Another obligatory New PM-833TV and PM-1340GT Ordered!

Jake P said:
Today is a month since the 1340 container landed stateside, and still crickets chirping.
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Don't you just wonder, where the hell is it?
Good things come to those who wait, and wait......
 
Janderso said:
Don't you just wonder, where the hell is it?
Good things come to those who wait, and wait......
Click to expand...
It's rather odd about the lack of information on this.

I ordered a granite surface plate from MSC, just a 12x18. They shipped it with a trucking company that loaded the trailer on rail.

It was tracked all the way and I could see when it left and when it arrived. Still waiting for it to get transferred to a delivery truck for my area, but they update the page every couple of days.

I don't understand why we are in the dark on these machines?
 
Jake P said:
It's rather odd about the lack of information on this.

I ordered a granite surface plate from MSC, just a 12x18. They shipped it with a trucking company that loaded the trailer on rail.

It was tracked all the way and I could see when it left and when it arrived. Still waiting for it to get transferred to a delivery truck for my area, but they update the page every couple of days.

I don't understand why we are in the dark on these machines?
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I was wondering about that myself. I see you put in your order in April.

I checked a couple of weeks ago to make sure I had put an order in and yep I put in an order for a 728 on June 3rd. I though that my order might of somehow fallen through the cracks and the had forgotten about me. So I called sales at PM to make sure I was still in the queue. The best that I got was that they were expecting a shipment in 2 weeks. Maybe I should of been more insistent but I got the impression I was annoying the person at the other end of the phone.

You would think that they would know how many 728s are in the container and how many they have sold. From that they should be able to figure out my position in the queue and tell me fairly accurately when I can expect a delivery. Maybe I'm over simplifying.

Thanks for giving us an update and reading my post. I feel better now knowing that I'm not alone waiting. :confused:
 
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I have to be some what sympathetic to PM these days. Items are shipped to them from China or other far lands and they cannot really track it well either. When I got my PM940 it was already on a ship and I could track the ship, but not the item and this was pre-pandemic.

I have ordered a lot of small parts from Aliexpress and for the most part have had very good luck with getting things that work .... and on time. Shipping is commonly free. However, they have a tracking systems and it commonly appears that the parts get stuck at some airport for weeks. Usually when the part is getting close to me, ie. at FEDEX, UPS, or USPS then the tracking projections are more accurate. However, I just got a part that was taking way too long. I looked up the tracking and it was yet to leave China airport and was projected to arrive in about a month. Two days later it was on my door step. These parts I get are small and are shipped by air so I think they are grouped with a lot of other small parts coming to the states and then arrive in an airplane container. Once, here they get resorted and shipped again via US carriers. Hence, a large fraction of the time is just waiting to be grouped or sorted. On the other hand I also ordered a different small part via Aliexpress and it arrived in 1/2 of the time. I liked it and order another and it arrived 2 days after the slow part. So I view Aliexpress like an Amazon or ebay. The sellers are probably in different locations about China and so some shipping take longer than others. Anyway, typical is more like 4-8 weeks these days, similar to pre-pandemic days, and that is by air!

We know that the PM machines are coming by ship so that takes a lot longer, but are also probably grouped into large containers. Today, the ships are not getting unloaded at our ports on time so that adds to the uncertainty.

However, I agree with you that once PM receives the goods and reships them you would think they would have a decent tracking system. But my experience with common carriers is that they do not have regular delivery as there are no fix routes and they may zig zag all over the country on the way to your location. They may even reload on to a second truck. Sometimes they (the driver) will give you a call just before they arrive!
 
B2 said:
I have to be some what sympathetic to PM these days. Items are shipped to them from China or other far lands and they cannot really track it well either. When I got my PM940 it was already on a ship and I could track the ship, but not the item and this was pre-pandemic.

