I know that this should probably be in "What's your deal", but this gets more traffic and it's not just me pitching a bitch or ranting, which there's going to be plenty of!

So, the question is, what does "In Stock" mean to you?
That, the said business, store, shop has it there for immediate sales, installation, and/or delivery?

Or, that it's in a warehouse in which the said business, store, shop can have in a reasonable time THAT DAY, for completion of sales, installation, and/or delivery?

Or, that it's in a warehouse in which the said business, store, shop can have in two, three, six days?

I what to know if I'm expecting to much, to look on the website/internet for said product, "IN STOCK" locally, have said website confirm said product/services are "IN STOCK" and make an appointment for said products/services only to get a call, saying that it isn't advisable for sales/installation/delivery that day, but if I wanted to wait a few days I could get what I wanted, or they could sell me another product that I don't want, that doesn't meet my needs and requirements for only a slightly reduced cost and have it today, and the scheduled time/date of the appointment.

I told them no thinks, I'll find what I want today. Little did I know that was an impossibly, that after seven (7) hours (not counting the three plus hours the day before, that ended with this failed appointment) that what I was looking for could not be obtained.

Oh, I could get it, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, maybe by next Monday. But I could not get it today (Saturday/yesterday).

Though almost everyone's website I that I looked at said "IN STOCK".

What impossible commodity was I looking for you asking? Oh, I was looking for a set of (4) four tires, 225/45 R17 of either, General G-Max AS-05, or BF Goodrich G-Force Comp2 A/S .

A common size, and faily common tires, as a matter of fact, Wal-Mart carries the General G-Max AS-05, and I have more on one occasion seen, that size sitting in the racks/floor of my local Walmart on more then one occasion.

So, this started Friday afternoon. I was going to work for a football field trip. Just as I was slowing down to turn onto the road the bus compound is on, I hear a loud "PoP!" and knew/felt that I had a catastrophic blowout on my front passenger side tire.

So, I get to work, only a few feet off from where it happened get out of the car and see the tire is trashed, but rim is OK.

Go on field trip and spend the whole time looking for said tires in stock, and available appointment for installation and make said appointment, only to be called the next day and told that what I wanted is unavailable and that if I wanted I could settle for a far lesser product, that doesn't meet my requirements for only a slightly reduced cost.

So, I had to send the only Saturday that I have had off since school started, trying to find said tires available for purchase and installation that day. After 7 hours, it was a total wash. The best I could do it get the Monday, and installed Tuesday, because there is no open appointments on Monday that I can make without missing work.

So, what does "IN STOCK" mean to you? Am I asking to much for it to mean the product is there for sale, installation, and/or delivery? Even if it's a reasonable amount of time that day?

More than pissed off about the whole thing.


ARman

In stock means in the store or ready to ship. The new crap started with JUST IN TIME inventory and got worse from there. I think some of the offending businesses have been mentioned here numerous times.

"In Stock' can mean they have some on hand, or it has been out of production/on backorder for nine years.

It also means don't shop at Optics Planet.

quote:

"IN STOCK". What does that mean to you?

Online sellers: Item on-hand to ship once the customer paid for it. That means that same day, or at the latest, the next day. No excuses.

Local sellers: If you don't have it when I walk in your store to buy it, then it ain't in stock.

The best online seller regarding "in stock" items , in my experience, is PK Firearms. If you see anything on their website, they are in stock ready to ship. They never post anything on there that they don't have. That means no out of stock items that you need to "click here for notification when back in stock".

Guess it means that since you cannot produce said wanted item within my time requirements that I will have to take my purchases to someone else. Seems like the virus shutdown of the country as well as the rest of the world is a common excuse for the lack of supplies that are actually available for sale. And they are hoping to maybe convince you into purchasing some thing else as a substitute . ............................... drill sgt.

As Q said, it means I can obtain the goods the moment it has been paid for.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
Guess it means that since you cannot produce said wanted item within my time requirements that I will have to take my purchases to someone else. Seems like the virus shutdown of the country as well as the rest of the world is a common excuse for the lack of supplies that are actually available for sale. And they are hoping to maybe convince you into purchasing some thing else as a substitute . ............................... drill sgt.

Yeah, they were pushing hard to sale my a set of tires that did not meet my requirements.

Unfortunately everyone that said on their website that they had what I wanted, the moment that I called, said they could get them by Monday, Wednesday, or whenever. Just not when I wanted them.

Which, to me in nowhere near anything that I would consider "IN STOCK".

What bullshit!


ARman

Given that many merchants are making representations of availability that they cannot meet, there is a trickle-down factor working here as well. They, as well as the buying public, are faced with a situation that is unique in their experience. That is that retailers are having trouble getting product from wholesalers and the latter are having at least as hard a time getting inventory from manufacturers. Manufacturers, in their turn, are having trouble getting parts and raw materials to build their products. Painted with a severe and growing shortage of competent workers ready to work. It is almost as if we are seeing 1950's commie-bloc "shortages" in our putative free market based economy. I am not going to speculate on why and what commonalities our current economic situation has with failed policies of the past, but "there it is!"

And, if this is bringing politics into a non-political thread, I apologize.

At the Harley dealer I work at, in stock means that I can walk back into the parts area and retrieve it from our inventory.

In today's world if I need a part not in stock I first search the information I have online to inform the customer if or if not the part is available and the approximate time it will take to receive it, usually up to two or three weeks. Yep, you read this right. Before Covid we quoted three to five days from order to receipt, not today.

I've run across at least one backorder that shows a tentative release date of March 2021.

