Shipping

Life Shift: Moving Into the Warehouse

The night before the move I lay awake in bed cataloging the things I should have done to get ready, but didn’t. It was Schlock Warehouse moving day and I was not prepared. I know how to ship. I know how to run a shipping event. I know how to manage having inventory in storage units and the work station in my basement. But beyond broad strokes of knowing that I needed a truck and people, I didn’t really know how to proceed with moving. The truck was a source of stress, I’d never driven one before and the thought made me nervous. Once I survived driving the truck,I was going to have to provide instructions to a moving crew when I didn’t know the most efficient ways to work. I worried about these things the night before, or at least part of me did. The larger part was calm, because one thing that many shipping parties has taught me is that the Schlock volunteers are smart, helpful, and innovative. They solve problems when my brain is too tired to figure it out. This move was no exception.

These were the two storage units. They were thirty feet deep and each of those cardboard boxes represents 40lbs. We haven’t done the exact math because there are a lot of boxes and we were all pretty tired by the end, but our ballpark guess is that we schlepped 8-10 tons of things. Those are literal tons, meaning 16,000-20,000 pounds of stuff. On the first load we had to pull some boxes back off of the truck because it was riding too low. I wish we’d gotten a picture of that. Not a good thing when the wheel well is touching the top of the wheel.

This is the space we had to move into.

I measured it. It is larger than the combined space in both our storage units. The office space is larger than my office and shipping room in my basement. Yet at 1am the night before I was convinced that it was not all going to fit. That fear lingered through the day, mostly because all day long I had to make decisions about where things would be put. The decisions felt crucial and irrevocable because we were so tired that I could not picture rearranging things later. I felt like I had to get it right, which I didn’t really. I just had to get all the things into one place so that I could begin to see how it all works. This is one of the reason I’m so very grateful for the helpers we had. They were my auxiliary brains and thus able to tell me everything was just fine.

The first merchandise moved into the warehouse prior to moving day, thus demonstrating that we are able to receive deliveries.

This same truck driver has delivered to our house on more than one occasion. He was pleased to see our new facility and admired our giant roll up door.
I love the great big door. We could back the truck all the way inside.

The other reason I need helpers for these big Schlock events is because they make me laugh. We loaded the truck with the musical theme from Tetris playing on some speakers while making jokes about things fitting. Later there was the Angry Birds theme with matching jokes. My helpers are always glad to come and I always owe them far more than I ever feel able to pay back. They come, and because of them I can do work that I would never be able to accomplish by myself. They make what we do possible and they keep me sane when my brain wants to tell me that I’m ruining everything.

We emptied the storage units. There is left over garbage in them that I need to clean out.

Then I’ll need to sweep and go inform the office that they’re available again. It feels strange to see them empty like that. This morning I saw the matching padlocks sitting on my kitchen counter and I had a moment of panic “Oh no, I forgot to lock up the storage units!” But then realized that I would never lock up those units again. We’re done with that part and moved on to the next.

Even more strange was walking into my downstairs shipping room which is now half empty. We ran out of time with the truck before we completely cleared the shipping room. Which was fine, we were out of energy too. What is left are odds and ends that I can move at my leisure. Except it won’t be at my leisure, because I had a moment of panic standing in that half empty room.

I went to Howard and cried “I broke it. I broke the system I’ve used for shipping for the last seven years and I’m terrified that this will destroy everything.” Of course it won’t. The new set up will, obviously, create new problems especially at first, but it will be better in a hundred ways. The biggest is one that became clear after Howard commented.
“At least now the light will be off in that room. You always left the light on in your shipping room. I never understood that.”

