Inventory Arrived at New Warehouse!
4 months ago
– Wed, Jun 12, 2024 at 06:49:32 PM
Let it never be said I don't follow through on logistically complex, hugely expensive, ridiculously labor intensive projects once I am neck deep in them
29 pallets showed up on Friday without announcement, leaving us with our pants completely down and unprepared to unload. We told them to come back on Monday, their scheduled time for arrival, and had me, my partner and 2 paid hands to unload the entire truck BY HAND due to none of us being certified with the warehouse's internal forklift training process.
By god did we manage it tho and after a day of training on the forklift today, I am prepared to receive the final 9 pallets incoming that hold our Bat and Skunk plush
Those who had preorders in the queue may have noticed they got a shipping notification today or yesterday. I am still waiting on Bat and Skunk plush to arrive to fulfil those.
As to international orders - I swear to god I haven't forgotten about you guys - I am only just calming down the queue enough to begin working on emailing people with invoices. I had no idea on earth the last two months was going to happen, but we are now officially SEPARATED from our old 3PL company that took so much money and energy from me.
As to those looking for the replacement form for missing items/packages/damage/etc, I have no timeline right now to handling those, but I promise I am working my ass off every single day and have recruited my partner in answering emails and figuring out any remaining issues.
Also, YES, HELLO, WE WILL BE AT ANTHROCON! /airhorns plz don't remind me its like only three weeks away, I'll lose my mind I'm so busy and tired haha
YAHOO! Inventory on it's way to our warehouse!
4 months ago
– Wed, Jun 05, 2024 at 11:51:07 AM
It's been one of the longest, most aggravating, most stressful, most expensive journeys in my entire life, but the logistical nightmare is OVER!
A full truck load (plus another truck behind it with about 9 pallets on it) will be arriving at our warehouse for unload on JUNE 10TH!
We will IMMEDIATELY begin fulfilling backorders and international orders as fast as two people (me and my partner) can pack and ship things to get back on track with Weighted Wildlife as a whole!
For all who have reported missing/lost/stolen/damaged orders - YOUR TIME IS COMING - I will be setting up a form for people to report said orders and we will ship them out as soon as we get your report. This is the best/only way for us to do this, as chasing down individual emails/comments/messages of those who had such issues is just logistically impossible as a single person.
THANK YOU ALL for your patience and continued support.
I have BIG THINGS coming for Weighted Wildlife, including better packaging and shipping practices + a permanent price drop as I believe in passing my savings onto my lovely customers. New designs are already in the works and I have something VERY BIG (hinthint) in the works for a drop during holiday times (plus long awaited Weighted Caribou will be up for preorders as soon as a bulk majority of backorders are fulfilled!)
Side note good news: The trademark office got back to us and we will be receiving the trademark for 'Weighted Wildlife' for the USA and then be submitting for trademark protection in other countries as well to be proactive about potential counterfeits going forward.
3PL Issues Update + Replacement Timeline
5 months ago
– Thu, May 16, 2024 at 03:18:36 PM
We've reached an agreement with our 3PL that will close out our contract, get our inventory packed up, and sent to another warehouse we are finalizing an agreement with as we speak.
YAY!
This means we'll be able to begin normal transactions as well as begin to actually work through the international backlog possibly with less shipping fees now that we are divested of the inflated shipping costs of our 3PL.
This also means that anyone seeking a replacement or missing package will be able to get them ASAP.
I will be setting up a Google Form in order to collect information regarding those seeking a replacement from either damage or a missing package when we are settled into our new warehouse with our inventory. I am not 100% how long this will take, but I expect by the end of the month we should be ready to accept those submissions.
Those who filed for a claim through the insurance will be contacted manually as I downloaded the information from their backend so I can figure them out myself since most were filed after our relationship fizzled out.
This has been a stressful, annoying, and expensive break from our 3PL, but we are excited to have our inventory under our control so we can offer lower prices, better packaging, and better quality control :)
Fulfilment Update + Don't use a 3PL
5 months ago
– Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at 07:37:31 AM
Little (big?) Update, folks!