I have ordered a lot of small parts from Aliexpress and for the most part have had very good luck with getting things that work .... and on time. Shipping is commonly free. However, they have a tracking systems and it commonly appears that the parts get stuck at some airport for weeks. Usually when the part is getting close to me, ie. at FEDEX, UPS, or USPS then the tracking projections are more accurate. However, I just got a part that was taking way too long. I looked up the tracking and it was yet to leave China airport and was projected to arrive in about a month. Two days later it was on my door step. These parts I get are small and are shipped by air so I think they are grouped with a lot of other small parts coming to the states and then arrive in an airplane container. Once, here they get resorted and shipped again via US carriers. Hence, a large fraction of the time is just waiting to be grouped or sorted. On the other hand I also ordered a different small part via Aliexpress and it arrived in 1/2 of the time. I liked it and order another and it arrived 2 days after the slow part. So I view Aliexpress like an Amazon or ebay. The sellers are probably in different locations about China and so some shipping take longer than others. Anyway, typical is more like 4-8 weeks these days, similar to pre-pandemic days, and that is by air!

We know that the PM machines are coming by ship so that takes a lot longer, but are also probably grouped into large containers. Today, the ships are not getting unloaded at our ports on time so that adds to the uncertainty.

However, I agree with you that once PM receives the goods and reships them you would think they would have a decent tracking system. But my experience with common carriers is that they do not have regular delivery as there are no fix routes and they may zig zag all over the country on the way to your location. They may even reload on to a second truck. Sometimes they (the driver) will give you a call just before they arrive!
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I get what you are saying...however the lathes got to Seattle on September 4th. The massive post production bottleneck seems to be stateside.
 
Update from PM after my weekly call.

1340GT is in Cleveland, and still needs to be trucked to PM. No ETA, as they usually only get a 24 hour heads up on that. They are hoping next week for those.

833TV is still in the rail yard in Seattle.

Side note, they have also had a different shipment that has been sitting in Seattle for 8 weeks waiting to get on a train. No idea how the 1340 container left Seattle first, but the logistics issues do not end after being offloaded in the USA. the ships have been stacking up on our coast waiting to offload, so I am guessing much of the shipping woes are not just victims of global shipping issues, but possibly bottlenecks in our own shipping infrastructure are part of the cause?
 
Seattle.... port? Yes, there was an article on the news yesterday about how we do not have the dock workers to even unload the containers. That is why there are all those ships sitting off shore..... and that cost money to just sit there too. One trucker said that normally they would load him up and have it out on the road in a couple of hours, but he had just waited (in line) for most of 24 hours to get his load. They also say that there are not enough truck drivers. Who knows. Once you shut down a big machine (the USA) I guess it takes time to get it started back up and rolling.

I live in Pittsburgh, where PM is located, so my experience with them is unique. I have been to their facility several times and they have a very nice looking operation. They deliver directly to me for the shipping fee. They just call me up or sent an email saying it is time.

However, I do not know if they even take your machine out of the crate and inspect it when it arrives, but I do not think so. They may have taken the lid off of my 940 crate, but I could not see it and it had not been removed or unbolted from the pallet or anything like that. I am sure they look if the crate is damage or appears to have had a problem. Matt showed me some machines that had tip over in transit and he had certainly taken them out and studied the problems and decided what was to be done. They certainly did not clean my machines as it still has the anti-rust wax/oil all over it. On the other hand, if you have a problem after it gets there my experience is that PM is very responsive.

Anyway, you have my sympathies. When one buys a new toy he wants it ASAP!
 
If I am not mistaken your Mill and Lathe are both made in Taiwan. While not as large, you mill will probably be a lot better machine than my China made PM940M-CNC. Nevertheless, I have managed to get some nice projects from it and I have learned a lot. I have the PM1440GT lathe also from Taiwan and I think you are going to like yours!
 
Hello,

We are happy to say that the PM1340GT Lathe that you have been waiting on has arrived at our warehouse. We are beginning our inspections on these machines, running them and looking them over to make sure they are up to our standards. Once inspections are completed, we will begin filling our back orders and sending machines out.


Hallelujah!
 
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