Every once in a while I do some online shopping1. And I’m always fascinated by how the logistics of it work, especially when the availability of a product is limited, which mostly happens at launch.
Garmin watch
I ordered the new Garmin Forerunner 970 just when it was released. I wanted a new Garmin, not being that happy with my Apple Watch. And since I’m a bit of a techno-masochist, I wanted to get a new Garmin device with all the bugs included as well. And while I was not super happy about the price hike, I ordered it anyway.
I ordered it on Garmin’s Swiss online shop, assuming that it would arrive pretty soon—after all, they are the ones producing it. The order indicated my watch would arrive in 7-10 days, which I guess was fair enough.
I did have a bit of a deadline. I wanted to have my new watch for the Rigimarsch on May 28, since I was fairly certain the Apple watch would not survive the 12-hour hike2. I calculated in my head, and it looked like it should arrive just about on time.
But I wasn’t trusting it completely, so I asked support as well. They told me a shipment (not delivery) date that was after the estimation they had provided at checkout, and perhaps more relevantly, after I wanted to premiere my watch.
I was a bit upset, but as luck would have it, on the way home from Bulgaria we spent half a day in Vienna, one of the few places in Europe that has a Garmin flagship store. So I went to pick up my new watch there (it was even a bit cheaper thanks to the strong Swiss Franc).
Garmin Index Sleep
Since I swapped over to the Garmin universe, I decided to also order a new Garmin device, the Garmin Index Sleep. I was planning to use this instead of wearing my watch at night, since I do kind of like to see my sleeping stats.
I first ordered it to a friend in Germany, since I was going to visit him anyway on the 28th of June. And since Garmin was saying 5-8 days, this should have worked out well. Unfortunately it didn’t, and while I had an amazing visit, I didn’t have any new Garmin device.
Screenshot from my Garmin orders from the 18th of June and the follow-up on 24th of June.
So I asked support to send it to another address, but apparently this was not possible when going to a different country, so I ordered another and cancelled my order to Germany. Fair enough—it should arrive in 3-5 weeks.
And after some time, after nothing had happened, I went back to Garmin and asked when I could expect my device. Well, the new expected date is 6th of August 2025. So it has been moved back again. Something is going wrong.
Further reinforcing my belief that something is going wrong, I also ordered a device at two Swiss electronics retailers. Both of them have moved back the delivery date a bunch of times, one now promising the 28th of June, the other telling me they do not have an updated date of delivery.
What is going on
Clearly, this is not working the way it is supposed to be. Why is there always a delay? Why are the estimates from Garmin as well as other retailers completely wrong?
My assumption is that Garmin had a hiccup in their logistics. I don’t think they ordered a lot of inventory to their European warehouse. And suddenly a bunch of people ordered one, and they don’t know what to do anymore. Simple as that.
Look, stuff happens. Sometimes estimates are wrong—that’s why they are called estimates. But I do expect Garmin, when selling stuff themselves via their own store, to be a bit better at estimating, and I expect them to update me on the new expected delivery date.
At any rate, I’m still looking forward to getting the device and finally trying it out.