Where Are All the Bottles, Sprayers, Misters and Pumps?

If you’re making your own products at home — especially any that require amber Boston bottles, sprayer or mister tops, or pump lids — you may have noticed that certain packaging options aren’t available on our site right now.

This is a real problem. Let’s talk about why they’re not in stock, and why this is a problem.

How Did The Problem Start?

The first blow came when Chinese manufacturing facilities had to close down production for two months earlier this year to protect their citizens. This, understandably, put a huge dent (two months’ production-worth, in fact!) in the supply of packaging coming in to North America. Most bottles, lids and other types of packaging are made in China.

By the time that was ending, we had realized the threat of Covid-19 here in North America. Many, many businesses pivoted to begin creating products like hand sanitizer, face masks, plexiglass shields and ventilators — amazing! This included our sister company, All Things Jill, who makes our products like bath bombs, bar soaps, tub truffles, bath salts and so on.

This sudden skyrocketing of hand sanitizer manufacturing (and demand!) put added pressure on supply chains of bottles, pumps and misters.

Much closer to home, it became apparent to us very quickly that while the team at All Things Jill was able to keep up with the demand for hand sanitizer, and we seemed to be able to get the ingredients we needed without too much delay, packaging would be a major issue before very long. We allocated most of our bottles and sprayers/misters for hand sanitizer production and left what we could for retail sale. Unfortunately, demand has been very high on our retail side, and some customers have gone to lengths to order more than our limits allowed.

Where Are We Now?

At this point (late April), any packaging that does enter the continent is already earmarked and saved for hand sanitizer production. This is how things should be. Even if stock were to make it to Canada, and to companies like ours, it is already back ordered.

What we have in All Things Jill's manufacturing bay… is what we have. It’s all we’ve got.

Our retail store is now sold out of certain types of packaging. We don’t know when they will be back in stock. Once packaging begins to run out at All Things Jill, there are certain products that they may not be able to make for a time.

Is There A Solution?

There is one bright spot in all of this. We are asking that you all make an effort to save and reuse any spray bottles or pump bottles that you have at home. This mainly means that if you have hand sanitizer and it runs out — keep that bottle! Wash it well and let it dry thoroughly. Then, keep an ear out for refills.

So far, we continue to have supplies in stock to make bulk hand sanitizer. Our hope is that we can supply customers with hand sanitizer in bulk, in jars, which you can then use to refill your bottles.

We are not certain yet what this will look like, but for now — please do save your spray bottles. There are none coming into North America any time soon.

When Will Things Be Back to Normal?

Oh, isn’t that just the question we are all asking. In this case, we are mentally prepared to have zero access to pumps, sprayers and misters until at least July or August. Until then, we have to pick and choose who receives what — not an easy choice, we’re sure you can understand. This includes, mainly, wholesale customers across the country who are trying to make and sell products as it’s their livelihood.

In the meantime, we appreciate your understanding, patience, and respect for our operations. If we have set limits or marked a product out of stock, it’s for a very good reason. And please — save your bottles and lids!