Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[Woodtroll]

I see! Because the outer sole is so thin, there must be more midsole to even it out. Thanks Woodtroll.

You're welcome!

If memory serves, it's not that the half-sole is thin, it has more to do with the outer sole not being a full-length sole, and the way the outer sole is attached to the almost-completed boot. So the rubber half-sole is first sewn to a leather mid-sole, then that "assembly" is sewn to the boot the way a full rubber sole would be.

I may be off in my recollection of this, and welcome correction if somebody has a better grasp of the details.

 

[Widening Gyre]

Have just been told by Kyle to expect 8 more weeks for my MP’s (ordered December 3) to ship. Apparently COVID is causing delays to the brown horsehide. Have to say I’m a little frustrated since that means they’ll probably arrive here in Denmark in mid-May, 6 months after my order. I’m confident they’ll be worth the wait, though.

Anybody else received the same message?

 

[Woodtroll]

I've not received a message one way or another, but if it makes you feel any better I'm at 13 weeks on a plain pair of roughout oiltan Packers. Based on past experience, they'll be worth the wait, though.

 

[johng70]

Have just been told by Kyle to expect 8 more weeks for my MP’s (ordered December 3) to ship. Apparently COVID is causing delays to the brown horsehide. Have to say I’m a little frustrated since that means they’ll probably arrive here in Denmark in mid-May, 6 months after my order. I’m confident they’ll be worth the wait, though.

Anybody else received the same message?

I think anyone expecting any type of MTO from anywhere to take less than 6-8 months and you're setting yourself up for disappointment until this COVID is a year behind. I had an MTO with another company and it took 8 months. All you can ask is that Bakers keeps you in the loop and is honest about delays.

 

[imwalker]

Have just been told by Kyle to expect 8 more weeks for my MP’s (ordered December 3) to ship. Apparently COVID is causing delays to the brown horsehide. Have to say I’m a little frustrated since that means they’ll probably arrive here in Denmark in mid-May, 6 months after my order. I’m confident they’ll be worth the wait, though.

Anybody else received the same message?

I wrote to check in on my Dec 8 and Dec 28 orders when I got to the 10-week mark on the Dec 8 order. They told me it was now up to 14 weeks. I situated myself mentally to wait another four weeks. Then the first order shipped the following day, and the next one a couple days later. These weren't horsehide, but I think that there are so many orders from late Nov/early Dec that they don't really have a way to know exactly where each individual one is in the process.

 

[klank74]

When do their orders typically ramp up for fire season? I’m planning another order and would like to try and get it before then, just waiting on my income tax return.

 

[montanamike]

When do their orders typically ramp up for fire season? I’m planning another order and would like to try and get it before then, just waiting on my income tax return.

For the career guys... Dec/Jan... for the first year newbies... March/April. Its even further muddied now by the extra boot stipend. I dont know the current specs or if it wound up at the first of the year.

 

[Rymanocerous]

I think anyone expecting any type of MTO from anywhere to take less than 6-8 months and you're setting yourself up for disappointment until this COVID is a year behind. I had an MTO with another company and it took 8 months. All you can ask is that Bakers keeps you in the loop and is honest about delays.

My thing is, and this is frequently an issue I have with Amazon, the retailer is setting the timeframe. If you tell me you'll deliver my prime package in 2 days, that's when Ill expect it. If you tell me it's going to be a week, well then it's a week. If I have asked for something special, noting time is dependent on delivery of item and then a window will be provided upon receipt, super.

The only thing setting up disappointment is setting the wrong expectation.

 

[johng70]

My thing is, and this is frequently an issue I have with Amazon, the retailer is setting the timeframe. If you tell me you'll deliver my prime package in 2 days, that's when Ill expect it. If you tell me it's going to be a week, well then it's a week. If I have asked for something special, noting time is dependent on delivery of item and then a window will be provided upon receipt, super.

The only thing setting up disappointment is setting the wrong expectation.

