Progress Gold Milk and its Disturbing Stock Out

Like any other blog, I want Our Taste of Life to elicit a positive appeal to its readers. Whenever possible, I try to have minimal not so good rants around here. Unfortunately, our recent experience with my daughter's milk formula did not prevent me in doing so. My daughter is a loyal patron of Progress Gold, one of Wyeth's premium brands of milk. Incidentally, it is having a massive stock out for almost a month now. This is actually not the first time that we experienced such difficulty in buying this milk product in the market. Being a picky eater, my daughter highly depends on this milk for nourishment and it's unavailability is causing us a lot of distress. She refused to take any milk alternatives because she's so accustomed with the taste of Progress Gold. Having used to taking more than 5 servings a day of this milk and then suddenly not getting any for a day, I simply can't bear the trouble she's going through. Her cries pushed me to send a letter of concern / complaint to Wyeth Philippines.

Dear Wyeth,

I am sending an e-mail to bring to your attention my utter dismay on the current stock out in the market of your milk product - Progress Gold. My 2 year old daughter has been consuming this milk for quite a long time already. She is a picky eater and thus, heavily relies on this particular milk for her nourishment. The unavailability of stocks in the market brought us so much difficulty physically and emotionally. It was way too tiring hopping from one store to the next getting hold of even just a small can of this milk only to find out that there's none. What is even more upsetting and disturbing is the effect it is causing my daughter. I can't bear the trouble my daughter is experiencing for not having the most important food for her, made available. For this reason, I was prompted to raise this concern. It's not the first time that we experience such difficulty looking for stocks of this milk in the market. I was wondering why you can afford such lost opportunities? As a loyal patron of this product, I would like to be enlightened on the reasons of this heavy stock outs. For now, I didn't have any choice but to find an alternative in the market. Otherwise, we'll always be left with worries and stress in buying your product.


Sincerely,

Sherra Bernardo

Wyeth quickly responded to my e-mail and here's what they said:

Dear Ms. Bernardo,

Thank you for taking the time to write us. First, we apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. Rest assured that we are looking into this matter and we'll give you updates on Progress Gold's stock availability as soon as we can. In the meantime, kindly provide us with your complete address and contact details so we can properly address your concern.

Should you have further questions or inquiries, please feel free to call us at our Careline number 81-WYETH (02-81-99384) or our toll-free number 1-800-1088-42222. Our lines are open Monday to Saturday (except holidays) from 8am to 8pm. You could also write us at wpicareline@wyeth.com.

Best regards,

Rowena Leus

Careline Specialist

A few hours later upon receipt of their e-mail, I got a phone call from one of their careline representatives to discuss the details of my complaint. Apparently, the major reason for the stock out according to them is the "increase in demand". I can't help but raise my brow for this given reason. Is that so? I am not completely convinced considering that this is not the first time that a heavy stock out of Progress Gold happened. Anyway, I don't want to deal much on Wyeth's grounds for this major problem. As a Product Development Specialist in a Food Manufacturing firm, I know that there are underlying reasons for this. At any rate, they still owe the consuming public a more detailed explanation. What I am particularly after is the message I got from this experience. We recently went to our Pediatrician's clinic in Asian Hospital and I've heard similar concerns from the parents there. So I thought, how many parents went gaga looking for this product in the market? Similarly, how many kids like my daughter suffered a difficult ordeal? Needless to say our choice of product for our kids matters a lot. And so its manufacturer. Putting our trust to them is but an important partnership in raising our kids well. Unfortunately when our partner failed us, we were left with difficult scenarios to deal with. Marketing taglines we usually find for products with kids as primary target market (PTM) talk about trust, reliability, leading the way, etc. It is quite ironic how sometimes they fail to live by these taglines. It's so easy to make claims and add higher value to a product in the market to make it sell more, but in reality, to adhere to it's promise consistently can be at times "fortified" with doubts.