LBOY

Phrase of the day..... I'll go ask....
 
My truck is finally home, just a couple days short of 10 months from date of order.  After our 75 mile drive home I can say I really love it.  I don't think it rides much worse than my F150, in some instances I think it's better.  I'm attributing that to the F150's 20" wheels with low profile tires vs the F350's 18" wheels with the optional Goodyear All Terrain tires.  The 7.3L's low end torque really accelerates the F350 from stop lights compared to the 5.0L that needs to get wound up a bit.  One concern I have is that at highway speeds it seems to wander quite a bit.  This maybe just the difference in suspension and tires and is something to get used to.  I have to take it back to get a cracked mirror replace and plan on asking the service person if they can check the alinement.
 
I went into purchase process expecting the best and prepared for the worst.  I know that many have had smooth transactions and been in and out in a couple hours.  I was glad I was prepared.  The test drive and inspection went well with the exception of me finding a crack in the driver's side convex mirror.  'Oh we get that all the time, happens in shipping.  I'll go check with parts"....  "Got to order it, we'll call you". The spray liner was done by a third party, Mil-Spec.  Have not heard of them before but it appears well applied, they removed the bed bolts and trailer electrical socket before applying..  No overspray that I can find,  pretty happy with it.
 
The very first piece of paper they put in front of me shows the current MSRP of $73500, not the MSRP of $69,355 when I ordered.  When I questioned it I was told there had been several price increases.  I pointed out that my order should be price protected.  "Oh, not all orders get that".  I pointed out that I knew the dealer was price protected and why were they not passing it on to the customer.   I mentioned that it's not a secret and is a long term Ford policy.  "Did you find that on Reddit or something".....  No, several web forums I follow..... "I'll go ask".... After several minutes he comes back with another piece of paper detailing a "dealer discount" that accounted for the difference.  During the rest of the process every piece of paper they put in front of me showed a different price.  Each time I had to tell them to stop, that is not the price we agreed to.  Each time the salesperson had to 'go ask'. Each time there was a 'reason we have to show it that way'.  Even at last stop where we were with the person that takes our money, the documents she gave us had a different price and had to be redone.
 
One loose end is related to a $2500 PCO that I received literally two days after I placed the order with the dealer and prior to getting a confirmed letter from Ford. The sales person said it was no good because it expired April 3rd.  I pointed out that the offer was good on 'orders placed prior to April 3rd' and produced a copy of his email response to my asking if I could take advantage of it.  He replied at the time that the that the PCO "'will be taken care of at time of purchase"....  "I'll go ask".....  After going back and forth several times it became apparent that neither side was going to give.  I was told that the manager would submit a claim to Ford and if Ford approved it they would send me a check.  I expect there will be more fighting over this down the road a ways.
 
All and all it was really no better or worse than most any other car deal I've done over the years.  It took 4.5hrs and a lot of back and forth on things that were already agreed to and documented months ago.  
 
Thanks to Ice-capades, Akirby, and everyone that participates in this forum as the knowledge passed on here helped me be prepared.  And cyberdman, if you are still lurking out there, thanks and I owe you a photo!
 
Good luck to all that are still waiting.  Hope they get all of them built and shipped!

They know how.  They did exactly that with Bronco.  But the dealers whined and complained so they went back to a custom but traditional allocation system.  There is no more incremental COVP allocation.  Dealers are expected to manage 2022 reorders and early 2023 orders via priorities.
 
They basically punted and gave in to the dealers and that was due in large part to Grainger and a couple of other dealers who got huge COVP order queues.  So it’s not a system or process problem it’s a whiny dealer problem.

Per Friday's revised FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) below is the updated schedule for the 2022/2023MY Ranger.
 
05/20/2022 - 2022MY Final Fleet Order Due Date 07/21/2022 - 2022MY Last Day to Spec Change 10/19/2022 - 2022MY Balance Out Date  
08/05/2022 - 2023MY Order Bank Open Date 09/01/2022 - 2023MY Scheduling Begins 10/19/2022 - 2023MY Job #1 Date All dates are subject to change. 

INFORMATION
Ford Honors Five Dealerships With A Ford ‘Hometown Hero’ National Award 
 
SUMMARY
Ford Motor Company at their Annual Ford National Dealer Meeting recognized five dealerships as Hometown Heroes for their outstanding commitment to customers, community, and employees.  For generations, Ford’s dealers and their employees have played an important role in the communities they serve.  With this award, the company seeks to spotlight those Dealers who have truly distinguished themselves among Ford’s Dealer network.
 
James (Jimmy) Childre, Jr. of Childre Ford, Inc. in Sandersville, Georgia Joseph (Joey) Thurby, Jr. of Riverside Motor Sales in Markleysburg, Pennsylvania Jack Kain of Jack Kain Ford, Inc. in Versailles, Kentucky Casey Stoudt of R. M. Stoudt, Inc. in Jamestown, North Dakota Paul Blomquist of C & M Ford Sales, Inc. in Hallock, Minnesota  
These dealers are truly the ‘best of the best’ when it comes to community involvement, and we are pleased to recognize them as our 2021 “Hometown Heroes.” Ford is proud to have these five wonderful Dealer partners strengthening the Ford brand every day.

The transportation processes have been in place for decades and, up until the market changes in the past couple of years due to labor and equipment shortages, problems with railroad equipment and labor shortages and a number of other factors, the processes work. At the plant level, you have a backlog of vehicles stored in various locations waiting for microchips or other parts as well as available rail cars, waiting to be loaded onto rail cars. Vehicles produced and released for shipping, not being held for parts or other concerns, are usually the first priority to get loaded onto rail cars. Vehicles in storage are stuck often waiting for longer periods until rail cars are available. With thousands of vehicles being held in multiple storage lots, it's a logistics nightmare to identify vehicles that can be shipped, match those vehicles with rail cars available that are destined for the assigned final rail ramp destination, etc. The vehicles have to be identified, located, labor assigned to retrieve and move the vehicles for loading and get it all done efficiently so that rail cars get loaded as quickly as possible without time wasted. The rail cars then have to be matched to the appropriate rail carrier that is either headed to the final ramp destination or intermediate junction point for transfer to the appropriate rail route. Once the vehicle is loaded and the rail car has left the plant, the rail carrier controls the situation and Ford has no control. At the same time, the rail carrier has its own factors to deal with including the general mess that the transportation system is struggling with such as equipment and staff shortages, equipment failures, etc. 
 
Once the rail car arrives at the final ramp destination, there may be delays due to a backlog of rail cars waiting to be unloaded, staff shortages, etc. Once unloaded, the vehicles are transferred to the carrier firm under contract to Ford, to then deliver the vehicle via car carrier to the dealership. In normal times, vehicles were usually dispatched, loaded onto carriers and delivered to dealerships within 3-7 days of arrival at the ramp. However, many of the same factors and logistics complicating the transportation process nationwide, equipment shortages and especially staff shortages, also affect operations with the carrier firms and the ramp operations. Vehicles are inspected at the ramp prior to being dispatch for delivery and, once dispatched to be loaded onto a carrier, a driver is assigned to deliver the load. The drivers load the vehicles onto the carriers and are responsible for in-transit damage not identified when the vehicle arrived at the ramp. Retail orders are identified with green Window Stickers for expedited delivery, but again, the general state of issues with the transportation system, labor shortages especially, along with the high volume of retail orders is a factor.
 
Dealers can call the dispatch departments at the ramp and request expedited delivery for sold vehicles. The dispatch departments usually know in advance and will usually do everything possible to accommodate the Dealer's request. In the past couple of years, I've seen a number of vehicles at the ramps for extended periods that were identified and held per orders from Ford for undisclosed reasons.
 
Dealers have 24/7 access to the Vehicle Visibility reporting system that includes the entire order history including all scheduling, production and shipping status updates. Every single status change is listed on the report, including every location change while the rail car is moving. The Vehicle Visibility reports also include specific notations for vehicles that are on microchip hold. 
 
There's a lot of vehicle tracking information throughout the transportation process which is available through various resources. The transportation system, whether it be the railroads or trucking companies, are all overwhelmed with conditions nationwide affecting all product types and industries. If there's a communication problem, it's the lack of communication between Dealers and their retail customers, as well as outdated, speculative and/or inaccurate information being provided because dealership personnel are either too lazy, can't be bothered or incompetent to access the resources available in order to provide customers with the accurate information they require. 
 
