Shipping Update (tl;dr We've Cleared Customs and Fulfillment Will Start "Soon")
about 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 01, 2022 at 11:30:40 PM

We're pushing this short, gif-less update out a bit early since we figured people would want some good news to start off the week.

We've cleared customs

Customs finally released the train sets this morning. 

The trucking company will be picking them up tomorrow. 

They're scheduled to arrive at the warehouse Thursday or Friday.

U.S./ROW fulfillment will probably start mid-March

Once the sets arrive at the warehouse (assuming the truck does not get into a wreck, knowing our luck), they need to be inspected for any damage from customs.

Then they need to be sorted and prepped for mailing.

This won't happen overnight.

Because everyone and their mom's containers all arrived at pretty much the same time in February, fulfillment companies (including ours) are a bit backed up right now. Our random customs inspection meant some other Kickstarters hit the warehouse before us and will be processed ahead of us. 

Once those projects are fulfilled, ours will start going out.

This means the sets may have to sit at the warehouse for another couple of weeks while those projects are fulfilled. Right now, our timeline is a bit uncertain because it depends on how quickly those other projects can get mailed out.

Once your order is shipped, you'll receive an email with a tracking number. 

We will send out another update when orders start shipping.

Canadian orders will be fulfilled a bit later

Once the Canadian orders are sorted out at the warehouse, they will get put on yet another truck to go a warehouse in Ontario where they will be shipped across Canada via Canada Post.

Obviously, because this involves a separate truck trip and another warehouse, add another week or two of delay if you live in Canada.

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We really appreciate everyone's patience with what has been a shipping nightmare, not just for this project, but across the entire board game industry.

And we're really grateful for the positive comments from all of those who have already received their trains.

We're almost there everyone!

Until next time,

The Little Plastic Train Company

O Tempora! O Mores! O Dolla Dolla Bills!
about 2 years ago – Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 05:02:38 AM

Hey y'all,

'Member how we said that we might have to endure a customs inspection?

Well, guess who's been selected for a random customs inspection?

Hey, kids, it's time for "Fun Facts About Customs Inspections"!

Turns out there are three types of customs inspections.

 Type #1: X-Ray! 

In this customs inspection, US Customs and Border Protection x-rays the container to see if, for example, the chairs you say you're importing look like chairs or more like teddy bears stuffed full of cocaine.

Even if you're not a drug smuggler and your container passes the inspection, you're charged around $300.

Oh, you didn't know that the U.S. government charges importers the costs of random inspections?

LOL. Of course they do! Why pay for anything with tax dollars? LOL. 

Did we get just type #1?

Nah.

Type #2: Gimme a peek!

Let's say the government x-rays your container and thinks to itself, "Man, those teddy bears really look like they have full tummies." Then you get inspection type #2!

This is when they crack open your container and take a peek at what's inside without opening or touching anything.

Do they charge you a few hundred dollars more for this? Of course they do! Because the one minute of realizing "Hey, those aren't chairs! They're teddy bears!" is really expensive!

Did we get get type #2?

Nah.

Type #3: Intensive customs inspection!

In this fun inspection, your container gets sent to a special facility where customs officials get to open up your stuff and get their grubby hands on it!

Why? 

To see if there's drugs. 

Or really small prostitutes.

Do they charge you for the cost of shipping everything to a special inspection facility?

Yes!

Do they then charge you for the labor costs of unloading and inspecting your stuff?

Yes!

After they're done fondling your stuff, do they re-shrink wrap it and carefully re-package it so Lincoln Hawk can come pick it up?

No!

Can they damage your stuff with no consequences? Like, can they drop kick a train set into a wall as part of their "inspection" and take photos of themselves next to it making Shaka signs and sticking their tongues out and, like, there's literally nothing you can do to make them pay you for the damage? Like, you just have to say "thank you, mistress" like U.S. Customs and Border Protection is your dominatrix, because you're already paying them for humiliating you in this way?

Yes!

Does this sort of inspection take anywhere from 7-30 days? Because, LOL,

timetables are for losers?

Yes!

Does this make you reconsider whether you should have actually used your train sets to smuggle drugs into the country instead of, you know, following the law and paying taxes like a chump?

On the advice of our lawyers, we cannot answer this question.

Did we get type #3?

Yeah.

It's OK. We're told the chance of that happening is like 5%. So we feel really lucky!

Once we clear customs and your sets are on the way to the warehouse, we'll let you know

We may clear customs by the end of the week. 

