I was a little dismayed when my UPS delivery man dropped off one box today, one that wasn't even part of our gaming order.  We were supposed to receive our order of WizKids' new HeroClix expansion, Cosmic Justice, today.  WizKids had the countdown clock on their website and I've been getting my customers excited for this day for the past few weeks.  When we noticed there was no Cosmic Justice, I called my main distributor.  He had received our pre-order at the beginning of the month (I even have the email saying how much I was going to get, and that we had in fact pre-ordered it).  That was too late for us.  Other customers took precedence and they had no more at their (4) warehouses.  I was told that they only received part of THEIR order and that they were forced to only fill part of their orders.

I then got on the phone to our 'backup' distributor who told me he only had 6 boosters (whether he was serious or not, he's bitter for not being our #1, but that's another topic altogether).  My next thought was to call some of the local retailers we have good relationships with.  They too were allotted a small fraction of their order and couldn't spare any.  In my frustration, I called WizKids, and after speaking with part of the skeleton crew (conventions take priority, and 90% of the staff are NEEDED there... and I won't begin to imagine the amount of Cosmic Justice at the Cons this summer), I learned that it is up to the distributor to make the allotment, not the manufacturer.