When someone says that the delivery time from a given company is long (as on this thread, for example), what does it actually mean and why does it happen?

It’s not like one can say to the postal or parcel service ‘please take a really long time to ship this’, so what gives? Does it mean that some poor illiterate guy with a serious limp is sent into the warehouse to collect the goods, with low expectations that he’ll actually return, and when he does, it’s usually with the wrong thing?

Or does it mean that some fat cat decides to count, then bank, the money you paid him, before he actually gets up from his desk to pass on the message that something needs to be pulled from stock and sent out, but not before stopping off in Tonga first?

I genuinely don’t get it. Please explain.

it means that unlike when you order from CRC etc that they go pick it off the shelf and send it out.

they collate orders – group buy the stock in bulk and then send it out.

it may be sometime till they have enough orders to honour the price.

Could it be that they wait until they have enough orders to buy in bulk rather than having the stock in their warehouse and then hope to sell it?

they dont have the stock.

So many places list stuff they could get if you ordered it and the distributor has it in stock. Winstanleys used to be premier league at this but more recently they’ve changed their website to say as much.

At least CRC & Wiggle indicate stock levels and many others will say in/out of stock

I understand CRC sort the parcels on site so they can be loaded into the vehicles and despatched.

Other places say your order has been despatched but the tracking will indicate it’s ‘pre-advised’ which simply means they’ve printed the label and the couriers have been notified but they haven’t actually got your parcel yet