Maybe not for a month. 

Um...fingers crossed it's a week?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

The Little Plastic Train Company

OMG!!!1!!111! Shipping update!!!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Feb 12, 2022 at 04:11:04 AM

It's Friday night, y'all. 

Time for a Kickstarter update!

U.S./Canada/ROW orders have arrived in the United States 

The YM WELLHEAD docked in New York City yesterday after being anchored off Long Island for several days due to port congestion. 

The port started unloading containers from the ship today. It will take several days before all containers have been unloaded.

Once that happens, our particular container will need to clear customs. 

Then, it will be opened. Your train sets will then be stored and wait for a ripped truck driver who wants to win back the love of his son from his estranged wife and wealthy father-in-law to pick them up and deliver them to the fulfillment warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

We may be impounded for a random customs inspection. We may not. How fast you get your train sets is entirely up to the U.S. government at this point. We are crossing our fingers that we are not randomly selected for inspection.

We hope to clear customs and arrive at the warehouse in the next two weeks. 

We will send out another update once all the sets have arrived at the warehouse. Everyone will receive en email with a tracking number once orders start shipping.

We hope that the warehouse will be able to start shipping to customers before the end of the month. But, as always, there can be delays. Things are pretty much out of our hands now.

Some of you may be asking:

Dude, I thought you said our ship was going to Baltimore?

LOL. Funny thing about that.  Cue a Wayne's World style flashback.

EXT. SCENE: OCTOBER 2021. THE CAMERA PANS UP TO A DOWNTOWN OFFICE BUILDING WITH ONE LIGHT ILLUMINATING AN OFFICE WINDOW. 

INT. SCENE: A DESK STREWN WITH PAPERS AND EMPTY CHINESE TAKEOUT BOXES. A SMALL BOARD GAME TRAIN ACCESSORY COMPANY ("US") EMAILS ITS U.S. FREIGHT FORWARDER ("FF"). 

US: Hey y'all, we want our trains to hit the U.S. as fast as possible. What are our options?

FF: Oh, right now your fastest options are to go to New York City or Baltimore. Baltimore is slightly more expensive but less crowded, so you'll probably get your product to your customers faster that way. Here are the quotes for the two options: (1) Baltimore: crazy expensive, (2) NYC: really, really expensive.

US: OK. That's not a bad price difference. We love our backers with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. 

US: We want them to get their trains as fast as possible. Onward to Baltimore, expenses be damned!

FF: Cool, we'll book you for Baltimore.

EXT. SCENE: DECEMBER 2021. THE CAMERA PANS ACROSS A SNOW-FILLED DOWNTOWN HOUSTON, TEXAS STREET. PEDESTRIANS RUN ALONG THE SIDEWALKS AND DART INTO NEARBY BUILDINGS TO AVOID BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES.  PEOPLE IN ALLEYS HUDDLE TOGETHER AROUND GARBAGE CAN FIRES FOR WARMTH, LIKE IN A 1980S ACTION MOVIE.

FF: Good news! We're on a ship! Here's some paperwork--NBD.

US: Yay! We will update the backers forthwith!

INT. SCENE: JANUARY 2022. A MAN IN AN OFFICE BUILDING, HIS EYES SQUINTING, LOOKS AT A PDF ON HIS COMPUTER.

US: Hey dawg, we got some questions about that paperwork you sent us between Christmas and New Year's.

FF: Yeah, man, what of it?

US: It says the ship is going to New York City, not Baltimore. Is that, like, its final destination? Or its first U.S. destination?

FF: Oh, that's its final destination. You told us to book New York City.

US: We totally did not. Here's the email proving that.

FF: Ooooh...yeah. Our bad. We screwed up. We are, like, super sorry about that. Sooooo sorry. Someone totally messed up.

US: I guess it's not possible to transfer a container from one ship to another in the middle of the ocean?

FF: No, it is not.

US: So we're going to New York then?

FF: Yep. Like we said, so sorry.

US: Um, so I have a few more questions.

FF: GTG. Getting another call. Kthanxbye!

So that's why we docked in New York!

If you are a U.S./Canada/ROW customer, it is now officially too late to update your shipping address.

Sorry, but addresses are well and truly locked now. Your trains are going to the last address you sent us. Please don't email us asking otherwise.

Australia/New Zealand orders have shipped!

All Australia/New Zealand orders have shipped. You should have received an email with a tracking number.

