Folks if we post heads up of when the coop will start how would it change. You would still have the exact same amount of people getting them and it would be closed in 2 minutes.
We did not know we were going to run another one until 10 minutes prior. It was decided while talking with the staff about coop timeing.
We do as many as we can handle but it is hard to meet the demand as volunteer coop people doing it.
In the past when we did post the time of the start of a coop. I had people complaining they we working at that tme and could not get any. Others were mad as they were in a different time zone and were asleep, ect.
You know I have never had a single member send me a pm or post letting me know they just got all the coop kits they wanted and the coop was total unfair in how t was run, isn't that strange!
RJ
A few of us newbies have been watching patiently since the last express coop ended in January, and then this one pops up.
Less than 1 day later it is filled again because of someone coming in and sapping up a 20 count.
Let start to be fair.
I watch almost every day, I guess I missed a day.
And now I miss another one.
Would I have made it if you limited it to so many per? Not sure as I am positive from this posting there are a quite few that missed besides me.
Now to my point.
Seems like lately your coop is heavily in favor of those that are buying for mass quantities and large displays.
That is great, because it reaffirms how good and cost effective your designs are for those that otherwise could not afford the $$ on all sorts of LOR or some other commercial hardware.
Should that be the case? That is up for you and your managers to decide.
But for someone to come in and buy 10% of your offer, that gets to quite unfair to us still in waiting.
Just an idea.
To perpetuate the virtual existence of your coop, you will need new blood each year.
This happening just makes some of the new still hungry and waiting members upset with the process and give it up.
Why not try limiting quantities for your coops, so that more can actually partake?
If someone does miss it, keep some type of waiting list of these members at least through your stated window (Same Limit on waiting members)?
This would cover multiple issues I currently see.
1) Members in waiting like me would have a better chance of getting in.
2) You have a super coop, and a large number of reservations bow out during the payment process.
3) Makes pre-planning for the next coop that much easier.
4) To cover those that need the larger quantities over the limit, if they can not be accommodated in the first coop order, then ensure them they can get all they need in the next one. They would be covered through a pre-planning process.
I know this sounds alittle like big business, but funny thing is it is how we keep our current customers happy and still grow with our new customers that do not want to wait. We would never survive if we closed the door on our customers multiple times. You are growing, and need to try and accommodate for it.
Regards,
Randy B
The problem is if you look back a few years you will see we tried this. I had 5 times as many upset people doing that way. My PM boxed filled with members needing XXX number and it was not fair they were not allowed to order their needs.
Their comments sounded like this. "I have been a member for 6 months waiting to jump in the first coop I could and get what I need for this year and when you open the coop you put a limit that prevents me from doing this with the excuss that the new people that just joined should get a chance because they might not be checking the forum often, This is bull it should be first come first serve!"
You answered it in your post.
This not a business and we run on volunteers that do the work for you all to save money remember this. We must do it on their schedules and the amount they can do.
We are not able to make everyone happy all the time.
If you had wanted 20 units and got in the coop in time to get them you would at this point be happy and others would be complianing at me about it. And if you wanted twenty and I said you could have 4 you would be unhappy so it is a case of we do the best we can to meet the need.
When I say "you" I mean members not you yourself, Who ever things do not go in their favor is upset and those it did are happy. We did not tell certain people when the coop would happen. I myself knew 10 minutes before the post. This coop was not even suppost to happen it is an additional coop so it added more to the output.
As far as the coops favoring large shows I do not understand this? The coop prior to this one was open for weeks. No one was limited in quanitity or forced to take a certain amount. Some ordered 1 some ordered 20. Users need different amounts. We did have to close it early and even then I had compliants. Like " I was waiting to order" well if you are watching a coop push in the hundreds and hundreds and sit waiting to join then it is not our fault you do not get them when the coop closes.
Please do not read this as getting down on the membership but remember that armchair quarterbacking the running of DLA is like doing so in in the NFL. It seems easy till you get out on the field and have that first 300 lbs tackle stand on your head and all of a sudden it is a lot harder than it seemed watching from a far. For a none paying hobby gig it is really way too much work.
RJ
