As the holiday shopping season begins to gear up, supply chain experts are advising customers to purchase gifts sooner rather than later because of logjams hurting the shipping system.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented supply chain snarls, and those jams, which feature soaring shipping costs, clogged ports, and insufficient store inventories, are still very much in play. As the United States inches closer to the holiday season and more spending, the strained supply chain will certainly threaten the delivery of goods meant to be presents.