Pretending to Grownup

Shipping Progress
over 8 years ago – Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 01:47:02 AM

Hi everyone!

Short version: Getting close to the end here so I just want to assure everyone that your package is either sent & received, sent & on the way or about to be sent. We're NOT yet in the danger zone of packages being missed.

Golden Bell is still getting things shipped, it looks like right now that they'll be completely finished between next Monday and Wednesday. They've been working really hard on these but giving an accurate estimate can be difficult, things can go wrong that takes hours to fix (from experience).

To speed things up, I worked it out with Golden Bell to take over ALL CANADIAN ORDERS! I hired a friend to help pack and just spent two 18-hours days sending out 565 packages!

This is has both the benefit of all Canadian orders now being shipped but also freeing up Golden Bell to finish up the rest of the international packages!

I should have the list of Canadian tracking numbers from my Canadian shipping depot by tomorrow evening. I can provide them on request after that. I won't be emailing them out because it would take me some to figure it out but Canadian shipping is pretty fast and many people would have their game before I could get them a number. They're shipping from Ontario and all of Canada should have their packages in 1-7 business days.

For other international orders, many of those are done and shipped and the rest should be going out over the next few business days. There are tracking numbers... however with USPS I'm not sure they can actually be used to track. I think they're more like confirmation numbers after they're delivered. I'm trying to find a solid answer on this still.

Also it turns out there were also a handful of US orders (less than 20) that required a certain box to be sent and have not yet gone out. They ran out of those boxes but I talked to Golden Bell today and they now have more so those should also be going out soon. Sorry for the miscommunication there!

As for tracking numbers that haven't been moving. Just to reiterate, most of them were printed at once and not immediately sent. The shipping depot hasn't been scanning a lot of them because of the quantity but we've been seeing a flood of activity on most of these a day or two before being received. Not ideal, but the packages have been arriving and even today I'm seeing movement on some of these for the first time.

If by next Monday, you're in the US and you have a tracking # that isn't moving, Message me on Kickstarter and I'll escalate to the shipping manager at Golden Bell. We're all working together to make sure you get your games. If an error occurred, we do want to fix it!

If you have any other questions, comments, compliments, insults, rants, poems you want to share with me, please message me on Kickstarter! I sit down for a few hours every day and answer these. Go to "View Pledge", then "Message to contact me directly.

Thanks again!

Jason

Quick Update!
over 8 years ago – Fri, Jul 21, 2017 at 01:43:47 AM

Hi everyone!

If you're just skimming these updates the short answer is that your package will be out to you soon!

I spoke with Marc from Golden Bell (who is working hard handling the fulfillment) and got this information from him:

• All US packages have gone out. If you had a CUSTOM order of some kind (like maybe 3 games and 4 magnet sets) then you'll have your tracking number by Monday (they stopped sending out the tracking #'s right away when the label was printed)
• International orders are being shipped and should be finished some time next week.
• If your tracking number seems not to be moving DON'T WORRY. The shipping depot stopped scanning that they received them because the quantities were a lot higher than they usually process. What will happen in most cases now is that it will show it was received by your local depot and then you'll have the game delivered from there within a day or two. Media mail can take up to 14 days in total from the day it's shipped.

I'll update again next week and continue to respond to messages if anyone has any questions. (Just keep in mind, the answer to a lot of them is that the package is on the way!) Just go to "View Pledge", then "Message to contact me direclty.

This is kind of the "peak anxiousness" period of Kickstarter delivery as some people have it and some people don't. I really do appreciate that there's so much passion behind getting these games and I look forward to getting the remaining games out there!

Jason

Shipping Update
over 8 years ago – Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 09:17:42 PM

Hi everyone,

The last few US orders and about 25% of international orders will be sent by tomorrow. The rest of the international orders should be shipped by next Wednesday. The reason for the delay from the last update is that the final batches of US orders were all small custom orders... so they couldn't go through hundreds of similar packages quickly. Those ones require special attention with every package. And then with international, there are more variations because of different countries on top of that.

Just a reminder you'll be getting a tracking number emailed from "Marc Goldner" of Golden Bell who is handling the shipping if you don't have it already.

There are some calls in the comments to move this along quickly and I'm putting on as much pressure on as I can but at the same it's a large amount of orders and they really want to make sure it's done right.

