Why does Thomann take so long to despatch?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

When I order something from Andertons or other large music shops, more often than not it is despatched the same day and arrives the next.

 

I placed an order with Thomann on Monday. All of the items are in stock, but today (Thursday) the order is still showing as: open - Not yet processed - Order will soon be commissioned and shipped.

 

Obviously it will take a few days to arrive once it has been despatched, but does anyone know why have my last few orders have taken so long to actually get processed and despatched?

 

I am wondering whether there's a logistics reason such as  all UK orders get grouped together as a single shipment until they reach the UK, so they only despatch those orders on a certain day of the week.

 

I have sent them an enquiry and will report back if/when I get a reply.

[BigRedX]

IME it doesn't matter when in the week you order something from Thomann, if it's destined for the UK it gets dispatched late on Friday afternoon.

[Bassassin]

That'll be a B-Word consequence, I imagine.

 

One of those oh-so benefitty benefits. 👍

Edited 22 hours ago by Bassassin
Type O. Or r, actually.

[paul_5]

The problem is that there are limited transport options through the ‘sunlit uplands’, what with all of the unicorns and such…

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Bassassin said:

That'll be a B-Word consequence, I imagine.

 

One of those oh-so benefitty benefits. 👍

 

TBH the situation regarding when stuff actually gets dispatched to the UK hasn't changed since the B-word. 

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IME it doesn't matter when in the week you order something from Thomann, if it's destined for the UK it gets dispatched late on Friday afternoon.

 

This. It would make no sense for them to despatch dozens of individual parcels to the UK. Easier and cheaper to put them all in the UK-bound container and ship it weekly. Not unreasonable of them.

[nilebodgers]

Their returns go to a UK address, so I suspect this is their distribution hub for out and back.

[NancyJohnson]

Why does it take longer?  Logistics.

 

Thomann are a pan-European supplier with a level of instrumentation-supply that (for instance) Andertons or GuitarGuitar can only dream of.  I can't honestly imagine how much kit get shipped here weekly, I'd imagine it's mind-boggling.

 

They likely ship enough product to the UK to warrant everything going into containers rather than simply going out on an individual basis, so as @BigRedX has said, Thomann are likely have enough power to assign UK shipments leaving their facility on certain days of the week and coordinating with FedEx/UPS/whoever well in advance of that day to book freight slots to get it to this country.

[jezzaboy]

To be fair to them, if I order say a bass on a Sunday it`s usually out for delivery on the Thursday. The DHL balls up the final bit of the delivery!

 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I just got a reply:

 

=================================

 

Many thanks for contacting us. Unfortunately our shipping department is having a small backlog due to a public holiday. Your order should leave our warehouse today. Thank you for your patience in any case
 

=================================

 

No mention of logistics or only sending out once a week 🤔

 

The order status hasn't changed yet though.

 

Edit - just checked again & it is showing as "Dispatched: The goods have left our warehouse and are on their way to the border."

 

There's nothing exciting in the order, just a bunch of odd bits & pieces that aren't easy to source locally, and a dozen sets of their cheapest .009 guitar strings which are as good as any standard branded strings I've used.

Edited 11 hours ago by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Dan Dare]

4 hours ago, nilebodgers said:

Their returns go to a UK address, so I suspect this is their distribution hub for out and back.

 

Which would support the notion that they ship to their UK distributor in bulk and items are sent out individually from there. Makes sense. If we want quicker delivery, we can always buy from and support a UK-based company. May cost us a little more, of course.

[synthaside]

No surprise really, its a combo of a couple of shipments a week and the fact it is / was pentecost ,  the annual tradition for all  Germans to take the time off to spend in their cars and sit in traffic on the way the coast ...

We spent it in Zeeland ... it rained and blusterd ... the entire time .... we then flew to Riga  just in time for the weather to improve massively, i hear from family it was 29C  .

[lemmywinks]

I ordered from them on the 6th (evening though) and it was despatched the next day, just been delivered about 1hr ago. So basically 5 working days which isn't too bad.