Long story short, our fulfilment company has decided to continue to pull some skeevy business practices on us, charge us erroneous fees with no explanation to the tune of thousands of unexplained dollars, and have cut off customer service to us entirely save for a single contact who is not even meant to be speaking to us any longer. They no longer answer phone calls, emails, or live chats and instead bill us and cut off services "just because" until we resolve this 3.6k charge they've decided to make up out of thin air that does not show up on any of our billing/transactions.
SO
I've been spending my entire weekend trying to figure out how to remove all our inventory from them ASAP. This means trying to locate a place to put about a 40' container worth of product into in the Seattle, WA area + how to actually transport the goods from Texas to here.
We want our fulfilment in-house as soon as we can, which would mean better quality control moving forward, better packaging, and cheaper shipping options, (and promised replacements much sooner) but as you can imagine, this is a massive and expensive headache.
I am answering emails and fixing issues as they arise, but I appreciate patience as I reach out to everyone individually. We are trying to do this transition as quickly as possible, potentially within the next week or two, as we suspect they will simply continue to charge us random fees with no explanation and continue the lack of communication. We are on a call with an attorney on Monday to go over our contract with them so we can make the split as cleanly as possible.
Who knew hoping a business would be transparent and have open communication was a high bar to set? :')
A Note About Defects/Rejects
5 months ago
– Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 06:41:28 PM
I wanted to make a blanket statement about this, since, in a HUGE project like this there are bound to be problems with some items. It is simply unavoidable because we do not live in a perfect world.
The grand majority of the plush going out seem to be in absolutely perfect condition, but with any large order, there is bound to be some rejects.
Those of you who have ever done enamel pin Kickstarters know this well. With a product like plush that is partly human made, you run in the same issues because of human error.
That being said - I have decided our blanket policy will be as follows;
1.) If the plush seems to have been damaged in transit (puncture, discoloring from the package, dirt, etc), PLEASE make a claim with ShipMonk Protect, which is on your tracking page sent to you.
You can also use this service if you believe your plush was lost or you received the wrong plush.
2.) If the plush is damaged from a manufacturing error, I would be happy to replace it - IN A FEW MONTHS. This is to actually have the cash on hand to pay for the replacement. Please PLEASE understand I don't want you to be disappointed, but I am a single person trying to pay rent and support my chronically ill partner.
I need my finances to bounce back from this fulfilment, which we seem to be on track to do perhaps sooner rather than later, so if that is to occur, I will make a blanket announcement saying I am ready to offer replacements
I never EVER expected the project to get this big when I started it. I never EVER thought I would need to use a 3PL fulfilment company, the pitfalls of which I have now woefully discovered both financially and logistically.
Me and my partner hope to simply rent a warehouse in the future that we can pick and pack from in order to both do superior quality checking and to have our own superior packaging (the polymailers are not ideal, I am aware of this, but it is a devil we must tango with for now) and offer cheaper shipping to you all.
We are a very young business and all your support and love has put a smile on my face. I am answering everyone as best I can with their questions or concerns and appreciate anyone who sent us photos of issues so we can discuss them with our manufacturer
I offer this replacement offer in a few months in a gesture of good will. Most Kickstarter creators would say I'm an idiot, since I technically have no legal obligation nor a Kickstarter policy obligation to do so, but I want you to be happy and to leave with a good impression of Weighted Wildlife.
I put my whole ass into these projects and this was the biggest thing I've ever done in my life so far and I'd be lying if I said it doesn't have the potential to change my financial future to the better once we are out of this financial hole, but please know I am only human and I am doing what I can to make your Kickstarter and Weighted Wildlife experience the best it can be with the current logistical situation we are in (the use of a 3PL, etc).
Thank you to everyone who has posted photos and given kind words to me.
I am starting to send out some of the international packages as our credit card bounces back and I will be inching through them over the coming weeks.
As always, you guys are the best and who knew cute stuffed animals could be such a arduous mountain climb :'))
