* * * WARNING: rant follows. You DO know where your delete button is, right? * * *
Is this the new marketing trend? I keep getting messages from the big online book store, letting me know that books I may be interested in are available for pre-order. The first week of September I saw a quilt kit I thought was beautiful. After a couple of days of telling myself I didn’t need yet another project on the shelf, I caved and decided I really REALLY want it. So I went back to the website and saw that, not only was it a pre-order item, but the price had gone up by about $30. Well, that didn’t sit very well with me. It had only been a matter of about two or three days since I’d first considered it. So I went to the website of a major quilting fabric retailer and found it was there, as a pre-order item at the first price I had seen. So I ordered it. My heart’s desire became a gift to me. It was to be available mid-October. Perfect.
I also needed something to make for a baby friend, and found another quilt kit in a magazine and decided to order it online from the company who advertised it. Wow! It was on sale for half-price. My lucky day! So I ordered that on the same day as the first, but from this second company.
So forward to November 1. No packages arrived, so I called to find out why. The first company said that they were waiting on the manufacture for the pattern that goes into the kit. (Oh … please, take your time!) The second company said they were waiting on the manufacturer for the fabric that goes into the kit. (I do hope they’ve at least picked the cotton at this point, lest the baby be full grown by the time I make his crib quilt!)
It’s now past the midway point in November, and still my packages have not arrived. Yeah … I know … I could just cancel my orders to express my unhappiness with both of these companies. (Mind you, these are NOT small companies – they are the industry leaders. Otherwise, I’d be a bit more understanding, fully aware that stuff happens and things don’t always go the way it’s hoped.) I’ll try to wait it out, but trust me, I won’t be doing the pre-order thing again any time soon.
I recently read someone else’s rant about how the J-I-T method of managing inventory is not good for the economy. (It might have been on the Drudge Report.) I think they’ve now pushed the process even further. I’m opting out.
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