That doesn't add up

[Shalom]

Today I experienced the following imbecility:

A customer asked me for an ear syringe. We happened to be out of them, so I hit our wholesaler's online ordering site to get a couple more.

Put in quantity of two, I get "MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY: 6"

OK, whatever. Put in six, I get "QUANTITY IN STOCK: 5"

[BeenThereDoneThat]

How lame. I sometimes wonder how people get jobs coding these programs...I suck at programming and I could probably do a better job.

Wonder how long those 5 syringes will sit there before they get more in...

[Pedersen]

Or, maybe, just, maybe, the coder did his job, and somebody put in to the system that the minimum order had to be 6, and somebody else screwed up and didn't make sure they always had 6 on hand?

Nah, definitely bad code. What else could it be?

[TheSHAD0W]

So, it won't let you order 6 and it'll backorder one for later shipment?

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Or, maybe, just, maybe, the coder did his job, and somebody put in to the system that the minimum order had to be 6, and somebody else screwed up and didn't make sure they always had 6 on hand?

Nah, definitely bad code. What else could it be?

Sorry Peds. My husband is a software developer too...I *know* there are a lot of great coders out there, but he would be the first to say he knows some really dopey ones. Yeah, I agree the store should have more than 6 on hand if they're going to have that limit imposed, so that was a fail on the store's part too. I was more referring to the message that popped up, or perhaps that the software could say "out of stock" if there were less than 6 left. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers here

[csquared]

Wonder how long those 5 syringes will sit there before they get more in...

They probably won't order more as they are not selling.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

They probably won't order more as they are not selling.

Good point...oy.

[Shalom]

It's not actually as bad as it sounds. For one thing, they will allow you to order less than the minimum order quantity . . . but at a higher price point, at which point the next higher priced brand of syringe becomes the more economical choice. (There's only about a 50c difference between them to start with.) So it's not that you can't buy those five syringes, just that there's no reason to. . . and as c² points out, they'll probably sit there for all eternity.

Shad0w: I didn't actually go ahead with the order for six, so I can't say what would have happened. There's two possibilities: either they'd back-order the sixth one, as you suggested, or else send me those five plus one of the next more expensive ones. (Hopefully for the same price; that's what they do if you order a "preferred" generic and they only have the non-preferred, usually higher priced generic.)

[Seraph]

Or, maybe, just, maybe, the coder did his job, and somebody put in to the system that the minimum order had to be 6, and somebody else screwed up and didn't make sure they always had 6 on hand?

Nah, definitely bad code. What else could it be?

Goshdarn coders, its always their fault! <throws hands up into the air>

[dalesys]

Goshdarn coders, its always their fault! <throws hands up into the air>

Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop kluging that hot code stinkin'

[wolfie]

Of course, really smart coding would flag any "on hand" quantity of less than the minimum order, temporarily drop the minimum order to the "on hand" quantity, and change the displayed "minimum order N" to "minimum order N or quantity on hand, whichever is less".