Earlier this year, there was shortage of building cable of most sizes (1.0, 1.5, 2.5 4.0 & 6.0 mm2 in single, twin & three core) due to supply & transport problems out of Melbourne.
Word got around Alice Springs of this shortage which led to panic buying of cable (usually dozens of rolls per order) as the rumoured lead time was 2-4 weeks for the next delivery.
The result of this was nearly all the building cable in the common sizes disappeared off the shelves.
Another good example is when someone comes in off the street at 4.30pm on a Friday & buys all the 4 foot twin flouro fittings in stock. The shelves are emptied & no stock will show up until Wednesday due to the weekend, the ordering system & transport times.
These are good examples of demand outstripping supply which then puts the pressure on to resupply the store. Most items are usually 24-72 hours by road or rail to Alice Springs ex Melbourne (approx 2300km) or Adelaide (approx 1500km)
It is annoying as a contractor when the pressure is on to get a job done & you are held up by a shortage of parts.
Before we start a job, we let the customer know that supply problems are out of our hands & most of the time this is accepted as part of living in this neck of the woods.
As for stores missing all the "little parts", most employees are not electricans or worked in this field before so it is unlikely that they would know what bits are missing & would be good to be on the shelf. What we did was this with problem was we talked to the two supply houses in town & they now carry parts that we & other contractors need as stock that were not there 6-12 months ago on the shelves.
