Delays could damper some peoples New Year’s Eve celebrations

New Year's Eve is the next holiday on the calendar and many people have already been busy making plans

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI)-  New Year’s Eve is the next holiday on the calendar and many people have already been busy making plans, but transportation issues have made getting some party supplies more difficult in 2021.

Many people like to bring in the new year with fireworks or with a celebratory toast or two, but delays could put a damper on a few New Year’s Eve parties this year.

Issues all down the supply chain have slowed the flow for some package store proprietors.

“Because of the worker shortage there’s been a glass shortage and a plastic shortage for bottles themselves and it’s made it really hard for us to order stuff and get things in,” said manager of Rook’s Wine Cellar, in Columbus, Zachary Nelson.

Nelson said they’ve been trying to fill in holes over the past several months. Before the slowdown, shipments took three to four days on average from order to delivery, but now those same orders can be up to two weeks or even longer.

“They would pick random stores and send everything out at once so if we move back to that. That would be a little rough because then we wouldn’t know when we’re really even getting our orders,” said Nelson.

Other liquor stores are facing the same issues and as the new year nears they are putting out what they can to please their customers.

“It’s harder to get sparkling in and certain vodkas in and that’s what a lot of people are looking for now during these holidays. We definitely have been ordering more than we usually would especially just to try to get what we can in from what they have,” said Nelson.

It’s a different story at Orbit Fireworks stand in West Point.

“We actually got it all set up the first day I got here which hardly ever happens there’s just too much stuff to do in one day but I haven’t even had any other shipments she made sure I was fully stocked from day one,” said tent operator Killian Ray.

Ray said he usually sees two more shipments of fireworks leading into the New Year, but they’re fully loaded in 2021; meaning supply is good, but so far they haven’t seen a boom in demand.

“It’s kind of hard to really judge how the season is going to be until you get to the busy days and it’s been alright for the winter season. Winter is usually slower than the fourth of July but we’ll know come New Years Eve,” said Ray.

Ray said once business starts coming; there’s only one thing he’s worried about for the New Years celebration.

“Really I’m hoping it doesn’t rain. Nobody wants to get wet while they’re shooting fireworks,” said Ray.

Both Ray and Nelson encourage those that do drink and want to use fireworks to use caution and stay safe going into 2022.