Final 150 USA orders delayed a couple more days + Canada + "Shipping on a Budget" video
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 03:49:10 PM

Hi guys.

Just a quick message:  We were shipping out about 200 orders a day this past week. But 2 people on my shipping crew got Covid (not from each other) and had to drop out, so now I'm packing and shipping the remaining 150-200 USA orders myself. I'm only averaging about 50 per day now, since the remaining orders are 3+ items and need to be individually packed. So please allow another week or so before assuming your order got lost. I wanted to ship 100% of my orders before the next project launches. But this is the situation. I submitted the files for this project 8 or 9 months ago, and annoyingly this is how long it has taken for the shipments to arrive here, and I'm working as fast as I can.

My latest shipment of bubble wrap and boxes was robbed from a train (Amazon literally told me that!), and my order of Priority Mail boxes never showed up (maybe for the same reason), so I've been literally driving to different post offices collecting as many boxes as they have. I know all this sounds insane, but this is all related to some of the same supply chain issues that have been plaguing a lot of Kickstarter projects. This is not how I normally do things. The next project will eliminate all these supply chain problems.

If you received an automated tracking number, understand that it may take up to 5 days before the postal hub scans it. Sometimes your tracking numbers literally never get scanned, but still arrive. Hang tough!

CANADA: I finally solved the problems I was facing. Now I have a freight forwarder (Benlin) and a shipper in Canada (P&P Logistics). Update to follow. Not sure how long Customs takes - the freight is going to be driven over the border now, so that should prevent holdups. I don't expect delivery in the next 2 weeks but definitely within the month of February.

Silly video: How I've been shipping the USA orders

Here's the link to my Monsters Kickstarter. You can sign up to be notified on Tuesday morning when it launches.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vigour/monsters-and-the-things-that-destroy-them

-Joey

VIDEO UPDATE - USA orders + "Monsters" Preview
about 2 years ago – Sat, Jan 22, 2022 at 02:43:40 PM

Enjoy the video update and please sign up for the next Kickstarter launch here!

Hi folks, the pallets were more than a week late arriving (overall 9 months late!!!), but the stock finally got here yesterday without any damage! Thanks to Mike, Conor, Jeff, and Halley for assisting me with the "first wave" of shipments yesterday and today. As I've said before, my next project won't have these delays because I'm reworking the entire production/delivery pipeline and printing in the USA.

Please do not expect your USA shipment for 7-10 days; there's over 300 "complicated" orders that need to be manually addressed. Canada: I will do another update in a week or so, when I get that massive shipment out. There's a lot of research I need to do first.

Preview of Monsters! 

Click "Notify me on launch" to get an email when the next project launches. Please sign up! It would really mean a lot; it has been a very difficult year for me. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vigour/monsters-and-the-things-that-destroy-them

 Enjoy the quick preview, with some bonus shots from the "how to play" video!

Thanks for your patience!

Joey

USA / Canada shipping update - your games are in Oklahoma
over 2 years ago – Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 01:39:40 AM

Hi all,

USA:

The truck company didn't have a truck available, so your games got put on a train (!) and are currently passing though Oklahoma on the way to California; so everything is about 8 days behind my previously-mentioned schedule. The stock is set to arrive in California on Wednesday and will be delivered to me and unpacked on Thursday. Luckily I have a team of 3 guys helping me handle fulfillment starting that same day. Most USA shipments will be dispatched by the following Tuesday. You will have your order by February 5th, barring additional surprises.

CANADA:

I still expect your orders will arrive within the month of February, but I can't be 100% sure because I'll be working with a new company to ship them. My old fulfillment company decided not to fulfill Canada (not enough orders to make it worth it to them). I'm shipping the items to a new company, PnP Logistics, and they will dispatch the orders. I'm sorry to say this may take an additional few weeks because Customs has been a problem in the past. (The best way to ship to Canada is driving across the border and shipping direct, but that is no longer an option unfortunately.) Please be patient and know that your orders WILL get there. I'm very sorry for these delays.

My Fault

All these problems started when: 1. I launched during a pandemic (when my factory was totally shuttered), and 2. I added stretch goals during the campaign that were not tested at the time. Since this is an expansion, I wanted the cards to match the previous base games in color and framing; which meant I was "locked in" to using the same factory, and it stayed closed, and then had to prioritize bigger print jobs when they were at limited capacity. Since I'm in L.A., the lockdowns were brutal, and it became practically impossible to do any in-person testing, especially at high player counts. If I had simply not introduced all those 15 or so stretch goals, I probably could have gone to print much sooner.

I also made the mistake a year ago of granting over 100 refunds to people that were hurt financially by the pandemic... without thinking about how much I was being hurt by the pandemic. Each of these delays has a snowball effect for me and my plans. For example, I missed 2020 shipping prices, which was 100% my fault. Then on January 9th of this year, USPS raised prices again by $.45 to $1.00 per shipment. I was forced to avoid the congested Los Angeles ports, so I sent the product to the east coast via the Panama Canal. Then I tried to save money by hiring the cheapest trucking company, and that caused this latest delay when they took my money despite not didn't have having any trucks. So each problem snowballs, and now I missed out on 2021 shipping prices by just a few days.

