Oh, so that’s where I left the stress…
Apparently my reprieve from feeling stressed was short lived. Last night I got another email from a person inquiring about the status on their Tub of Happiness order. These are reasonable inquiries, but they are frustrating for me to answer because I can’t say “I have your book right here, I’m mailing it tomorrow.” In fact the best I can say is “we intend to ship books the first week of December, which means your book will probably arrive before Christmas, unless the postal service goofs up.” I just know that I’m going to get emails mid December from people who want their books before Christmas, but who chose Media Mail and won’t get them in time. I want to make everyone totally happy with their purchases and I’m not sure I can do it.
Obviously the sooner I can get the shipping done, the better. Unfortunately until the books arrive, there is only a limited amount I can do. In fact how I prioritize the things that need done is dependent upon whether I have two weeks until shipping (this would be great), four weeks to shipping (what I expect), or six weeks until shipping (Please no, I don’t want to be shipping the week before Christmas.) What we know right now is that the books have left China and they have not yet arrived in the US. They are on a boat somewhere. Boats are subject to the vagaries of the weather. Hopefully the boat will make good time, but no guarantees. Then the books have to clear customs. Then the books have to travel by truck to our door. Until that boat hits the dock, we can’t know for certain when the other things will happen. We think we’re a week ahead of the anticipated schedule we were given when we signed the contract, but can’t know for certain.
The problem today is that I’m not certain how to prioritize. If I’ve got four weeks to shipping, then I should spend this week on Teraport Wars layout. But if I’ve only got two weeks to shipping I should be printing mailing labels and stamping mailers. If I’ve got six weeks to shipping I should be sending out 1500 emails apologizing for the delay.
I’m still happier than I was in October. Having 2000 books to ship is a happy problem to have. But I do feel the weight of the need to make good on all those orders.