My wife and I have been trying to place a good size order for quite a while now. All of our flavors/ strengths are out of stock. No kamel 36mg, no cowboy 36mg, no grape 24mg, no watermelon 24mg. Is the demand too much for these flavors, or is there some hold up at customs? Bad weather? What's up? We have never ordered from any other company, and hopefully never will. V4L has treated us very well, and for this we remain loyal. But, our cart supply is dangerously low. Very soon we will be faced with the difficult situation of either having to order through someone else, or go back to smoking analogs until our "prescription" can be filled.
What is up with low stock all the time??
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Chinese New Year halted production for a bit... they've explained it in random threads here and there over the past few weeks. You'll notice there's been no new stock updates lately from Wader, either. Although, he just said yesterday(?) that things should start moving again very soon.
Because I've only been at this since January, I have an excuse for not stocking up to get through the CNY.... I didn't know any better. But I would have thought vendors would have known better, and others seem to be having the same problem. Maybe because more and more people have discovered vaping and the demand was much greater than it had been the year before. I'd be curious to know how many ECF members there were this time last year compared to now.
Someone give me a recent order number, and I'll show you V4L's growth. It's quite staggering.
A regular Tsunami.....
There are a variety of reasons, explanations, and excuses. I won't elaborate beyond saying that some things are out of our control and some aren't. We will do better!
There are a variety of reasons, explanations, and excuses. I won't elaborate beyond saying that some things are out of our control and some aren't. We will do better!
Chinese New Year has affected ALL vendors. I think a lot of vapers and vendors have learned to stock up more towards the end of the year because basically nothing goes out of China in January and part of February! I learned my lesson and hope to be better prepared for the drought next year!!
December 10, 2009 - Order # 10884
December 18, 2010 - Order # 117531
February 23, 2011 - Order # 144677
In one year & 8 days, they had 106,647 orders. In 2 months and 5 days more, they've had 27,146 more orders. Since they don't pack & ship on weekends, you are looking at approx 631 orders PER day since New Years. Assuming the average order contains 5-10 items (very conservative guess), that's 3155-6310 items per day being pulled from their shelves. Some people order more items per order, others order less... But because of shipping, we can safely assume most of the orders don't have less than 5 items per because it wouldn't be very cost effective for the customer.
I'm quite impressed with their ability to keep anything in stock, especially with as many different levels of strength for each juice & cartos. One flavor alone takes up 14 spots if you figure in 7 different strengths. That's just assuming they only have that flavor in WOW flavor.. Double it for all the flavors that also come in Premium, and triple it for the ones in VG as well.
Can you imagine the nightmare of ordering to stock your shelves? Especially since you don't want the product to sit there for months & months and have the possibility of getting stale.
December 18, 2010 - Order # 117531
February 23, 2011 - Order # 144677
In one year & 8 days, they had 106,647 orders. In 2 months and 5 days more, they've had 27,146 more orders. Since they don't pack & ship on weekends, you are looking at approx 631 orders PER day since New Years. Assuming the average order contains 5-10 items (very conservative guess), that's 3155-6310 items per day being pulled from their shelves. Some people order more items per order, others order less... But because of shipping, we can safely assume most of the orders don't have less than 5 items per because it wouldn't be very cost effective for the customer.
I'm quite impressed with their ability to keep anything in stock, especially with as many different levels of strength for each juice & cartos. One flavor alone takes up 14 spots if you figure in 7 different strengths. That's just assuming they only have that flavor in WOW flavor.. Double it for all the flavors that also come in Premium, and triple it for the ones in VG as well.
Can you imagine the nightmare of ordering to stock your shelves? Especially since you don't want the product to sit there for months & months and have the possibility of getting stale.
Wouldn't it be cool if someone here (Steve) opened an e-cig factory, hired some jobless Americans and used American quality? Man, the world has changed!!
I've just been using it as an opprotunity to order some different stuff and try new things. I've been surpirsed that some of my new favorites are flavors I didn't even think I'd like.
I wouldnt put it past him.Plus imagine just paying the employees he has now?Unreal.
Blue dots are Actual. Black trend-line is projected.
You guys are having a little better than expected month this month! Congrats! Makes up for being a little off last month.
You guys are having a little better than expected month this month! Congrats! Makes up for being a little off last month.
Welcome to Wader's world......
Sounds like it's time to expand, get a bigger warehouse and hire some Americans, maybe setup an outlet in the UK (hint hint)
I'd imagine you'd have to increase your prices a whole lot if everything that could be made in the U.S. were made in the U.S., or radically change your business model or quality. Which is cool, I'm sure people are more than willing to pay a lot more for a product based on U.S. manufacture.
I mean every major retail example for the past 40 years of my life says that U.S. citizens won't pay more unless they have no choice at all and that they would much rater complain about foreign imports while not actually putting their money where their mouth is, but you know it could be a trend in the making.
If consumers want U.S. jobs and manufacture then always vote against "free trade" and for tariffs, until it costs more to buy import goods than local it will never be more than a niche market.
I mean every major retail example for the past 40 years of my life says that U.S. citizens won't pay more unless they have no choice at all and that they would much rater complain about foreign imports while not actually putting their money where their mouth is, but you know it could be a trend in the making.
If consumers want U.S. jobs and manufacture then always vote against "free trade" and for tariffs, until it costs more to buy import goods than local it will never be more than a niche market.
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