It's not rocket science

Our old snow shovel broke in December while trying to clear out from the big snowstorm. After borrowing a neighbor's shovel to finish up, I promptly forgot to get a new one until we got 6" of snow over the weekend. It wasn't enough that we really had to dig out, but I figured I'd run out to Home Depot and pick up a new shovel just in case it got worse.

They were sold out. So was Lowe's. So was WAL-MART, the undisputed world masters of supply chain distribution.

And the same exact thing happened to me the last time we needed a new shovel, too.

Can it really be that hard to keep snow shovels in stock? This doesn't happen with hammers. Home Depot never runs out of hammers.

I know the weather is unpredictable and all, but these stores must generally know how many shovels they will sell over the course of the winter. Given that you don't know exactly WHEN the rush to buy will be because the weather is unpredictable, wouldn't it make sense for the stores to stock up on them in the beginning of the season so they have enough to outlast demand?

It just doesn't seem like this is an unsolvable problem.