Back from Gen Con!
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Aug 08, 2018 at 01:15:44 AM
Greetings!
We are now back from Gen Con! We were able to read through most of the comments, and hopefully this post synthesizes answers to most of them while also keeping you up to date on where we are in the fulfillment process:
1) Through some heroic efforts on the part of our warehouse, all of the product that we got in before Gen Con was shipped out! Christopher and I also spent the bulk of the week before Gen Con sweating with everyone in some 120° F cargo containers, but we're really glad that we were able to get everything out that we got in! That also means that the shipping pause of the past 10 days has been because we are temporarily out of product to ship, not due to Gen Con.
2) We are now arriving back from Gen Con over the course of today and tomorrow, but we won't be able to start shipping again until the next cargo containers arrive. According to the shipper, the next 5 containers (representing approximately 3000 orders) should have arrived in St. Louis over the weekend, but we have not yet gotten delivery confirmation, or a trucking schedule for transportation to our warehouse. Once we have that, I'll post an update and let you all know!
3) The final containers of OblivAeon stuff are currently scheduled to arrive in St. Louis on the 24th of August. I'll also keep you up to date on those.
4) As we ship out these orders, we are shipping them in backer order to the extent possible. However, we sometimes wind up going out of order for various reasons. The main reason for this is that we are constrained by what is in a given container when it arrives; notably, some of the orders with art prints got skipped before Gen Con (though some went out), but most of the remaining art print orders should be able to go out after the next containers arrive.
5) If you receive your items and there are damages and/or misprints, please take a photo and send it along with a list of the affected components and your address to [email protected]. We'll be working through all of those and sending out replacements in September, so you might not hear back right away, but we're on it! Just so that everyone is aware of how this typically works, most Kickstarters average somewhere around a 2% damage/error rate. For a Kickstarter this size, that means that around 200 parcels are going to wind up damaged or with a printing error of some sort. That sounds like a lot, but it is only due to the size of the project, and is actually very normal in our experience. So normal, in fact, that we budget for it. So far that has been roughly the error rate for Spiral Galaxy in Europe, we hope and expect it to hold for US shipments.
I'll post again with more shipping plan details once the next wave of cargo containers arrives (probably in just a few days)
~Paul
Us-based Fulfillment Underway
almost 6 years ago
– Sat, Jul 28, 2018 at 12:16:13 AM
It is the last day before Gen Con, and we just unloaded, packed, and shipped around 4000 orders. These include about 90% of US backers without a case, around 25% of US backers with a case, and around 90% of Australian backers. Unfortunately, the FedEx program we use to ship to Canada completely broke their software, and those orders were not able to go out.
Right now they are telling us that the next five containers will be delivered on the 9th or 10th of August, but I'll post an update right after Gen Con (on the 7th of August) with a more updated schedule. Once those five containers arrive, we will prioritize getting Canadian order out as well as all of the signed orders, which we were unable to get done before Gen Con. All told, we should be able to get the bulk of the Canadian orders plus the next 50% or so of US orders out by mid-August. The final containers have left China, and are scheduled to arrive in the US on the 27th of August. I'll also keep you up to date on the delivery schedule for those containers.
If anyone has any missing or damaged items, we will replace them for you! If you live in the US, Canada, or Australia, send an email to [email protected] with a description and photograph of the issue, as well as your shipping address. However, we will not be able to start sending out replacements until all initial orders are shipped, which is likely to be some time in early to mid September (we'll post an update about it). In addition, because of Gen Con, you are not likely to hear back at all on any emails for about three weeks. However, we'll queue them up and get you replacements as soon as possible!
I hope that those of you who have received or are about to receive OblivAeon enjoy it, and I hope to meet some of you at Gen Con!
~Paul
US-based Fulfillment Imminent
almost 6 years ago
– Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 12:24:17 AM
The first four containers aimed at our US warehouse are suddenly moving *faster* than predicted, and were on a train in New Mexico this morning. This means that there is a chance that they could be delivered next week, and that at least some games could be sent out before Gen Con. To that end, we have to completely lock down any address updates. If you have moved recently and have not updated your address, or might move in the next month or so, send an updated address to [email protected] tonight or tomorrow. If we don't have your correct address and the game gets returned to us, we'll still get you your games, but it might take quite a while since we'll be fulfilling everyone else's in the mean time!
Some more details about US based fulfillment:
1) All of these games are going to be fulfilled by our warehouse in St. Louis, MO. We are one of the only board game companies with our own warehouse and warehouse staff, and we've gotten fairly efficient at sending out orders over the years. However, this Kickstarter is massive, and will strain the capacity of our warehouse quite a bit. Most significantly, given how full our warehouse is of all sorts of other products, we can't fit more than a single cargo container worth of OblivAeon content in our warehouse at once and still operate. Fortunately, we will be able to unload the cargo container, label the boxes, and load them right onto an outbound shipping truck, so we should be able to move through at least 2 containers in a day. However, to do so means that we will have to operate in the most efficient way possible in terms of the order in which we send out parcels (more on this below).
