Over the past year, I have noticed a lot of one-person and two-person shops quietly moving away from relying on a single distributor. It is not always about price increases. The bigger issue has been unpredictable lead times. A six-week quote can stretch to fourteen weeks, and customers are not willing to wait that long anymore.

The small shops adapting well tend to keep smaller buffers, qualify a second source for critical parts, and accept paying a little more for reliability. It is not glamorous work, but it helps keep the lights on when larger distribution channels slow down or choke.

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