How do you sell something you don't have?

[coldje]

I know that some of you are going to go "duh," but I'm disappointed in Shopsmith.

I called Orders today to find that my order from two weeks ago has not gone out the door because they are waiting for their stock to be replenished.
Hey Shopsmith, it's 2021 and there's something called Operations Management. You order from your supplier automatically when you reach your safety stock amount on that item. If there are delays because of materials availability, or COVID, or whatever, your supplier updates that fact via a shared cloud-based database nearly automatically. In ALL cases, your web-based catalog is updated instantly when you are out of stock (OOS) and you do not sell something you don't have because it's against the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). These are JIT and Kanban strategies developed decades ago.

Are my expectations really out of line?

[edma194]

Are my expectations really out of line?

Depends on what you ordered.

[dusty]

I know that some of you are going to go "duh," but I'm disappointed in Shopsmith.

I called Orders today to find that my order from two weeks ago has not gone out the door because they are waiting for their stock to be replenished.
Hey Shopsmith, it's 2021 and there's something called Operations Management. You order from your supplier automatically when you reach your safety stock amount on that item. If there are delays because of materials availability, or COVID, or whatever, your supplier updates that fact via a shared cloud-based database nearly automatically. In ALL cases, your web-based catalog is updated instantly when you are out of stock (OOS) and you do not sell something you don't have because it's against the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). These are JIT and Kanban strategies developed decades ago.

Are my expectations really out of line?

Yes

[twistsol]

Are my expectations really out of line?

For a company that has modernized their systems in the last 20 years or so, your expectations are not out of line. Modernization can cost anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

At the very least, any company should know what they have on hand to sell and an average lead time when it is not in stock. The challenges of Covid should affect the latter, but not the former.

[RFGuy]

Keep in mind that I believe Shopsmith, for certain items, takes orders to kind of gauge interest from customers before starting production. I have no evidence of this, but just based on feedback that I received from customer service on my previous orders. For example, I ordered the extension table brackets (#555997) couple of years ago. They had been out on the market for a bit, but were still a fairly new product. Products like this are not manufactured by Shopsmith, but by a subcontractor to them, I believe. So, they wait and accumulate a certain number of orders before they place an order to their subcontractor. Very few companies want to carry inventory anymore, so it isn't as simple as clicking add to cart, place order and waiting for shipment to arrive. You have to add in the production lead time as well. IF I am right, certain Shopsmith products are manufactured at subcontractors so this can add significant delay for production.

[JPG]

Then there is the added 'detail' of sporadic 'demand'.

[algale]

They took an order but didn't sell you anything because they didn't charge your credit card (at least that's their past practice). So no UCC issue.

That said, I do think Shopsmith might make a few less angry customers if they were clearer about what is in stock and what isn't at the time you go to place the order.

[jsburger]

Please correct me if I am wrong. JIT originally applied to MANUFACTURING not delivery to retail customers. If JIT applied to customer delivery you should never have to wait for a shipment. JIT is a stupid concept. There has to be some kind of anticipation in the company's policy. Of course, if you don't care about your costumers then you can just be out of stock all the time and let them wait.

[Hobbyman2]

Its a just in time kind of world . years ago there was a saying in the transportation industry , If they want it now they will really want it in a week / month or so .

[Ed in Tampa]

Inventory is expensive and a taxable resource! Shopsmith was and may still be cash short. Subcontractors do not want to gear up to manufacture one up parts. Most demand a minimum number before they will gear up to manufacture them. So Shopsmith has two choices, collect orders until they have enough sold that reach that minimum level or order a minimum order and have costly inventory sitting around. The fact that Shopsmith does not charge you for backordered products show Shopsmith is trying to juggle the situation as best they can.
If you do not like this situation you are free to cancel the backorder and go elsewhere, oh nobody else has that product? That might explain the situation, it is not a big money maker. Frankly wood working products have a very limited consumer base and that base is growing smaller and smaller daily.