Just Don’t Go – Wait Until After Chinese New Year

Every year, about this time, I try to remind all of my clients to pay extra attention to shipments coming from China. As the Chinese prepare for the Lunar New Year (Feb 19) and the period of factory shut-downs, there is a surge in year-end production and shipments to the western world. Along with the peak in factory shipments comes a peak in production errors and a multitude of quality issues. You have to plan for this. It happens routinely every year. The best advice is to plan your orders to ship at least a month ahead of Chinese New Year and then taper your demand for the last weeks before the factories close. Shipping early will also help securing space on ocean vessels and aircraft, which are booked to capacity around the holiday.

After the factories reopen around March 1, you should also expect quality issues for a few weeks. This is because there can be as much a 30-40% employee turn-over in the migrant factories. Many workers never return to the migrant towns or they use this break to find another job. The learning curve for new workers in new jobs is very steep, and this results in production quality issues. This is just the reality of Chinese factory life and it’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

But the truly breathtaking part of the Chinese New Year season is the number of people who travel. Called the largest annual migration in human history, this is the time that Chinese families reunite every year. For many of the migrant factory workers who travel to eastern seaboard factory towns, this is the only time all year to see their children and reunite with loved ones. Transportation is so crowded on trains and busses that many people will have to stand or share a seat for days during the long journey home. There is an intense desire to be with family for the New Year, even if it means enduring horrible travel.

According to Chinese government projections, this year’s migration will include 2.4 billion road trips, 295 million train journeys and 47.5 million voyages by air. The good news is that the good-natured Chinese are unusually congenial during this time of year, even while traveling with millions of other people.

If you must travel to China between February 5 and March 15, brace yourself for the crowds, delays and discomfort. Book far in advance. Take your own food, otherwise you will be competing with millions of others at that train station noodle shop. Keep calm and focus on your next trip to somewhere serene.

But the very best advice to avoid lunar lunacy travel is: JUST DON’T GO.

SC
MR