If you are a backer from Australia/New Zealand and have not yet received a tracking number, please email [email protected].

 We have a non-crappy website now!

We've got a proper website! You can check it out HERE.

Right now, you can't order anything from our website. That's because we want to make sure we've shipped out all orders to our Kickstarter backers first.

But you can still look at pretty pictures of our trains. For example:

If you peruse our website, you'll see our post-Kickstarter prices are higher than what we've offered to our backers, so you can feel all smug getting in on the ground floor.

If you want to be notified when website orders go live, feel free to sign up for the mailing list on our site, as those subscribers are the ones we'll notify first.

Crap. It's almost midnight. Time to get to the club!

Until next time,

The Little Plastic Train Company

UK and Australia/New Zealand fulfillment update
about 2 years ago – Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 05:37:58 PM

Hey there.

U up?

. . .

Because we have another train update.

UK orders will ship out this week

UK orders have been received at the warehouse and should ship out in the middle of this week. If you are a UK backer, you should have already received an address verification email from our fulfillment partner, Spiral Galaxy. 

If you did not get this email, do not worry. As long as you have not moved, your order will be delivered to the address we have on file for you.

If you have moved and have not received an email from Spiral Galaxy, please email [email protected] with your new address ASAP.

Australia / New Zealand orders will ship out next week 

Australia/New Zealand orders have been received at the Australian warehouse. Our fulfillment partner is processing several containers worth of goods that came in with ours, so Australian/New Zealand orders are scheduled to ship out next week.  It's possible that the warehouse could start shipping out orders by, say, Friday if they're ahead of schedule, but we anticipate the bulk of orders to start going out the week of the 24th.

If you live in Australia, have moved, and have not already contacted us, please email [email protected] with your new address ASAP.

US/Canada/ROW orders are still scheduled to arrive in early February

The YM WELLHEAD continues to sail on schedule. It's currently in the Red Sea and should pass through the Suez Canal in two days. From there, it will continue to our home country of America, a magical land where there are no cats and the streets are paved with cheese.

Until next time, may all your Netflixing be chill, train fam.

The Little Plastic Train Company

Decem-boat Part II: USA! USA! USA! or A General Shipping Update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 11:59:19 PM

Howdy train nerds,

Big update this week, so let's get to it.

USA/Canada/ROW orders are on a boat!

After being bumped more times than an attractive woman at a night club, USA/Canada/Rest of World orders are finally on a boat as of today.

The container ship is the YM WELLHEAD. It is scheduled to depart China this week and arrive in Baltimore, Maryland in early February. From there, the orders will be trucked to the warehouse in Indianapolis. Barring any shipping delays, we expect orders to be shipped out near the end of February. (With delays, March at the latest.)

We chose to ship to Baltimore, through the Suez Canal, to avoid massive port congestion at west coast ports. Last we checked, some goods were sitting at Long Beach for eight weeks after being unloaded. Baltimore, like everywhere else, is backed up but not nearly as bad.

Besides, we hear they have great dockworkers there, like this guy:

We appreciate everyone's patience. Container shipping has truly been a nightmare. We ended up having to spend more than 500% of what we'd originally budgeted for international freight. If you want to know why the price of everything has been going up--that's why.

Of course, we're not charging any backers extra money for shipping because we're just super cool like that.

EU orders are shipping this week

EU orders arrived at the warehouse in France last week and will begin shipping to backers this week. 

Also going out with the EU orders will be orders to Iceland, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. 

All EU backers should receive two emails: one from our fulfillment company notifying them that their order has been shipped and one from the shipping company actually delivering the order (which will vary depending on which EU country you live in).

UK orders have arrived in the UK

The EVER GIVEN has docked at Felixstowe. UK orders may have already been unloaded by the time we send out this update. Once the orders have cleared customs, they will be trucked to our fulfillment partner's warehouse in Telford. We expect fulfillment to begin sometime in January.

We're almost there. If you're still impatient to get your trains, the Right Honourable John Bercow has this advice for you:

Australia/New Zealand orders are almost in Australia

The CGA CGM BELINNI has gotten delayed off the coast of Sydney waiting to dock there. Once it makes its stop in Sydney, it will continue on to Adelaide, which is where our partner's warehouse is located. We expect fulfillment to begin sometime towards the end of January.

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Like a train headed straight towards you, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just don't move and you'll get yours soon.

OK. Maybe that's not the best metaphor. But you get what we mean.

TTYL,

The Little Plastic Train Company