# Why did mail-order items back in the day take "4 to 6 weeks" or "6 to 8 weeks" to arrive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2019, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741 "2019-10-14T05:37:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/21 "2019-10-14T19:09:13Z")
I ordered a giant box of old coins from a comic book in the early seventies. i’m still waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/22 "2019-10-14T19:10:27Z")
As a teenager, I worked a summer (around 1980) for a guy who marketed mail order self help materials and seminars (mostly how to get rich running mail order businesses and seminars). As I recall, most of what we did revolved around getting new orders and processing themNot much time went to fulfilling orders. I remember overhearing telephone conversations and seeing correspondence about late orders and excuses. Then we had one big push to get out one giant bulk mailing of his various product lines. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/23 "2019-10-14T19:16:50Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > and if you ever special order a car/truck, those have the same 6 week or so wait. the reason for _that_ is that car companies typically have 4 weeks of production already “booked.” They know what they’ll be building on any given day in the next 4 weeks, suppliers have received forecasts so they know what parts to ship when, etc. and they can’t just insert a custom order. So when the dealer puts in your order, it has to wait to be included in the next build plan. Once your car’s number is up, it only takes about 2 days to build it. the remainder of the time is waiting for it to be tagged “OK to ship” and transported to your dealer. Sigh. My Explorer Hybrid was originally scheduled for June 21st, and has been pushed back gradually so that it’s now October 21st. That’s “week of,” by the way. Ford isn’t getting very good press on the Explorer right now, I’m afraid, and there are people from all over the enterprise performing rework at FRAP. At this rate, the Mustang-inspired electric crossover might hit the market before I get my Explorer. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/24 "2019-10-14T19:17:00Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I ordered a giant box of old coins from a comic book in the early seventies. i’m still waiting. The good news about that order is that once you get it, those coins are going to be even older!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/25 "2019-10-14T21:04:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It is indeed efficient for the manufacturer. Yet borderline misleading. How many advertisers included wording like, “We will ship your order as soon as we have enough [del]suckers[/del] orders to justify making the product we advertised. As of now, we have no stock and no definite plans to make any whatsoever. We don’t even know if we _can_ make it because we haven’t done it yet. You might get one, or you might not. So send your order in now, and we’ll all find out!” > > And if they said that, how many would they sell? The public assumed the advertised item was sitting in quantity on a warehouse shelf, just like in retail stores, which wasn’t contradicted anywhere in the “buy it now!” ad. It was also borderline unethical in that if not enough orders were received to justify a production run, or if the manufacturing or shipping costs went up in the meantime, they might just decide not to fulfill the orders. Then they would (eventually) send out refund checks to the people who had placed orders. Always checks, even for very small amounts. Mailed to the address given when the order was placed, weeks or months ago. A good number of those checks came back because they had moved. And another percentage of them were never cashed – many orders were from kids, who didn’t have bank accounts. It wasn’t unusual to have 20%-30% of refund checks go uncashed. So that is nearly all profit, on an item they never even manufactured. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/26 "2019-10-14T21:10:28Z")
I remember ordering several things back in the day- Sea Monkeys, a camera with Bazooka bubble gum comics, and an Olympic medallion. They seemed to take forever to arrive. However, if the stock number didn’t end in F or FE, J.C. Whitney did a remarkable job of sending out its wares in a timely fashion. They usually arrived in less than a week if you phoned in the order with a credit card, and a week and a half if you sent them a money order. I suppose it helped that they were in Chicago and I was just northeast of Indy. Clark or York brand photo developing mailers (the yellow ones) were also great about quick mail service and beat local prices. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/27 "2019-10-14T21:17:42Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Sure do. They are eclipsed by progress. > > Sometime, let me tell you about the early days of Fedex. There are real costs involved with warehousing inventory. Have you ever noticed that lawnmowers go on sale at the end of the season? Or that practically everything goes on sale after Christmas? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/28 "2019-10-14T21:21:39Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > It wasn’t unusual to have 20%-30% of refund checks go uncashed. So that is nearly all profit, on an item they never even manufactured. That’s not quite true in Illinois, and probably other states. Uncashed refunds become part of the State Unclaimed Property Fund. It’s NOT booked as a profit for the company. [https://icash.illinoistreasurer.gov/app/what-is-ucp](https://icash.illinoistreasurer.gov/app/what-is-ucp) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/29 "2019-10-14T22:11:06Z")
So you find one state out of 50 that doesn’t have that law, and set up your main office there. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/30 "2019-10-14T22:11:32Z")
