I hear ya IronRacer!
I'm thinking whats going on is that suppliers are taking advantage of the " not in stock because of Covid" excuse not to carry items in stock. Way less cost of carrying inventory if you take deposits on orders and just drop ship from the supplier/manufacturer or just ship when it arrives. Of course the customer will never see the savings , just more profit for the suppliers now that they know people are willing to wait for their items and put money down to do so.