Many USA manufactures of inflatable amusement products have ventured off shore to save expenses and US labor costs. This trend is nothing new and unfortunately, for US works, a trend that will not change any time soon.  Americans demands for cheaper pricing have forced this situation into a reality and US manufacturers are disappearing at a staggering rate. Our inflatable industry has gone this same direction and while the savings can be substantial on the inflatable products they desire to own, waiting for these products from overseas can take its toll on seasonal rental.

After establishing their manufacturing requirements with material suppliers and production workers, the USA Supplier of these imported products must decide what specific products of their designs to order and in what quantities. This is not an exact science and calls for a lot of planning. The outcome of the order will determine what the reseller in the USA will have to offer their customers. This is different from simply calling up and ordering a specific product to be made here in the USA and waiting 4 – 8 weeks for delivery.

Next, the factory (in China, for example) has to order the raw materials (vinyl) to be made up. Factories in China cannot maintain inventory of raw goods beyond 30 days, an inflatable manufacturer in China has 30 days to produce the product before he to has to ship from his factory to avoid paying tax penalties. Once the product is made, you have to transport the goods by ocean (again to save money), and documentation and a booking date for a ship has to be arranged. This process could take up to an additional week or two. Shipping by sea can be a 3 – 4 week process.

Once the shipment arrives in the USA, it has to deal with customs and transported to the reseller of the goods for distribution. All of this takes about 90 days to complete. This does not take into account re-inspection and possible repairs of the received goods here in the USA for the finished goods to be perfect.

Because of all of all these obstacles that need be overcome when building offshore, and your desire to save money by purchasing them, our recommendations are as follows:
A. Make sure the US company that you order products from has their own China factory to supply these goods. This will assure better quality control of the finished products.
B. Be Patient! Unexpected delays WILL HAPPEN! Anything along the way can bump these production and delivery dates back without notice to the supplier.
C. Do NOT book out the product you have ordered for rentals until you have the product in hand. Because of these unexpected delays, you will be apologizing to your rental customers instead of servicing them with the product you promised them.
D. If the event you are buying this inflatable for is that important to you, consider this – pay more for it and have it built here in the USA from your inflatable supplier with a guaranteed date for shipping and receiving the products. This will save a lot of angry words between a lot of people involved in this whole transaction from being said.