Customs Hold Cleared. For Real This Time. They Swear.
almost 2 years ago – Thu, May 19, 2022 at 11:23:26 PM

Apparently there was a different kind of hold. Truck showed up to pick up my pallet, but oh noes, the container itself had paperwork problems, which supposedly wasn't the purview of my freight company.

This went on for two days.

But...I actually now have an official release from hold, pickup is being scheduled. I have made desperate jokes about UPS handling it from here, but as soon as a truck can be arranged, the books will be on the way. It's same-day service, as again, it's 200 miles or so from NYC to Baltimore. Less than four hours. It takes me longer to drive to my in-laws' cabin for a weekend "at the lake" (though the Land of 10,000 Lakes has 14,380 of them, so "the" lake is, as lawyers would say, "over-broad") and I don't even leave the freakin' state.

Anyway, now we're dealing with over-the-road trucking with a projected trip time of less than a half-day even assuming a stop for a long lunch. So as long as we don't have a huge queue in front of us (fulfillment center is first-in, first-out) we'll finally start seeing things moving next week.

So...looks like that June delivery is going to happen, though I'd hoped for better by 4-6 weeks. :-(

So...very...close...
almost 2 years ago – Wed, May 18, 2022 at 11:28:59 AM

I've tried to keep quiet until I knew more, but I think I've gotten enough information in hand for a short update.

The Other Stuff

There was some damage on the materials I sent to Baltimore, and so I packed up one more box and got it on its way. I expect it there by 7pm May 18, which should provide more than enough material to complete all orders.

The Books! The Books!

They hit port, were unloaded in a few days, and then were promptly put into a Customs and Border Patrol hold for inspection.

But...I got word that they're scheduled to be loaded on to a truck tonight! So if that truck is to drive directly to the fulfillment center, the pallet could be there as early as this evening. Certainly I hope that it arrives tomorrow.

Unless, of course, they're trucking it to the railyard, at which point it could sit for a while.

The distance from New York City to Baltimore is less than 200 miles. That's about a three-hour drive (hopefully not a three-hour tour...we know how those end up).

So if things go well and we don't talk about Bruno...all the books should be in Baltimore really, really soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

Knock, knock, knock on wood throw salt over the shoulder cross fingers hold your breath.

Freight Check Table

Ya know...those were ready and I thought I'd hit "send" on the file two weeks ago. Guess Backerkit didn't send when I said send. Alas.

Whew! I found the books in the Atlantic Ocean!
about 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 10:45:26 PM

Vessel of Progress

A million things can go wrong.

Buy the ship with the US Bestiary books is currently moving just over 20 kts (over 900km per day) on its way to New York City, due in port on May 2. This is a three-day acceleration over my last known timing.

From there, it gets weird. First it has to unload (3-4 days), then clear customs (2 days to 2 months), then get shipped by rail to Baltimore (1 day to 4 weeks), and then last-mile to the fulfillment center, where it will mate up with the not-the-bestiary cards and books that are already there.

At least I found the ship! I had been tracking another vessel called the Adelina D, and was more than a little concerned at why my ship was still puttering around the Baltic Sea. The crafty shipping folks transferred the container to the NYC-bound vessel. Wascals they are.

Anyway, despite the vast delays possible between now and shipment, I'm still looking at books-in-hand by the end of May as my best estimate.

Boxed Sets and Monsters 2

These shipped from SJGames directly, because moving them over and over before they got to the end destination was dumb. I hear at least one box has arrived, which usually means the rest aren't far behind.

Arrivals and Spreading the Word

I've now heard a few times from Canada (with evil shipping fees), Chile (same), New Zealand (no fees), and a few places in the UK and EU (also no fees). Folks have so far seemed generally pleased.

That being said: I printed 150 more than I thought I'd need, and if you can direct folks here  while saying nice things about the book on social media or your favorite game store, I'd appreciate it. These remaining books represent an important part of my year's strategic revenue plan (strategy: get some revenue!).

There are still maybe 10-15 books left in the UK. I'm willing to ship these internationally, but that will be by personal arrangement: you DM or email or Discord me, let me know you want one, I'll let you know the shipping cost, and you can PayPal me or something (if you don't have a PayPal account, I believe I have Venmo and  Zelle as well, but we'll work something out). Royal Mail inside of the UK has been running about £50 book-and-shipping. So if a friend wants one...have them contact me and we'll work it out!

