Locked down, hot and desperate for a dip? If you live in Indianapolis and fancy putting a pool in your back yard there's a three-week wait - but that's just for an appointment to order one for next year.<\/p>\n
Across the US and Europe, manufacturers and distributors of swimming pools and hot tubs are scrambling to meet a wave of demand as consumers cocoon at home to escape the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
Frustrated by the long lead times and worried about a second wave of infections, some US consumers have even resorted to fashioning home-made pools out of metal livestock tanks despite the health and safety concerns.<\/p>\n
\"I've been in this industry for 35 years and I've never seen anything like this,\" said Thomas Epple, chief executive of Only Alpha Pool Products in Fort Wayne, Indiana.<\/p>\n
Mr Epple said orders for its steel and composite pool walls surged 200 per cent in 60 days after a lacklustre March and April and he has now doubled output by taking on more workers, adding shifts and paying lots of overtime.<\/p>\n
It's a similar story in Spain, a country known for its sizzling summer temperatures which imposed one of Europe's toughest lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Spain's Fluidra, the world's largest swimming pool equipment maker, initially furloughed employees in anticipation of a slump in demand but it soon put them all back to work, and hired more people.<\/p>\n
In May, Fluidra ran out of stock and production capacity for the year for its above-ground pools, despite the extra staff. Sales of those models, which cost about 1,300 euros ($1,531), jumped over 50 per centin early July from the same period of 2019.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
See original here: <\/p>\n
UK quarantine imposed for travellers from Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas - Telegraph.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Locked down, hot and desperate for a dip? Continue reading