Planet Mercenary Shipping Update #8
over 6 years ago – Fri, Sep 08, 2017 at 09:11:20 PM

Alert about hurricane affected areas

I've been checking the USPS website to find out which areas of Texas still do not have normalized mail delivery. Packages for the affected zip codes are being held and I've sent an email to those backers to determine when they can safely receive a package. Packages to non-affected zip codes are being mailed as normal.

Because of Irma's impending impact in Florida and Georgia, I'll be holding packages to those states until the storm passes and I can determine which zip codes have restored regular mail traffic. All packages to the US Virgin Islands are held until I can confirm with recipients that they can get mail.

And I really hope this is the last of these hold notices I have to announce. Stay safe everyone.

Short version

About 480 packages into the mail this week (300 of which were Handbrain only packages), 693 packages to go. 423 of those are International, 270 are US. In the mail are:

• High Admirals: 10/10
• Rear Admirals: 10/10
• GenCon Field Marshals: 4/4
• Retailers: 12/13
• Commodore: 708/757
• Company Commander: 1675/2302
• Sergeant In Motion: 277/286
• Seventy Maxims with Air Drop: 392/398
• Seventy Maxims only: 1009/1024
• Air Dropped Grunt: 256/256
• Forward Observer: 233/234
• Pre-Order 772/772

The majority of remaining US packages are Company Commander with Handbrains, and they're going out next.

The other remaining packages fall into the following categories:

International Orders: Each individual package takes 5-10 minutes of time compared to 1-2 minutes per package for domestic. I will continue to work through these as quickly as I can. I'm trying to send out some each day. I'm currently working through Company Commander level. (423 Packages)

Unanswered surveys: 22 people have not yet answered their survey either on Backerkit or on Kickstarter. (I did some transcription of answers from Kickstarter surveys into Backerkit, which freed up about 20 packages to ship.) I can't mail your package to you if I don't have your address. (22 Packages)

Longer version

The focus this week was a pile of handbrain orders, international company commander, and last packages for other pledge levels.

Friday 9/1: I posted updates, did the accounting, and made some international packages. Then I spent a large portion of time sorting invoices and printing postage for orders from the Handbrain Kickstarter which only contained handbrains and nothing else.

Saturday 9/2: On this day I had a work crew of four. We created an assembly line to get as many packages done as we could. First there was the box making station which was on the same table as packing station 1. This was where the handbrains and pins were put into their boxes.

 The next station was where the postcard and handbrain assembly instructions were added. Then packing paper filled the remaining space and the box was taped shut.

 The final station was where shipping labels were applied and boxes were stacked to be loaded into a vehicle for the post office run.

 It was a good crew and in three hours of work we did about 300 packages.

Sunday 9/3: Day of rest and family things.

Monday 9/4: I printed postage and headed over to the warehouse solo to create about 150 packages and take a load to the post office. I only had time for one post office run, so the second pile of packages waited for the next day.  Once I got home I made the list of affected Texas zip codes and create the email to let them know about their packages. I heard from a heartening number of people in those zip codes that they were high and dry.

Tuesday 9/5: I had a lot of administrivia to do on this day, as well as running home school for one of my kids who has turned homework avoidance into an art form unless I sit right next to him while he does it. I processed 30-40 international packages as well.

Wednesday 9/6: Most of this day was spent on design work and preparatory work for some upcoming projects. I also had errands and preparation for a family celebration.

Thursday 9/7: This day was spent preparing for and executing on the family celebration.

Later today I plan to head over to the warehouse and create base packages for Company Commander packages which make up the bulk of what is left to ship. I've also got mixed contents packages for the handbrain kickstarter that aren't included in the counts above because they aren't listed in Backerkit where I'm getting my numbers.

Next week I intend to send out the last of the US packages and continue working through the international packages.Your next shipping update will be next Friday.

Thank you all for your support.

--Sandra

Shipping Update #7
over 6 years ago – Fri, Sep 01, 2017 at 06:31:01 PM

Short version

About 220 packages into the mail this week, 876 packages to go. 487 of those are International, 389 are Domestic. In the mail are:

• High Admirals: 10/10
• Rear Admirals: 10/10
• GenCon Field Marshals: 4/4
• Retailers: 11/13
• Commodore: 585/757
• Company Commander: 1634/2302
• Sergeant In Motion: 263/286
• Seventy Maxims with Air Drop: 390/398
• Seventy Maxims only: 1006/1024
• Air Dropped Grunt: 250/256
• Forward Observer: 226/234
• Pre-Order 737/772

All US packages that do not contain handbrains were in the mail as of 7/20/17.

