U.S. and ROW fulfillment is complete (and an update on Canada fulfillment)
over 2 years ago – Sat, May 07, 2022 at 12:23:26 AM

Hey y'all,

If you live under the 49th parallel, we've got good news for you!

U.S. and Rest of World fulfillment is complete

All packages to U.S. and rest of world customers have been shipped. By now, you should have received an email with a tracking number for your package.

If you are a U.S. or ROW customer, did not receive your tracking number, and desperately want it, please email [email protected] and we'll email it to you.

But, um, please don't email us all at once. 

Can some of you, like, take a bathroom break first?

Canada fulfillment is slightly delayed

O, Canada! Here's the deal with your packages.

Our Canadian fulfillment partner contracts with a third party freight forwarder in Buffalo, NY to import goods on their behalf into Canada. We shipped your orders to that freight forwarder back in April.

We're not involved in the business between them and their freight forwarder. We suspect they operate this way so they can have full trucks, with products from multiple Kickstarters, cross the border a few times a month instead of partially full trucks crossing all the time.

Now, that's not a big deal. This company has a great track record for shipping out stuff pretty quickly. So we didn't really care that they used a freight forwarder.

Unfortunately, we've been informed by our Canadian partner that their freight forwarder is backed up in getting shipments to them from the Buffalo warehouse.

We've been told that the freight forwarder will be trucking your orders across the border on Monday, May 9th. 

The Canadian warehouse is in a Toronto suburb, so it's a very short drive.

Of course, once the orders arrive at the warehouse, they need to be sorted and prepped for shipping. 

That means...

Our best estimate is that Canadian orders will start shipping around May 16th.

We're sorry ("sore-ry?") about the delay, but it won't be a long one.

We know that Canada always seems to get their orders shipped out last in any Kickstarter.

If you want to avoid shipment delays in future Kickstarters, we suggest that you talk to your MP about U.S. annexation.

Problems with your shipment?

The vast majority of backers have reported no issues with their orders.

If there is a problem with your shipment (a set is missing, something is damaged, you never received it, etc.), please email [email protected]. 

It is much easier for us to deal with issues through one email address rather than through Kickstarter, Facebook, our Twitter messages, Instagram, etc.

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That's it folks. We're almost at the end of the line!

The Little Plastic Train Company

Fulfillment update - Houston, we have package liftoff (and a social media announcement)!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 11:05:21 AM

Howdy backers,

The fulfillment warehouse started mailing out packages this week. We don't have any pictures of that to show you, but here's what it might look like.

Now onto the news:

Fulfillment is expected to last through May 3rd

Our warehouse has a bunch of awesome people working in it, but it's not Amazon. They can only send out a few hundred packages each day. (One of the downsides of not timing bathroom breaks.) 

With nearly 4,000 packages to send out, that's going to take some time. We're told the last packages are expected to go out on Tuesday, May 3rd.

So don't freak out yet if you haven't received an email with a tracking number

We haven't forgotten about you. You could just be one of the unlucky ones whose packages go out on one of the last days. 

So please don't email us asking where your tracking email is until after May 3rd.  Then email away!

And when you do get that tracking number, don't freak out if you don't see your package moving right away. That tracking number is generated when the label is created. Your package can ship out anywhere from 24-72 hours afterwards.

And don't freak out if you see that your package is taking a while to arrive. For US backers, we're shipping via UPS Smartpost. That's a ground delivery service in which UPS delivers the package all the way to your local post office and then USPS takes it the last mile. It's slower, but we chose that so we wouldn't have to charge y'all even more than we already did for shipping. The warehouse is in Indianapolis, so the closer you live to there, the faster you'll get your package.

And come join our Facebook group!

So we backed a game from Arcane Wonders called Foundations of Rome. We haven't gotten it yet, but Arcane Wonders created a Facebook group where the lucky folks who have gotten their game are taking pictures of it and gushing about it.

That's made us quite jelly.

We thought, "hey, we're cool." We're still on Facebook for some reason even though it's 2022. We can create a discussion group for our backers too!

So, we're proud to announce our Deluxe Board Game Train Sets Facebook Discussion Group (DBGTSFDG)!

Just click on that link and ask to join. 

Then you'll be part of a cool, members only club in which you can:

• Post pictures of your sets to show how good of a photographer you are and to make backers who don't yet have them jealous.
• Talk about how much you love our train sets.
• Talk about how much you think our train sets suck.
• Talk about how much you think our train sets are just OK.
• Suggest sets you'd like to see in the future.
• Engage in discussions about trains and train games in general.
• Debate with other backers about what "deluxe" means.
• Talk about politics.

OK. Maybe not the last one. Please. We know it's Facebook, but please grandma, don't do it!

Have a good weekend, y'all.

The Little Plastic Train Company

Fulfillment is scheduled to begin next week
over 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 05:15:43 AM

We're super busy this week, so no gifs in this update. Just bolded text.

Packages are scheduled to start going out next week

Our fulfillment company has informed us that the final two Kickstarters ahead of us should be done by Friday. This means that they are on track to start mailing out your packages next week.

We know you're excited and full of questions, so here's a:

Fulfillment FAQ

1) How will I know when my package is shipping?

If you're in the U.S., you will receive an email from UPS with a tracking number. The shipper will be listed as "Funagain Games." You will get this tracking number when the label is created for your package, not when it has actually shipped. You'll need to wait 24-48 hours before you'll start to see your package move.

Canadian packages will be trucked up to our fulfillment partner's warehouse in Ontario and shipped out by Canada Post from there. You'll receive an email with a Canada Post tracking number when they start going out.

