Buying furniture during the Pandemic feels like it is almost impossible. You are promised one delivery date, and then another date and then another. You are told something shipped from China but then find out that it never shipped because they couldn't get an empty truck or because the factory was shut down for Covid. Whether you are purchasing furniture for your home or purchasing furniture for your business, you now need to take a lot more things into consideration.
Here are the questions I ask when purchasing furniture.
- Is it in stock?
- If its not in stock, do you manufacturer it onsite and do you have all of the parts needed in stock?
- Where is it in stock? (The answer should be a warehouse in the US)
- How long does it take to ship from the warehouse once I purchase it?
- How long will it take to ship from the warehouse to my location?
- What type of delivery service will you be using?
We all know how the post office, UPS, and FedEx deliver but do you know how YRC delivers? Did you know that they expect you to be available all day for the delivery? That doesn't work so well for everyone.
When it comes to custom furniture, you can't always get a sample or see a sample. It is hard to trust a company reputation on something as personal as comfortability of a product. If you are ordering a big order for a restaurant, you should allow time to order a pre production sample.