In defense of "cottage industries".

[Jsaults]

From time to time comments are made on this forum about glitches in customer service from one or another supplier of hammock gear. Heck, even yours truely, with the patience of Job (HAH!) is tempted to whine a bit.

The good folks who make the innovative gear we love to use are, for the most part, small cottage industries. As such, they are not able to have on-hand deep inventories of raw materials and may from time to time suffer out-of-stock situations. Additionally they may be one, two, or three person operations, handling everything from orders to fabrication to shipping. Sometimes as a second job.

And sometimes the systems suffer glitches.

Example: I recently ordered a WB Superfly. The on-line order system showed it to be "in stock" and the transaction went through. Unfortunately I received an e-mail from Brandon saying that the SFs had been oversold, and there would be a delay. He offered three solutions, and I chode #2 (slightly heavier fabric, mid-Jan delivery).

Sometimes inventories are NOT ACCURATE. I work for a Fortune 100 company, in food distribution, and even with our sophisticated systems we have to make adjustments to inventory counts every week. And sometimes we "short" a customer's order.

Now, if I had ordered a fly from REI, or EMS or Cabelas and their system was FUBAR, I would be ticked off. But in dealing with cottage industries I find I have to be more understanding. Cut them some slack. Of course, I still feel like that little kid in the 50s waiting for my baking soda-powered submarine purchased with cereal boxtops to arrive in the US Mail, but that is my nature.

A tip of my hat to all of you folks who make the gear we love.

Jim
Off my soap box now.

[SkyPainter]

I still feel like that little kid in the 50s waiting for my baking soda-powered submarine purchased with cereal boxtops to arrive in the US Mail,

===> FLASHBACK ALERT!

[rip waverly]

well-spoken.

i received the "wrong" doors for my big mjamba spinn tarp. they are dark olive/grey to match the sil version, instead of the light grey to match the spinn. being a noob, i didn't even know till i saw pics of the "correct" setup here on the forums. it was a simple mis-comm / shipping mistake.

their functionality does not suffer, though, so i just kept em. plus it looks more like a franken-tarp with un-matching doors.

needless to say, the gear our cottages make is highly specialized, and a lot the stuff doesn't exist otherwise. i'll take a c.s. glitch from time to time for stuff i can't find at rei

[SkyPainter]

I wish all my customers were like you when I owned my Custom Golf shop! Cottage makers are a unique breed; they care deeply about the items they make, and deeply for the people and the particular sport they are involved with! Having had the experience, I have a unique sense of patience and empathy with them all.

Thank you for the great post, reminding us that we are defining a new era in hiking and camping within a small, and uniquely gracious community!

[Jsaults]

in the commercial the sub looked like it was about two feet long. In reality it was about eight inches! I felt like Ralphie and the decoder!

Jim
DOUBLE FLASHBACK ALERT!

[islander]

===> FLASHBACK ALERT!

LMAO! Me, Still waiting on my submarine

[NCPatrick]

LMAO! Me, Still waiting on my submarine

Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery... An eternity for an 8 year old.

[Jsaults]

who ate nothing but Total, and had a wicked sense of humor, once opened a box of Total, poured some into his bowl, looked into the box and exclaimed: "Oh, good! I got a submarine!"

Me: "Really? Let me see!"

Dad: (still looking into the box) "No, its my submarine."

Me: "Oh, pleasepleasepleaseplease let me see it!"

Dad: (setting the box down and calmly starting to eat his breakfast) "No, I don't think so. I want to play with it after breakfast."

Me: "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad !"

Mom: "George, quit taunting the boy!"

Sometimes I felt I was living in a sit-com.

Jim

[WV]

I still feel like that little kid in the 50s waiting for my baking soda-powered submarine purchased with cereal boxtops to arrive in the US Mail, but that is my nature.

===> FLASHBACK ALERT!

Ditto.

[Cannibal]

Something else I'll put out there about my thoughts on cottage-shops; they remember you! These folks make stuff by hand and send out packages they fill out themselves; cradle to casket, these folks care for that piece of gear in your stead. The computers at REI, Campmor, blah, blah, blah don't read, or care, about their customers bad-mouthing them. The folks busting their butts to make us gear we want do hear, read, and care about these things as they neglect family and friends to try their best to make you happy.

Yes, we give the cottage shops cash (hard earned, or otherwise) in exchange for a certain level of professionalism and quality gear. In no way does that entitle us to trash talk them. There are one or two shops that I don't really care for. This is for a variety of reasons, mostly personal, but search all you want on this forum or any other and you still won't find me trashing them. Maybe at one time, but I've turned into a grown-up now. They work hard, I've seen it first-hand, and I've got respect for that if nothing else.

There is a difference between questions/concerns/complaints and some of the just plain mean and spiteful things that are sometimes said about these shops. The first being healthy and relating your experiences for others to learn. The later is just childish and makes the fools obvious to everyone else; most importantly the person who may be putting together your next piece of gear. They may forgive, but I seriously doubt they forget.

Everybody needs to call their mother and get the "if you can't say something nice" lecture from time to time. The Golden Rule hasn't gone anywhere just because some choose to ignore it.

Rant over, going back to drinking coffee.