The three most frustrating words in retail?

Out of stock. 

Yes, there are bigger problems in the world than clicking on a thing you want to buy and finding out you can’t buy it. But frustration is frustration, and I just wanted to let you all know that when I can’t deliver on my promise to actually get you the beautiful coffee machines my team and I have worked very hard to get you, it’s frustrating. 

So a couple of explanations (not excuses!) for the experience some of our customers have had in the past year, and a promise renewed: 

Covid has been a bear for production. Again, this is a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives around the world, and it’s a little trite to complain about one of much less harmful effects, but it’s a fact, here at Ratio. The factories that make some of our parts have shuttered temporarily or have been inundated with orders, the export/import lines to get those parts to us have clogged, and all of that means we can’t get what we need to get you what you want in anywhere near the time any of us wants that stuff to happen. 

You like us. That’s an honor. A good problem to have. But because it’s not always easy to predict how much you’ll like of which thing and in which color, sometimes that means we run out of a thing and in a color that you liked too much, and because of the aforementioned production nightmares, we can’t scramble nearly as quickly as we’d like to scramble to respond to demand when it surges. It takes multiple months to ramp up production while maintaining our high quality standards.

Our team must grow. If you’ve emailed or call in and have had to wait for a reply, please accept my apologies. We’re hiring multiple positions so that we respond quickly, no matter what the issue or question is, and soon we’ll be accessible via chat.

We’ll do better. That’s not an empty pledge. When I say it, what I mean is that there’s really no more important task for me and this company in 2021 than to deliver what our customers want delivered. So many of us are stuck at home now and left to our own devices for simple joys that we once relied on better trained professionals to deliver. Coffee is our favorite ritual, and if you’re making it at home we want it to be incredible. We are racing to expand production to make sure that the next time you choose us, and navigate to the “buy” button, you don’t see the three most frustrating words in retail. You see the two best ones, instead: 

In stock. 


With appreciation,

Mark Hellweg
Founder + CEO