What's Going On with Shipping and Stock?

tcurtis

Junior Member
Earlier this month, after not being able to find a 20" PS3 at 4 different local music stores, I made an order with an online retailer. I decided to call them today to get an ETA on the head and they told me likely the end of October!

I've been noticing a trend for the past year and a half of products running out in stores and back orders pilling up. I started noticing it with more esoteric orders (mallets, odd percussion), but I'm seeing it now with drummer "consumables" (sticks, heads, etc). I'm in Canada, Ontario and I know that a lot of our products are shipped from the the U.S. Is anyone else (other parts of the world) seeing this too?

I'm wondering if this is a symptom of what was discussed a few weeks ago in a thread about "ma & pa" shops closing down? Maybe just the changing economics?
 
Maybe the ongoing re-negotiations of NAFTA will change that, and make it worse.
But seriously, any purchase I've ever made through eBay to a US drum supplier was pretty quick, just the mail system delay.
 
I am in Canada as well, and I never have this problem ordering from my local drum shop.

Cowbell, mallets, heads, all within 2 weeks.

Do I pay 2$ more an item ? Maybe, I didn't check.

I guess it depends how you value time.
 
I am in Canada as well, and I never have this problem ordering from my local drum shop.

Cowbell, mallets, heads, all within 2 weeks.

Do I pay 2$ more an item ? Maybe, I didn't check.

I guess it depends how you value time.

I neglected to point out that the local stores gave me the same October ETA. It was explained to me that most stores in Canada all use the same supplier (the name escapes me at the moment).
 
I've noticed this at (U.S.)MF too: out of stock on various drum kits, heads, even Aquarian super kick IIs, of all things!
 
Try Amazon. They normally have the quantity on hand showing and to my experience are pretty accurate.
 
MF, GS will sell you stuff 'out of stock', you need to ask. After getting the sales persons name (and writing it down) your next essential question is "Are all the items in stock?" They have to tell you. Then... at some later point in transaction, ask again (always ask twice), many times I've heard them click a few more buttons and correct with "Yes", or "No" their computer can get updated in the space of your order with some type of useful info.
 
Just about everything mid to high end set is out of stock with ridiculous back order dates on most large retailer sites. I even came accross a Tama Starclassic set at GC that says will be available 10/2015! I'm assuming the date hasn't arrived yet? I don't see the point of advertising stuff, unless it's in stock, but that's becoming more rare. They may be collecting orders to get a quantity discount? Who knows, but it's super annoying!
 
Gretsch has gotten really bad about this. 3+ month wait on American made items seems to be the norm with them. This may be a case of JIT , "Just In Time", manufacturing. Basically the manufacturer doesn't keep as much back stock to save on cost. When the demand goes high enough they spin up the shop and spew out a few. Normally I expect a certain wait for items made overseas but 3 months for something that's manufactured in South Carolina?
 
3 months for something that's manufactured in South Carolina?
They have about 50 different finishes, 50 different sizes, and three lines. Do the math. You really expect them to have all that in stock? Get real.
 
6 months for US Customs here.

I dunno. I waited almost 3 years for one guitar amp and 5 years for another.

Sounds good to me.
 
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