Want an HP-35? Please wait… and wait… and wait.

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all.

I’ve been reading An HP-35 article.

I am at the backorder story. In the most extreme, buyers would need to wait a year and a half. By that time, the 45 was the latest & greatest. So, when a user would receive their 35, they were out of date and after seeing what the 45 was capable of and the advertising, I'm sure the buyers were salivating over the 45. Especially the fact that for the same price of the 35, they could now get a dramatically enhanced and versatile calculator.

Just how did this scenario play out?

[Didier Lachieze]

(06-15-2024 11:05 PM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  I am at the backorder story. In the most extreme, buyers would need to wait a year and a half.

Buyers never had to wait a year and a half to get their order fulfilled, the maximum backlog delay I’ve seen mentioned was 12 weeks which is already a lot. What happened was that the demand for the HP-35 exceeded the forecast by a factor of four and despite the ramp increase the production trailed this demand, so there was a rolling backlog for several months (18 months according to the article) until the production caught up with the demand.

[Matt Agajanian]

Okay. Just what is the 18 month backlog in the story based upon?

[Didier Lachieze]

(06-16-2024 12:19 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  Just what is the 18 month backlog in the story based upon?

I don’t know, but this article seems to have a pretty good level of reliable information about the HP-35 so this should also come from a reliable source.

[EdS2]

Is the 18 month figure saying that's how long it was until there was no delay?

Think of a queue at the post office - your own personal wait might be 10mins but the time to clear the whole queue might be 4 hours.

[Steve Simpkin]

As an interesting example, Richard Nelson waited 12 weeks to receive his HP-35.

See the following comments in his document, Remembering the HP-35A

From page 9:
"I sent in my order and waited . . . and waited. The wait was the most difficult part. Eventually I received a shipping notice from HP. See Fig A4.
On July 31, 1972, just under 12 weeks after I ordered, my HP-35A arrived – at 9:50 in the morning."

On page 20, there is also mention from HP of a 12 week waiting period for delivery of the HP-35.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(06-16-2024 09:55 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  As an interesting example, Richard Nelson waited 12 weeks to receive his HP-35.

See the following comments in his document, Remembering the HP-35A

From page 9:
"I sent in my order and waited . . . and waited. The wait was the most difficult part. Eventually I received a shipping notice from HP. See Fig A4.
On July 31, 1972, just under 12 weeks after I ordered, my HP-35A arrived – at 9:50 in the morning."

On page 20, there is also mention from HP of a 12 week waiting period for delivery of the HP-35.

In 1979 I had to wait about the same time amount for my first 41C.

[Gene]

So the premise of Matt’s question is not accurate. No one waited 18 months to get an HP-35.

If there are any back orders at all, you could always be waiting when a new model was announced sure… but nothing as egregious as 18 months.

[Matt Agajanian]

(06-16-2024 01:06 PM)Gene Wrote:  So the premise of Matt’s question is not accurate. No one waited 18 months to get an HP-35.

If there are any back orders at all, you could always be waiting when a new model was announced sure… but nothing as egregious as 18 months.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Jake Schwartz]

(06-16-2024 01:06 PM)Gene Wrote:  So the premise of Matt’s question is not accurate. No one waited 18 months to get an HP-35.

If there are any back orders at all, you could always be waiting when a new model was announced sure… but nothing as egregious as 18 months.

My dad and I split the cost of an HP-35 and ordered it in early 1972 but it took roughly 6 months to get the unit. Nowhere near 18 months, but much more than 12 weeks.

Jake

[Matt Agajanian]

(06-17-2024 04:57 AM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  

(06-16-2024 01:06 PM)Gene Wrote:  So the premise of Matt’s question is not accurate. No one waited 18 months to get an HP-35.

If there are any back orders at all, you could always be waiting when a new model was announced sure… but nothing as egregious as 18 months.

My dad and I split the cost of an HP-35 and ordered it in early 1972 but it took roughly 6 months to get the unit. Nowhere near 18 months, but much more than 12 weeks.

Jake

So, again I ask: where did the 18 months come from in the article I mentioned?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello,

(06-17-2024 05:40 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  So, again I ask: where did the 18 months come from in the article I mentioned?

Wouldn‘t the obvious way to find that out be to simply ask the author where he got his information from? The article is almost 10 years old but maybe he still remembers. His name is Jim Hughes and he can be contacted through the email address on his site or via the link to Twitter/X which can also be found on his site.
It is a well researched and well written article so he certainly did not make these numbers up himself.

Regards
Max

[brouhaha]

(06-16-2024 12:19 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  Okay. Just what is the 18 month backlog in the story based upon?

The 18 months was how long they continuously had a backlog, not the delivery time, which varied.

Some businesses (but generally not consumer goods) deliberately have a backlog always, over the entire lives of products (years!), but the delivery tine might only two weeks.