Ist it Discont or Just Out of Stock??

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Paul N

Paul N

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
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17,354
Loc
CT, not far from the LI Sound
On this lovely spring day, I was placing an order for 30 ft of a certain frame.

The manufacturer just told me it is "out of stock" till end of August....
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When something is out of stock for over 4 months, does it really count as still in production and not (temporarily) discontinued??

The POS, LifeSaver, tracks when a moulding is discontinued or not. But obviously, the manufacturer in this case just kept it as is and we have to run around and call 2 customers and tell them to either wait 4.5 months (assuming it will be really ONLY that long) or come back and select other frames...
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I am really tempted to treat this as discontinued and throw away the sample.
 
Now that so many of our mouldings are made overseas, our suppliers have to place orders months, or maybe more than a year, in advance.

That kind of lead time makes it very difficult for suppliers to assure us that they will not run out of a particular moulding. And when they do, the next delivery of a shipping container may be months away. It's a crapshoot for our suppliers.

Domestic makers still have to plan production months in advance, but they do not have to deal with overseas shipping of finished goods, which adds even more precious months.
 
Sounds like something we used to go through with a certain moulding company 40% of the time. Anything backordered for over two weeks, we'd find something close-check stock-call the customer and inform them about the backorder-and give them replacement options or the option to wait.
With the particular company we had problems with, we discontinued their line several years ago because of the habitual backorders. Or at the very least threw out the backordered mouldings. Once we found that all the most popular sellers were b/o there was no longer any use for the company at all. Not to say that this is your problem.

What moulding do you need? Maybe someone here can help you with this order.
 
Welcome to Tge G THF!

I understand the stocking problems of importers.
That doesn't mean I can tolerate that kind of situation in MY business.

Any corner sample that is backordered more than a few weeks gets pulled from my wall. The customer gets called and I offer alternatives.

sample ONLY goes back up if a rep assures me it won't be a problem again.
 
Thanks for your offer THF and welcome to the Grumble.

I was able to find an exact replacement from another company that carries a similar frame, so we're good this time.

I agree with Cliff on this. No point in carrying / selling something the customer can't have.
 
Ditto Cliff. Its all about communication.

Heck one of my suppliers always says "Yea that will be in next week." The third week I finally joked "what is this a LaMarche moulding?" Guess what? It was!

We need better communication from our manufactures and suppliers. I'm not holding my breath!

The only part of our trade that communicates well with us, which I can think of, are publishers. They commonly send out updates of low and sold out inventory.

Carry on.
 
I am beginning to truly believe that we should have another function in any respectable Point of Sale system:

Attention: Item OUT OF STOCK till mm/dd/yyyy

This way we can tell the customer, on the spot, yes or no and let the customer decide whether to wait or select something else.

I wish there was a way we could submit a request like this - by hundreds of framers - to every supplier who uses the POS!.
 
On mine, that would be easily enough to do manually. But you still won't learn it until your sell the moulding and are told after the fact that you can't actually get it.
 
Evald Moulding, a regional distributor in Watertown Wisconsin that I frequently hold up as an example of superior customer service, works like this. (I don't understand why everyone doesn't work this way.)

When a moulding is out-of-stock, they sent out a note with your invoice or packing slip. (Not just the one you've just ordered, but ALL of the OOS, along with an estimate of arrival date.)

When a moulding is going to be discontinued, they send a note with a picture and/or the catalog page so you can find the sample and, at your own discretion, pull it. Love the moulding? They tell you how much is left in stock and offer a discounted chop or length price on whatever is left.

I've worked with vendors who will not even consider telling you that a moulding is discontinued until every last inch, at every single distribution center, has been sold. Then, the first indication is when you order it or you notice it's missing from the newest price list.
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:
the first indication is when you order it or you notice it's missing from the newest price list.
Click to expand...
Tell me about it!

Missing or gone up in price - am I expected to check through 8,000 ref nos to find out what is what, or just wait till I order/get the invoice?

At one time I had ONE supplier who would highlight mouldings with an increase in price and bracket discont'd stuff. Now it seems up to me to make comparisons.

So, if I have to go to this trouble, I will, while I am at it, make comparisons to other suppliers' service in these areas.

(Thing is, in UK just TWO suppliers pretty much have things to themselves)
 
Now Ron, that would be way too helpful to us, too logical and extremely beneficial to our customers and our peace of mind, if all vendors acted like the regional distributor in Watertown, Wisconsin!

If every one of us stopped using (trashed the sample) of any moulding from any manufacturer / distributor that neglected to tell us about the items that are out of stock for over 6 weeks, they would start acting nicely, wouldn't they??

I, as of this moment, will not carry that out of stock for 4.5 months sample anymore.

I don't want in a position where I have to call 2 different customers to make them either wait 5 months or come back and re-select a moulding due to whatever reason. Being of stock for extended periods is not and will not be my problem.

PS: Since someone asked: The manufacturer / distributor of the 4.5 months out of stock moudling is Decor, by the way.

The one who had a similar moulding in stock (and is rarely out of stock items) is Omega.

Survival of the fittest will always hold true.
 
Paul, would you share the moulding # so we all can be prepared if a customer orders it?
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I have a great Decor rep - what if we all call our reps and see if they could furnish us with a list of out of stocks? Or even post one weekly on their website? If we got one company to do it for us maybe the others would follow suit? Or is that just asking too much?
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Great idea Sue, but it would be easier if they also do it through the POS updates (every week, I update my moulding database in LifeSaver. The manufacturers send the updates to load the new or discontinued mouldings. They could easily do the same with the out of stock),

I will post the moulding number tomorrow, as I am home right now, it is a white 1 1/4 inch white moudling by Decor.
 
doesnt every vendor have a web site(I know they actually dont) couldnt/shouldnt this info be posted on same in some sort of timely manor?? AUGmenting that--what about instituting email alerts--we signup, they put us on the list, they have info, it gets sent--N O W, and we're all on the same page at the same time with the most current info. We arentreinventing the space shuttle program here----We have the techknowhow---lets USE IT!!!

assumes they would KNOW the actual status of their order(I recently had one that claimed to NOT know when/where their stuff would arrive--after @3mos wait)and would use their sit for this sort of VITAL info(some vendors have a web site---NOTHING behind it, only an empty website---what a WASTE!!!)
 
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