What is causing Apple delivery delays?

I am aware of the supply chain bottleneck we are currently experiencing, however to the best of my know;edge, this isn’t causing Apple production delays!

I currently have a M1 MacBook Pro (est delivery Nov 10-16) and Apple Watch (est delivery Dec 3-10) that seem like they are taking several extra weeks to receive compared to similar orders in the past.

Even my iPhone 13 PM took almost a month after order to be received.

Are there still that severe of Covid slowdowns out there? Or is it employee shortages or what?

I know all of you get it…you order your shiny new Apple device and are excited to get your hands on it - only to find out you won’t receive it for a month or two!

:anguished:

Constrained supply due to supply chain issues.

Surprisingly Ito me at least), even my 13 PM took 5 days AFTER Apple shipped it from their China manufacturing location and it had cleared the Chinese government to be released…before UPS Worldwide loaded it on a U.S. bound flight!

What’s up with that kind of stuff? That’s just logistics…not supply chain, etc. UPS just told me “we won’t load and ship it from China until we receive “everything” from Apple”…whatever that means.

It’s not just Apple.

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The ships to take stuff from China when they arrive in port are required by the government to wait one week before making landfall to ensure they are no COVID cases on board. This in turn means it takes longer for them to unload and then re-load to bring it in to the US. Similar things are happening at ports across the world.

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Apple always overestimate the Shipping times on new products and then usually delivery earlier.

That is usually true…however this time they estimated my 13 Pro Max between Oct 6 and Oct 12…and I received it Oct 10. However, as I said in another comment, this was as much on UPS as it was on Apple!

I don’t think any of my Apple products have ever been transported via ship…that would take weeks to arrive. UPS Worldwide transports everything coming from China via air to the customer.

Now it may be an entirely different issue with how different suppliers transport production materials INTO China for Apple. I don’t know how their supply chain logistics operate.

In a “normal” business climate (pre-Dec 2019) I am very sure that,Apple had a supply chain that was extremely efficient. In todays environment, it’s anybody’s guess what the next day may bring!

Shipping delays are about more than Covid shutdowns these days. There’s also worker shortages, imbalances in shipping containers, port backlogs, component backlogs and shortages … I’m sure I’m missing a few things.

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They also sanitize the items to prevent Covid transfer and quarantine for a period of time.

I experienced having to wait for 3 months for an iPhone X. Ordered it a week after launch. My Macbook Pro 16", ordered January 3rd week, 2020 got it by March before lockdown happens.

I ordered a Magsafe and an iPhone 13 last week. Magsafe is just in Singapore but it will take 16 days to arrive. Its already in a warehouse but currently on hold for the past 5 days. The iPhone will be delivered in 23 days. Apple Watch delivery estimate is December 16.

One problem is california passed Bill 5 AB which means that truckers cannot be classified as independent contractors. They must be “employees”. Estimates are that california lost 75,000 truckers because of this overreach.

We can also add that the unions in california fought and are still fighting 24/7 port operations. Ports should have been 24/7 even before the pandemic.

and anyone expecting FedEx to help fix anything is in for a rude awakening. thanks to oursourcing, FedEx cannot even move their own cargo in a timely manner.

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I recently learned, much to my surprise, that a substantial portion of air freight travels in the bellies of passenger flights. When there are fewer of those—as there have been throughout the Covid-19 pandemic—there’s less air freight capacity overall.

If you’re up for supply chain nerdery, I can’t recommend Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast highly enough. (There’s lots of de-fi and central bank nerdery, too.)

Ref

After securing support from major retailers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union last week, the local ports are working on expanding their operations to a 24/7 model.

“dragging their feet”… “appearing to be doing something”… these all fit.

the unions want more money to work weekends, contracts were signed years ago. unions have never been altruistic.

The unions, the shipping companies, the ports

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In fairness, neither has Capital.

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I do understand that part - sadly!

California…ugh! Don’t even get me started!!!

Happened to me as well. I ordered after the initial rush and both our 13s sat somewhere in China in limbo between “cleared government agency” and “put on a plane” for 6 days. Even Apple support couldn’t tell me why it was stuck.

That was Tim Cook’s specialty, after all :slight_smile: