Charles,

 

Merkur's extremely popular #34C Classic Heavy Duty one of several DE razors difficult to obtain.

We have a highly unfortunate situation here: MERKUR is dependant on suppliers for some of the production steps: the foundries for the basic parts, the polishing is mostly done here at our premises, so we have some control over that step, then it goes out to the chrome plater (for the less "sophisticated" razors), and then, if all the parts from the various suppliers are finally all here at the company, we can assemble them. For some of the more complicated razors, there are some production steps in between, both at our premises, and at other companies, and this is only under our control to a certain extent.  

 

As you know, Germany has a program running to fight the results of the recession, and that is that the government allows the companies to cut back on work hours for their workers, resulting in the companies paying less wages (the majority of the difference is paid to the workers by the German government). This program was introduced so the companies suffering from a dramatic decrease of orders do not have to let their skilled people go, but can keep them until hopefully better times. Some parts of our DOVO (not MERKUR, they are working full time) production, for example, participates in this program, as do - in this case unfortunately - most of MERKUR's suppliers. This makes predicting lead times highly unreliable, and the reason for this email exchange is the unfortunate result.  

 

I truly wish I could give you a more favorable answer, shorter (or even better: no) lead times, and a more steady supply, but I can't. 

 

Merkur / Dovo