I hope this helps answer at least some of your questions and/or helps provide some perspective from someone that's dealt with these issues for 35+ years!   

Other than the microchip hold, the Vehicle Visibility reports do NOT include commodity or plant constraint information. Commodity and plant constraint information is available to Dealers via e-mail communications sent out by the Centralized Field Order Scheduling (CFOS) representatives and by the AM Preview Scheduling Reports (Tuesday - Thursday) which are available at the FMC Dealer portal site. The AM Preview Scheduling Reports are updated daily and contain extensive commodity and plant constraint information, etc. for each order not selected for scheduling. 
 
There is no simple answer to your statement about Ford's logistics and scheduling of high-end vehicles. The microchip, commodity and plant constraints, supply chain, etc. factors change daily and are incredibly complex to monitor and manage in order to maximize scheduling and production of unscheduled retail orders which is the first priority. Adding to the issues is unqualified, incompetent and/or lazy Dealers that fail to properly monitor and manage their USOB's (Unscheduled Order Banks) or communicate with their Ford Zone Manager or Regional Scheduler as appropriate. Another factor is the volume of amended retail orders with specification changes in attempts to troubleshoot and/or circumvent some of the commodity or plant constraints. The Super Duty models have been the most affected due to the high retail order rate, volume, etc. along with the complexity and volume of the options available. The number and combination of orderable options and specifications is staggering and a single commodity shortage or unexpected failure in the supply chain can easily prevent an order from being scheduled.   
 
Ford is doing everything possible to maximize scheduling and production of all unscheduled retail orders, especially high-end trims such as King Ranch and Platinum models which provide Ford with the highest ROI and profits. The system was never intended to operate with the retail order volume in today's unprecedented market conditions. The scheduling and production processes are strained but the system does work, whether you believe it or not. Unfortunately, a lot of the problems are created at the dealership level as I've stated.       

Per Friday's FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) below is the updated schedule for the 2022/2023MY Ranger.
 
05/20/2022 - 2022MY Final Fleet Order Due Date 07/21/2022 - 2022MY Last Day to Spec Change 10/07/2022 - 2022MY Balance Out Date  
08/02/2022 - 2023MY Order Bank Open Date 08/18/2022 - 2023MY Scheduling Begins 10/10/2022 - 2023MY Job #1 Date  
The 2023 Ranger Order Guide will be released on or about the date that the 2023 Order Bank opens and will be available for download in the Dealer Order Guides section at that time. 
All dates are subject to change. 

Per Friday's revised FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) below is the updated schedule for the 2022/2023MY Ranger.
 
05/20/2022 - 2022MY Final Fleet Order Due Date 07/21/2022 - 2022MY Last Day to Spec Change 10/07/2022 - 2022MY Balance Out Date  
08/05/2022 - 2023MY Order Bank Open Date 08/18/2022 - 2023MY Scheduling Begins 10/10/2022 - 2023MY Job #1 Date  
The 2023 Ranger Order Guide is available for download in the Dealer Order Guides section at that time. 
All dates are subject to change. 

Per Friday's revised FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) below is the updated schedule for the 2022/2023MY Ranger.
 
05/20/2022 - 2022MY Final Fleet Order Due Date 07/21/2022 - 2022MY Last Day to Spec Change 10/07/2022 - 2022MY Balance Out Date  
08/05/2022 - 2023MY Order Bank Open Date 08/25/2022 - 2023MY Scheduling Begins 10/10/2022 - 2023MY Job #1 Date All dates are subject to change. 

I couldn't decide where to add it to the Ranger section so hopefully it's OK I add it here.
 
Here are the after pic’s of my Ranger, I added the ARE Canopy, Fender Flares, Bug Guard and the Tailgate Lettering, not seen is the inside Tailgate cover, Tailgate Damper and the Bed Mat. In a few weeks I’ll put on the Door Rocker Panels. I know my lighting wasn’t good when I took these pictures but it is Cactus Gray, at least in low light and more like Cactus Green in full sunlight. My last Ranger was a 2020 XL 4X4 with the 100A package, this one is the Lariat, FX4, Black Appearance Package and the 501A Package. I really liked and was impressed with my 2020 and now I’m really liking this Lariat with all the extras. I’m sure glad Ford brought the Rangers back to the USA being my full size pickup days are past me now, these new Rangers are the right size for me now.