Thursday, January 14, 2010

Japanese Games & Stuff Backlog Management!

A belated "Happy New Year" to Japanese games lovers around the world!

I was away for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year holiday and on my return to Japan I was faced with a backlog of orders which I am still dealing with...

I hope to clear the backlog by the end of next week and also to turn around new orders at something like the usual pace...

What is the usual pace for turning orders around at Japanese-Games-Shop.com?

It really depends on what you order because I don't keep large stocks of goods and usually have to obtain the items from one or other of my suppliers as orders come in.

I then have to fit packing and posting into my regular schedule. Please bear in mind when ordering from my website that Japanese-Games-Shop.com is a one-man show... When not packing and posting, I am usually gadding about fulfilling my duties as a freelance English teacher, English language consultant, article writer, independent and part-time academic, father, husband, mahjong player, and superannuated footballer... When it comes to football, I'm going for the double record of (1) longest serving player in the Hiroshima City League and (2) the oldest player ever. I still have several years to go before I break the second record, which is held by a Japanese player who retired at the age of 56 or something...

Ideally, if the item is in stock and I have a light schedule, I can ship the item within 24 hours of receiving the order. If not, then 2-4 days if all goes well, but if you order on a Tuesday, then the order can be delayed simply because Wed-Fri is the busy end of my week...

Of course, things can also be slowed down when my suppliers are slow or when things are out of stock or simply "unavailable". In those cases I email customers to see whether they are willing to wait or want a refund.

I had a backlog of over 30 items to ship...

Yesterday I shipped 13 items, today another five items. If I have time I hope to ship another three or four items tomorrow... In the meantime, several new orders have come in, so there is still a backlog to deal with.

Feel free to drop me a line before your order if you want to know the state of play... But do bear in mind that time spent responding to inquiries means less time for packing and shipping!

Cheers!

David H
Japanese-Games-Shop.com