ROW packages will go out under various carriers depending on destination country. Regardless, you'll get an email with a tracking number.

2) Can I still change my address?

No. Addresses are locked as of today.

3) What do I do if I never received a tracking number, my order is wrong, trains are missing, trains are damaged, I never received a package, I want to send you hate mail, etc.?

Email [email protected]. If you're claiming a damaged item, please attach a photo.

We ask that you be patient for us to get back to you. We're shipping out close to 4,000 packages. Even if all goes well, RIP our inbox.

4) Will you send out another update when fulfillment actually starts happening?

Probably not. We don't want to spam you with updates. You'll know fulfillment has started when you get that email from Funagain Games and people start posting comments that they've been getting those emails. We'll post another update once all packages have gone out and people should have received their train sets.

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Thank you for your patience throughout this whole ordeal.

We've been as frustrated as you with all these pandemic-related delays. This has definitely been the weirdest year for Kickstarter.

And thank you for taking a chance on a tiny company's first Kickstarter. Without your support, these trains would simply never have been made.

We hope you enjoy them!

The Little Plastic Train Company

TLPTCKFDPPG winners (and update on fulfillment timeline)!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 10:22:33 PM

Thanks to all of you who entered TLPTCKFDPPG!

We'd like to say that we enjoyed reading all of your stories (we actually did read each and every one of them) but they were mostly sad and rage-inducing. We're good on catharsis for the year.

Anyway, the random number generator has spoken.

Congrats to these five winners of the TLPTCKFDPPG!

• Lorraine Thurston
• Judy Willow McCall
• Rob Colatutto
• Christopher Grace
• Ronald McClaren

An Extra Engines Pack will be added to each of your pledges.

A couple of housekeeping matters.

1) If you have emailed us asking for your address to be changed, it has been changed. We've received so many address change requests we cannot confirm each one individually. Seriously, y'all move around way too much.

2) Fulfillment will likely start in "mid to late April." That's the latest estimate from our fulfillment company. We wish we could tell you everything would start shipping out next week, but at least we have a firmer date range now. If that timeline changes, we'll let you know.

The Little Plastic Train Company

Fulfillment update (and a giveaway!)
over 2 years ago – Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 11:52:55 PM

Hey backers.

We hope y'all aren't too hungover from Spring Break. 

We're not, which means we didn't drink nearly enough.

We've got some good and bad fulfillment news for you.

First, the good news.

The Good News

All of the train sets have been sorted and entered into inventory at the warehouse.

Only a few dozen were damaged in shipping, which is to be expected when you're shipping stuff across the world. Customs does not appear to have damaged any of the sets during their inspection.

This means that everything is waiting to be taken off a shelf, packed into a box, and mailed out!

Now, the bad news.

The Bad News

The bad news is that our fulfillment company informed us this morning that, due to recent staffing shortages, they are still behind fulfilling Kickstarter projects ahead of us. 

They've told us that fulfillment will now probably start in April.

They are working on hiring additional people to catch up. They may be able to start shipping sooner, but they've told us to expect fulfillment to begin next month.

We know what you're thinking.

In anticipation of your questions, we've created this FAQ.

Can't you move our train sets to another warehouse so we can get them faster?

No. That would be crazy expensive. Everything's been unpacked and sorted already. We'd need to repack it and ship it to another warehouse where it would need to be unpacked and sorted again. And then we'd be behind whatever projects that other fulfillment center is trying to fulfill. So it would only delay things more.

Can you make the warehouse send out our sets sooner?

If we could, we would. (Our offer of sexual favors was rejected.) The warehouse operates on a first-come, first-fulfilled policy. We arrived just after a crunch of Kickstarter arrivals, so we're in the back of the line. Our fulfillment partner was optimistic those projects would be cleared out before the end of the month, but they've been moving slower than expected. Hence the email we received this morning.

You're just trying to scam us out of our money, aren't you? Do these sets even exist?

Yes, they exist! Backers around the world have received their sets already. If we were trying to scam you, we'd pick something way more popular and profitable than miniature train sets. Like NFTs.

Can I change my shipping address now?

Yes! Our fulfillment center is now allowing address changes until shipping starts. 

Please email all address changes to [email protected].

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Look, we know this sucks. It sucks hard. 

We're as frustrated as you are.

We want these sets out the door and in your tiny, average, large-sized, or prosthetic hands.

So, to make it up to you, we're having a giveaway!

Announcing The Little Plastic Train Company's Kickstarter Fulfillment Delay Pity Party Giveaway! (TLPTCKFDPPG!)

We're giving away five free Extra Engines Packs to five lucky backers.

To enter the TLPTCKFDPPG, all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this update telling us your Kickstarter horror story.

Did you back a project and never received anything? 

Are you still waiting on a project years later? 

Did you get something completely different from what you were promised?

Did you get something horribly damaged and got no response when you complained?

We'll pick five commenters at random and add an Extra Engines Pack to each of their pledges.

This won't make your sets come any faster, but we can at least have a pity party!

We'll start with our two worst experiences.

We once backed a card game that successfully funded on Kickstarter. It turned out the company had a bunch of unpaid debts from other projects. They were sued by their creditors and went bankrupt. The game was never made and no one got a refund.

Over a decade ago, we backed a computer game that successfully funded. It was supposed to fulfill in February 2013. That game is "still in development." The company just posted its 125th update, promising that they're still working on the game.

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We're sorry about this latest delay. You're right to be annoyed and upset.

You can insult us in the comments. We can take it.

But that won't get you any extra entries in the TLPTCKFDPPG.

As always, we'll let you know when fulfillment finally starts.

In the meantime, we've got to see a wall about some head-banging.

The Little Plastic Train Company