Large Scale Central

Internet, Mail and phone ordering

General Discussion
#1

Here’s my thought on this:
I will not order on the Internet from any company that does not list their products as “in stock or not in stock”
Ridge Road and Caboose Hobbies do list as “in stock or not in stock.” They, therefore, get my orders.
As to other companies such as St Aubins, Trainworld, Charles Ro, I use a 800 number and politely ask if it’s in stock. If not, I say thank you and move on.
If I can’t find it, I live without it until I can find it.

Why can’t other major companies list “in stock or out of stock”?
Are they afraid of losing business?
Does it make them look like a huge company, listing everything that is made for G scale. hoping someone will place an order? And wait, and wait, and wait…for their item.

Your thoughts?..

j

#2

Not just G, just the way of the world. The problem is integrating the inventory to the internet, something that I as a luddite would think would be simple, but more than one shop owner has told me it is not.

Trainworld are fun. A friend and I have a contest on to see who can complete an order in under one minute in time via the telephone.

#3

John, it’s more than in or out of stock. Road numbers for all manner of rolling stock is a matter of critical importance to me because I usually do not tolerate duplicate numbers. In the beginning, Aristo-Craft assigned a stock number to piece of rolling stock (ART 46XXX) and then applied the same number on the box car as the road number. Not prototypical but so what? At least you knew what road number you would be getting. Assignment of multiple road numbers would come later and it is now common practice for this company to offer as many as four different road numbers for a car with the same railroad company name. That creates a problem for a G-scaler that is trying to avoid buying a duplicate number because Aristo-Craft has never tried very hard to let the buyer know what was in stock. Consequently, an order for a Southern box car, for example, might result in shipping of one of the latest road numbers or an older one from a previous run. It was all guesswork and, for the most part remains that way. Ask an authorized Aristo-Craft dealer in person or on the internet to obtain a road number specific car and you get all manner of replies, all of them negative. Aristo-Craft has now just instituted a system whereby a four road number matrix will have the car identified by its historical stock number followed by a suffix: -A, -B, -C, -D. Okay so far, now at least you can have some small assurance that duplication can be avoided assuming the worker in the warehouse comprehends at least the first four letters of the English alphabet. What the scheme does not do is provide information as to what road number is assigned to what suffix and it is like pulling teeth to get anyone in Irvington to provide this information. I can see though that failure to include the all important -letter is going to cause some aggravation when the desired item is not delivered. I’ve tried to suggest using a system that supplies both numbers simultaneously when listing a car as in ART46XXX-2046. Thereafter, the buyer and Aristo-Craft are most certainly on the same order page. As for whether or not the item is really in stock is a whole different problem not easily solved. Aristo-Craft is totally uninterested even when you call and the warehouseman is incommunicado because there are no telephone connections. Did you say Luddites?

#4

These are tough times and I wouldn’t expect small companies to keep accurate inventories. A phone call is either cheap or free, and all the hassle can be eliminated.