While I'm sad that Pat and Sean couldn't join me for the official unboxing video -- something about not being able to drive five hours to Cleveland on Thanksgiving weekend -- that sadness is infinitely eclipsed by my overwhelming joy in unboxing an air-shipped copy of Lairs.
None of this would have happened without all of you - so thank you again for your support! The rest of the copies are slowly making their way across the oceans.
Best,
Alex
Setting Sail
over 6 years ago
– Sat, Nov 04, 2017 at 07:19:36 PM
The Ever Legend has set sail! Seriously, that's the name of the ship, how delightfully nerdy.
This particular vessel is a container ship, taking thousands of containers from various ports in Asia to the United States. Within one of these many containers are some pallets containing cases of Lairs. You can track its voyage live here.
The Ever Legend will sail across the pacific, through the Panama Canal, and up its way to New York. From there, our container be unloaded, sent to Orlando, FL, and eventually the pallets will find their way to Quartermaster Logistics. Those folks will then ship everything to you.
How long will it take? The Ever Legend should reach New York by early December, and assuming everything clears customs quickly enough, it shouldn't be more than a few weeks after that. We will update you when we can; we are but a few small pallets in a shared container on a massive vessel... so there's only so much we can know.
Why New York? It seems it was much quicker to get booked on this ship and take a train to Florida than it was to wait for a different journey.
It's quite a journey, but thanks to our friends at Quartermaster, we were able to sort out who will act as the Buyer, Consignor, Consignee, Notifier, Agent, Freight Forwarder, Customs Broker, and half a dozen other things we really don't quite understand. Fortunately, they saved us quite a headache filing our "ISF 10+2" forms just in time. Forget to dot your i's and cross your t's, and that's a $5,000 fine from US Customs.
Oh... and of course, this is just for those of you in North America. Games destined for Europe and the rest of the world go through their own arduous journey.
We'll update on those as well.
Cheers for now,
Alex, Pat, and Sean
Produced!
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Oct 09, 2017 at 07:52:48 PM
We promised the next update would be about "freight and fulfillment", and would be sent "once our pallets were en route to the Shengen port".
We're sorry to break that promise by only sharing a photo...
... a beautiful, wonderful photo taken by our printer before they start packing everything up and preparing pallets for their long voyage to you.
Yours Excitedly, Alex, Sean, Pat
The light at the end of the Production Tunnel
over 6 years ago
– Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 08:27:21 PM
We are now nearing the end of the production process!
This past month saw a handful of mundane back-and-forths, including the current issue of adjusting the plastic mold size (produced by *another* manufacturer in China) so that it falls somewhere between uselessly loose and unusably tight. Hopefully we'll get that wrapped up this week.
I know I mentioned it last update, but maaaaaaaaaaan it would be nice to have someone in China who could oversee this process, speak Chinese, and work in that time zone. But we're getting there. And soon, the games will be, too.
We didn't have any interesting progress pictures to send, so instead you're seeing one of the first image search results for "Chinese National Day Golden Week". Apparently, it's a big holiday that's scheduled for all next week. A lot of businesses will be closed, including our printer.
Next update: talking about the exciting world of freight and fulfillment! Stay tuned; once our pallets are en route to the Shengen port, we'll give some more details about how these games will get from China to your mailbox.
Cheers,
Alex, Sean, Pat
The Production Process
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 08:07:31 PM
Hi All,
There's not a ton to update you on this month; the production process is continuing as expected, and we're addressing items as they come up.
For example, just this week we sent some new files over to correct a color issue that looked fine on the proof sheets (left) but not so fine on the final product (right):
Now we certainly could have approved as-is, but we felt that correcting the difficult-to-read text on the right side was worth the added time/cost to reprint those sheets. All producers have to make these decisions in the production process -- do you halt the print run, or accept the defect and ship?
And this is exactly why it takes sooooo long to produce stuff overseas. You know those oddly satisfying factory machine videos, where things are cut, shaped, filled, and packaged automatically?
That's not how board games, or most things manufactured in China for that matter, are produced -- it's a very hands-on, labor intensive process. Sure, there are some machines that help a bit with cutting and collating things like cards... but the rest is all done by hand.
Because of this, it takes weeks to get on the "production schedule" (they have to make sure their staff is available to assemble things), and interruptions like this can take a week or two to correct (they have to pack-up the "assembly area" and reschedule the production).
But the good news is it's in progress, and the fact that the printer is catching and sending us these defects is great to see; this should translate into a high-quality, final product.
