But I Want It NOW!

Can you believe it’s June already? Where has the year gone? But June it is and we’re seeing some savvy shoppers checking with us about special pieces of furniture that they want to give as Christmas gifts.

Once again TV Tray Table sets are a hot topic of discussion. And if you check our production schedule you’ll see that many sets are already on order. In fact we have enough orders queued up that we are already past the cut-off date for Christmas delivery.

This fact has chagrined at least one of our customers who attempted to order TV Tables for Christmas delivery in October of last year. Couldn’t do it. So he decided to get a head start on it this year and order in June. Seems reasonable, but… sorry.

It is gratifying to know that our work is in such high demand that we have almost a full years worth or orders piled up waiting to be done. But it also saddens me to have to turn anyone away. To ease the disappointment people feel, we do offer a collection of links to other quality furniture builders web sites in our Resources Section and we encourage anyone whose needs we can not meet to look here first for alternatives.

Frequently asked questions along this topic include:

Q: If I pay you extra will you put me ahead of the others?
A: No.
This just would not be fair to the good people who have been patiently waiting for their turn. If YOU had been waiting for 6 months and were finally 2nd from the top of the list and we slid someone in ahead of you because they offered us more money than you did, how would you feel about it?

Q: Can’t you put on an extra shift or work longer hours to get the work done more quickly?
A: No.
Smoky Mountain Woodworks is not a factory. Not even close. There are a lot of factors to consider, most of which probably wouldn’t interest you in the least, but the bottom line is that we generally work from 7:00 am until 10:00 pm six days a week as it is. Granted, not all of this time is spent making sawdust; there are administrative duties and logistical chores to do too. Bottom line is that we’re not out fishing – although sometimes we’d really LIKE to be!

Q: Isn’t there anything I can do to give this as a gift this year?
A: Yes.
You can call up the large version of the picture of the piece you want to make a gift of, save it to your computer then pull it into a Word certificate template or a card making program and produce a nice gift certificate to present to your loved one explaining that the piece pictured is in production and will be delivered directly to them as soon as it’s complete. It may lack the OOoohh! value of plunking a actual set of cherry tray tables down in front of them on Christmas morning, but it’s better than putting off the good gift until next year and trying to come up with a make-do gift for this one.

Q: Are you doing anything at all to reduce the wait time?
A: Yes.
We are looking at several suggestions that have been made. One is to double our prices. Another is to stop taking orders at all when the wait time exceeds six months. And another is to build a factory.

The problem is that we can’t afford to build a factory. If we double our prices we will be making more money, but the orders will fall off and we’ll end up making about what we are now in the end. And refusing to take orders because of extended wait time just ticks people off. They’re still waiting, but now they’re waiting to be able to place their order not to have it produced.

We are now working on a solution that combines these suggestions into a little easier transition. Hopefully we won’t make anyone mad, we won’t work ourselves to death, and we will be able to improve the work flow and control costs better. Wish us luck!