I expect that a good part of the answer is, logistics used to be terrible. Stuff _was_ kept on shelves in warehouses, because just-in-time manufacturing and delivery wasn’t a thing yet. And those warehouses weren’t particularly well-organized. You had printed lists telling you where to find what kind of stuff in the warehouse. So an order comes in after 2-3 days in the mail. A week for the check to clear and the bank to let you know. Call the warehouse, let them know we need a spy camera. “We’ll get to it next week, boss.” Next week rolls around, and they can’t find the spy cameras. They put it on the back burner. Two weeks later, someone comes across them and remembers to bring one to the front desk. They get put on a truck to where they get shipped out from, that burns another few days while the truck waits to be filled up before going. Finally it gets to the shipping place, where they spend a few days matching the items in the truck by hand to the list of stuff that needs to go out. Then they finally put an address label on it and put it in the mail to the customer, parcel post. Welcome to the 1970s. You miss them yet? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/31 "2019-10-14T22:21:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A check could take over a week to clear. Now I’m kind of curious if you could get faster processing by paying with a money order. Since a money order is supposed to be guaranteed to have funds behind it, would they send out you order sooner? Of would they still wait for that to clear as well? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/32 "2019-10-14T23:24:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So you find one state out of 50 that doesn’t have that law, and set up your main office there. I don’t purport to know the laws of all 50 states. However, the company in question is NOT taking a profit, as was claimed earlier in this thread. See GAAP\>Revenue Recognition ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/33 "2019-10-15T00:45:59Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Now I’m kind of curious if you could get faster processing by paying with a money order. Since a money order is supposed to be guaranteed to have funds behind it, would they send out you order sooner? Of would they still wait for that to clear as well? Nope. The business gets the M.O., then sends it to American Express (or the Postal Service.) Amex withdraws the money from _its_ bank, and sends a check to the business. The business then deposits that check and waits for it to clear, and processes the order. The only real difference between a check and M.O. is that the company issuing the M.O. took the place of one bank involved in the process. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/34 "2019-10-15T03:00:30Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > It was also borderline unethical in that if not enough orders were received to justify a production run, or if the manufacturing or shipping costs went up in the meantime, they might just decide not to fulfill the orders. I would say that that’s only really unethical if they _intend_ to not fulfill orders, like if they had no reasonable expectation that they’d get enough orders to do a production run. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/35 "2019-10-15T11:03:30Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I expect that a good part of the answer is, logistics used to be terrible. > > Stuff _was_ kept on shelves in warehouses, because just-in-time manufacturing and delivery wasn’t a thing yet. And those warehouses weren’t particularly well-organized. You had printed lists telling you where to find what kind of stuff in the warehouse. I dispute this idea that warehouse storing was the preferred option. I come from a family of clothing manufacturers going back to the 50s, and the last thing on earth we wanted to do was stockpile clothing in a warehouse - it’s dead money, it destroys your cash flow. It may not have been called ‘just in time’, but it certainly was ‘made to order’. The only time my father would make for stock would be when the orders weren’t coming in and he needed to give his staff something to do. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/36 "2019-10-15T11:30:21Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I dispute this idea that warehouse storing was the preferred option. I come from a family of clothing manufacturers going back to the 50s, and the last thing on earth we wanted to do was stockpile clothing in a warehouse - it’s dead money, it destroys your cash flow. > > It may not have been called ‘just in time’, but it certainly was ‘made to order’. The only time my father would make for stock would be when the orders weren’t coming in and he needed to give his staff something to do. “Just in time” means how parts/supplies are handled, not finished goods. How much fabric did your family have on hand to make that clothing with? JIT took over in automotive to make production more efficient. My dad worked in a Dodge plant in the late ‘70s. They seemingly had no real system for ordering parts from suppliers. They’d basically “guess” at what cars they would be building and stockpile a bunch of parts in the warehouse. They’d regularly run out of parts when dealer orders didn’t match what they guessed. “Oh, we’re out of red steering wheels. Take this black steering wheel (or pair of a Vise-Grip pliers) and drive all cars with red interiors out to the lot and we’ll put steering wheels on when we get some.” With JIT logistics, now the car company knows “next week we arE building these cars on these days. Ship parts on this day to arrive on that day.” Parts hit the dock when scheduled, are scanned in, staged, and are on the assembly line within an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/37 "2019-10-15T21:03:22Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It is indeed efficient for the manufacturer. Yet borderline misleading. How many advertisers included wording like, “We will ship your order as soon as we have enough [del]suckers[/del] orders to justify making the product we advertised. As of now, we have no stock and no definite plans to make any whatsoever. We don’t even know if we _can_ make it because we haven’t done it yet. You might get one, or you might not. So send your order in now, and we’ll all find out!” > > And if they said that, how many would they sell? The public assumed the advertised item was sitting in quantity on a warehouse shelf, just like in retail stores, which wasn’t contradicted anywhere in the “buy it now!” ad. These days you just create a Kickstarter project and do this. And you can be open and honest about it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/38 "2019-10-15T23:02:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Heck, 50 years ago there was only one delivery service, the government monopoly. Surely there were private courier services…? Wells Fargo? ~Max ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/39 "2019-10-16T00:49:37Z")
Stuff from Johnson Smith took a long time to arrive, but you knew you were going to get it. Now as to whether it was what you expected… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741/40 "2019-10-16T01:22:20Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Stuff from Johnson Smith took a long time to arrive, but you knew you were going to get it. Now as to whether it was what you expected… When I was assistant manager at a computer store we would get regular shipments from Belkin who made a lot of accessories and computer components we sold. Every shipment without fail they’d make a mistake and I’d have to go through the box and compare it to the invoice to figure it out. Then I’d have to call them and report it. But at least they were consistent; you always knew there was something wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mail-order-items-back-in-the-day-take-4-to-6-weeks-or-6-to-8-weeks-to-arrive/841741.md?page=3)