I love my business. I enjoy designing, manufacturing, and selling cannabis games. I get to work with many great artists, creative talents, and other game manufacturers and sellers. In the course of doing business, I met a representative of Customedcards, a Chinese manufacturer of various things including cards and board games. Annie was a sales agent at Customedcards, but she gave me first class service and her prices and high-quality printing was far better than anything in the States.
Over time, I referred other game makers to Customedcards, and all were thrilled with the price and unbelievable quality. Each time, I would get a thank you - they always made it worth my while, and I was always eager to spread the word. My first big order came via boat shipping, and it was tedious and full of delays. There was a two-week delay at the Port of Los Angeles. This was 2014. My games took a full 6 months longer to arrive than first promised, but I never had to deal with delays like this with Annie - everything was shipped air mail at only a slightly higher cost.
Last year, air freight started taking longer from China. At the same time, the Panama Canal was blocked by a container ship, and it crippled the world supply chain. This week, the Port of Los Angeles had hundreds of ships waiting to be processed so they can dock and unload. This supply chain disruption is hitting China, the manufacturing center of the world. The black cored paper needed for my new game, Potty Mouth, was unavailable because the paper they had delivered was substandard. It took another few weeks to get more paper to print my game.
The arteries of world freight are clogged! There currently are shortages of foam, computer chips, car components, rubber, wood, and dozens of other everyday items. Federal Express said that they are at 65% of their needed work force at several of their national hubs and they predict long delivery times during the holidays. What can we do? Make it small, make it better, make it more efficient, and make it local. The technology exists today to achieve this. Here are just a few examples of technology that could be rolled out now and make a great difference in our collective future.
3-D printers have been quietly getting better and better without the public really noticing. Long Island has a 3-D printed house using Hempcrete and other cost-effective materials, all local. Micro manufacturing is a new thing. Did you know the military is already using it? By printing hundreds of needed items and components locally you take pressure off the global supply chain, leaving room for items that aren’t available globally. 3-D printing is high tech and a good job, better than a mindless factory widget, it’s really good for the economy.
Recycle all paper products, stop cutting down trees, and find a more sustainable material for future needs. If we required all paper products to be recycled, the world would stop cutting down forests in the third world, instead allowing native populations to find sustainable solutions for long time health and prosperity. The use of hemp fibers for paper creates a most durable and sustainable paper and hemp is quick growing and doesn’t fallow the fields after harvest. There might be disagreement about the uses of the extracts made from hemp, but no one argues about the amazing jeans and paper it can create. This change could happen in months.
Local recycling is both needed and necessary. The ability to send a barge full of garbage away from Manhattan every three days is a complete travesty. The rich have no right to ship their garbage to other places to take advantage of poor economies. Making recycling a personal responsibility will allow us to move to a less disposable economy. Personal recycling also includes reducing and reusing, too. If you give each world citizen the power to recycle what he/she uses, we take the pressure off the world supply chain and ease the coming climate change.
Change is local!