Shopsmith back orders

[rdewinter]

My wife ordered 3 items in the early part of December as Christmas presents. I received one of the items in time with the other 2 on back order. And today they still haven't been received. Nothing too exotic just a featherboard package and a marking gauge, both part of the holiday catalog. Is SS in trouble? Really odd to have promo items on backorder this long.

[Bruce]

There have been discussions on this before. You can use the search function if you would like to read up on it. Basically, the way I understand it, Shopsmith like many smaller companies keep there inventory low to keep costs down. When they have a sale they often don't have the inventory in stock to fill all of the orders. When that happens, it gets back-ordered until they can replenish their stock. As for them being in trouble, they have downsized quite a bit, but according to what I've heard they are surviving and learning new ways to get the word out about their great products, such as the Sawdust Sessions.

[Nick]

We are extremely concerned about the backorder situation here, folks. Believe me, it bothers us as much (or more) than it bothers you. We are both proud and protective of our customer service reputation and we are working extremely hard not to have it tarnished by having oversold some items.

Bruce is correct; we practice "just-in-time" manufacturing here to control inventory. But that isn't the whole story. It's complicated by the fact that when we were a larger company and could place large orders with our suppliers, we got them faster. Nowadays, we' re a smaller fish in the manufacturing pond and orders are smaller. Some of our suppliers, especially larger ones (like the companies that supply the featherboards and marking gauges) don't treat us with the deference they once did. Like all businesses everywhere, they fill thir largest orders first and the smallest orders when they can get around to it. This plays havoc with our "just-in-time" schedule and makes it more difficult to find the balance point we need to maintain good customer relations without investing a fortune we don't have in inventory.

As I have said before in other threads, new marketing efforts are working and numbers indicate we're pointed in the right direction. My guess is that we will remain the only American manufacturer of stationary power tools that actually manufactures its tools in America for a good long while yet. Unfortunately, the hole we're in took a long time to dig and it's likely to take a while longer to dig our way out. We appreciate your loyalty and patience more than we can say.

With all good wishes,

[johnmccrossen]

I understand the back order situation for items that must be manufactured to SS design and tend to be sold in bunches like at academy classes. I don't fully understand the issues with commonly available accessories (in my case, 2 1/2 months and counting for a face shield). I could have cancelled the order and purchased at local hardware, woodworking, safety suppy store, or etc. but since I ordered from SS, I want to wait it out. I do hope that SS has some penalty clauses in their purchasing agreements for promised delivery date failures with the suppliers.

[8iowa]

It appears to me that the Holiday sale has been very successful. Possibly exceeding Shopsmith's inventory forcasts.

I also encountered a similar situation at the Woodcraft store in Jacksonville just befor Christmas. They were out of all their advertised "specials". In fact the store had the general appearance of being low on inventory.

There must have been a lot of happy woodworkers Christmas morning.

[johnmccrossen]

I am just curious about how others are doing with back orders. I still am waiting for a face shield ordered in mid October. Customer service can't get an answer about a possible delivery date. Any suggestions about other possible contacts at Shopsmith?

[nuhobby]

I too have been waiting a long time for a face-shield and hearing-protector back-order. These must fall in the category mentioned by Nick above, a large outside manufacturer.

Everything else I ordered has come here fine. The longest other delay was about 3 weeks for the new Jointer around the Thanksgiving rush; perhaps the jointer was slowed down by the featherboard component of it or something?

Best Regards,

[chettrick]

I ordered the 3-way handle for the drill press option awhile back, it showed up yesterday. Got an email a few days ago and then there it was, almost forgot about it.

[mcraven210]

I have had a strip sander on order since the end of November. I emailed customer service a couple of weeks ago and was told the parts will be in on or about February 14th. They also called and left me a message that said February 20th. I ordered the sharping attachment that goes with it a couple of weeks ago it is also on back order. I hope this will not take 3 months also.

Mike

[lamalu]

Nick, I appreciate your response to this post. I bought my shopsmith used and found it was missing upper and lower saw guards. Everytime I walk by I feel sad and frustrated because I have this awesome machine that I'm afraid to use because the guards are on backorder. I suppose I could skip the table saw section of the tutorial and come back to it later but I'm too anal. I mean there has to be a reason the book is set up the way it is right? Would I be missing some crucial info if I skipped around in the instruction book?