# Why did it used to take forever to get a product delivered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513 "2013-12-04T21:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/21 "2013-12-05T08:16:46Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Mail, processing and check cashing alone could give you 4 weeks. More generally, logisitics has been a significant source of advances in productivity over the past 30 years. I suspect that there have been improved efficiencies along every link in the chain. [Supply chain management - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_management) Check cashing…maybe. But then you’re only talking 14 days tops. What is “processing” anyway?😕 “We were just f\*cking assholes back then” is the only legitimate answer I can think of. I ordered a strobe light from Montgomery Ward in 1976 and it took 90 days to be shipped. WT mother F!?! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/22 "2013-12-06T09:27:43Z")
Never mind the logistics of actually delivering something! Used to be, if you simply wanted to report a change of address to your bank, or magazine subscription, the standard word was “allow six to eight weeks”. Today, it (usually) happens more or less instantly. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/23 "2013-12-06T13:35:39Z")
Payment processing is more or less instant now with debit cards. Checks took a long time to clear and credit card processing was in it’s infancy in the 70s and took forever. Money orders were quick but you still had to mail it. I would surmise most business is done online rather than by mail (still a good portion by phone though) speeding up things quite a bit. It’s a theory but I would imagine the sheer bulk of things that we now order online/not at a store now as opposed to 40-50 years ago has increased so much, the infastructure has grown along with it. More mail trucks, more warehouses, more everything to keep up with the demand. Every thing is faster. We live in a different kind of world and we like to primarily get our things in a different kind of way and we’ve built things in a way to support that as opposed to a time were most people went downtown/shopping mall to shop for most of their goods. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/24 "2013-12-06T17:44:40Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > :dubious: > > I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy either of these. About 90% of what I get delivered today is **STILL** brought by UPS or the postal service. > > And why would a company need to accumulate orders to ship out? They were still using UPS or USPS to deliver back in the 60’s/70’s. They needed to save up to truck to the post office? > > Sorry, but…Nah. I think both of them stepped up their game after FedEx started and showed how it could be done. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/25 "2013-12-06T17:53:43Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But that doesnt explain a 4 week delay. Maybe a 4 hour delay. > Also,back then, the company would have probably had hired more than one worker to walk the aisles. > > I also don’t understand the logic of saying that the warehousing costs were too high, so the weeks-long delay was partly due to the fact that they only ordered the product after some kid sent in his box tops. > Surely a large corporation like Kelllogs could have warehoused a couple thousand kids toys without worrying about the costs. Even back then they wanted to minimize costs of sending this stuff to kids. Remember, the goal of getting them to buy the product had already been achieved. I had a summer job in 1971 working in a jewelry warehouse (very small) fulfilling orders for retailers. This was done by three or four of us climbing around on shelves pulling out small packets of stuff based on a sheet of paper. It didn’t take long, but if there was ever a whole bunch of orders it could have backed up tremendously, and if we had to deal with big stuff in a big warehouse it would have taken a lot longer. There was no attempt at optimizing anything. I wonder if large warehouses, that ran on paper, did much better. In the mid-80s I know a mathematician who worked on algorithms for optimizing fiber optic cable production and shipping. This was Bell Labs stuff back then - today I bet anyone can get a PC program to do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/26 "2013-12-06T21:07:46Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Check cashing…maybe. But then you’re only talking 14 days tops. What is “processing” anyway?😕 > > “We were just f\*cking assholes back then” is the only legitimate answer I can think of. I ordered a strobe light from Montgomery Ward in 1976 and it took 90 days to be shipped. WT mother F!?! I honestly dunno. But figure 3 days for the letter to reach the destination, 2 days for in-house processing and 5 days for delivery. That’s 10 business days = 2 weeks. Best case scenario, really. I’m guessing the 90 day pace occurred when they ran out of stock. Today we have something called just-in-time inventory: Toyota and Walmart were 2 innovators in this regard. (IRRC that Walmart issues electronic reports of their sales to their suppliers multiple times per day, broken down by store. Source: Economist magazine article I once read.) Like I said, the supply chains are simply run more efficiently, resulting in smaller warehouses _and_ shorter delays. Anyway, my point is that you’re addressing one of the most innovative sectors in the economy over the past 30 years. Advances will surely be slower over the next 30 years. I mean Amazon can ship stuff overnight now: I assume within-day delivery will be achieved, but they presumably won’t be able deliver today’s order yesterday or 90 days ago. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/27 "2013-12-06T21:17:13Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > I honestly dunno. But figure 3 days for the letter to reach the destination, 2 days for in-house processing and 5 days for delivery. That’s 10 business days = 2 weeks. Best case scenario, really. > > I’m guessing the 90 day pace occurred when they ran out of stock. Today we have something called just-in-time inventory: Toyota and Walmart were 2 innovators in this regard. (IRRC that Walmart issues electronic reports of their sales to their suppliers multiple times per day, broken down by store. Source: Economist magazine article I once read.) Like I said, the supply chains are simply run more efficiently, resulting in smaller warehouses _and_ shorter delays. > > Anyway, my point is that you’re addressing one of the most innovative sectors in the economy over the past 30 years. Advances will surely be slower over the next 30 years. I mean Amazon can ship stuff overnight now: I assume within-day delivery will be achieved, but they presumably won’t be able deliver today’s order yesterday or 90 days ago. The next advancement will be simply ordering off Amazon and printing it using the3D printer (that will be as common as TVs are now) instantly. No wait. You’ll see…you’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/28 "2013-12-06T21:46:37Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > It seemed like months waiting for my Sea Monkeys and a Bazooka camera back in the 70s. Family Guy or something like it had a bit where a kid ordered _Grit_ from the back of a comic book, and it showed the editors in a building somewhere receiving his order and freaking out – “Now we’re going to have publish a newspaper!” ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513/29 "2013-12-06T22:29:24Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > BI also don’t understand the logic of saying that the warehousing costs were too high, so the weeks-long delay was partly due to the fact that they only ordered the product after some kid sent in his box tops. > Surely a large corporation like Kelllogs could have warehoused a couple thousand kids toys without worrying about the costs. You’re underestimating the way companies look at these costs. First, companies are looking at opportunity cost. If a company can invest money to earn 10% interest (possible in the 70’s at least), then the cost of having inventory just sitting around starts at 10% a year. Even if they can put off the order just one more month, they’ve made more interest. (As a modern example of this: around 2005, I analyzed Dell and Apple for their inventory cycle and they don’t pay their vendors until three months after you’ve paid them. This amounted to tens of millions of dollars in savings from an opportunity cost standpoint.) Second, warehousing is more expensive than you may think. Buildings, power, taxes, insurance, employees. Then there’s theft and spoilage. Things sitting around on shelves get dusty and faded, even cheap toys. It adds up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-it-used-to-take-forever-to-get-a-product-delivered/675513.md?page=1)