"My order will be an easy one. Nothing difficult about it at all" That may be the typical thinking that occurs when an order is placed. Generally it all runs smoothly and the order is handled within the time-frame expected. But what are some things that can go wrong that may go unnoticed by the customer behind the scenes? I thought you might find it interesting to see the potential challenges that have to be overcome to get that order completed on time. Generally they are all handled appropriately, but it makes the path to completion interesting.
1. The UPS truck pulls up at the usual time and the driver delivers 6 boxes. We quickly look to see if one of the boxes is from the manufacturer that is sending us the order that has the early deadline. Oh, good, we notice that the box from XYZ is there. What we find out later is that the box contains an order from another store in Jefferson City, MO. It's not our order! So there is a 1-2 day delay while the delivery problem is solved.
2 We are reviewing a large league order involving 8 teams with 12 players on a team, all with different color shirts and different color #s. We first have to sort through every box to sort into colors and sizes. We count each shirt to make sure that we have the exact number of mediums and smalls and XL's etc. for each color. We write up the instructions that are different for each team so the correct screen color is attached to the proper shirt. We check to see if we have enough of the red 6 " # and blue 6" # for each of the digits we will be using on the 96 shirt order. Assuming that we have it all sorted and checked and the #'s are in stock, we are ready to get it screened, right?
3. Wrong. As we were counting each shirt, we realized the supplier sent 8 - XL's in blue instead of 6. We are two shirts short of the order, so the entire order is held up until we have the entire order in our hands. That may be 1-2 days later, depending on what time of day we found the problem.
4. We re-arrange the print date so that we can still hit the deadline for this order. The extra shirts come in, we get the entire order printed, and we call the customer to let them know the order is completed on time. We are then informed that because of the heavy rains we just had, the game is cancelled and will be rescheduled later!!! Oh my, nobody said it would be easy!
5. One thing I forgot to mention....Right in the middle of counting the sizes for the blue shirts, the phone rings and I take the phone call. After the phone call, now where was I in the count?
So this was one order, and a small peek into what can happen and does happen occasionally. Fortunately, the order was delivered on-time!!
