Quest for RTX 3080: What days do trucks usually arrive at my local store?

Yomacha · January 2021

Right now the call center is down for a 'deep cleaning' and nobody is responding. Question is the title - I would like to contact my local microcenters (NY Flushing and NY Yonkers) for guidance to help narrow down the days of the week where I might go and stand in the cold before open. For example: It would be amazing to know trucks usually come tuesdays and thursdays. In the times of COVID (to say nothing of modern supply chain management) surely the store can provide something even minimally useful to avoid travel like "Don't come Sunday"? Thanks in advance!

someguynamedmatt · January 2021

Likewise! I live well over 2.5 hours from the nearest microcenter and am in want of a 30 series. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated in knowing when to go to one of the stores.

JS_MC · January 2021

Hello @Yomacha and @someguynamedmatt

Unfortunately, I do not have a way to know when we will receive shipments. Sometimes we can receive shipments once a week, and others we can go a week or so without a shipment. It's all dependant on the manufacturers right now. I wish I had a better answer for you, as it would mean that I had a better answer for myself. (I'm still shopping for a GPU)

What I can say, is that for normal shipments (Not drop-shipped) it does appear that they are only being delivered during the weekdays. However, I have no documentation confirming that. That is only from my perspective.

I do know that we have received drop shipments sporadically throughout the week and weekend. So again, I really don't have a way to know when we will receive shipments.

Yomacha · January 2021

Hi @LandShark,

Thanks for your reply! My root issue is that short of visiting the store in person there appears to be no way to ascertain when individual stores might get shipments yet obviously there is a little more going on at the store level than "a truck can show up any day any time we have no idea everyone just stands in the warehouse 24/7 and waits".

For someone like me with many stores a decent distance away or a person very far away from a particular store reaching out to the store manager / staff becomes the best way to plan our visit.
So really my question here boils down to:

Is there *any* way to contact the local store staff right now short of visiting the store in person?

Again I am not expecting "we're getting 5x 3080s next tuesday at 10AM" but rather "We usually get trucks of stuff Tues/Thurs". I imagine every store has slightly different 'common days for trucks' and I'm really just looking to collect the slightest info and improve the current situation of "show up every single day at open" which for so many reasons we can agree is not reasonable.

Yomacha · January 2021

Hi @LandShark
Thanks for your reply! Really what this boils down to is this:

Is there any way to get in touch with local store managers/staff today other than going to the store in person?

For someone like me a decent distance away from a few stores or someone very far from one store being able to ask questions directly greatly helps with planning visits. Again, I am not looking for "We are getting 5x 3080s at 10AM on wednesday" but rather "We normally get trucks of stuff tuesday/thursday". I imagine every store has different more common days for delivery and I am sure we can all agree that narrowing down the days for people to visit your store(s) is good for everyone.

JS_MC · January 2021

Hi @Yomacha

I can request that someone reach out to you at their earliest, however, they may not be able to reach out to you today.

Please expect an email from me regarding this.

I mentioned this a bit above, but we are working hard to get these cards in as quickly as possible, and are going above and beyond our normal shipping processes. We are receiving irregular shipments, sometimes we can receive shipments once a week, and others we can go a week or more without a shipment.

I appreciate your interest in these cards, however, at this time we don't have a better recommendation than to go to the store.

Yomacha · January 2021

Hi @LandShark,
That is wonderful, thank you so much. Completely understand the chaos and uncertainty around these cards. Hopefully local staff can narrow down the potential days of the week and if not I will survive.

Fancy · January 2021

I obviously don’t work at Microcenter and center make any promises and this info comes from another location but some employees at my local micro center told me to just come in at open as often as possible I mean I got my 6800 (which is was unable to use) by waiting online for 20 hours on launch day

ETherMan · May 2021

Jesus Christ this is a simple question...when does Microcenter get shipment, at least for Flushing or close to it. I know Westbury one is one of the biggest in the country, and they get shipments Tuesday, Thurs, and Sat. Talked to the guy there, and he told me they get cards based on the number of customers, and Microcenter at Westbury is 2nd in that nation, thus gets double digit number of cards instead of single digits like Flushing. I got mine in Flushing one SAT morning, went there at 7:30am and just happened upon a good stocking day.

Restrictions:

They register your ID with your purchase. So one address can only buy 1 high end card per month (NVIDIA OR AMD).

Other stores:

Brooklyn is great too, as it's located in a poor area and would often have good surprises if you decide to visit them, though they only get 2-8 at a time as well.

Yonkers is 1st come 1st serve, its super far away, and have few people who drive there weekly just to buy cards. Do not rely on online stock info, it's a gamble to drive there.

Flushing Microcenter usually gets 2-8 at a time. So you need to be first 5 at least to be waiting on the line. As of March, there's people waiting there EVERYDAY. So come early.

Personal Experience:

I'm one of 3 guys who bought out all VEGAS when VEGA64 & 56 launched back in the day, in all Microcenters in NY, even Yonkers. Ask me anything.

Fuh_Q · May 2021

Long story short you have to be willing to wait multiple days outside on the sidewalk and be at the front of the line if you want a good chance of getting a 3080. "Any weekday, but sometimes up to 2 weeks of nothing" is the best answer they can give since supply chains are screwed, so there is no planning ahead to avoid all that. Now you see why scalpers that have bots buying all online inventory can sell 3080's at 3x MSRP with relative ease. Personally I gave up and hopefully things get back to normal in time for the 4080 ti in 2023ish (normal = just walk in and buy one). Until then I simply don't buy games that require more than a 1080 ti (not hard, there's 1000's that play fine on a Radeon 7970 from 2012 on Steam alone).