If you have a tracking number from July 3rd that hasn't moved, those were printed ahead of the packing but have all been delivered to the shipping depot on Friday. Some of them seem to be not moving through the shipping depot as fast as we'd like so Marc will be chatting with them today to see about the holdup. We had a similar problem before and the depot then shipped them all the next day.

Once all the initial packages are sent, Golden Bell will handing me the tracking numbers and I'll be taking over the post shipping so I'll make an announcement when that happens to let me know if you think you were missed. There is an error rate with any batch of Kickstarter packages and I can help you through that personally and in good faith.

At this point though your package is either received, about to be sent or already on it's way!

If you have any questions not covered here please message me through Kickstarter and I'll happy to answer! (Go to View Pledge, then Message)

I'll update again next Wendesday or before then if I have new information!

Jason

Also I updated the timeline if you missed the last update:

- Originally just a card game, Pretending to Grownup was was planned to ship in April

- A new component was added free of charge (not even a stretch goal) the UNIPEGASAURUS MEEPLE

- This extra piece would have added another month or two the printing process to design and print so I did a backer survey where roughly 97% of respondents were in favour of waiting for this little guy. So then May / June were the new estimated shipping times

- We did end up getting the games in June and have been shipping them out.

- Hoping to finish by the end of June it looks like it will now be mid July to get the last packages out.

-Just added another week to the estimate because of the complexity of packing custom orders

Many Games Shipped - More Games still being shipped - Tracking number from "Marc Goldner" being emailed within 2 weeks
almost 9 years ago – Thu, Jul 06, 2017 at 01:19:51 AM

Hi everyone,

It looks like the shipping team at Golden Bell didn't hit the deadline today. They are sticking labels on packages furiously and sending a lot of packages out but we can't say they're all finished today.

There was a technical issue with labels... basically they finished 95% of the packing but the international labels all needed to be entered manually which takes over 15 actions per transaction. There were also some mixups and a lot of these packages need be inspected one by one. The extra staff that was planned can't help for this extra bit so the core team of Marc, Rob and Rachel will be finishing it.

I'm used to packing my own Kickstarters, not being in direct control of this is a first for me so I'd like to apologize to the backers having to wait a bit longer for this. I definitely share your frustration.

Having backed a few Kickstarters myself I think being a bit late is common enough and most people are understanding. It's probably most disappointing for backers who hoped to have it for a specific event so I'll apologize again to you.

I know it might be tempting to put a negative comment (and of course that's your right) but encouraging comments would probably help more at this point. We are working to get this done!

Marc and Rachel from Golden Bell put together this video to show you that they are in fact working hard on this.

Here's a quick timeline for those only reading this update:

- Originally just a card game, Pretending to Grownup was was planned to ship in April

- A new component was added free of charge (not even a stretch goal) the UNIPEGASAURUS MEEPLE

- This extra piece would have added another month or two the printing process to design and print so I did a backer survey where roughly 97% of respondents were in favour of waiting for this little guy. So then May / June were the new estimated shipping times

- We did end up getting the games in June and have been shipping them out.

- Hoping to finish by the end of June it looks like it will now be mid July to get the last packages out.

My original estimation when I would have been shipping these myself would have been six weeks and I think that's where Golden Bell will finish up. It's not an easy task but they want to make sure they do it right. I'm estimating now they should be totally done in two weeks and that's to give less tight of a daedline and not have to keep adjusting it.

Being the creator of the this game, I want everyone to have a great experience (which I believe you will when the game does arrive) and I want to assure you that you will get your package. And if a mistake is made, you will still get your package. I will update again in two weeks or earlier if I have new information!

Jason

PS - I will be sending out the FREE PRINT AND PLAY link again for a game called VENTURE PARTY, it seems like a good fit for fans of the Pretending to Grownup! It's got a really colourful art style and seems like a light questing game :)

Quick Technical Shipping Update
almost 9 years ago – Tue, Jul 04, 2017 at 11:26:24 PM

Hi everyone!

- Per the previous update, those packages that were being held at the post office are now released. They said there was .01 oz variance in some of the weights which is common but they were held because it was a big order.  So 1500 new packages were released yesterday.  Frustrating for the backers and the people working to ship them that they were being held for over two weeks without contacting us but it's fixed now and they are on the way!

- Many of you got a tracking number yesterday. The tracking number email will be from Marc Goldner of Golden Bell. The software being used required a name not a product or company and "Jason Anarchy" tends not to be a good thing to write on the outside of a package :)

The team is finishing up the final batch of packages now!

Also, happy fourth of July to the American backers :)

Jason