The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is a hotbed for 3PL (3rd Party Logistics) companies who specialize in being the “middle-man” between an online shop’s warehouse and their customers’ homes. Ridiculously large warehouses dot the landscape on both sides of major highways in and out of one of North America’s largest transit hubs. The pandemic made “panic-buying” and online hoarding a reality which put a strain on these 3PLs to maintain delivery windows and inventory. The waves of COVID-19 forced companies to impose stricter safety policies for employees both while physically at work (such as physical distancing) and before coming to work (such as self-screening). These policies caused two big issues: reduced staff due to new capacity limits, and a greater number of employees forced to take time off due to COVID symptoms or exposure. As a result of these issues, we have seen extended delivery times on all online orders; Amazon for instance increased their Prime delivery window from 2-days to 4-days. Companies have been forced to pivot on a weekly basis to keep up with new regulations, which in turn affects the types and quantities of products they’re warehousing as well.

Logistics warehouses are responsible for stocking the products and materials most sought after by consumers. When the online world is flooded with purchase orders for popular products, it puts a pinch on the warehouse staff to keep up. Prices have had to majorly inflate in order to keep up with supply and demand. The same can be said for the costs of running a logistics business; supplies such as boxes, packaging tape, pallets, and fuel are being purchased in higher quantities, often at higher prices. The inflated prices are not immediately covered by the consumer and so the logistics companies are left footing the bill. This leads to a bottleneck effect (as companies can realistically only afford so much at one time) and forces companies to constantly change their practices to deal with these issues (such as using larger boxes for fewer items and re-using as many packaging materials as possible).

Logistics companies have also been forced to deal with major staffing shortages. Between employees calling out from work due to COVID symptoms or exposure, capacity limitations, and an overwhelming surge in work, companies are finding themselves majorly understaffed. The two main strategies they have used to try to overcome this is by using recruitment agencies (not unlike Cormack Recruitment) to find new employees fast, and also by increasing wages and offering better benefits. This of course, doesn’t come without additional unexpected costs, and so again Logistics companies are left either footing the bill or increasing prices in order to keep their head above water. This definitely has led to a lot of scrambling for both the Logistics companies and their customers, but (un)fortunately this has become the new norm, and both sides have the financial-changing process down to a science.