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Suppliers processing orders in a timely manner


TWvend

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   Tuesday I called SSM to order a display card for an older sticker machine , and also ordered 1 case of 2 inch. Small order.    SSM is 2350 miles away from me as I'm in Northeast PA .  A 36 hour 15 minute drive according to MapQuest. Today , Saturday , my small order arrived via FedEx.     IMO , that was awesome SSM !!!  No screwing around, and they must have processed my order as soon as we hung up the phones.

       On the other hand .............

     Before I made the call to SSM , I called a major supplier here on the east coast , ( I know this is an open forum but I still would rather not name the company as they are active on here and I don't like talking bad about companies by name ........... most of you will be able to figure out who I'm referring to ) I ordered 4 boxes of flat. I WAS made aware of a change in computer systems the previous day and the order may be delayed somewhat. This company is 125 miles from me, not 2350 ! A 2 1/4 hour drive which UPS has no problem getting to me the next day. I  have been ordering regularly from them the last several months , sometimes as early as 9:30 AM , and they rarely get the order shipped that day.   I cant understand why they think this is ok ?  They have nice product, my sales rep is friendly ,kind , & professional , but getting the orders out timely needs some attention.

  This order still HAS NOT arrived.

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Larger corporations have channels they have to go through. The order will go through many hands and will be filled in order it was received. They serve countries all over.

Ssm, tnt, and similar are smaller company's and respond quicker because their not as big.

Just like some vending companies, some will service right away, bigger ones (not all) will take longer because they don't have time.

It's no different work any industry. I primarily use TNT because of the service. I think eveveryone including myself is to impatient.

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After 20 years, stopped doing business with A&A, dont like the way they do business and how they treated me , especially Chris Miller,

 

And I have the opposite experience...I didn't do much with A&A until I got Chris as sales rep.

 

Each to his own...and I suspect Chris was not too happy with how he and his customers ended up being treated this past week from the attempted change to the new computer system. But being an ex-marine, he has survived many FUBAR's before and will this one, too.

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i have chris also as a sales rep and he is by far the worst i have ever had. Takes him two days at the least to answer me back, and i ordered last Wednesday and still hasnt shipped yet. ALWAYS take about 9-12 days to get my orders from AA. If i didnt need parts for machines most the time with my orders i would go with someone else.

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I think eveveryone including myself is to impatient.

Bingo!

I'm old enough to remember the old standard shipping times when you bought anything that had to be shipped. It was always "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery, 8-12 weeks for deliveries from California".

I can't imagine how that would go over today. [emoji2]

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Bingo!

I'm old enough to remember the old standard shipping times when you bought anything that had to be shipped. It was always "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery, 8-12 weeks for deliveries from California".

I can't imagine how that would go over today. [emoji2]

Yeah, I'm surprised to get anything in less than a week, except TNT. They're in California and I almost always get it 2 days after I order.

On bigger company's their probably trying to use a system like lean manufacturing.

I know the machine manufacturers are.

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I am surprised so many have issues with A&A shipping times.  I am in Texas and usually get my shipments (via freight on a pallet) with in a week.  Sometimes I am told that certain items are out being capped and assuming I am not too bad off I tell them to hold and ship everything together.

 

A&A isn't my favorite supplier by any means but shipping time hasn't been an issue.

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I am surprised so many have issues with A&A shipping times. I am in Texas and usually get my shipments (via freight on a pallet) with in a week. Sometimes I am told that certain items are out being capped and assuming I am not too bad off I tell them to hold and ship everything together.

A&A isn't my favorite supplier by any means but shipping time hasn't been an issue.

From my understanding, most feel a week is to long! Lol

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i have chris also as a sales rep and he is by far the worst i have ever had. Takes him two days at the least to answer me back, and i ordered last Wednesday and still hasnt shipped yet. ALWAYS take about 9-12 days to get my orders from AA. If i didnt need parts for machines most the time with my orders i would go with someone else.

Ask to speak to a manager and let them know you want to switch reps. I did and have been happy working with Ann. She's good at follow up making sure you get invoices emailed and will call you back if there is ever any issues.

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Respectfully , every company should have enough help to process orders in a timely manner , plain and simple . This only hurts themselves , shame they don't realize it.  Too bad some of you younger guys weren't around 25 years ago, the companies BEGGED you to buy, and the sales rep would have delivered the order himself in his personal car if needed.  I don't expect that, but I also don't expect a small order to go unprocessed 4 business days.

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I was around 25 years ago (and a lot longer than that) I don't recall anyone begging for business.

I do recall waiting on back orders of Homies, power beads, blinky rings and a lot of ither items up to four months. I remember s lot of guys that did a great job Henry Shorr, John Adams, Neil Clark, they didn't have computers and routine orders did take a week or two to get. Coast to coast truck orders were three weeks.

Our instant gratification consumerism has given people a clueless aura of unrealistic expectations.

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service, quality, price. bad companies will deliver one of those. good companies can deliver two. it is almost impossible to deliver all 3 because there is a trade-off between price and the other two.

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Thing is times have changed as has technolgy so we've adjusted our expectations. Look at how efficient Amazon and UPS are now. I can place an order on Amazon and it will be here tomarrow by noon but A&A can return a call for days?
And Its all going to get much faster.  
At some point we will supply ourselves. No more China and waiting on containers and product from suppliers.  
3d printing. Prices are already coming down on printers and raw material. I can design a figure from a sketch and photoshop, Have a prototype in 3-10 days and thats now. What will it be like in two years.
this is how its done
http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/easy-3d-modeling-for-3d-printing-tutorial-for-beginners
look at what people are making
http://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/?li=nav-tab
someday we will also make machine components as well as toys

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Time is the main factor

An Injection molder can make dozens of toys in seconds

3d printer at that speed would have either poor resolution or the print head would have To move at hundreds of miles an hour

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Lol no you don't be printing parts and toys. your present customers won't either. A few with money will print toys and whatever. Your present customers won't be buying anything they will be unemployeed

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I agree, it seems like aa needs to change their corporate culture.. aa size is no excuse for slow processing. for example, I can place an order with Rhode Island novelty (huge company) before 2 p.m. and it ships that day. yesterday I placed a 6 pallet order and it shipped out that day. my sales rep emailed me a tracking number with ETA. by 5 p.m. if I order one or two cases from Rhode Island novelty before 3 p.m. it will be at my warehouse by 10 a.m. the next morning.. as soon as the item is scanned, I get an email with tracking information.

I think that the biggest frustration for vendors is:

we do not make money sitting at the warehouse, or at home. We need to be pounding the pavement. how can you plan your week if you don't know when a shipment will be landing? you would think that suppliers to this industry would have figured that out by now!

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I just placed an order through AA and they told me upfront that orders were a bit delayed right now because they've switched to a new computer system that everybody is having problems getting used to.    But like a couple of people have said, it's been a day and still no order confirmation email.

Hopefully this is just temporary.

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