Just a quick note - I ordered 2 items from Trainworld mid-afternoon on Monday 11/10 and they arrived in Iowa today Thursday 11/13. Excellent service and I have always found Trainworld prices to be very good.
They sure have great adds in MR. ( I noted they are still advertising PCM’s GN 4-8-4. I bet if I ordered that it would take a while.) I have not tried them. I have had some quick service elsewhere. I live across the street from a great HO shop and that is way too close. Maybe people are catching on that fast friendly service is good on the internet as well. Thanks for the post.
Not bad, but my last order from Trainworld was placed at dinner time on Wednesday, and it was at my house when I got home the next day. Plain vanilla UPS, New York to the burbs of Boston.
They do ship fast. Unlike many e-tailers, they have what they sell in-stock, right there in the store. It goes in a box and out the door.
But, don’t forget your LHS. If you frequent a shop, think about life without it. Any time you buy online, you put another nail into the coffin of local shops with local service and advice. I’ve pretty much stopped buying trains online for only that reason.
Having things that are advertised IN STOCK makes a whole lot of difference. I received a newsletter from Walthers a couple of weeks ago and one of the things I am looking at in there is on back order and won’t be available till the end of December (plus the section it was in was advertising for the holidays- how can I get one before Christmas you ask? I don’t know, glad I wasn’t planning on giving it for a gift). Seems stupid to advertise something that won’t be available for another month and a half.
I have also used Trainworld on several occasions, and found there service and prices to be exellent. I agree that you should try to keep your business with the LHS, but when they charge more than the manufactures suggested retail prices, then I have no pitty for them. They should at least try to be a bit more competitive with the average prices found on the internet. It is hard to justify paying nearly double the price found on the internet just to keep the LHS going. This was the case of the best LHS in my area. I feel that they would probably still be in buisiness if there prices weren’t so high. Just my [2c].
Walthers has to print those catalogues a couple of months in advance. The stuff most likely was in stock when they assembled the catalogue.
Craig
Same problem I have. I try and support the LHS’s in my area as well, but when I have to pay 25-35% more for an item, it’s sometimes hard to justify it to the wallet. What’s great about the LHS’s though is when I need something right away, or when the urge to window shop hits.
Yes, just as we should remember our LHS, our LHS needs to remember us. They’ve got to understand that they are in a competitive market, and adjust their prices accordingly. My LHS discounts items, maybe not as much as some e-tailers, but still 10-15%, which makes customers feel appreciated. Another one a bit further up the road is pretty much MSRP, and doesn’t get much of my business.
My comment about having things in stock referred to some on-line places that really don’t have much inventory at all. When they say an item is “available,” they mean they can order it from Walthers, have it shipped to them, and then turn around and re-ship it to you. No surprise there that it takes 2 weeks or more for the package to show up at your door.
I think I look forward to the arrival of the Walthers flyer every month more than I wait for MR. I put it on my nightstand, and go through it before bedtime. No, I don’t crawl under the covers and read it with a flashlight, but it does bring back memories of doing that with the Lionel catalog when I was a kid. Anyway, once in a while there’s a great bargain on something, and I notice that the items goes from In Stock to Sold Out before the month is over. The ad flyer did its job, and people emptied the shelves of that item. More than once, I’ve been part of that crowd. So, I don’t think Walthers intentionally advertises out-of-stock items, but they may underestimate the demand.
By the way, if you watch carefully, you’ll find that very often Walthers will keep those sold-out items on sale even after the flyer’s two-month validity date expires. Once they come in, there’s a period of time when you can still get them at the original sale price. I guess they feel they should do this to honor the price in the flyer, even if it means they have to re-order to do that for you.