Quote:
Originally Posted by mike in tucson
A couple of years ago, a group of us stopped at Drake's parts outfit in Grant's Pass, OR. Mr Drake was very cordial and showed us around the place. He openly discussed the backorder problem.... for instance, he contracted to have tooling done for a particular fender. The stamping house required a lot size of 500 fenders so he ordered 500, not knowing if they would all sell or not. For that part, the 500 eventually sold but the guy that ordered #501 didnt get a fender. Since Mr. Drake had to order a second batch of 500 to fulfill that one fender order, he had to wait until the quantity got to a point where it was cost effective to order 500. Not his fault.
He obviously was a very dedicated person but economics played a large part in his operation. He also showed us new parts he was developing. One was a hood ornament for a 19xx Ford. He had three samples, all three were slightly different. How could he duplicate an ornament that would satisfy everyone? Even the mounting stud patterns were different; Ford used three suppliers and made them fit at the factory.
I will never bad mouth his business after that visit. I dont envy him.
Mike
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A
backorder is a retailer's request to a supplier or wholesaler for additional stock of a sold-out item to satisfy an outstanding customer
order. If the old Ford supplier is merely waiting-around to see if demand continues for a sold-out part before re-ordering, that ain't a "back order". Telling the customer that something is on "back-order" implies that the parts HAVE BEEN RE-ORDERED and that we are awaiting their IMMENENT ARRIVAL!!! The customer is expected to wait patiently for a part that the vendor KNOWS is never going to happen! DD