Gerry's Is Getting An Equinox Delivery Tuesday!

[Wayfarer]

I don't think the dealers knew that prepaid preorders would be the only ones getting detectors in the first batch.  That's the way it ended up, yes, but at first, I'm sure the dealers were assuming all preorders would get filled in the first batch and it wouldn't matter of they were prepaid or not.  Then, when it became clear that there was only going to be a trickle of machines in the first batch compared to the huge number of preorders, Minelab had to have some way of differentiating who would be getting detectors in the first batch and who would have to wait, and they decided to have dealers send them only to customers who prepaid.  That decision probably wasn't made until the last couple weeks or so.  Maybe Minelab consulted with dealers and asked them the fairest way to handle the huge backlog and they agreed together that the first batch would go to prepaid preorders.  But I'm pretty sure this was not decided on until very recently.  So I guess what I'm saying is:  don't blame the dealers.  There wasn't necessarily any hidden hidden knowledge or conscious effort to "hide the rules."  

[Rick K - First Member]

Interesting theory, Mr. W., but I don’t buy it.  Minelab doesn’t likely have that kind of information or clout.  It might even be unlawful.  There is likely nothing in the dealer agreement which allows Minelab to enforce who the dealer can sell to.  Again, probably unlawful since federal trade law greatly restricts the ability of manufacturers to interfere in the marketplace behavior of dealers.

This sort of “clout” pretty much went away when Federal law made it illegal for manufacturers to enforce “list price” on dealers.  Now they are left with Minimum Advertised Price.  If a dealer Advertises a price lower, he is violating his sales agreement.  He can, however privately agree on any price he wishes.

[Chase Goldman]

Sorry, the logic here is just baffling.  LOL

Especially, if you assume the rules were changed in the middle of the game as suggested by Wayfarer.

For the dealers that accepted no prepayments because that is how they normally roll with all their customers - they get no detectors because they didn't anticipate the change in plans or were forced to call customers to ask for prepayments?  Nice.  "No soup for you!"

The bigger volume dealers that insist on 100% pre-payment for all pre-orders will have an issue too because they couldn't possibly fill their hundreds of pre-paid pre-orders.  That's going to happen whether or not Minelab insisted on prepayment for distribution allocation simply because their list is long.

Also, that would mean in the case where a dealer seeks prepayment as a form of commitment from less trusted customers, those customers would have priority over the "don't worry about it because we trust you" customers who were not asked to prepay because Minelab sought agreement  (after the preorder lists were generated) from dealers that the first batch would only go to pre-pays?  Don't seem fair. But life isn't fair.

The Savvy dealers had two lists, I guess. The "higher priority "Have" list" for those who prepaid and the "I'll take it when I can get it no pre-pay list."  

I guess I can still blame my dealer for not being savvy vice being devious. Or I can just face facts and realize that I was not actually a "most trusted" customer.  

Wish they just distributed the detectors in proportion to the number of preorders (prepaid or not) and let the dealers figure it out (recognizing that the distributed numbers would be small).

And, despite Mitchel's insistence to the contrary, perhaps that is what they actually did happen.  Who knows?  All we can do is speculate that the process was fair vs. a moving target that could result in inequities.  

Despite my natural cynicism, I am going to assume Minelab and the Dealers acted in the best interest of their customers, and hopefully the dealers kept their most trusted customers in the loop as to the best way (e.g., first to sign up and prepayment as necessary) to ensure they would get a detector as soon as possible.

"You may say I'm a dreamer,  but I'm not the only one." JL

(This post has the patented "Tongue-in-Cheek" entertainment disclaimer so as to not stir up serious hate, discontent, and drama.  I'm finding humor in the most dire of circumstances, hope you can, too.)

[DetectingMO]

customer arrangement with dealer has no bearing on dealer to distro arrangement and/or distro to manufacturer arrangement.   If a dealer is putting prepay first in line thats on the dealer.  Not dictated by distro or manufacturer.  Each relationship has their own agreement.  Stating otherwise is false.