Moving Forward

For me, the worst mistake of all, worse than all the other mistakes, is that I paused all my other upcoming Kickstarters because I thought it was unethical to launch a third project before my previous two were delivered. I always believed that Kickstarter is not intended to be a funding source for companies; it is a funding source for projects. But I was so terrified of "mixing" money between the different projects that I ended up being afraid to proceed with other projects at all.

I finally decided a few months ago that I'm going to just proceed with my life and my plans; I can still do that and ALSO avoid the mistakes I made in the past. My next Kickstarter is launching February 1st, and I am printing it here in the USA and fulfilling it myself within 30 days of the campaign ending. In other words, I'm avoiding ALL the companies that caused delays in the past. Art and playtesting is complete, and most of the games are already printed and here in the USA.  So this is the new and improved version of me moving forward. If I succeed in this shocking 30 day timetable for my next Kickstarter, I think it will impress backers and will renew my own sense of confidence in myself. Here's to 2022. Be well.

-Joey

USA + Canada shipping update - Jan./Feb.
over 2 years ago – Mon, Jan 03, 2022 at 11:08:33 PM

Hi all, I finally confirmed receipt of goods at our warehouse in Florida. I live in L.A. and, as I mentioned in previous updates, the ports here are backed up. I had to route the shipment through the Panama Canal to New York, and then truck it to Florida, and then truck it from Florida to Los Angeles.

I'm scheduled to receive the goods here anytime between 7 days from now and 19 (!!!) days. In my experience, trucks usually come in on time, or within 2 days of being on time, so let's assume I'll have the goods in 9 days. I have a small team that will help me ship the goods from here. I am estimating most USA backers will receive their games JANUARY 15 to JANUARY 24th.
Canada 

I'm still working this out. There's new issues; my fulfillment company that was previously handling the USA did not want to do Canada once I took away their USA contract. I am guessing your shipments may not arrive until end of January or beginning of February. I'll be working with a new fulfillment company that I haven't worked with much in the past. I'll do an update about you very soon. I need to find out more first. If I just ship your orders from the USA directly, it would be a disaster at Customs. If you have suggestions, let me know; things change in this industry very quickly; maybe there's a new way to get around these problems.

Padded Envelopes
I lost so much money producing and receiving the goods that I decided to ship the USA orders in padded priority mail envelopes whenever possible. They will be a bit overstuffed, so there's a chance that some will be rejected and sent back to me. I will bubble-wrap the orders as much as I can reasonably do. If you get a damaged order, let me know.

GROWL License
I have signed this game over to a mysterious collaborator. GROWL is going to be taking a step back for a bit. In a few short months we'll see exactly what has been happening behind the scenes. I'm excited.

Remember
I got pretty sick a year ago, and recently I got sick and recovered again. Not everyone is so lucky. Don't play this game if it's a beautiful day outside (unless you want to play it outside).

Please Support Other Indie Publishers
Most of you don't know this, but the idea for GROWL was inspired by a piece of playtesting feedback that was offered to my friend Ta-Te Wu for one of his games. (The idea of 3 cards being "bites" that turn you from a human into a wolf.) He didn't like the idea for that game, but he graciously allowed me to run with the idea for my own game, and he was a great early playtester for GROWL. His new game Boba MahJong is live now; check it out!

          -Joey


 

Australia shipments delayed until early January.
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 12:51:54 AM

Hi all,

Europe, Middle East, Asia

You should be receiving your shipments next week (if you didn't get yours already).

USA

The boat with the orders arrived at port 5 days late. We had to re-route it to NY instead of California or Florida, due to shipping congestion. Now it is getting loaded on a truck to go to Florida where it will be re-loaded onto pallets and then trucked out to California and shipped in Priority Mail padded envelopes and boxes. I've taken on the task of shipping the USA orders due to the overwhelming new "surcharges" I was facing with the fulfillment company. I'll get some friends to help me, so it should only take a 4-5 days to get them shipped once they arrive. I am guessing most will get shipped in the first week of January. Sorry if it misses Christmas, but I actually think they will ship FASTER this way, since they won't get queued-in behind another project at the warehouse. 

CANADA

I'll be working with PnP Logistics (most likely) to get these all shipped. Still on target for a January delivery, but please don't expect early January. I had a lot of problems shipping to Canada in the past.

AUSTRALIA/NZ - Delay

The orders arrived in Australia about 2 weeks ago. Why they haven't shipped yet, I am not sure. I thought sloths were extinct in Australia but I guess they are just running the shipping warehouse.

I just found out today that Aetherworks is closing their warehouse for the next 2 weeks (!), supposedly for the holidays... but I thought Australia celebrates the holidays in July when it is cold there. So it now unfortunately seems that Australia and NZ orders are getting pushed to January.  I am not sure why I am paying them a surcharge for "Holiday Pricing" if they are closing for 2 weeks and not delivering during the holidays! Sorry about that.

Finally

As your orders arrive, there will likely be some that are damaged, some that have bad colors, some that are missing components or missing your specific add-ons. Before complaining in the comments, just reach out directly - obviously I'm not going to want anyone unhappy. This is not some kind of super corporate mega company with no customer service. Happy to assist; just let me know.

I personally approved the production run samples, so things should be great for the most part. I honestly don't think there should be any problems that are devastating, but let me know if your copy is severely flawed. I had to reprint some of the 7 Sins / Undead at an alternate factory, so that is the most likely issue that could cause problems with the card size or color matching. Again, just reach out directly to me if you have any rare issues.

-Joey