August 9, 2021 – Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH) and other medical distributors are like a duck’s feet paddling underneath the water. They help maintain a sense of normalcy for their healthcare customers amidst an uncertain trajectory for the pandemic.
According to the company recently, a $197 million inventory reserve is the main catalyst behind a 40% drop in Cardinal’s operating earnings in the most recent quarter. Masks, gloves and other PPE are stockpiled from the pandemic’s surge as the distributor added warehouse space and carried more inventory to meet the global threat.
Hospitals have also asked Cardinal to help them store and manage customer-owned inventory amongst other issues facing distributors across all industries like:
- Logistics bottlenecks
- Raised transportation costs such as shipping and trucking; and
- Higher labor costs in a tight job market where warehouse workers are in demand