I really don't mind waiting for a new product but please let us be on a reservation list

Captain_OmNoms

We get it product launches are hard. Between COVID causing short supply and scalpers buying up all the new stuff to sell at over 2x the price on ebay, its really hard to keep this stuff in stores. I understand that making it an in store only item helps with that second point. But there is no way a store in 2020 that sells computer parts can't get their act together enough to institute a reservation list. 

Even if its in store, just a list where people put their name and email down and those CPUs or GPUs are reserved for them. Then they get an email when its their turn in line and its in stock waiting for them. Driving out every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday is not viable for many people and theres no reason to make us do it. Many times you drive there and they just say "We didn't get any today" and half the line walks away. 

Why? What does this possibly do besides drive people away from your store? If a high school substitute can figure out a sign up sheet, then a multibillion dollar company should be able to as well. Having customers drive out day in and day out to be turned away before even stepping into the store is bad customer service and you can't even say its for some sort of monetary gain because they just walk away whereas a person who is called in to get what they reserved might spend a little more time in the store and maybe buy something else. This is also irresponsible as it can potentially expose countless people to a deadly virus while we are trying to mitigate the infection rate. 

The stores will say its because they don't know what they are supposed to get day in and day out. Im not saying they should guess. When they get the product they have to scan it into their inventory in order to sell it right? Well that scan could trigger the email to the next person in line for that product. I am an automation engineer, it would take half an hour to implement this for a store, saving customers time, money, and sleep. While also raising customer satisfaction ratings. 

Captain_OmNoms

Also I would be 100% on board for pre-paying for these reservations. 

JS_MC

Hey @Captain_OmNoms, welcome to the community!

Thank you for the detailed feedback about our current situation. I'll gladly share this with our leadership in our corporate office.

I can't speak directly to why we don't have a system like this in place at this time. I believe that we are working on implimenting a new system, however, I am not privey to the details.

Again, thank you for the detailed feedback!

XPGeek

Amen. Camped out for a 5950X, was maybe 5/6th in line, but still empty handed. Now after calling 5+ times, I am being told it's "first come first served" which is great to hear from someone who was literally one of the "first". I am still a fan of queueing the night before. Some great socially distant convos were had about rigs, specs, and more, but @Captain_OmNoms is right, this isn't exactly rocket science.

1. Opening on Launch Day (or when stock is received), create a store-wide Google Sheets document, one tab per product (5600X, 5800X, 5900X, 5950X). Take customer's first/last name, drivers license # (or some ID #), and a good phone number to reach them at. Payment can even be collected at this point as well.
2. As stock comes in, contact the customers, starting from the top. Give them 8 hours to come to the store. If they are unable to come, move to the next person in line, keeping the first person at the top (they could be working, etc.)
3. Rinse and repeat until there's no shortage.

All I would like is information here. I know AMD is being tight lipped. They control the ultimate information of who gets a chip and who doesn't. However, you as Micro Center can control how you interface with your customers. Please for our sake, change this process.