Glad to see everyone on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. As you'll see from our previous blog posts, we had to make a lot of changes back in 2020 to keep things moving despite the pandemic. Most of the staff worked from home, and those of us who stayed had a long year. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Good news first: things are more or less back to normal! We have moved the majority of the staff back to the office and have been bringing in seasonal workers as needed to help with the usual in-season demand for irrigation products. Not only that, but we have also hired on a number of additional full-time employees since last year. 2020 saw a huge spike in demand for irrigation products (what else are you going to do when you're stuck at home?), and 2021 doesn't look much different. Lastly, many of the shipping restrictions that were in place during 2020 such as extended ship times and revocation of refund guarantees have been set aside. You can expect shipping times to be a bit more stable than they were last year.
Now the bad news: that spike in demand has a downside. As I'm sure you've noticed, everything from furniture to computer components to lumber is in short supply. Things are expensive and often not in stock. We are unfortunately not immune to these market trends, and throughout the year we have seen numerous price increases across the board. Some items are also difficult to source and/or have extended lead times. Dad, the purchasing manager here at TDS, has done an admirable job of keeping things in stock, which means we have avoided the worst of the issues (so far). We urge you to keep the broader market in mind if you see an item that's out of stock or more expensive than the last time you looked, though. We are doing our best, and our customer service reps unfortunately can't adjust the world economy at a moment's notice. We're working on it, though!
As usual, don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. You can email us at [email protected], or you can call us (because we actually have a phone number!) at 877-597-1669. We're open 7am to 4pm PST Monday through Friday.
