Allen Hughes
10-17-2002, 12:14 AM
OK, Guys - This post is designed as an answer to a question I get more times in a day than you can imagine - When are more Finisher Blinds getting here??? Hopefully, this will fill you in on the status of any back ordered blinds. Be patient - they are almost here and the reward will be worth the wait.
If you have no clue what I am talking about then here is a brief overview. We have had an absolutely wild demand (more than triple the amount of expected orders) for the Finishers this year and have gotten way behind in our delivery.
In order to deliver the best blind for the price, we produce the blinds overseas. This is not a shot at American labor but a statement of reality. By dealing with several factories for months we were able to nail down a great blind at a super price. The result was that this year we were able to pass the huge savings on to the consumer. Compare any catalog from last year to one from this year and you will see what I mean!
As with the most basic economic formulas - the price drops, demand goes up. We were prepared for that but not really to the degree that it happened. In this industry, dealers give us "pre-book" orders in the spring for fall delivery. Orders came in well through the first half of the year but, literally, exploded toward the end of July and the first of August.
When I noticed the trend, Tom and Freddie were in China. They had been updating the Finisher design and finalizing the Power Hunter for several months. We ramped up production to meet the demand, but like most things in China, it took longer than anticipated. We were shipping as fast as we could, but could not keep up with the high demand. In order to keep customers happy we even made several air shipments of blinds to satisfy demand. If you think it cost an arm and a leg to air ship something in the US, try hundreds of Finishers from China to Memphis!! We did what was necessary to take care of all of our dealers based on the date of their pre-booked orders.
Tom extended his trip to China (which ended up lasting 5 months!) to make sure the shipments were going well. We knew we were getting late and were doing everything we could to keep up with the demand. He shipped several containers of blinds and tons of other products out and then it happened - the Dockworker's Labor dispute came to a head and a strike/lockout occurred on the West Coast Ports.
The labor difficulties stemmed from the fact that the Port managers wanted to update the technology of the import system and the unions feared that it would cost them jobs. The port managers wanted to install - basically - bar codes. Imagine if the grocery business had not embraced scanners at the checkout line and had demanded to stick with manual cash registers! How long would you have to stand in line?? Currently, the Hong Kong terminals - using technology that has been available for years - can move 3-4 times the number of containers per acre than HUGE ports such as LA can. The Union for the dock workers does not want to lose clerical jobs to technology. It is a huge story that has been, in my humble opinion, totally overshadowed by other tragic events in our country. It will affect the economy MUCH more than people realize.
Once the labor unrest began, HUNDREDS of ships carrying this nation’s products were sitting idle in the West Coast harbors.
Thankfully, President Bush forced the dockworker’s back to work but, as you can imagine, things are off to a slow start. The workers are operating at a disdainful pace and it is taking forever to get containers from the West Coast.
Bottom line is that we have 3 containers of Finisher blinds, Power Hunter blinds and Finisher Dog blinds sitting in the LA Harbor waiting to be off loaded and sent to us.
I received word today that they should be in Memphis by next week. We will immediately ship ALL of the Finishers on the containers but will have some Power Hunter blinds available.
Sorry for the long update, but the simple fact is that we shipped a little late and the labor strike by the West Coast Dock Workers put us another 3 weeks behind.
We should have blinds VERY soon so be patient and do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions, comments or need any further information.
Thanks,
Allen Hughes
Avery
If you have no clue what I am talking about then here is a brief overview. We have had an absolutely wild demand (more than triple the amount of expected orders) for the Finishers this year and have gotten way behind in our delivery.
In order to deliver the best blind for the price, we produce the blinds overseas. This is not a shot at American labor but a statement of reality. By dealing with several factories for months we were able to nail down a great blind at a super price. The result was that this year we were able to pass the huge savings on to the consumer. Compare any catalog from last year to one from this year and you will see what I mean!
As with the most basic economic formulas - the price drops, demand goes up. We were prepared for that but not really to the degree that it happened. In this industry, dealers give us "pre-book" orders in the spring for fall delivery. Orders came in well through the first half of the year but, literally, exploded toward the end of July and the first of August.
When I noticed the trend, Tom and Freddie were in China. They had been updating the Finisher design and finalizing the Power Hunter for several months. We ramped up production to meet the demand, but like most things in China, it took longer than anticipated. We were shipping as fast as we could, but could not keep up with the high demand. In order to keep customers happy we even made several air shipments of blinds to satisfy demand. If you think it cost an arm and a leg to air ship something in the US, try hundreds of Finishers from China to Memphis!! We did what was necessary to take care of all of our dealers based on the date of their pre-booked orders.
Tom extended his trip to China (which ended up lasting 5 months!) to make sure the shipments were going well. We knew we were getting late and were doing everything we could to keep up with the demand. He shipped several containers of blinds and tons of other products out and then it happened - the Dockworker's Labor dispute came to a head and a strike/lockout occurred on the West Coast Ports.
The labor difficulties stemmed from the fact that the Port managers wanted to update the technology of the import system and the unions feared that it would cost them jobs. The port managers wanted to install - basically - bar codes. Imagine if the grocery business had not embraced scanners at the checkout line and had demanded to stick with manual cash registers! How long would you have to stand in line?? Currently, the Hong Kong terminals - using technology that has been available for years - can move 3-4 times the number of containers per acre than HUGE ports such as LA can. The Union for the dock workers does not want to lose clerical jobs to technology. It is a huge story that has been, in my humble opinion, totally overshadowed by other tragic events in our country. It will affect the economy MUCH more than people realize.
Once the labor unrest began, HUNDREDS of ships carrying this nation’s products were sitting idle in the West Coast harbors.
Thankfully, President Bush forced the dockworker’s back to work but, as you can imagine, things are off to a slow start. The workers are operating at a disdainful pace and it is taking forever to get containers from the West Coast.
Bottom line is that we have 3 containers of Finisher blinds, Power Hunter blinds and Finisher Dog blinds sitting in the LA Harbor waiting to be off loaded and sent to us.
I received word today that they should be in Memphis by next week. We will immediately ship ALL of the Finishers on the containers but will have some Power Hunter blinds available.
Sorry for the long update, but the simple fact is that we shipped a little late and the labor strike by the West Coast Dock Workers put us another 3 weeks behind.
We should have blinds VERY soon so be patient and do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions, comments or need any further information.
Thanks,
Allen Hughes
Avery