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Date:         Thu, 9 Oct 2003 18:58:41 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Subject:      Re: overheating and radiator, now:best price online
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Well put Ron.

Your explanation of the growing pains your business has gone through and of the realities of shipping tells me that you do value your customers business.

Being in the parts business myself I know first hand the difficulties you face. Many people do not realize how being in a different time zone will add a day or more to delivery times. Businesses like UPS, Fed EX, etc. are not able to process and ship orders unless they get them early enough in the day, and a customer on the West coast ordering an item at noon their time forgets that it is already 4pm on the East coast, too late for any business to process and ship most orders. My customers know that they have to order before noon to guarantee next day delivery, and that only happens because Fed EX has their own facilities at several of American Honda's warehouses. Your 7-10 day timeframe is perfectly reasonable, especially since the ability expidite orders is readily available for those that require it.

I have yet to purchase anything from your establishment, but I have viewed your website and find the prices to be competitive with those elsewhere.

Mark Tuovinen (aka Mark in AK) Wholesale Parts Dept. Continental Auto LLC Anchorage, AK

Ron, et al.: > John has them for 150 something also...AND he ships > immediately !!! In lees than 3 days and I had my radiator at > my doorstep. > > I don't want to slam Bus Depot, however I stopped doing > business with them (in 2000) because it took so long to > get my parts after a order was placed (weeks).

Actually, according to his website it's $190, not $150. And the reason he had it to you in 3 days is that you're both on the west coast. If I shipped you a ground order ten minutes before you placed it, it would still be the next week by the time UPS delivered it to you. (Not that I'm busting on John in any way; he runs a good business.)

It has been nearly four years since your ordered from us, Sean. A lot can change in four years. Back then we were in the midst of severe growing pains. In two short years, the Bus Depot went from a one-man home-based business to a relatively high volume operation. Not that I'm complaining - in fact, I owe many on this list a whole lot of gratitude for it!! - but frankly it did overwhelm us, and for a while customer service suffered.

It was at about that time that I started quoting a delivery timeframe of 7-10 working days on ground orders. Meanwhile I changed just about everything about how we did business, from bringing our email handling in-house to investing in new point-of-sale software and making some personnel changes. I also revamped our pay structure such that employee pay is based on timely shipping. They each get a weekly bonus that is paid _only_ if, at the end of each week, every order placed as recently as the previous day has already left the building (except for backorders).

Over time, these changes paid off. Not that we're perfect now, but things are infinately better. About 80% of the time, my employees get their "on time" bonus, meaning that we're shipping orders almost as quickly as they arrive. Even when they miss it, they usually come extremely close. In fact, over the entire last year, there was only one significant period of time when we were not shipping orders out within a day or two of placement. That was about a month ago, after our shop flooded and our computer network went down. At that time, I posted a note here preemptively to warn customers about the delay.

Nevertheless, I don't plan to reduce our quoted 7-10 working day timeframe on ground orders. I've learned that it is best to play it safe and promise less than you can deliver. And there are certain times when the timeframe is needed. We're still a small business, and even one person calling in sick can set us scrambling for a day or two. Also, backorders (which can last weeks or longer sometimes) are a very real fact of life when dealing with parts for old vans, no matter where you buy. And then there's the order here and there that we just plain royally screw-up. But the truth is, 90 percent of orders reach our customers sooner than that timeframe.

Of course, we also have Expedited delivery (as quickly as next-day) on in-stock items, for when you need a part "yesterday." Expedited orders always get all ground orders. Even the day we got flooded, the guys at the shop waded through the water to make sure the expedited orders placed that morning left the shop that afternoon.

- Ron Salmon The Bus Depot, Inc. www.busdepot.com (215) 234-VWVW


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