2) All of the US parcels will be sent via FedEx Smart Post. This means that FedEx will carry the parcels to your local Post Office, which will then do the final delivery step.
3) All of the Canadian parcels will be delivered by domestic Canadian FedEx. They will not be marked as international shipments, and will have an origin in Mississauga, Ontario, so there is no chance of customs charges. After the labels are created in St. Louis, we will pack and label all of the boxes, then send a freight shipment to Mississaugua, where FedEx will break apart the freight shipment and send it domestically. We'll pay customs and import duties on the freight shipment, but you won't see them from an end consumer perspective.
4) All of the Australian parcels will be sent via FedEx Express International Economy. Because Australia has a very high threshold before VAT is charged on imports, you should not see any import charges. That is the way it has always worked for us in the past into Australia, and we don't have any reason to believe that this time around will be different.
5) We will attempt to get the FedEx software to send out tracking numbers as your games ship. We have had mixed success with it actually doing so in the past.
6) Finally, as I've mentioned in previous posts, our *goal* for this ship out is to ship all of Canada and Australia first, followed by the single container full of US orders *without* the Collector's Case, followed by all of the other US orders, in backer number order, followed by preorders. That is still our goal. However, as I mentioned above, in order to get all of these parcels out in as timely a fashion as possible, we have to operate in as efficient a manner as possible. This means sending out whatever is in a container in whatever order the containers arrive. We know what is *supposed* to be in each container, and the order in which each container is *supposed* to arrive, but such things are at the mercy of the factory and the shipping company, and are never guaranteed.
What might this mean?
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It is possible that a few of the earliest backers in the US who got a Collector's Case will have their orders shipped before some of the non-case orders.
- It is possible that some people who put in preorders that do not include a Collector's Case and exactly match up to some of the pre-packed boxes in the first container will have their preorders shipped early.
- It is possible that some shipments will be sent out of strict backer-number order.
What does it NOT mean?
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We will not start shipping to distributors until all of the Kickstarter pledges and preorders have been sent out.
Thanks for your patience with all of this, and your support over the past few years! The end of this process is finally upon us!
~Paul
EU Shipping Started + First Games at port in the US
almost 6 years ago
– Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 07:25:56 PM
I've got a quick update about shipping progress, which is generally good news all around!
First, Spiral Galaxy Games in the UK now has all of the product they need to fulfill their orders. They are sending every single shipment to everyone who lives outside of the US, Canada, and Australia. As of this morning, they are at 536 out of 1028 shipped, which is great progress! They say that they should finish within a week or so.
Second, the first 4 containers bound for our US warehouse arrived at the Port of Los Angeles. They have not yet been loaded onto a train bound for St. Louis because there is a lot of congestion right now at the port and rail yard in LA. As a result, I'd anticipate them arriving here and starting fulfillment shortly after Gen Con (so likely the 2nd week of August). As soon as I have any updates on that front, I'll let you know! One of the four containers now in LA contains all of the orders *without* a Collector's Case. The other three each contain about 900 orders *with* a Collector's Case, so we should get through the first 2700 or so of those by mid-August.
I'll have more for you in a few weeks (likely the 7th of August, our next regular Update Day)
~Paul
Shipping On Schedule
almost 6 years ago
– Wed, Jul 04, 2018 at 01:06:45 AM
Greetings awesome Kickstarter backers! After last month's disappointing news about shipping, I am happy to report that the updated information that the factory sent us seems to be essentially correct. I now have the following information from the shipping line, who has 7 of the containers in transit:
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3 containers, Sailed 6/3. ETA South Hampton 7/8
- 4 containers, Sailed 6/24. ETA Los Angeles 7/30
That first set of 3 is headed to Spiral Galaxy in the UK, who will start sending out European orders as soon as they receive them (I'd anticipate that it will take at least a week for them to get those containers to their warehouse, unloaded, and queued up for shipping after they arrive in South Hampton).
The second set is the first wave of North American OblivAeon, which includes all of the orders for North America that *didn't* get collector's cases. Given the timing, I'm anticipating that we will unload it and then start shipping it out immediately after Gen Con.
I also just got the following update from the factory:
- 5 more containers to the US are shipping out on July 5
They also say that they are on track to have the final 4 containers ship on July 20.
For next month's update, I should be able to confirm that EU fulfillment has begun, that all of the games have shipped, and have updated ETA info on the first four containers for North America at least.
~Paul Bender
