The Big Shortage

 *This is not financial advice. All content should be considered opinionated. We are not responsible for any of your gains and losses. I am neither a licensed nor registered financial expert. Please see a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

This year, we had a mass shortage of so many things! Masks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, dumbbells, aluminum, food, medications, laptops, coins, lumber, and more.

While many businesses are struggling, other businesses are thriving. The shelter-in-place orders governments have instituted from around the world have changed the way that we consume things. Our habits have changed thanks to this shelter-in-place. The massive changes and uncertainties impacting our daily lives have caused us to horde many things for our homes.

As we spend more time at home, things like food and toilet paper will be consumed a lot more. No longer will we be casually getting lunch at a local restaurant. Instead, we'll be having our lunches at home. This helps explain why there have been so many empty shelves at retailers and why many items on Amazon have been sold out. 

In addition, as more people horde and consume canned foods and canned drinks, the demand for canned products has

Meanwhile, more people are using digital payment services like Apple Pay and touchless credit cards rather than physical currency as they're afraid of getting the virus. Plus, since most people are staying at home, shopping online has boomed and in online shopping, all transactions are done digitally, not physically. This has led to a massive decrease in physical currency flow all throughout the economy, causing businesses to report a coin shortage.

Many companies are seeing record sales and continued insatiable demand for their products are expanding their production facilities and are partnering with other manufacturing firms to expand their production. The amount of investment being put towards expanding production for food, dumbells, aluminum, etc. could be the catalyst that sparks the economic recovery.