Hey Kids, Have You Heard The News? MOSAIC's IN TROUBLE!!!

[mjzee]

Earl Hines and Chick'n'Ella arrived today; Lester will probably come next week.

[erwbol]

I just received an answer to a query at Jazz Messengers. They expect to receive a shipment from Mosaic today. They'll have to wait and see what Mosaic has sent them. By Wednesday the new stock should be visible on their website.

[Scott Dolan]

15 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

While I agree that we should not complain too much about the service from a company that is likely short-staffed right now, I disagree that we shouldn't be unhappy with the fact that their system, as set up, can cause waste, something that needs to avoided if this company wants to stay alive.

If I hadn't caught Mosaic's shipping error, they would have shipped my order to the wrong house. At a minimum, they'd be out of the money they spent to ship it. Worse case, it gets to my old house and the owner keeps it. Then, they would have been out of the shipping cost as well as the cost of the now "lost" boxes. This will not keep them in business for much longer.

Not to mention the fact that shipping has been mentioned as something they've been struggling with for awhile. So one has to wonder how big a role that played into them being in the situation they currently are. 

I'm a really patient person when it comes to this kind of thing. But they are a business. They can't just take that for granted. 

[Jim Duckworth]

   My very recently ordered Bing Crosby set arrived yesterday.  I admit that I probably would not have ordered this had Mosaic Records not been on the ropes, but I am finding it somewhat revelatory  and  much to my liking.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Jim Duckworth
inadvertently posted before ready

[crisp]

One of my favourite Mosaics.

 

[miles65]

The Clifford Jordan set is now expeted back in July. 

[J.A.W.]

59 minutes ago, miles65 said:

The Clifford Jordan set is now expeted back in July. 

mentioned earlier

[miles65]

3 hours ago, miles65 said:

Saw this after I posted

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by miles65
quote went wrong

[Scott Dolan]

The Benedetti set was waiting outside my front door when I got home from work today!  

Box is a little beat up, but not deal-breaking beat up. 

Looking forward to sitting down and spending some serious time with it this weekend. 

[lipi]

5 hours ago, J.A.W. said:

mentioned earlier

Yeah, but what if you remove that post? Better to have someone else mention it...

[JSngry]

13 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

 

I'm a really patient person when it comes to this kind of thing. But they are a business. They can't just take that for granted. 

I'm a really patient person if/when I know that everybody's doing the best they can. Some of this Mosaic technology drama has me wondering if really they just need to have somebody drop by now and then who knows how the hell this computer database/networking shit works. I mean, really, if their ordering and shipping databases aren't in sync and Kevin's stuff goes to the wrong house, in what way does that qualify as an unavoidable error?

[ElginThompson]

2 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

The Benedetti set was waiting outside my front door when I got home from work today!  

Box is a little beat up, but not deal-breaking beat up. 

Looking forward to sitting down and spending some serious time with it this weekend. 

Nice. Glad it arrived. I opened it but now need to block out the weekend to focus on it. Booklet is thick!

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, ElginThompson said:

Nice. Glad it arrived. I opened it but now need to block out the weekend to focus on it. Booklet is thick!

It is! I only thumbed through it, but it looks incredibly well done. The picture of Benedetti with his band at The Palomar was of special interest, because I'm pretty sure I'd never seen a picture of him before. 

 

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I'm a really patient person if/when I know that everybody's doing the best they can. Some of this Mosaic technology drama has me wondering if really they just need to have somebody drop by now and then who knows how the hell this computer database/networking shit works. I mean, really, if their ordering and shipping databases aren't in sync and Kevin's stuff goes to the wrong house, in what way does that qualify as an unavoidable error?

I agree with you 100% (mark your calendars, kids!). I meant to say so earlier when you spoke about this. Because as I said earlier, you have to wonder how much this played into their current state. How many people simply got fed up with the shipping errors? I seem to recall several posters here mentioning that in the previous thread. Or perhaps it was in this one? 

You have to really work your ass off to alienate me. But in my experience most consumers are exactly the opposite. You don't meet their demands, and right quick, they'll take their business elsewhere. 

