Laundry closet progress, or: Dude, where's my dryer?

To perhaps no one's surprise but mine, the laundry closet is still not done. This project is starting to feel like the Trump administration's promises for a new health care plan: "Two weeks!"

We did make progress this week. The walls have been patched, textured, and painted, and the overhead light has been installed. And the washer is here! 

Lynne Cantwell 2024

Where, you ask, is the dryer? Welp, thereby hangs a tale.

To recap: In mid August, I ordered the new washer and dryer from Best Buy and had Habitat for Humanity retrieve the old units so I could get in there to paint the closet and redo the floor. I ordered Electrolux compact units -- a washer and ventless dryer, plus the matching stacking kit -- to make sure there would be enough room in the closet for both units with the doors closed. The original delivery date for the machines was just after Labor Day, but then Best Buy informed me that the washer wouldn't be in stock 'til mid October (which is when I bought the teeny washer).

Last week, I think it was, Best Buy told me that they didn't have the stacking kit. No worries, I said to myself, and canceled the stacking kit order; I could put the machines side by side, although it would throw a monkey wrench into my plans. The washer was delivered on Thursday as scheduled -- hooray! The dryer was supposed to come the next day. They even sent me an email with a delivery window of Friday morning. But when I received no further communication from them, I checked the app -- and discovered Best Buy was asking me to reschedule the dryer delivery, with the earliest date being October 30th. 

I was... oh, let's be nice and call it nonplussed. 

I called Best Buy. The guy in their call center apologized and said he was going to "escalate" my issue, whatever the hell that means. He said not to pick a new delivery date on the app because my case was escalated; instead, someone would contact me, maybe later that day, maybe this coming week. But I should call back if I hadn't heard by, y'know, the end of the week.

So the bottom line is that Best Buy sold me a washer and dryer they didn't have in stock and gave me bullshit estimates for delivery.

What is going on? Supply chain issues still? The pandemic shutdown was more than three years ago -- haven't we ironed out those wrinkles by now? Eh, maybe not. According to this somewhat impenetrable article, among other things, companies are beginning to wind down the improvements in inventory buffering and controls they made to get through the pandemic. So while you may be hearing about threats to international shipping like turmoil in Middle East and the dockworkers' strike (which lasted all of, what, three days?) causing today's delays, I have to wonder whether some of this mess isn't an excuse to jack up prices to protect shareholders.

As for appliances specifically, some of the delays may be down to a shortage of semiconductor chips, although that ought to be easing. Thanks to the Biden administration pushing the CHIPS and Science Act through Congress in 2022, semiconductor manufacturing is forecast to triple in the U.S. within the next ten years.

None of which gets me a new dryer in a timely manner. So on Friday, I called around. A regional appliance chain has my dryer -- and the stacking kit! -- in stock in a warehouse in Albuquerque. They're delivering it on Tuesday. And once it gets here, I will take great pleasure in calling Best Buy and canceling my order.

And then? Then I will do laundry.

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These moments of delayed bloggy gratification have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Don't forget to vote!