MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian has an office filled with toys. But getting them on store shelves isn’t all fun and games during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roughly 85% of the toy company’s entertainment products are made in China, including popular LOL Surprise dolls and Rainbow High toys. Some of the company’s hottest toys this year are sitting on overseas factory floors ready to ship, while others are in containers slowly en route to the U.S.
Larian points to pandemic-related disruptions to global supply chains as the reason for product shortages and shipping delays, with some overseas factories shut down to prevent new waves of COVID-19 from spreading among workers.
One sign of the times: Even shipping containers are in short supply and have gotten more expensive.
“Last year a 40-foot container cost $3,200. Now it’s a bidding war. It’s gone up to $22,000 to $23,000,” he told CBS News correspondent Anthony Pura.
Other hurdles are making it hard to get products from the factory into consumers’ shopping carts these days. Only 40% of ships carrying toys, computers, clothes and other items arriving at the port of Long Beach, California, are on schedule because of delays at their ports of origin, according to Mario Cordero, executive director for the Port of Long Beach.
Even once containers are unloaded, there aren’t enough truckers in America to deliver shipments to U.S. stores. Delays are expected to continue until next summer, according to Cordero.
Given those headaches, Larian has some advice as the holiday shopping season approaches. “My advice to parents is don’t wait,” he said.