Needed a tire for my daughter's friend's motorcycle the other day. Michelin, none of my suppliers had it in stock, no expected date. He finally found one online, I told him to grab it regardless of the price which he did, no telling how long it would take me to get one.



My friends that are still in the auto dealership parts business are saying the same thing, extended delivery times, backorders.

Grocery stores, same story. Seeing more empty shelves around here lately.

I feel more like I live in Venezuela daily.

I suppose several things.

First and foremost that, if I add the items to my online cart and pay for them expeditiously, those items are mine.

Secondly, that they will be shipped to me within a reasonable amount of time, 2-3 business days.

It does not mean "backorder" and it SHOULD mean that, if someone else had the item in their cart and checked out before me, my transaction would not proceed if the item was now "out of stock" (i.e. the inventory is live).

“In stock” should mean on the shelf. It’s ready to be picked up by an in-store customer or pulled off of the shelf and shipped.

It doesn't mean what most online sellers are currently advertising it as meaning. I've ordered several things listed as "In Stock", only to find that the item is to be drop shipped from the vendor in 3-5 weeks or some such BS.

I bought a Safariland Holster from a retailer, showed "In Stock" and they even sent me an email after about 10 days that showed it shipped. I get another email about 10 days later saying it was never there or in stock, let alone shipped.

"In Stock" means that you physically can go into the warehouse and lay hands upon it. If not, you do not have it in stock.

You do not go into a brick and mortar store and say "Do you have XXXX in stock?" for them to reply "Yes, we'll have it to you in 3-5 weeks". That isn't in stock, that is an order, or a piss poor system that takes you that long to find it in your warehouse.........

Man, I'm seeing a lot of posts like this over the last year or so. So many companies no longer care about much of anything...just getting your money.

There are a few companies out there that keep their web pages accurate. CCI is one along with a few others. Pretty sad alright.

"in stock" to me means the person taking the phone order actually walks back to the warehouse and SEES the item I want and retrieves it for shipment to me.

There are some businesses that will do what I ask.

The question is who’s stock and where? To them “in stock” can mean their supplier has it in inventory and they can get it for you quickly. I like to hear words to the effect of “We’ve got x of them. Tell me when you’re coming and it’ll be ready.”

We all know what "in stock" means. If it turns out they don't have it right now, it could be an inventory error.

Most modern retailers go around and "shoot" the out-of-stock zero skus, either from a report or by looking at empty spaces on the shelves, to update their inventory and reorder. If an item is actually out of stock but someone put the wrong item in it's spot, and the person shooting the sku doesn't check, then they will shoot the sku and enter the quantity, but it's the wrong item.

You go to the store because their inventory says they have 10 but you go to the shelf and there are none there or 10 of the wrong item.

Not meant to sidetrack this thread, a question along similar lines. How long should one reasonably wait for an item that is on backorder?

Yeah, "In Stock" to the retailer doesn't mean what it means to the typical consumer.

Our washing machine crapped out in a big way about six weeks ago. It was determined that the problem bad enough was not worth fixing for a machine of its age, so off we went to find and buy a replacement. The wife wanted it done ASAP, so we didn't go far and wide searching for the best deal or even the fastest delivery and installation. But when it came to large appliances I'd dealt with a certain big box retailer in the past for a rental property and had good results, so we went back to them. Sure enough their website said that they had a machine that we thought would be an acceptable replacement "in stock", as did their in-store inventory computer system when we went to look at the floor model that they had. But when push came to shove on closing the deal, it turned out that the machine "for sale" was in some allocation lot still on some boat in the middle of the Pacific, so it was not even in-country or on dry land. All that we were buying was a slot for one of those in their allocation, with anticipated delivery and installation another 2 WEEKS out. With my wife edging me on to get the ball rolling, grudgingly I signed on anyways and bought a phantom machine current on an ocean cruise.

However that sale didn't stop me from shopping around afterwards. As it turned out, anyone who claimed that they had the same machine "in stock", was ALSO at least two weeks out in delivery and installation. Likely all of their "in stock" machines were on the same container ship. But I also found a small silver lining out of this post-purchase shopping, so one good thing came out of it: I came to discover that we actually got the best price from the original retailer that we went to. So at least they didn't let me down on price even if they didn't actually have the product in their possession to sell.

It's how business is done these days...I guess. From what I hear, the retail new car biz is far worse these days. Driving past a couple of the big "auto rows" in the area, there is a LOT of exposed bare asphalt where new product once parked, ready for new homes...

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
Not meant to sidetrack this thread, a question along similar lines. How long should one reasonably wait for an item that is on backorder?

Depends on how badly I need it, and what availability is from another vendor. I'll wait as long as I need to but at the same time, I would like to have a clear idea going in what the approximate lead time will be.

Back to the original question. In stock means that at the time my order is placed an employee at the company has the ability to grab the item, put it in a box and ship it to me. I understand warehouse logistics, but "in stock" means 0 lead time to produce or source an item.

I has exact problem 2 weeks ago.

I had two crappy tires on my car with slow and not so slow small leaks that would not take a repair.

My son was coming into town and wanted to borrow the car to go to a wedding.

I called lots of places the only one who could take me the next day was Town Fair Tire.

They said they would squeeze me in if I left the car at 8:30 in the morning and it would be done by the end of the day. I was done by 11:30.

They had them in their warehouse and could deliver them the next day to the shop to be installed. Everyone else was a multi day wait.

They would also meet Amazons and Costco Price.
so I really got a great deal.

Mine were 245/60R 105H, I had Bridgestones and went to michelins.

I spent about 5 hours looking for someplace that could do an hour job.