For the past decade, I have handled a lot more calls from consumers who are unhappy because the furniture that they ordered is months late, or is never delivered at all. The problem seems to span all the major and most of the minor furniture retailers. The culprits: distance and container ships.
Until 20 years ago, most furniture sold in the United States was made in the United States. Since then manufacturing of “stick furniture” then upholstered furniture and bedding has steadily moved to China. It’s not just low wages in China that has enabled the shift. Wages have always been low in China. What has accelerated the shift is the increased level of automation and modernity in Chinese factories, digital communications transferring orders to China, and most critically, the availability of container ships to move the furniture to the destination efficiently.
In the case of furniture, efficiently doesn’t necessarily mean quickly. The ocean transport industry is a complex industry, and I’m not an insider, so there are many parts that I don’t understand; but I do know this, time is money. The faster you want something the more it costs. If you are willing to wait longer, you ship cheaper. That’s where the big container ships come in. The huge container ship that rescued Tom Hank’s character in Cast Away was likely a Post Panamax ship that was about 1,000 feet long and could hold 8,000 standard containers. That was the biggest size coming to the United States in the year 2000. Ships of that size strained the ability of American ports to get the ships unloaded and get the cargo to the destination, and furniture, being unlikely to spoil, and worth comparatively little per pound, does not get top priority in loading and unloading.
Since the year 2000, several generations of cargo ships have been built with each topping the one before it. The current state of the art is the E3 ship which is about 1,300 feet long (about 200 feet longer than the largest aircraft carrier in the United States Navy), and which hold 18,000 standard containers. These ships may make it across the Pacific at 21 knots, but it takes a long time to load 18,000 containers and can take a long time again to unload 18,000 containers.
Here’s a clip of the first E3 ship to come to the West Coast of the United States, the Benjamin Franklin.
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If you want your furniture to be delivered when you expect it, consider making extra effort, and maybe paying extra money to make sure your furniture is made in the United States. That’s easier said than done. I have had a hard time finding furniture made in the United States in recent years. When I bought some furniture from Ashley Furniture a number of years ago, the floor models were made in the United States, but the delivered items (delivered late) were made in – you guessed it – China.
CONSUMER TIPS WHEN BUYING FURNITURE
When you are buying furniture, understand make sure that your contract has a date by which time you expect the furniture to be delivered. Make sure you are clear what the policy is if that date isn’t met. Will you get an extra discount? When can you cancel the contract? Make sure it is in writing. Usually furniture stores offer some X MONTHS SAME AS CASH financing. How does a 6 month delivery fit in that contract? Ask up front. What if only some of the merchandise is delivered? Understand that you generally have the option to accept a partial delivery but generally not the duty to accept a partial delivery. If they can’t deliver the whole order, you have the right to reject the whole lot and buy a matching set elsewhere. There are a number of confusing situations that can come up though when there was a group price for the furniture but not an individual price. Try to get the merchant to commit to individual item prices by email when you are considering accepting a partial lot. If a furniture store or finance company tries to keep you in a contract that includes furniture that wasn’t delivered, you probably have a case that warrants the involvement of a consumer attorney. Go to the NACA website at www.consumeradvocates.org and find a consumer attorney near you.