 

1 hour ago, lipi said:

Yeah, but what if you remove that post? Better to have someone else mention it...

Seems rather hilarious coming from me, but that really wasn't called for. Hans owned up to his mistake. Probably time to cut the cat a break.  

Edited May 16, 2017 by Scott Dolan

[xybert]

Regarding postal address errors, the same thing happened to me in 2014. The shipping address in the 'your order is shipping' email was for an old address that i used to use (and was completely different to what i had entered and was confirmed in the earlier 'order received' confirmation email). Sent them a friendly email, and as usual with Mosaic the service was excellent, but it's clear that they have a system and/or process issue. Not wanting to pile on but it's worth noting that this is not a new issue.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

1 hour ago, xybert said:

Regarding postal address errors, the same thing happened to me in 2014. The shipping address in the 'your order is shipping' email was for an old address that i used to use (and was completely different to what i had entered and was confirmed in the earlier 'order received' confirmation email). Sent them a friendly email, and as usual with Mosaic the service was excellent, but it's clear that they have a system and/or process issue. Not wanting to pile on but it's worth noting that this is not a new issue.

Really? 2014? C'mon Mosaic. You've known about this for 3 years and it's still happening?

Is anyone here a database person that would be willing to work for Mosaics?

[Jim Duckworth]

Mosaic Records once accidentally sent me the complete Herbie Nichols on Blue Note and a Chet Baker box.  Of course this was quite  while back....

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Really? 2014? C'mon Mosaic. You've known about this for 3 years and it's still happening?

My point exactly. 

From what other posters noted earlier, it seems like that was around the time they farmed their shipping out to a third party.

Perhaps un-farming that shit back in house is long overdue? 

Edited May 16, 2017 by Scott Dolan

[crisp]

If they aren't selling that many sets (at least not usually) does it need to be outsourced? I hope the recent flurry of sales buys Michael and Scott some time for a rethink.

[J.A.W.]

Currently available at Jazz Messengers (updated)

[JSngry]

14 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Is anyone here a database person that would be willing to work for Mosaics?

That's a simple question that should have a simple answer. It's definitely the right question!

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, J.A.W. said:

Currently available at Jazz Messengers (updated)

I see they're listing the Bobby Hackett, which is OOP.  Someone should grab that.

[Scott Dolan]

3 hours ago, crisp said:

If they aren't selling that many sets (at least not usually) does it need to be outsourced? 

I guess they found it more efficient and financially advantageous at some point, but I can't wrap my head around why. You'd think after three years of shipping woes they'd bring it back in house, or at least find a more reliable shipping partner. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by Scott Dolan

[JSngry]

As I recall it, it was cheaper to lease warehouse space at the shipper than it was to keep the inventory in-house.

Sounds like Cost Center Chess to me, and of that I'm not at all  a fan, and perhaps I am not recalling correctly. But there we go.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

As I recall it, it was cheaper to lease warehouse space at the shipper than it was to keep the inventory in-house.

Sounds like Cost Center Chess to me, and of that I'm not at all  a fan, and perhaps I am not recalling correctly. But there we go.

I believe that reason they lost the ability to store their boxes on site was because they moved to a much smaller location. I also believe that they laid off the shipping department when they did this. They really had to outsource the shipping and inventory management at that point.

[JSngry]

Ok, that sounds familiar as well...I guess the 20/20 hindsight question now is what kind of a contract did they do for warehousing/shipping, who'd they do it with and why (friend, recommendation, a suggestion by the Morris Levy estate, just who?), who's in charge of staying on top of how that contract is being executed, just basic business stuff, really.

Such things are not necessarily for public disclosure, but when a company such as this one which has engendered a lot of personal emotional investment from its clients, I don't think it's inappropriate to express concern along the lines of "well, we're happy to help you now, but if you're going to keep going, what are you going to do to keep it from happening again?"

That seems a very fair question, perhaps not from everybody, but from people who bleed Mosaic Black, yeah, that's a fair question.