The remaining packages fall into the following categories:

International Orders: Each individual package takes 5-10 minutes of time compared to 1-2 minutes per package for domestic. I will continue to work through these as quickly as I can. I'm trying to send out some each day. (487 Packages)

US orders with handbrains: I've begun processing these and should be able to get through them within a week or two. (389 Packages)

Unanswered surveys: 53 people have not yet answered their Backerkit survey. I can't mail your package to you if I don't have your address. (53 Packages)

Longer version

This first week of getting back to shipping was mostly filled with me figuring out how to run shipping now that 5/7 of my shipping crew is back in school full time. The processes are different.

Saturday 8/26:  I processed and prepared some international packages. I also counted boxes and supplies at the warehouse so that I could order things to ship handbrain orders.

Sunday 8/27: Day of rest and family things.

Monday 8/28: I prepared and sent 30 International packages and 80 packages to Canada. Canada packages can be processed like US packages, so they go much more quickly. To fill these orders I used the pre-prepped base packages that were created by my crew on 7/15. Having those pre-prepped packages was the only reason I was able to accomplish so much while I was mostly solo.

Tuesday 8/29: I spent time prepping more base packages. On this day I had one other person to help me, which made things go a bit faster. I also prepped 30 international packages. I did some additional counting to figure out how many more pouches I'll need to make. There was also some organizational thinking about how to proceed.

Wednesday 8/30: I sent out about 70 orders on this day. Most of them were special handling in on way or another, so they'd already been marked as shipped in Backerkit. But this got the invoices out of my file box even though it didn't change my progress meters in Backerkit. All of the orders from people who requested split shipping have gone out. 5 were resends of packages that were returned to me. I also sent out the first of the packages containing handbrains.

Thursday 8/31: I spent much of today working on commodore orders. I sent out almost all of the international Commodore orders that did not have handbrains. I also prepared packages for Commodore orders that do contain handbrains so that I could quickly put postage on them and get them into the mail on Friday or Saturday. This day also contained work on the next Schlock book bonus story and a large segment of time devoted to my partially home schooled kid who needed to get settled into his independent studies.

Looking forward: I expect to spend today printing postage and preparing because on Saturday I'll have a work crew of 4 people. Hopefully we'll be able to slam through all the orders that are handbrains only as well as creating more base packages for me to work from next week. We'll see how much my crew can get done in a couple of hours. Now that the teens are in school, they have full time educational jobs and I have to be much more cautious about how much of their free time I claim.

The next shipping update will happen on 9/8 when I hope to have much more visible progress to report. Also I'll try to take some process pictures. I forgot to take any this week.

Note on Orders in areas affected by hurricane Harvey
over 6 years ago – Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 11:02:19 PM

I will be holding all packages to Texas and Louisiana for a week, or until the news shows me that rains have subsided and regular postal service has been restored. We don't want your Planet Mercenary items lost or water damaged if we can avoid it. We'll keep your package safe until it can be sent to you without risk.

Take care of yourselves and be safe.

A quick note about shipment notifications
over 6 years ago – Sun, Aug 27, 2017 at 08:04:52 PM

This morning I accidentally sent out 48 hour notice notifications to a group of people who have already received your rewards. So if you get one and already have your package, no need to worry. I won't double ship.

For the rest of you who got notifications, I'm hoping to send out your package this week. Please make sure that your address is correct so that your package doesn't end up in the pile of returned packages that are waiting for me to have time to contact their owners.

Thanks for backing the project.

--Sandra Tayler

Shipping Update #6
over 6 years ago – Sat, Aug 26, 2017 at 09:11:50 PM

Greetings Backers,

This is a quick check in to let you all know where things are at. Howard, Sandra, and Alan all returned safely from GenCon. We had a great show and Planet Mercenary had a solid launch.

This past week has involved: Post GenCon emotional crashes, sleep recovery, one case of chest cold/ incipient pneumonia, Tayler kids starting school at Junior high and High school, Tayler college kid + all her stuff being moved back to college, Sandra walking into the warehouse to count boxes and remember where she was with shipping, ordering more shipping supplies, Sandra reviewing her file box of orders, Sandra getting the ball rolling on some other Schlock Mercenary business things, and post-GenCon accounting.

Packages will begin going out again on Monday. Next Friday 9/1 weekly shipping updates will resume until all the packages are shipped. Those weekly updates will be the same stat-filled updates as you had before.

Probable shipping focus this coming week: International Commodore and Company Commander then US orders combined with Handbrains.

The GC Secrets PDF is still owed to you all and is not forgotten. I'll update the status of that next Friday as well.

Thank you for all of your support and patience,

--Sandra, Howard, & Alan