelves. The supply chain effectively came to a halt before it gradually started back up again.\n <\/p>\n

\n Today\u2019s supply chain problems are altogether different: Shipping starts, stops, gets worse, gets much better, and then much worse again. Prices go up, down, and shoot higher again.\n <\/p>\n

\"Trucks<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe supply chain works, but with much more cost, friction and uncertainty than during Covid,\u201d said Brownlee.\n <\/p>\n

\n That extreme volatility spells chaos for business leaders.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cCovid was very scary,\u201d said Vojta. \u201cThis is more stressful. We have this period of disruption that we\u2019ve never encountered before.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Vojta said his small team at Dilworth has to conduct significantly more research and price modeling than in the past. The company is accustomed to settling on its coffee sources 12 to 24 months ahead of time. Now it\u2019s sourcing just three to six months out.\n <\/p>\n

\"Coffee<\/p>\n

\n Weather has played a significant factor. This year\u2019s Super El Ni\u00f1o has raised questions about the Vietnamese and Brazilian coffee crops.\n <\/p>\n

\n But so has the company\u2019s limited cash on hand. It can\u2019t stock as much coffee as it used to because shipping costs are through the roof. Margins are thinner. And customers don\u2019t have the disposable incomes they had during the post-pandemic years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Normally, Vojta\u2019s sales volumes fluctuate by 5% a month. Now they\u2019re up or down as much as 20%.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis dynamic situation is new to us: How long is diesel going to be over $6? How are we going to pass this along to customers?\u201d said Vojta. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging \u2014 our customers are dealing with the same things we are.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff Vojta can\u2019t catch a break. The CEO of Dilworth Coffee in Raleigh, North Carolina, contended with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-630501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}