DJH
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 6,355
- Location
- Ft Worth, TX
It is indeed crazy and I really don't see all these older orders ever being completed.
As I understand things, when Steve took on this large amount of work, his pricing was really low - his business had been a hobby and he was pretty much just covering his costs. Add his ill health to the mix (he has been fighting cancer for a couple of years at least and this is not a cheap country to be sick in, even with decent insurance.)
Steve should probably have given up his business some time ago (as John Penman suggested in the comments on that scaminformer thread), but I'm sure he sees that a lot of the people waiting are online friends and fellow Indiana Jones enthusiasts so he feels he has to try and get the product to him. I've been in a similar position myself with a business I was a partner in was clearly failing - giving up is a killer.
I can't imagine Steve has gotten rich on this - quite the opposite in fact. Seems to me that he uses the profit from his new orders to buy materials for his backlog hats. I noticed that after I (and another guy) bought hats from him this year, a couple of people on the COW Indy forum received hats they had ordered long ago. I can see why people waiting dislike the idea of new orders jumping the queue, but in reality it is probably the only way they will ever see their Adventurebilt.
So I agree with Alan - best to just get a hat from one of the other makers, Penman and Garrison being great Indy hat makers. Both will say that Adventurebilt is better than their own offerings, but I have all three and I'm not so sure!
Oh, I've noticed that a Lounger has just ordered an AB. I hope this means that someone on the list gets lucky as well.
As I understand things, when Steve took on this large amount of work, his pricing was really low - his business had been a hobby and he was pretty much just covering his costs. Add his ill health to the mix (he has been fighting cancer for a couple of years at least and this is not a cheap country to be sick in, even with decent insurance.)
Steve should probably have given up his business some time ago (as John Penman suggested in the comments on that scaminformer thread), but I'm sure he sees that a lot of the people waiting are online friends and fellow Indiana Jones enthusiasts so he feels he has to try and get the product to him. I've been in a similar position myself with a business I was a partner in was clearly failing - giving up is a killer.
I can't imagine Steve has gotten rich on this - quite the opposite in fact. Seems to me that he uses the profit from his new orders to buy materials for his backlog hats. I noticed that after I (and another guy) bought hats from him this year, a couple of people on the COW Indy forum received hats they had ordered long ago. I can see why people waiting dislike the idea of new orders jumping the queue, but in reality it is probably the only way they will ever see their Adventurebilt.
So I agree with Alan - best to just get a hat from one of the other makers, Penman and Garrison being great Indy hat makers. Both will say that Adventurebilt is better than their own offerings, but I have all three and I'm not so sure!
Oh, I've noticed that a Lounger has just ordered an AB. I hope this means that someone on the list gets lucky as well.