What a thread Phil. I read it and talk about interesting. That thread was back in 2010 and they are still having problems! I think I might offer some insight into why this company does what it does. I used to work in a manufacturing plant before the economy crashed in 2008. They started practicing "lean manufacturing" which they learned from Toyota. What "lean manufacturing" means is that a company carries very little in stock because it costs them money. They want a supply truck to come in and unload. Everything on the truck is sorted and goes right back out the door as a sold product. You never keep any supplies on hand for a "rainy day". This way the inventory does not cost the company money. Now I know you are thinking "well they should have a ton of it if they are going to sell it". You are very much correct but the accountants subtract that inventory every month as "the cost of doing business". It is an accounting game. My statement to my company was " In a perfect world, this would work but this is not a perfect world. What happens when a truck is late and we are waiting on it?" Their answer was " it is more cost effective for us as a company to wait on the product. This will rarely happen as we schedule our trucks very close." Right- you believed that, because none of us did. Now I would say that their buyer has placed an order for a certain amount and the public has ordered more. Now where I worked, our buyer had a six week lead time. I bet it is the same with these guys. They order so much and if orders exceed supply, oh well you wait 6 plus weeks until the buyer can get it in the pipeline to be delivered. Now I am not saying this is a right way to do business. I am saying their buyer or buyers doesn't have a clue on how much to order when they place an order. Or maybe their company does not have a lot of money to work with. In any event I am willing to bet that is what is going on with this company. They are definitely not Midway thats for sure.
