The global supply chain crisis will not stop the Beanie Babies and Beanie Boos from making their way home for the holidays.
Illinois-based Ty Inc. is jumping puddles and circumventing the much-touted logjams at U.S. ports by switching to air freight to deliver its plush toys from overseas. Ty Warner, founder and CEO of Ty says that since last month, he’s personally financed more than 150 cargo flights at a cost of $1.5-2 million each.
“The widely-reported problems with global supply chains have cast a pall over the coming Christmas,” Warner says. “There’s too much doom-and-gloom out there. I’m here to tell our customers that, despite what they might have read or heard, Christmas is not canceled.”
Ty’s special cargo flights take off from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other locations in China. The planes land at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport where product is unloaded and moved to Ty’s corporate headquarters for distribution.
Despite the increased cost of logistics, Warner says that the company has not passed costs onto retailers or consumers.
Additionally, he issued a note for the many independent specialty retailers that carry Ty’s products.
“Small retailers should take heart, too,” Warner says. “While retail giants like Amazon, Target, and Walmart might get preferential treatment from some vendors, they don’t from us. We do not sell to them.”
