If you鈥檙e trying to stock up on ice for a backyard get-together or river trip, you may have to plan ahead. Stores in states including Idaho, Colorado and Montana are having ice shortages and capping how many bags you can buy.
Some ice companies are doing just fine. But many others are struggling to keep up with demand.
When you call the national chain Reddy Ice, a robotic voice tells you, 鈥淒ue to unprecedented demand and nationwide labor shortages, you may experience longer than average hold and delivery times.鈥�
Andy Nye manages The Ice House鈥檚 Bozeman, Montana, location. He said people moving into the area, visitors traveling through and the heat wave have caused a definite spike in demand.
While Montana ice suppliers tend to help each other out, Nye said they can鈥檛 this year.
鈥淎ll areas of Montana have been so hot that it鈥檚 rare that another ice supplier has any extra inventory to help the other ice supplier out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost faster to call the ice manufacturer when possible to try and locate where there might be some ice.鈥�
Part of the challenge is that ice vendors don鈥檛 deliver to every location every day, Nye said, and it鈥檚 hard to find truck drivers to carry out those deliveries.
鈥淏ozeman is probably as tough a labor market as there is in the state, and we鈥檙e paying wages in excess of $20 an hour and overtime is on top of that,鈥� he said.
Nye says there鈥檚 a larger labor issue at play, too. Restaurants are having a hard time ordering their own ice machines because manufacturers also don鈥檛 have enough employees. So they have to turn to ice companies and bagged ice, competing with everyone else.
Michael Bickelhaupt owns Colorado Ice Works near Denver. He鈥檚 seen the shortages affect businesses around the entire state. He鈥檚 even been ordering ice from Utah to help meet demand, but he鈥檚 still turning customers away.
鈥淚 got a call last week from a very well-known large grocery chain that wanted us to start supplying to 22 locations around Colorado ASAP,鈥� he said.
Bickelhaupt said the grocer was willing to break contracts if he could supply their stores, but he couldn鈥檛 accept the offer.
鈥淯nfortunately, we鈥檙e all in the same boat, and even if I wanted to take that on, I can鈥檛 solidify bringing in another 80,000 pounds a week, and still have the costs be effective for them,鈥� he said.
Businesses could try to buy new equipment or expand to keep up, but even if they could get a new ice machine or new employees, Bickelhaupt said demand always cools off in the winter.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, 萝莉少女 in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the .
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