[relicmeister]

It's interesting all the dealer- buyer relationships described here. I prepaid for mine on October 8, and was not told what number I was just that I was close to the top of the list. He expects just a few from the initial shipment and I doubt I'll get one of them. I asked a week before I ordered to go on the list with the money transaction a week later, and the dealer said he couldn't do it.  I'm not a new customer either. 

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

Dearly beloved,

It is obvious there are not enough units to go around currently to satisfy wants.

So, what was Minelab to do with what they had?

They took preorder numbers and made allocations to dealers.  Sure some dealers got just one unit, some more.  Most I have seen reported is 4 units.  I don't  know how many units units Kellyco got.  It was reported by good source they had approx 200 units preordered.

So a little tip here for folks.

It seems Minelab was/is trying to let all dealers in on some action, albeit it is small right now.

Meaning, if you desire in the future to get a new release early, try to contact a dealer that handles fewer detectors on average.  Try to be number one on their list.  It would have been awfully difficult for example  to have been number 1 on Kellyco's list right?

These allocations likely to continue (my speculation) for a while longer.

I also think any units received by folks on or before Tues next week in USA, I truly  believe these units flown into USA from assembly country.  I don't doubt there are shipments floating headed for USA and other countries.

So perhaps the waves of Equinox will grow with size and come frequent.

[Norm S]

 When they announced on Jan 31st they would begin shipping they were ready. Who knows how many were pre ordered world wide. 10,000 or 100,000 but I feel confident they build at least 200 or 300 per day. At that rate they could have 10,000 built in 50 days. I would guess they can put a 1500 -2000 in a sea container and we know France got them 1st and I would guess the UK gets them right after France. We know they had at least 60 days of pre build. Minelab announced they tweaked the iron bias and gold setting to multi frequency so I am confident they are shipping as fast as they can. 

The detectors don't go to the dealers then shipped to you. They go to a distribution center and shipped direct to you from there. Some dealers are lucky to have a total of 20 detectors of all brands on hand and those are for the walk in sales and demo. 

I have bought 3 Minelab products from one of the top dealers in the USA and everything I bought was shipped from Michigan

Think about it the cost would be to much to ship to a distribution center then to the dealer and then to you. 

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

20 minutes ago, Norm S said:

 When they announced on Jan 31st they would begin shipping they were ready. Who knows how many were pre ordered world wide. 10,000 or 100,000 but I feel confident they build at least 200 or 300 per day. At that rate they could have 10,000 built in 50 days. I would guess they can put a 1500 -2000 in a sea container and we know France got them 1st and I would guess the UK gets them right after France. We know they had at least 60 days of pre build. Minelab announced they tweaked the iron bias and gold setting to multi frequency so I am confident they are shipping as fast as they can. 

The detectors don't go to the dealers then shipped to you. They go to a distribution center and shipped direct to you from there. Some dealers are lucky to have a total of 20 detectors of all brands on hand and those are for the walk in sales and demo. 

I have bought 3 Minelab products from one of the top dealers in the USA and everything I bought was shipped from Michigan

Think about it the cost would be to much to ship to a distribution center then to the dealer and then to you. 

There is only one problem with your calculations.

What is it?

Seems there was a program update.

So the built units had  to be programmed or reprogrammed.

I don't know exactly what this entails-with Equinox being waterproof

Remember they had to have a place to store units too.

I don't think folks think about how much time it takes to pack a box properly and go thru the QC checks.

Take a lot of space for 5,000 Equinoxes, or 7,500, or 10,000 units.

.Product notice indicating some Equinox units ready to ship dated 2 Feb 2018, although due to time zones, we in USA got to see this late 01 Feb 2018.  It is currently the 08 Feb.

[Ridge Runner]

Well I got the email from my dealer and said it’s on the way.

Sorry guys wrong dealer it was Harbor Freight