Case Studies • Big Dog Warehouse, Inc.

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Case Studies

or, "lessons learned the hard way"

We all make occasional mistakes. In our line of work, mistakes can be rather costly. This page details some of the experiences we've had and what we learned from them.

Case Study #1: Don't Assume Anything

We had a rather large locker installation job in the Washington, DC area--650 Penco Invincible II lockers, over 40,000 lbs. of product. Everything was worked out to the last detail--or so we thought.

The transport did not require liftgate service because the organization had a forklift. However, when the product was delivered they failed to mention that the forklift was in the shop and hadn't worked in months. Then it was discovered that there wasn't room for the unassembled lockers at their facility after all. Now the product had to go to another location--but where?

Since the lockers were on a truck without a liftgate, they had to go to a facility with a loading dock. The trucking company was charging us by the hour for the extra effort. After a flurry of phone calls, a pod rental facility in the area with a dock agreed to take the lockers. Not only that, they'd pre-load them into pods and deliver them to the end destination where they had found room outside for the pods.

So now we were eating the cost of the pods as well as the labor to move the lockers into them and the transport to the facility. However, the lockers got to the end destination, and the installers began work on their end.

When the project was almost complete, it was discovered that a couple boxes of end panels were missing. Everyone looked but they did not surface. End result? We had to order them at our cost, and delay the project completion about three weeks.

Fortunately, the cost of fixing the challenges ate only into the profit. Unfortunately, it was a nice chunk of the profit.

So what did we learn? First, don't assume anything. We should have double-checked on the forklift availability. The fact that the left and right hands weren't communicating on the customer end only meant an extra expense for us. Second, be prepared for anything. Quick thinking and the fortune of finding the pod guy who provided great service and a timely solution helped keep down what could have been greatly increased costs. And third, have whoever receives the freight check everything--and not just the number of pallets that arrive. Lastly, the whole episode illustrated the importance of choosing manufacturers who are service-oriented. Penco Products really stepped up to the plate for us on this order.

By the way, if you need storage pods in the DC area, give Jerry Harrison at Go Mini's a call, 866-503-6464. Jerry really saved our butts on this one--and he's a hell of a nice guy.

More case studies to come in the near future.