Communication Breakdown!

Since I began working at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop in Downtown Clemson, I have started to realize that communication is one of the key factors of efficient business operations.  Without proper and open lines of communication, a company can find itself in dire emergency.

A relevant case arose at "the creamery" when our ice cream distributor (whom shall remain unnamed) switched the delivery schedule from once a week to once every two weeks.....without notifying anyone.  

Normally this is no problem, but it was First Friday at Clemson.  Now we have a problem.

Let's put some numbers up on the board.  On a well-prepared home game weekend we should offer a maximum 36 flavors.  We had 6.  We should have 40 bins as backup inventory.  We had 6. 

After numerous calls the week prior to the game, no ice cream was delivered.  

What we came to realize is that the secretary at the distributor quit; and as it turned out the "fill-in" was not so "filled-in" on what the job entailed (i.e. reporting a scheduling change to your customers).  The lines of communication had been severed, and what was left was a disaster of a week in sales for likely most of the southeastern dessert shops.  

Tragic.