Founder Data ReportFor a Third of the Smallest Firms, Supplier Delays Do Not Apply. For the Rest, They Are Twice as Common.
You can’t afford to risk your business without a Sidekick at your side.
Census asks whether supplier delivery times changed. The smallest firms answer “not applicable” more than twice as often as mid-sized ones — and among those the question does apply to, they report lengthening waits about twice as often as the largest firms.
Census asks every business whether the time it takes to receive deliveries from suppliers changed in the last two weeks, and offers “not applicable” as an answer. 35.8% of firms with 1–4 employees take it — against 15.3% at 20-49 employees. Among the firms the question does apply to, 10.3% of the smallest saw delivery times lengthen, against 5.2% of firms with 250 or more — 2.0 times as many. Looking six months ahead, the same gap holds: 13.0% against 8.0%.
- 35.8% of firms with 1–4 employees say supplier delivery times are not applicable to them.
- That share is lowest in the middle of the size range (15.3% at 20-49 employees) and rises again to 27.6% at 250+. It is not a straight line.
- On the base of firms the question does apply to, 10.3% of the smallest saw waits lengthen against 5.2% of the largest — 2.0x.
- Among the smallest firms, 1.6 times as many saw waits lengthen as saw them shorten.
- Six-month expectations run the same way: 13.0% of the smallest expect longer waits against 8.0% of the largest.
First, the answer most people skip
Supply-chain questions usually get reported as if every business has a supply chain. This one does not assume that. It offers “not applicable,” and the share of businesses that take it is the first real finding.
35.8% of firms with 1–4 employees answer “not applicable” to whether supplier delivery times changed. The share drops through the middle of the size range to 15.3% at 20-49 employees, then climbs again to 27.6% at 250 or more. That is a U, not a slope, and the survey does not say why either end is high — so the honest statement is the shape itself. What it means practically is that any figure quoted for “small business supply chains” is describing about two-thirds of the smallest firms, not all of them.
Highest at the smallest firms, lowest at 20-49 employees, and higher again at 250+. The orange bar is the smallest size class; the rest are neutral.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), response estimates by employment size class, question 8, cycle collected August 24 – September 6, 2026.
For the firms it does apply to, the wait is getting longer more often
Comparing raw shares across size classes would be misleading here, because a bigger “not applicable” share mechanically shrinks every other answer. So the comparison below is on the applicable base only — each size class’s answers rescaled to the firms that actually answered the question.
On that base, 10.3% of firms with 1–4 employees saw supplier delivery times lengthen in the reference fortnight, against 5.2% of firms with 250 or more — 2.0 times as many. And it is not offset by good news at the other end: among the smallest firms, 10.3% saw waits lengthen while 6.4% saw them shorten, a ratio of 1.6 to 1.
Each size class rescaled to exclude its own “not applicable” answers, so the classes are comparable. The three smallest classes are close together (10.3%, 10.8% and 10.5%) and the series declines from 20–49 employees upward; the orange bar is the 1–4 class, not the peak.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), response estimates by employment size class, question 8, cycle collected August 24 – September 6, 2026. Shares computed on the applicable base (100% minus each class’s “not applicable” share).
They expect more of it, not less
The survey asks the same question about six months from now. The smallest firms do not expect relief: 13.0% expect delivery times to lengthen, against 8.0% of the largest — 1.6 times as many, on the same applicable-base calculation. The size gap in expectations is narrower than the gap in what they just lived through (1.6x against 2.0x), but it runs in the same direction.
Both bars are on each size class’s applicable base. Bar lengths are scaled to the same axis across all three rows so the rows can be read against each other.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), response estimates by employment size class, questions 8 and 19, cycle collected August 24 – September 6, 2026.
A big company treats a late delivery as a variance. At four people, it is the week.
What to do with this
The practical point is not that small firms have worse suppliers. It is that the same delay lands differently. A large firm carries buffer stock, second-source agreements and someone whose job is to chase a purchase order. At four people, none of those exist as separate functions, so a lengthening wait converts straight into the owner’s time and the customer’s patience.
Two things follow. First, if supplier lead times are part of your business at all, you are in the roughly two-thirds of firms your size for which this is a live risk, and you are in the group reporting it worsening about twice as often as the biggest firms. Second, your own expectations are already priced that way — 13.0% of firms your size expect the wait to get longer, not shorter. A plan built on deliveries arriving faster is arguing with your own forecast.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), response estimates by employment size class, questions 8 and 19, cycle collected August 24 – September 6, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do small businesses face longer supplier delays than large ones?
The Census Business Trends and Outlook Survey does not measure the length of a delay, only whether delivery times changed. On that measure, among firms the question applies to, 10.3% of businesses with 1–4 employees reported delivery times lengthening in the reference fortnight, against 5.2% of businesses with 250 or more — about 2.0 times as many.
Why exclude the “not applicable” answers?
Because the share taking that answer varies a lot by size — 35.8% at 1–4 employees against 15.3% at 20-49 — and a larger “not applicable” share mechanically shrinks every other answer for that class. Comparing raw shares would make the smallest firms look less affected purely because more of them are out of scope.
What share of small businesses have no supplier delivery times to speak of?
35.8% of firms with 1–4 employees answered “not applicable.” That is not quite the same as having no suppliers — the question is specifically about the time taken to receive deliveries, which a service business may reasonably treat as irrelevant. The survey does not ask respondents to explain the answer.
Are supplier delays expected to improve?
Not by the smallest firms. Asked about six months ahead, 13.0% of firms with 1–4 employees expected delivery times to lengthen and 6.7% expected them to shorten, on the applicable base. At 250+ employees, 8.0% expected lengthening.
How current is this data?
It is the 78th fortnightly cycle of the survey, collected August 24 to September 6, 2026, with a reference period of August 10 to 23, 2026. The source file was last updated by Census on September 9, 2026. Note that the survey's cycles from October 1 to November 13, 2025 were affected by a lapse in federal funding, which Census flags in the published file.
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This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional financial or legal advice.