Frustration
Way back in March I ordered 3 rolls of trampoline material and have been waiting for delivery ever since. There has been numerous delays for various reasons with the main one being allocated space with the current orders. The material is not small and 3 rolls would be at least using one third of a container on it's own.
Each roll is over 400m long and would make on average around 120 trampoline mats. The first 30 or so mats made cover the cost of the entire roll so maybe a few more now with the price of shipping being expensive.
Today received the packing list for our trampoline material which arrives on Friday only to find one roll is being delivered. This is what happens when you are piggy backing on other orders sharing the costs because you are not seen as a priority. This thinking has to change and we need to take control of this knowing how profitable this business is. This trampoline business would cover the entire monthly wage bill and warehouse on it's own and more.
I can still catch the summer season if I order this week and pay for the shipping myself which I have no choice now. This would mean possibly ordering many more rolls than what would normally be ordered, but there would be no out of stock from our side for a good 12 months. The business has had no trampoline material for over 8 months which is shockingly bad knowing this is a cash cow and money printer.
The trampoline business is seasonal in South Africa with December and January months you do not want to miss out on. The back orders we have already will hopefully be covered by the roll that arrives this week but that means we are out of stock again. The previous people who ran this business into the ground and are still controlling the stock so I should have guessed this was a possibility of happening. If you have no clue or foresight with planning then you are going to fail and without communication taking place we are left with another out of stock situation.
The trampoline business was one of the bankers for turning this business around because this business on it's own is big enough to be a separate business. I get the feeling sometimes this may have been done deliberately because they need us more than we need them right now and if we were profitable on all fronts would we need their business? I don't think it is that and a case of never thinking abut our needs and our orders are secondary to theirs.
When I order this week bypassing them they will not be happy, but we have to put ourselves first and put feelings to one side. Business is business and I don't have time for worrying about how others might feel or think. This is disappointing and a minor setback and why it is sometimes hard working with people you have history with. They are very good at certain things and are very bad at the rest with no middle ground.
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Interesting and quite good article.