It’s hard getting things of this caliber done in South Africa

It has been a rough of couple of days and it still is! I must be honest and say that last week I thought I would have to break the news to everyone who ordered a Shukuma dolly... I really thought that the predetermined delivery date of 31 Aug 2012 will not be met. Luckily it doesn't seem like I have to postpone the date.

The belt that is used to run the cart on, arrived at the suppliers recently and as things will happen, it's the wrong belt! The normal turnaround time for orders is 6 to 8 weeks which means my delivery date will be postponed with 3 or 4 weeks. I was so happy when the suppliers said that it was a mistake from their supplier and they will send the correct order via air. The belt will now be here by next week. Sigh! Close call...

That brings me to the other issue of the current 19 suppliers that I have. They all keep on playing the "it's not our fault" card on me and put the blame on their suppliers. Not even to mention about the quotes I receive now - the prices are all different. Now that I start to actually order stock the prices change by the week, regardless the price on the invoice from my original purchase. I don't know if it is a South African thing but darn, this is not easy.

I have been working on this dolly now for almost two years and the pricing of the dolly was one of my biggest concerns. I don't want to do business like most other companies in South Africa and blame every price increase on the exchange rate. If I choose my price I want to stick to it, but I must say, it's rather challenging having to depend on so many suppliers. Of course prices go up and there's nothing wrong with an annual increase. The first 10 people to place their orders for the Shukuma dolly are really lucky as they really get the unit for a very good price.

It might not sound like a lot to jump from R218.00 to R381.00 but if you do bulk orders it starts to make a big difference.  For another item the original price was R6.80 and now all of a sudden it's R22.80 per item and I need 6 per Shukuma.  It seems like it just doesn't stop.

At the end of the day it's my profit that's getting eaten by greedy suppliers. The moment you start doing business these vultures see "Oh, now we can really fill up from this sucker... Let's eat!". The sad thing in South Africa is that we don't have much choice in going elsewhere as there mostly is no alternatives.  Well, oh well. The struggles of getting a product out in time and running a business.

I still love what I do! And thanks for reading, I feel better now that my struggles are shared!