Arrgh . . . This Is Becoming a Bit of a Habit

Gary was on the phone with Ranger this morning to see when we’re going to get more of the January Distress Color – Cracked Pistachio (and while we were at it, the February Distress Color – Abandoned Coral).  We ordered a lot the first day it was announced – a lot more the next day when we realized how popular it was going to be – and a lot lot more several times since.  The first two “a lots” came in about the middle of last week (by then it was of course February), and based on assurances that the pipeline was now wide open, a small portion of that shipment was sent to me in Clearwater for last weekend’s show.

But now the story has changed . . .

Ranger says they severely underestimated the popularity of the Color of the Month idea and didn’t produce enough – now they’re working overtime to produce more, but it will likely be around the end of the month before any of it is ready to ship.  I assume that means they’re doing the same (the overtime part, not the underestimating part) with the February color.

It’s a long shot, but we are checking with other suppliers who stock Ranger products to see if they have any – it would cost us more than getting them directly from Ranger, but good will (translation – making our customers happy) is sometimes more important.

This reminds me a lot (I’m using a lot of “a lots” today) of the initial release of Distress Markers a few years ago – announced it . . . underestimated it . . . ran out of it . . . finally made more of it.  And I guess that’s what will eventually happen here.  Hopefully by next month or the month after, we’ll start getting what we need promptly – so we can ship it just as promptly.

For now, we wait – and I apologize for something we have very little control over.  The phones and e-mail are already busy with folks who are excited about their new playthings and wondering why we’re almost to mid-February and they haven’t seen theirs yet.  Hopefully, this will explain the situation for some of you before you feel the need to contact us.

Addendum – Four Hours Later . . . I may have to retract this whole rant in a day or two – Gary checked with Ranger again this afternoon and it appears that they sent us a big shipment of Cracked Pistachio stuff today.  Amazing . . .