bazookagoldtrap
Jr. Member
Hello All,
Goldwasher sent me a message today about this thread, and I know it's time for an "official" response.
For those that aren't in the know, the West Coast has had a tremendous amount of rainfall since the end of December. Last year at this time, it was business as usual here at Bazooka.. January through the end of tax season is our yearly "rush" period.. usually double the sales of any other time of year. The thing is that years of drought affected our sales histrionics for our domestic market, and that is what we basically planned off of with room for slight increases or decreases.
Well, we were dead wrong. Since the 1st of the year, West Coast sales make up 80% of our volume, and sales are quadruple versus last year. Dealer orders are more frequent, and the quantities are up. New dealers are coming on board worldwide. Bazookas are now in over 45 countries. You may think, "Well, that's a great problem to have." Unfortunately, we are a small shop of good ol boys who started out providing a relatively new concept in a small niche. Never did it occur to us that it would grow to the level it has (which is still relatively small compared to our larger competitors).
At the same time Murphy's Law reared it's head. We lost our production manager to reasons I won't get into, and had to let go a few others. Goldwasher got a job closer to home, and that was big loss but we are very supportive as he's a busy guy. Training new employees is time-consuming, and mistakes happen.. which eat into production. To this day, every Bazooka is hand-built. That will be changing in the near future as we are in the process of having parts computer cut so we can focus on assembly.
The past few months have been gut-wrenching trying to keep up. The phone rings off the hook, and emails never end. I could spend 10 hours a day just on those things. I now understand why Doc doesn't offer a phone number. Because of volume and lack of skilled help, it's been all hands on deck to get these out and Service has definitely suffered.. Which is completely my fault. We are learning, and it's a constant evolution.
On top of this, my wife and Todd's fiance are both expecting, and due this summer. I probably don't have to say anymore.
Purple Gold, I'm sorry. In no way are you responsible for any charges related to the nightmare you've experienced, and I hope I never implied anything to the contrary. I added your replacement to the queue, but because it wasn't tagged with an actual order number it may have been bumped. I will get it out as soon as I can, and we won't be dicking around with returns.. just keep it as a spare. I will contact you personally in the next few days. Thank you for your patience.
We appreciate each and every one of our customers, and truthfully it's the only reason we do this.. We sure as hell aren't getting fat & rich doing it. Mistakes have been and are being made, but we're trying hard to learn from them so hopefully we can grow into a more efficient company. If you have any questions, I can be reached directly at chris at bazookagoldtrap dot com.
With Regard,
Chris Young, Manager
Bazooka Gold Company
Careful not to spill.
.......Thank you for the support and understanding coming from a guy like you it does mean a lot.
as far as sluices go your hard pressed to find a more productive one so I hope were helping at least a few of you guys to LEVEL UP!!!
