Plush toys are popular due to shipping crisis

Due to a shortage of shipping containers and rising prices, toy manufacturers are starting to make and ship toys that take up less space and are easier to transport this holiday season, CNN reported .

Jay Foreman, CEO of toy maker Basic Fun, told CNN he is struggling to find available containers while also bearing the expensive shipping costs .

He said that in previous years , his company could ship as much as it wanted, but this year he decided to make a lot of stuffed toys. " With limited container space, we can only choose to ship products that take up less space, " he said, adding that some of the smaller stuffed toys were "packaged as small as golf balls. "

Yogibo, a company that sells toys, home decor and bedding, said it is focusing on shipping small toys rather than bedding this year . "They take up much less space than other products and are more valuable in the same quantity ," said Eyal Levy , its chief executive. In a 40-foot container, Yogibo can ship $1.6 million worth of stress-relieving plush toys or $ 400,000 worth of stuffed animals . But if it is shipping large items of bedding , a container can only carry $200,000 worth of goods at a time .

Toys have been one of the categories hardest hit by the supply chain crisis, with toymakers reporting millions of dollars worth of products stuck in containers at factories or on ships, unable to get to where they are needed.

MGA International, one of the world's largest toy manufacturers , said it now spends about $20,000 on a single shipping container , compared to $2,000 previously . MGA CEO Isaac Larian recently told Bloomberg that he has never experienced anything like this in his 40-year career. Experts advise consumers and retailers to stock up early for the holidays and prepare higher budgets .

Manufacturers ' decisions are trickling down to toy store inventories , too . Some toy store owners have noticed that smaller, lighter items have been in more plentiful supply since the spring. What's missing this holiday season are larger toys like dollhouses , play sets and mazes .

Plush Toys

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