Writes Greg Privette:

Hi Lew,

I saw the post the other day about a price quote for steel tubing only being good for 8 hours. In our business we use quite a bit of steel. It is all purchased as round bar stock in sizes from ½” diameter rod up to 14” diameter round bar. Our machine shop manager does the ordering of steel. A week or so ago he told me the price we just paid for whatever diameter he ordered was the highest per pound price he could remember ever paying in his 45 years in machining.

For the last several years I have eaten breakfast at the same restaurant most weekends. I have gotten to know several other regulars and usually sit with them. One of the guys is involved in refuse hauling and also repairs dumpsters for the large refuse companies. The repairs normally involve cleaning the dumpster, cutting out the rusted out bottom, welding in a new bottom, and then repainting the whole thing. He replaces the bottom by welding in steel angle around the edge and then welding steel sheet to that. Last weekend he said he just found out from his office person the price of both the steel angle and sheet had double over some short time period. Since he was unaware of the increase until the last few days he had repaired some number of dumpsters at a loss due to the steel increasing exceeding his profit margin.

It seems the rising price of everything is becoming a common topic of conversation with almost anyone I talk to. I always make sure to point out it is not prices that are rising but rather the money is losing value. I also always point out that you cannot destroy production, damage the supply chain, and print four trillion dollars into existence within six months without having some negative effects.