[comp.sys.mac.misc] Mac Classic delivery time = 3 months

omalley@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) (02/28/91)

In case anyone's interested ...

We placed an order for a Mac Classic 2/40 on November 27, 1990.  It
arrived on February 27, 1991.  Three months!

Last time we ordered a Mac (a couple years ago), it took 13 days.  Guess
you can't mess with the laws of supply and demand ...


-John
---
John O'Malley          / Macintosh  / Purdue University / (317)
omalley@cc.purdue.edu / Specialist / Computing Center  / 494-1787

farshid@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Farshid Arman) (02/28/91)

omalley@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) writes:
>In case anyone's interested ...
>
>We placed an order for a Mac Classic 2/40 on November 27, 1990.  It
>arrived on February 27, 1991.  Three months!

we ordered on December, we are getting delivery this saturday!
the wait now is 4 months as told to us by the campus store.  I guess
if you are not getting educational discounted ones the wait is less!

Farshid

jnsims01@ulkyvx.bitnet (03/01/91)

In article <44848@ut-emx.uucp>, farshid@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Farshid Arman) writes:
> omalley@mace.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley) writes:
>>In case anyone's interested ...
>>
>>We placed an order for a Mac Classic 2/40 on November 27, 1990.  It
>>arrived on February 27, 1991.  Three months!
> 
> we ordered on December, we are getting delivery this saturday!
> the wait now is 4 months as told to us by the campus store.  I guess
> if you are not getting educational discounted ones the wait is less!
> 
> Farshid
Apple booked my order (on a University PO) on November 7. The system was
delivered last week, Feburary 21 to be precise. The answer is (whir, boing)
15 weeks and 1 day. Long wait but I sure love it. The disk is **FAST**,
at least compared to my SE.
************************************************************************	
 My wife AND my employer ignore my opinions - feel free to do the same!
************************************************************************
* John Norman Sims, Jr.                 *      BITNET: JNSIMS01@ULKYVM *
* University of Louisville              *       Voice:  (502) 588-5565 *
* Computing and Telecommunications      *         Fax:  (502) 588-5048 *
************************************************************************
 You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game
************************************************************************

mes@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Mark Schmid) (03/06/91)

Just the facts ...

	I walked into a Greenbelt, Md. store and out with 
a Mac Classic 2/40 in early February.  The dealer was even
willing to split the difference between my (available)
educational discount and the retail.

				Mark Schmid

meharp01@ulkyvx.bitnet (03/06/91)

OK, so i'm whining again......

I was just sitting here marking off the days since I ordered my Classic and
trying to understand WHY it takes 16 weeks to get a computer that is supposed
to be incredibly easy to manufacture.  I mean, that's one of the reasons it's
so cheap, isn't it?  They have even starting air-shipping the systems from
Singapore.  And wasn't there supposed to be a THIRD Classic plant online by
now?

I guess my question is, what kind of colossal screw-up really happened here? 
No one in the trades seems to have a good answer to this other than some
permutation of "demand was much higher than expected."  Good grief, fellas,
doesn't Apple have a marketing research group?  Don't they read Mac[Week,
World, User]?  SOMEONE should have seen this coming.  Were these decisions made 
by Gasse' (sp?) before he got canned?

I have heard a rumor that the fault is not with Apple, but with Conner, the
folks who make the 1" disk drives.  Apple supposedly needed three times the
number that Conner could produce in that time.  Is that the problem or a
symptom of the problem?

9 weeks and counting.....at least I have a nice new hutch for it.....

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Harpe, N4PLE                   | BITNET: MEHARP01@ULKYVX
North Computer Center                  | VOICE:  502-588-6882
University of Louisville               | FAX:    502-588-5048
Louisville, KY  40292                  | AURAL:  "Mike!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Strictly my opinions here.  U of L doesn't care what I think.

bjornl@milton.u.washington.edu (Bjorn Levidow) (03/07/91)

The subject line should read "Mac Classic delivery time > 3 months".  
I have been waiting for my Classic since 12/6/90 and the University of
Washington has no idea how long it will be before they fill my order!!
This is, of course, after they took my $1218 on 12/6.  Sometimes
I really think that Apple is trying to drive itself into the ground

===============================================================================
\  Bjorn Levidow                    |   Romance is unreal...it's the essence  /
\  Dept. of Psychology              |   of life, but not the reality of it.   /
\  University of Washington         |               ---Robyn Hitchcock        /
\  Seattle, WA  98195               |   It's mine!  All mine!                 /
\  bjornl@u.washington.edu          |   I'm independently thoughtful!         /
===============================================================================

jhex_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Jeff Hexter) (03/07/91)

In <17843@milton.u.washington.edu> bjornl@milton.u.washington.edu (Bjorn Levidow) writes:

>The subject line should read "Mac Classic delivery time > 3 months".  
>I have been waiting for my Classic since 12/6/90 and the University of
>Washington has no idea how long it will be before they fill my order!!
>This is, of course, after they took my $1218 on 12/6.  Sometimes
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isn't there some sort of consumer protection law that makes it illegal
for you to be charged for something you haven't received?

>I really think that Apple is trying to drive itself into the ground

>===============================================================================
>\  Bjorn Levidow                    |   Romance is unreal...it's the essence  /
>\  Dept. of Psychology              |   of life, but not the reality of it.   /
>\  University of Washington         |               ---Robyn Hitchcock        /
>\  Seattle, WA  98195               |   It's mine!  All mine!                 /
>\  bjornl@u.washington.edu          |   I'm independently thoughtful!         /
>===============================================================================

At the University of Rochester, there was a backorder of something like
70+ Mac Classic 2MB RAM/40MB HD.  No one had to put any money down until
they picked up the machine (MC, Visa, personal check, and of course,
cash).  (at which point they need to pay $1196 + 7% tax)

Jeff
-- 
What is Cognitive Science?  A better      | Mcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmc
question is what ISN'T Cognitive Science! | mcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmc... 
jhex_ltd@cc.rochester.edu		  |		Jeff Hexter
University of Rochester Apple Student Representative	AOL: JeffHex

rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert K Shull) (03/07/91)

In article <1991Mar6.135936.900@ulkyvx.bitnet> meharp01@ulkyvx.bitnet writes:
>OK, so i'm whining again......

