We Survived the 2020 Glove Shortage - Here's Why Prices Are About to Rise Again
What's Coming Next: The Word from Our Supply Chain
Right now, with the current geopolitical situation, rising gas prices, and increasing FedEx and UPS shipping costs, the glove industry is headed for another price increase. The word from our supply chain warehouses across the U.S. and China is clear: a big price jump is near. We're hearing that large corporations are buying pallets and entire containers of gloves right now, and that soon the current stock will be down to nothing - similar to the pandemic days.
After seeing firsthand what happened in 2020, I can't help but say this: the price of bulk nitrile, latex, and vinyl gloves is going up. Because hindsight, my friends, is 2020.
My prediction is that the price of disposable gloves could go up 30 to 40%, factoring in both the product cost and shipping. We don't have control over that any more than we did the first time around. But at GloveSaver, we'll continue doing what we've always done - working hard to give our customers the best deal we can.
How GloveSaver Got Its Start
I'm Marcus Winston - the webmaster for GloveSaver.com. My family started U.S. Latex Products back in 1995, selling latex disposable gloves to police departments and jails over the phone. In 1998, I joined the business and started calling EMS and fire departments to sell gloves the same way - pick up the phone and cold call all day.
A few years later, my brother changed everything. He was a genius and had his own small online business selling men's health and fitness products, and in 2003, when I saw what he was doing, I told him I wanted to sell gloves online. He taught me how to buy a domain name and set up a Yahoo Small Business website, and that's where the idea for GloveSaver was born.
The name came from something a lot of people might remember - The Penny Saver, that free thrift magazine that used to come delivered with the Sunday newspaper. It was packed with great deals from local businesses. Our idea was simple: be The Penny Saver of bulk nitrile, latex, and vinyl gloves. Offer the best deals, make it easy to order, and ship fast.
GloveSaver.com hit the ground running in December 2004, and we've been distributing gloves by the case all across the United States ever since. I was put in charge of the website store and learned to run everything - the website itself, pricing, product descriptions, blog articles, coupon discounts, our Facebook discount page, YouTube videos and commercials, our Twitter page (now X), social media, adding new products, and pulling out-of-stock items off the site.
About two and a half years ago, we finally made the switch from our old Yahoo Small Business web store to the Shopify platform. It's been a learning curve - Shopify is far more powerful, robust, and complex than anything we had before - but it's been worth it because our online shopping experience is better for our customers especially if they ordered the wrong size or need to speak with customer service.
How We Ship: 8 Warehouses Across the Country
We don't ship internationally, but we've built a distribution network that covers the entire United States. We use eight different warehouses strategically positioned across the country to ship gloves to specific regions - East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and everywhere in between. Our main warehouse is in Arizona, which handles a lot of our West Coast distribution. This setup is what allows a small, eight-person family business to compete with the big players and still deliver fast.
March 2020: The Spike Nobody Could Have Predicted
I've been in the disposable glove business for a long time. In all those years of running Google Ads, doing social media, and managing our e-commerce business, I have never seen anything like what happened in March of 2020.
When the pandemic hit, people started buying gloves and face masks at a pace we'd never experienced. To put it in perspective: before March 2020, we were averaging around 10 orders a day. Within weeks, that number jumped to 100 orders a day - and these weren't small orders. We're talking bulk purchases from government organizations, fire departments, EMS, and businesses of every size.
When Amazon Called Us
Here's a detail that still stands out to me. By April 2020, our competitors had run completely dry. There was a stretch where GloveSaver.com was one of the only places you could order bulk nitrile gloves online. And then Amazon called us - the largest e-commerce company in the world - asking how many gloves they could buy from us.
That moment tells you everything about how severe the shortage was. After that period, Amazon restructured their entire small business section around PPE and disposable products. The pandemic fundamentally changed how the biggest players in e-commerce thought about this category.
Watching the Prices Climb in Real Time
As the person managing the website, I had a front-row seat to something I'd never seen before: the price of a case of nitrile gloves went from around $45 on March 1st to $180–$200 by the end of that same month. We had no control over that. It was pure supply and demand.
We did our best to keep selling and keep our customers supplied, even when it meant navigating prices we'd never dealt with. We also sold a lot of face masks during that period - face masks were a huge part of the business in 2020 and 2021. These days, I can't remember the last time we got a face mask order. It's been a year or two at least.
The Long Road Back to Normal Pricing
Prices peaked around late March and early April of 2020, then began a slow decline. And I mean slow. It took roughly two years for the price of a case of nitrile gloves to come back down to where it is today - around $55 to $60 a case. Every year as the pandemic weakened, we lowered our prices as fast as we could. That's what a family-run business does. We're not trying to squeeze our customers. We're trying to build a relationship.
Refer a Friend, Get a Free Case of Gloves
Within the next week, we'll be launching a referral link on our website. Here's the deal: if you refer a friend or family member to GloveSaver and their order is over $200, you'll receive a $50 store credit or coupon code to use on your next order of latex, nitrile or vinyl gloves in the size of your choice — XS, S, M, L, XL, or XXL. Stay tuned for the email!
Stock Update and Our Promise to You
All glove sizes are in stock right now. But when - or if - we get notice from the supply chain, the day may come that some glove sizes and brands become less available, or there could be possible shipping delays. If that happens, don't panic like last time. We can still take your order and guarantee delivery, even if it means a delay of up to 30 days (knock on wood).
We're not saying there will be a 30-day delay this time around. But that was the reality during the pandemic - some customers waited a week, and others waited up to 30 days to receive their orders of masks or nitrile gloves.
Looking Ahead
If there's one thing our company learned from the COVID-19 days, it's that preparation and transparency matter more than anything. We are a small, family-run business, and our customers mean everything to us. We want to continue being your glove vendor for the next 20 years. Whatever challenges come our way, we've always seemed to come out on top - and we're not about to stop now.
When it comes to the best bang for your buck on bulk nitrile gloves, you already know where to find us - GloveSaver.com.
Toll Free: 1-888-277-9105
