continued -
And as more American manufacturers move their production operations to China, less foam scrap is created in the U.S. For a while, Chinese companies that used foam and created usable scrap exported the trimming to U.S. foamers, but lately the Chinese have begun to reprocess their own scrap foam.
The shortage was exacerbated by a strong and rapid shift toward rebond as Europe's preferred carpet pad, away from rubber and fiber pads. As a result, Europe has also dramatically reduced exports of trim to the U.S.
All of this leaves the U.S. rebond market in a world of hurt. As the price of rebond increases, accusations of price gouging are flying - something Thompsen takes issue with.
"Today Carpenter is paying about four times what we paid for trim a year ago," she said.
"We have not begun to recover the loss of margins with these price increases. We are simply trying to keep our heads above water."
Those price increases have now percolated to the retail level. Pad that sold for $3 per yard a few months ago is now $5, and with the scheduled July price increases, is expected to cost nearly $7 next month. At first, many dealers absorbed the cost increases, believing they were temporary. Now, with rationing inevitable, dealers have little choice but to raise prices and begin steering customers in other directions.
"Every week, it's an absolute challenge to get our pad in," said Cameron Neuhart, general manager of Carpet Mill Outlet, who has a store at 4950 S. College Ave.
“Smaller dealers are already not receiving their shipments, because the distributors are trying to keep the big guys happy. Next week, I don’t know if we’ll get any pad. We now understand that this could be the end of rebond as a product.”
While many dealers are moving their customers toward alternative carpet cushions, no one is entirely sure that consumers will be happy with the choices.
“Rubber pad has been around for 45 years,” said Beliveaux. “It’s more expensive, and it’s not the same product. There’s also felt pad and solid foam pad, but all of these products are more expensive and not for everybody.”
“Anyone who has walked on rubber pad isn’t very happy,” said Cogburn. It’s very hard — it’s suitable for special cases, such as wheelchairs. And if people start loading up on that, the price will go up.”
There’s also the matter of production capacity for alternative carpet cushions. Many industry insiders believe the infrastructure simply doesn’t exist to support a rapid shift to other materials.
The lack of alternatives may at some point push consumers away from carpet altogether. Neuhart has already seen carpet slip from 75-80 percent of Carpet Mill Outlet’s sales last year to about 60 percent today.
“We’re not too far off that wood, laminate and tile are as affordable as carpet,” said Neuhart “We’re already seeing these materials move faster.”
Many builders shrug off the price increases — either they aren’t yet aware of the rebond shortage, or it’s just one more bit of bad news in an industry plagued by rising material costs.
“It’s crazy,” said Ron Tomasini, owner of Tomasini Construction in Fort Collins. “When you combine the carpet pad situation with the fact that copper has doubled in the last year, I worry about what’s going to happen to the housing market. Are we going to be able to pass these costs along, and will people buy the houses if we do?”
Tomasini said a larger house will use about 300 yards of carpet pad. Increases in the price of rebond alone could add $1,000 to the price of a new home.
“The alternative products might be more durable, but as far as feel, they’re not the same,” said Tomasini. “People don’t feel they’re getting the value.”
One positive offshoot of the rebond shortage is an acceleration of efforts to recycle used carpet pad. A few years back, Cogburn installed a pad compactor at his store and began recycling all of the pad his installers removed.
