I see one of the biggest problems affecting product availablility being money and profit. When we buy from the "best priced" internet or ebay vendor, we are shooting ourselves in the foot for product availability.

As an example, I had a business associate that used to sell a particular turbocharger for $995 + freight all day long. His cost was $425 + freight. On his shelves, he usually had 25-50 of these turbos in the warehouse at any given time....product would always ship the same day as the order. Then along came the internet.... Retail price plummeted to $525 DELIVERED. He was now competing with someone selling parts part time who really did not care about making much on the turbos... heck, it was just cool spending money. The individual had NO overhead and NO inventory. He would order one at a time from the manufacturer as the orders came in.

You kind of know the rest. He, as well as most brick and mortar dealers quit putting inventory on the shelf. What was the point? My friend stopped shelving those turbos since it was not worth tying up $20,000+ of his cash to make a few hundred bucks.

All of these dealers and warehouses in the past served as buffers for the manufacturer. It really wouldn't matter if the manufacturer couldn't keep up with the demand during the busy time since all the warehouses and dealers had plenty on the shelf from the slow time of the year. They didn't mind carrying the extra inventory since they could still have good cash flow.

Just my take on this... kind of reminds me of going to Wal-Mart and then asking for someone knowledgeable to help you out... but they are the low price leader right?

 

Well all get frustrated dude. I had my jk on order for what seemed like forever and finally got it in october. Ive ordered a roof rack that took over a year to get. You know why i waited, well because mfgs. advertise their products before they are released or in full production. Many mfgs will not release a product until its tried and true that it will hold up in an offroad environment. I honestly do not know if the sliders you ordered are made here, by them in their own factory or if they outsource their laser cutting. If the do outsource their laser cutting, sometimes a final product date is almost near impossible to obtain since they have to rely on the third party getting them their parts in time.

My question for you is: Would you have posted something if the product shipped out quickly and you were very satisfied?

Ive just noticed a lot of people will only post about their bad experiences and never the good ones.

And if you ever man up and do some real wheelin come out and run wrecking ball or the hammers. sept 28-30

 

 

When I ordered my Shrockworks rock rails I didn't ask for an estimated delivery date. The only thing that got my attention was a month later when several folks who ordered after me commented on receiving and installing theirs, while I had to wait several more weeks for mine. I think that was partly because at least one of those folks commented on JK-Forum about the wait (squeaky wheel phenomenon), and at least one other had a different finish (apparently powdercoating on mine slowed things down).

Anyway, I didn't mind the wait and my rock rails finally did arrive and they were certainly worth it. I'm also an amateur astronomer, and in that field the wait for highly coveted, top-of-the line gear can be ridiculous. I don't know the current status, but a few years ago there was a two year wait list to be allowed to just make a deposit on one particular brand of telescope. Then, after making a 50% deposit, the purchaser had another two year wait for product delivery. Folks put up with that because the product suits their needs. I decided to order a different mfg's product, with only a six month wait.

Bottom line: Mfg's, even small custom shops, need to state reasonably accurate delivery dates. And I do question why a mfg won't accept a deposit that will fully cover their risk should the order be canceled. After all, if there is that much of a wait for their products, certainly they can sell it off pretty quickly!

 

Actually, you're just showing your ignorance of manufacturing. Granted capacity isn't the only factor and I'm oversimplifying, because supplier constraints are also an issue. But, my point is that demand is not fixed, and they have to decide how to deal with the fluctuation. That all being said I really don't see how their demand would soften that much provided they continue to put out a quality product. So then you have the issue of increasing capacity. It's not just as simple as putting an ad out there for a job. You need to find someone good and train them very well to be able to maintain the quality that we all expect. That takes time.

You have to understand that it's not in their best interests to have backlogged orders. Even though they have your money it still breeds ill will.

 

SoCalRubi,

I would advise you to get your money back and buy your rockrails from a reputable company like Warn that can meet production deadlines and ship their product in a timely fashion. Outfits like Jeeperman and Shockworks look like they are small operations that are unwilling to ramp up production based on demand. Take your business elsewere. Warn stuff is bulletproof and is the original player.

Zylfrax791

 

Please God, Make Them Stop!

 

I understand your frustration with the order process across the board on parts. That said you want to customize your first production run vehicle you got to wait till they can make stuff for it. Hell up to a couple of months ago some mfgs never had a chance to look at or measure out things on the JK. Some tried to go with what DC/Jeep may have told them and parts were made wrong. It is a new year model new vehicle design and DC's fault for changing things and making 4 door wranglers if you must blame someone. I mean there is plenty of stuff for vehicles up to 06 and it is in stock right?

Dude I take issue with this. By your assumption I should go out and expand every time I get swamped with orders and hve trouble keeping up. Okay Let's say I do that and hire a few trained people while I am at it to meet immediate demand. Things go great and I meet demand. Sooner or later the demand will not be as much because all the new buisness will be over because everyone that wants one will have one. Then I will have idle equipment and employees getting paid for nothing and I will go bankrupt.
I just went through this in my buisness. I am used to orders of 5 or 10 of my product I manufacture and sell myself. I just got done with an order of several thousand each style three styles. It took me a while to complete them and I shipped in several batches. Keep in mind I also served my regular amount of customers in between. I had one hell of a hard time keeping up and spent a lot of time sleepless and tired as did my crew. (the wife and kids) Now things are back to normal and I am actually slower than I was before this boom in buisness. This is good for me with other stuff going on but think if I had expanded what would be going on? Now this is a small time deal over a few weeks but equate the same thing on a larger more long term scale and it is the same deal. JK's are a first run this year. In a few years they will have stuff in stock that ships as ordered. Or at least in the custom world more time to make yours when ordered rather than create a list and first come first served number 26947. " Now serving one. One please report to the front desk. Now serving one."

BTW take Macro Econ and Micro Econ and shove it up your butt. Neither mean Jack Stuff and while a good guideline the buisness market reality is much more fluid than when it is written out in black and white. You only can truely learn it by doing it. The classes are just to get a piece of paper so you can get a job because they need the paper as a proof of commitment nothing more. I mean you put in 4 years minimum to graduate you must be willing to give at least that many to something that pays off so the chances of you working and staying are better than Jow Blow 4 years out of High School. I also got straight A's in both Econs and Buisness Management as well as a high B in Buisness Law before I switched gears and became a teacher. GPA 3.23 (damn history and english requirements). I was 1360 on the SAT no prep no desire to even take it. I did it to shut my mom up. I was out past 2:00am with a 9:00am start time and still was done with time to sleep.

 

I am locking this thread until the admin can sort this out....