UK Books Start Arriving; USA Shipment Slides to the Right
about 2 years ago – Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 06:47:58 PM

UK Books Mostly Arriving Today!

That's the long and the short of it, actually. Most of the books were on schedule for a Friday delivery, which probably started as early as 3am Central Time and something like two hours from now. Otherwise, expect them Real Soon Now.

The next to arrive really OUGHT to be the EU, but who knows. Some of the Canada parcels are arriving already, and I know this as folks are letting me know just how much money they're being dinged for in fees.

As Niobe said in The Matrix, "a strategy is being formulated." I can't say how I'm going to handle this from here out, but I've got some ideas and will talk to other creators. The key here is transparency. If the backer knows how much shipping will be, they can make the choice. If, like UPS to Canada from the US, USP charges me $15 and then hits the customer at the receiving end with $40-70 in "brokerage fees," that's not visible to me, and is (justifiably) enraging to the customer, as they're asked to make a decision and commit funds with partial info. No one wins there.

USA Schedule Slides

I pestered the heck out of my Freight Forwarder (import/export company, which is different than the last-mile fulfillment) yesterday and finally got the straight dope on the shipment destined to Baltimore. I couldn't find the ship in the global tracking system, and that...bothered me. 

Turns out the Voyage Number was wrong, and a few other things. But, here's the new latest info.

• Ship departs from Bremerton (with books aboard, they swear) tomorrow
• Arrives in New York (which is notably not Baltimore) May 1

That was the May 1 date they were apparently quoting, and even my Freight Guy was pissed off when he discovered (discovered? Isn't this your JOB?) that the destination was NYC not Baltimore. Whatever...

• Then the ship has to be unloaded (2-4 business days), and clear customs (1-2 days normally). That puts us somewhere like May 8-9

Note that the load/unload/clear part can be delayed by MONTHS these days, and this is actually where I expected delays to happen, rather than what we've been experiencing to date.

• Now they load on to a train and move it to Baltimore, then unload, and move it to the forwarder. That's another 1-2 days. 
• Then fulfillment starts on a first-in, first-out basis.

I've already talked to my Fulfillment partners, and we're going to be keeping a very close watch on the shipment so that there is "no" lost time between arrival at Flying Cloud Fulfillment and getting things in the post.

But basically, what all the above translates to is "books in hand in very late May or early June."

That meets the promised dates from the KS campaign page...but I'd hoped to have them all to you earlier.

Quick Shipping Update
about 2 years ago – Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 10:34:26 PM

International Shipping

I've received notice that international shipping is "complete" from the GamesQuest/ShipQuest end. Checking the details, it's hard to follow, but as an example, I know at least one UK package is set to be delivered tomorrow, and a Canadian package should arrive in-hand on April 25.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that some of the international packages may arrive with fees due. EU shipping was supposed to be "friendly," which is why I used ShipQuest to begin with. We'll see if that's true.

On the other hand, my Canadian correspondent tells me he's being charged for $35 in handling fees, which will hit above and beyond the $45 I paid to get the shipment over there (and checking that particular order, I collected $48 on it). So my estimate of my own cost to send was good (and included the VAT/GST), but the shipper/shipping agent hit K for GST and VAT, and seems to have also taken their pound of flesh as well.

I am really sorry about that, but this sort of thing is part and parcel of international shipping and fulfillment these days. It's why the following note:

Shipping, whether international or domestic, is very challenging. And expensive. Shipping rates and delivery dates are both extremely unpredictable. Duties and fees will be collected on delivery. Gaming Ballistic has no control over international postage fees and methods. GB doesn't control or influence domestic rates either, but at least they're more predictable.

appears in the Risks section. Checking the EU terms on the ShipQuest site, it does say DDP...so here's hoping.

Domestic Shipping Update

Yesterday I put nine boxes and about 350 lbs of cards and not-the-bestiary books into UPS bound for Baltimore. I expect them to arrive there in about a week. I have heard nothing different than "the books from Riga will be in Baltimore May 1," but until I see the ship actually headed to Baltimore (and I've just pinged my freight guys with a "where's the ship?!" email), I'm skeptical.