I was over at DICK’S sporting goods. There was a tan rifle case for an unscoped rifle, and right next to it, a long metal rod on which should have been hanging the scoped version of the very same case. I ask the clerk, “so, you’re all sold out of the scoped case?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, could you have that case ordered for me then?”
“No, we don’t re-order stuff like that.”
Is this normal? It seems like a giant sporting goods outlet like DICK’S should be able to, you know, call up their big warehouse and have some of those cases ordered. Or at the very least, take down the metal rod and tag for the sold out cases, or put a different product there. Right?
Just a little FYI here: the website for Dick’s Sporting Goods is not, I repeat not dicks dot com. If you go to dicks dot com at work, you may have to talk to your HR rep.
The warehouse probably already knows they are sold out and are making arrangements to get them the next batch. But yeah, they are a bunch of douchebags for not finding out when the next shipment should be arriving. Customer service is hard.
That item is probably caught in the Catch-22 of retail inventory management. Inventory is probably controlled by a computer, and the rules are made up by a drone at company headquarters. The system probably says that the store has some on hand, and so never orders more. The items in question may in fact be in the store, hidden in some forgotten storage area, or perhaps never made it on to the truck when the last order was generated and shipped by the distribution center, or stolen by someone somewhere in the replenishment chain. It is nearly impossible to get a count changed unless it gets changed at the physical inventory, usually once a year, because changing your counts is BAD, VERY BAD. You cannot order more because THE SYSTEM SAYS YOU HAVE IT, NOW WHY ISN’T IT SELLING?!?! Then inventory time rolls around and, by golly, YOU’RE OUT OF STOCK!!! OMG!! Eventually the counts get changed during Inventory Reconciliation, usually 6-8 weeks later, and then they will have some.
If it work’s there like other big box retailers operate then the employee really has little control over reordering.
The entire store is on a computer controlled auto-replenishment system. It has a max or optimum quantity of that item to keep on hand, and it has a min level at which the system will automatically create a re-order (from some regional Dick’s warehouse) to get it back to the optimum level.
If the regional warehouse is out then the regional warehouse reorders from the manufacturer.
Why is the hook empty then?
they may have just sold out recently and are awaiting another shipment from their regional warehouse.
the regional warehouse is out and waiting for the manufacturer to produce more to resupply them.
the product is no longer being produced.
Dick’s has decided not to carry them any longer and is phasing them out.
They actually do have some in the store but they are sitting in a back room or on a top shelf somewhere.
The computer count is off saying they have some but really have none. Caused by shipping errors, theft, etc. Contrary to what Cheez_Whia says stores really don’t want that number to be off (lost sales and all that) and can manually correct that number on the spot rather than waiting for physical inventory.
What the employee should have done is to check the computer to make sure it really said they had -zero- in stock. If not he should have informed a manager to correct it.
After that it is pretty much out of their hands.
Meh, it’s Dicks Sporting Goods. When it comes to things like that they’re the absolute bottom rung of sporting goods suppliers. Either order from a mega-box like BPS or Cabela’s or find a local business to support.