Feel free. There were three of us in the office all whining together back
when the original Mac II was in the same situation.

>permutation of "demand was much higher than expected."  Good grief, fellas,
>doesn't Apple have a marketing research group?  Don't they read Mac[Week,

Perhaps the people at Apple listened to everyone on comp.sys.mac.*. You know,
all those people who predicted the Classic would sell something like 3 or 4
units a month :-) :-)

>I have heard a rumor that the fault is not with Apple, but with Conner, the
>folks who make the 1" disk drives.  Apple supposedly needed three times the

I think the drive in the IIsi is the same Conner that's in the Classic (I'm
quite sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong :-) ), and my wife's new IIsi only
took about 4 weeks to get here (in November) and most of that was waiting
on the NuBus adapter.

I'd bet the answer is real simple. Apple is selling all the machines they can
make right now, and dealers ALWAYS get top priority. For one thing, the
dealers are the ones that actually SELL Apple equipment. You know, convince
people to buy it, not just take orders from people who come in. (Or at least,
they're supposed to convince people. Never can seem to find one of those
dealers, myself.)

As for adding additional capacity, I'd have to be convinced you can pick up the
phone and order a 1500 unit-per-day computer factory for instant delivery (uhh,
can I get that with anchovies?) at a non-astronomical price. Not to mention
getting rid of it when the "introduction" sales boom inevitably winds down.

	Robert
>Michael Harpe

P.S. I'm assuming you're ordering through one of the Apple educational
programs. If you're ordering through a dealer, I'd suggest finding a
different one. Seem to be lots of them with Classics in stock.

P.P.S. They do show up eventually. At least with the Classic you don't have to
wait for all the pieces to come in. I waited 6 weeks for the video card for my
Mac II. Everything else was in. Had plenty of time to think about how useless
a Mac II is without a video card.
-- 
Robert K. Shull
rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu				chinet!uokmax!rob

rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert K Shull) (03/07/91)

In article <17843@milton.u.washington.edu> bjornl@milton.u.washington.edu (Bjorn Levidow) writes:
>I have been waiting for my Classic since 12/6/90 and the University of
>Washington has no idea how long it will be before they fill my order!!

University orders are typically placed "in bulk" and filled a piece at a
time. There's really no predicting when "your piece" will come in.
Especially if your university happens to pull departmental orders
first (not sure if this is done, but it is possible).

>This is, of course, after they took my $1218 on 12/6.  Sometimes

I don't think this is an Apple policy. More likely it's your
university. OU takes 10% down to secure the order (prevent cold feet),
with the rest on delivery.

>I really think that Apple is trying to drive itself into the ground

No, if they wanted to do that they'd ship equipment to universities,
and leave their commercial customers hanging.

I've ordered three Macs through Apple's higher education program, and I
think of it this way: The delay is the price I pay for getting the
machine at a substantial discount. If, for some reason, I had to have
a new machine NOW, or on a fixed delivery date, I'd find a good dealer
(with luck) and pay the extra 10, 20, 30%. That's the price you pay
for speed. My one wish is that Apple would take credit cards on HEPP
orders. OU doesn't want to deal with anything except cashier's checks.
	Robert

>  Bjorn Levidow
-- 
Robert K. Shull
rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu				chinet!uokmax!rob

tj@pons.cis.ohio-state.edu (Todd R Johnson) (03/08/91)

In article <1991Mar7.022813.15407@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> rob@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert K Shull) writes:
>>I've ordered three Macs through Apple's higher education program, and I
>>think of it this way: The delay is the price I pay for getting the
>>machine at a substantial discount. 

	When the classic was introduced, the Columbus commercial dealer
was selling the 2/40 configuration for about $80 more than the
educational price.  Not much of a substantial savings.

	---Todd



--
Todd R. Johnson
tj@cis.ohio-state.edu
Laboratory for AI Research
The Ohio State University

jnsims01@ulkyvx.bitnet (03/08/91)

>>I have been waiting for my Classic since 12/6/90 and the University of
>>Washington has no idea how long it will be before they fill my order!!
>>This is, of course, after they took my $1218 on 12/6.  Sometimes
>                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Isn't there some sort of consumer protection law that makes it illegal
> for you to be charged for something you haven't received?
> 
I think the problem here is that he choose to purchase the Classic via a
University purchase order, not through Apple's program. University of
Louisville did the same thing to me, and I understand it's common practise when
a University is purchasing something for an individual.
> 
> At the University of Rochester, there was a backorder of something like
> 70+ Mac Classic 2MB RAM/40MB HD.  No one had to put any money down until
> they picked up the machine (MC, Visa, personal check, and of course,
> cash).  (at which point they need to pay $1196 + 7% tax)
>
Lucky you! But then University of Rochester generally treats its students
better than some other places I could name ;/)
************************************************************************	
 My wife AND my employer ignore my opinions - feel free to do the same!
************************************************************************
* John Norman Sims, Jr.                 *      BITNET: JNSIMS01@ULKYVM *
* University of Louisville              *       Voice:  (502) 588-5565 *
* Computing and Telecommunications      *         Fax:  (502) 588-5048 *
************************************************************************
 You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game
************************************************************************