Generally I agree. This past year is completely different though. If you order from amazon and it's in stock then you should expect standard delivery times. In this year, with covid, if something is backordered you should expect backorders to take longer because everyone's supply chain is affected. For made to order products, you should recognize that supply chain interruptions will affect ability to deliver. Because this is relatively new, most businesses - including all the suppliers likely don't have proactive notification strategies in place. What I think is a realistic expectation is:
If Bakers learns of a delay they should notify customers
If you're near the estimated delivery and contact Bakers they should be able to provide an updated delivery date based upon the current status of manufacturing and supply chain info. And, they should be honest if a supplier isn't giving them info, be transparent about it.

 

[Rymanocerous]

Generally I agree. This past year is completely different though. If you order from amazon and it's in stock then you should expect standard delivery times. In this year, with covid, if something is backordered you should expect backorders to take longer because everyone's supply chain is affected. For made to order products, you should recognize that supply chain interruptions will affect ability to deliver. Because this is relatively new, most businesses - including all the suppliers likely don't have proactive notification strategies in place. What I think is a realistic expectation is:
If Bakers learns of a delay they should notify customers
If you're near the estimated delivery and contact Bakers they should be able to provide an updated delivery date based upon the current status of manufacturing and supply chain info. And, they should be honest if a supplier isn't giving them info, be transparent about it.

I think Bakers generally does a good job of that. In regards to suppliers, that's a stickier subject. As a vendor, you generally don't want to throw your other vendors under the bus. Not only does it make future business harder, it actually doesnt net you the positive image with your customer you might expect. But Bakers are kings at CS, so they certainly don't need my $0.02.

 

[wordfool]

The BF sale certainly seemed to swamp White’s. I placed two BF orders — the one placed right at the beginning of the sale shipped 8 weeks later. The one placed 10 days later just shipped at the 14 week mark. Both were pretty plain builds.

Additionally, what one has to hope with White’s is that there are no QC snafus that will require a return and even longer wait times, as happened with my first BF order (all eyes instead of eyes/hooks) and took three more weeks to resolve.

Transparency is definitely key. If there will be delays, just tell me. Or do what Amazon seems to have been doing with so many of my Prime orders — under promise and over deliver. I frequently get weirdly long shipping estimates of up to a week for my Amazon orders, only for the items to show up in a day or two anyway (the normal, pre-pandemic Prime shipping performance).

 

[iamntbatman]

The supply chain stuff is surely a big factor. I got a notification from Baker's on Jan. 27th (about 9 weeks after ordering) that my boots were lasted over at White's but they were still waiting on the outsoles I ordered. They told me that the ones I requested were out of stock at the supplier and there was no ETA. Within about a day I had word back from the sole supplier that they were getting more in. I told Baker's just to wait on that rather than rush to put on different soles than I really wanted. I checked back in February 19th just to make sure they didn't need anything else from me and I was assured there wasn't. I really don't know the timeline on getting the soles in and the boots finished, but assuming a wait on the sole supplier's end, then shipping to either Baker's or White's (not sure exactly), then possibly a shipment from Baker's to White's of the soles, then White's finishing the boots, then shipment to Baker's...lots of room in there for shipping delays to eat up time.

Whatever the case may be, Baker's emailed me when the delay meant I could make a choice about what happened, but at this point any update from them would likely just be explaining which part of that chain is experiencing delays, which doesn't really help me out in any way so isn't really necessary.

 

[mashtun]

Well... just to show the flip side of the custom wait coin... I received notification from Bakers that my latigo W&C bounty hunters shipped yesterday afternoon, 7 weeks to the day after ordering! When I ordered in January they said to expect 12-14 weeks, so mentally I had prepared for April at the earliest. I was pleasantly shocked to see them ship so quick, maybe the W&C items are being prioritized because of the custom hides?

Sorry to all of you who ordered before me and are still waiting, that slightly tempers my excitement, but not enough to keep me from refreshing the UPS tracking page every hour... !

 

[climbinglife]

I mentally prepared for 12 weeks lol. I'm 8 weeks in, but no emails from Bakers as of yet.
My build was pretty plain jane...SDs in RO Distressed.

 

[NautOfEarth]

I'm 26 weeks into my final Wesco build. Supposed to have been finished at the end of last month so we'll see if I get the shipment notification soon.