Demand exceeds supply - basic economics in a complicated circumstance.
It's one that Herb Soss, owner of Ace Lumber in Youngstown, is working hard to overcome.

"Folks are having trouble building decks and outdoor projects," he said, and many of his customers don't understand why.

Normally, the process to make treated wood - from logging to kiln drying to treating - takes a long time.
And the different sizes of cuts can't all be dried and treated together.
Add in a global pandemic...

"They're not (price) gouging, but when traditionally there's a demand, the prices do escalate," said Soss. "Not horribly, but they're going to escalate."

Soss' advice? Keep calling.

"There may be some wood in the supply line, in the pipeline, maybe September to early August."

It's not just materials like lumber for summer projects that are lacking; so are a lot of popular recreational and leisure items like boats and motorcycles.

"I've been doing this for 12 years, I've sold thousands of bikes, and I've never seen anything like this", said Jared Lautzenheiser with Thunder Harley-Davidson in Sharon. The staff there says its new inventory is about half what it should be.

They've seen a lot of folks wanting to invest in a hog instead of a vacation during this pandemic.

"Basically what we're trying to do is locate bikes anywhere we can get them," said Lautzenheiser. "We're buying them online, off of private individuals, Facebook marketplace we're searching trying to buy used bikes, we just can't have enough inventory at all right now."

And chances are you'll get paid premium for selling your old bike.
Even Valley marinas are having trouble keeping boats in stock. Exercise equipment like bikes are also scarce.
Some very real consequences in this summer of COVID.