I have a set of cookies to paint. I went into our local parts store(Lordco) for some PPG paint and primer. The paint rep says sorry I can't get any primer in, and only have enough base to make one quart of paint... no hardeners or reducers for either???
Are there any of you Mericans having trouble with supply, specifically with PPG paints?
If so why?

Just got back from Advanced Auto to get a short piece of fuel line. They said they haven't been able to get fuel line for a long time. I went to O'Reilly's and he gave me a foot and a half piece for free...said it was end of the reel. Go figure....different distributors I guess.

It's a problem down here as well. My 914 was painted back around March and I recall the shop telling me there might be a delay in getting the paint. Turned out no delay, but point is even shops seem to be having trouble getting supplies.

The Napa on our little island, the shelves seem so empty.

Dan I hope your car turned out great!
I am hoping to get the fixings to paint a car this winter. But when product is in such short supply, I wonder what price I will have to pay for the paint and primer being as scarce as it is. I wonder if there is hording happening within the autobody shops who need it to continue operations.
I also wonder where the origin of paint materials come from...

PPG stopped vendors from selling on line years ago. A friend manages a Mack Truck dealership and said they just received motor oil that they were out of for over a month! They asked for 380 new trucks, but we're only given 200, and this dealership pays cash in full!

No problems in the san francisco area finding PPG and all the hardenrts/ reducers. Went to Peninsula Paints in Santa Rosa, Ca. Shop Line is the product line. PPG has many distributors in the SF Area.

Some if not most of the problems we are seeing is from the "just in time" or JIT model for stocking and manufacturing. It was implemented originally by Toyota and is considered lean manufacturing. My business consultant has been trying to get me to do this to streamline and reduce wasted resourced by having too much on my shelf. Since we are small I have always set up to make thousands or hundreds of parts instead of just the projected 3-6 month need. It has cost me in warehousing, but meant that my prices are fixed until I need to make more.

Most large companies use JIT, and this is where the supply chain snapped. It's not just your store, but PPG has to have raw material on hand to meet their projections and the dominoes fall. So, unfortunately we can see this being an issue for awhile, and with speculation on political environment and economy, most companies are being conservative on the spool back up as if the music stops (or more likely slows) they can have large inventories of product that has a finite shelf life sitting.

While I'm a big fan of PPG, do you have any other alternatives? There are some body shops that mix their own paint, perhaps you could strike a deal to buy some paint?

PPG is no longer around in my country which is a shame as it was a good product as mentioned,originally Dulux Automotive marketed it as Dulon and was the main supplier of 1k many years ago,they then rebranded with PPG products and then stopped supplying tinters so if you need anything more than a base tint you were out of luck.
Prices have really gone up as PPG tinted used to be 85NZD and now replacement brands are around 140USD/litre .

Depending on the base $140 /L isn't bad. The metalics are closer to $200/L USD when you convert from Gal.

Thanks Mark for reply,that was metalic and we have to pay 15% retail tax on top of that,check the rate of the NZD against the USD its not flash,cheers.