Thread: Brother machine accessories- are they on strike?

I ordered an accessory from my dealer in February. It's still not in. When I called, they told me the place in California is on strike and all the stuff that comes out of that location has not been shipping. She said they are still waiting for machines from Christmas orders. I tried to find something online and couldn't find anything so I thought I'd check on this board. Anyone hear anything similar?

It's a special item that can only be ordered through a dealer and I hate to order from an unknown dealer and then be in the same boat. Since it's an accessory unique to my machine, I'm hesitant to order online and get stuck with something that doesn't fit.

Well, I don't know about Brother themselves.. but the ports for importing are a mess. I am not sure, but I wonder if that is the issue you are dealing with. I work in materials at production facility and the ports are truly reeking havoc on our production.

Before Christmas this all started...factories in China had shipped the parts on the ocean on time. But once the vessels hit the west coast ports it all came to a screeching halt. The longshoremen who unload the vessels were refusing to work overtime (or at least that is the story we were told). We have shipped so much product in air freight its ridiculous... the air freight routes were even getting delayed in January from everyone doing the same thing. A local Honda assembly plant had to lower their production due to this as well.

We were told that the Longshoremen union reached an agreement and the contracts were to be signed in April. Personally I have parts in container that has been at the port for 3 months...everything is piling up and there are not enough chasis available for the truckers to get things moving any quicker.

We are now hearing that while the longshoreman have come to an agreement now the teamsters (truckers) are going to strike.

I ordered work boots for my husband in Jan. They are finally suppose to be here Mon. All the crap at the docks did this.

I am ordering the king thread stand that snaps on the top of my Dreamweaver Machine (for cone thread). I have found a few different numbers online so really think I should purchase directly from my dealer, as she know which machine I have. I think it'll be around $80, which seems like a lot, but I use cone thread for my FMQ and right now I'm using a thread stand that sits next to the machine. I'm short on space, and sometimes the thread is getting stuck, and I hate it when I am going along with a nice rhythm and ll of a sudden, my thread has an issue.

Thank you, ladies, for your info on the dock and truck strikes. That's probably what it is. Also thank you to those that offered help, but the part is pricey and I think this would be a special order item for most dealers.