Sunshine Coast furniture delays revealed as latest supply crisis hits region

A retail association spokeswoman has revealed what is driving the current furniture delivery wait time couch crisis, with some families waiting six months for a lounge.

Like new cars, the wait on new couches has blown out to up to six months. Jodey-Alice Smith, says Freedom is telling her not to expect the new couch she ordered a week ago until December. Photo: Patrick Woods.

A Buderim woman is preparing her bean bags, again, after being met with a six-month wait of delivery after ordering her third couch in two years.

A retail association representative says the wait times being felt nationwide are due to the Chinese government’s response to Covid-19.

In June, 2020, Jodey-Alice Smith bought a sofa, while living at her former home, and waited six months at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic for her furniture.

Her family then moved and she decided to update her lounge.

She ordered it in March, 2022, and it arrived in June, 2022.

Jodey-Alice Smith says she does not expect the new couch she ordered until December. Picture: Patrick Woods.

She is now attempting to sell it on Facebook marketplace after it did not match the new space.

Mrs Smith decided to buy a third couch online.

Like new cars, the wait on new couches has blown out to up to six months. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“By the time I got to the cart the computer was telling me a December delivery,” she said.

The leadership coach said her family had the bean bags out at one stage.

“It’s fine when it’s just you but when you have guests over it feels so incomplete,” Mrs Smith said.

“We’ve bought a beautiful home and we wanted that space to be filled.

“A couch creates an energy in the home and without one it’s an empty, soulless place.”

The couch delivery wait time blow out comes as Queenslanders start making desperate bids on second-hand vehicles as wait times for new cars also extend.

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb said the wait time on furniture came down to the Chinese government’s continued response to Covid-19.

National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb says the wait times on couch delivery are due to the Chinese government’s response to Covid-19 cases in their country. Picture: Tara Croser

She said a lot of furniture was transferred through Chinese ports and one case of Covid-19 could still shut them down.

The chief executive said the same governmental response was also shutting down furniture manufacturing factories.

She said the wait times for couches was not exclusive to Australia.

“We’re seeing it across the board in other countries as well,” Ms Lamb said.

The chief executive said consumers needed to do their research as to the wait times on their purchases.

“There are also options as to what consumers can do,” Ms Lamb said.

“It just might not be the lounge that you want.”

Ms Lamb said there was also a 12 to 18-week wait time on whitegoods.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast furniture delays revealed as latest supply crisis hits region