It took a few moments of thought for me to figure out why I did that. On the occasions where I walked out of the room knowing I wouldn’t be back for awhile, I turned off the light. That was rare. Usually I stepped out for a moment, or got called away, or paused what I was doing and intended to come back. The light stayed on because I was always about to ship, in the middle of shipping, or not quite done shipping. That was the problem. I was never done and the shipping/convention prep work spilled all over the living spaces. It won’t be able to do that anymore. I’ll have to decide to go work and decide to lock up to come home. This is good. I am looking forward to it. However, it represents a fundamental shift in my life and a part of me is terrified that I’ve broken everything and we’re all doomed as a result. That part of my brain wanted me to jump in the car and drive to go check on the warehouse at 10pm last night. Just to make sure everything was okay.

Everything is fine.
All the merchandise fits.
I didn’t crash the truck.
The helpers were amazing.
And I’m not nearly as sore as I expected to be today.

That last part is good because I’ve really only begun working. There is still stuff to move out of my house and there is lots to organize over at the warehouse. Some of the organization need to happen pretty quickly because there are packages to mail.

Contemplating Shipping

We shipped out half of the Body Politic orders today. The process made me think about how our shipping events have changed over the years. We used to haul everything down to Dragon’s Keep and throw the doors wide for as many volunteers as wanted to come. Sometimes we had as many as 25 people working simultaneously. It was high intensity and the work got done fast. Sometimes in half a day. These days the shipping is spread out over several days. We run it from our home and usually only have four or five volunteers at a time. Some of those changes are driven by the changes in postal regulations and my postage printing software. All packages have dates on them and so we can’t print all the postage a week in advance the way that I used to do. Some of it is that I now have a group of volunteers who’ve been coming to help for years. I don’t have to explain very much any more. They know how this works and that makes a big difference. Shipping from home was not possible when the kids were younger because they would have been constantly distracting me. Now they help out too. I wonder what shipping will look like in another six years. All I can be certain of is that it will be different than it is now.

And that is about all the thinking I can manage on a shipping day. My brain is tired.

Shipping Update Final Day Tuesday June 4

This was the last day of shipping. From here out it will all be odds and ends, people who didn’t finish sending us their address until late, incorrect addresses, missing items, etc. We had a great crew and the work wrapped up far more quickly than expected.

Work hours today: 37
Packages shipped: approx 500

Running totals
Work hours:270
Packages shipped: All of the packages for which we have addresses 2395.
We’re still waiting on 117 people to tell us where to ship their coins. (If this is you, please go to schlockcoins.afterthecrowd.com. We’d really like to send your coins to you.) Part of my work for the rest of the week is emailing all of these people to ask for their addresses.

All backer levels are in the mail

People have been asking when they will be able to buy additional coins. Quick answer: Late June or early July.
Longer answer: I need to handle all the follow up customer support for Kickstarter backers before I can feel comfortable shipping out more coins. I also need to do an inventory count, participate in the Writing Excuses retreat, and catch up on all my other work. Then I will be prepared to manage a flood of store orders in a timely fashion.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in this project by backing it and helping ship it. This has been amazing.

Shipping Update June 3

Janci printed postage for 3 hours. I did customer support emails, organization, and special handling for 3 hours.
Work hours today: 6
Packages shipped: 7

Running totals
Work hours:233
Packages shipped: Approx 1800

No change to backer levels in the mail.
The following backer levels are in the mail:
Low numbered (9-99) Tagon’s Toughs coins
Tagon’s Toughs challenge coin
Two Tagon’s Toughs Challenge coins
Officer’s Club
NCO Club
Enlisted Mess US

Enlisted Mess International is mostly done.
All orders containing more than 8 coins. (We’re done boxing. Yay!)

All the postage is printed. Tomorrow we will ship all the remaining orders.

Shipping Update: Odds and Ends Day

This day I handled customer support and a pile of packages that needed special attention. I put in five and a half hours. My mom, who is visiting, helped me for around 90 minutes.
Work hours today: 7
Packages shipped: about 80

Running totals
Work hours:227
Packages shipped: Approx 1800

Little change to the backer levels in the mail. I just filled in the gaps.
The following backer levels are in the mail:
Low numbered (9-99) Tagon’s Toughs coins
Tagon’s Toughs challenge coin
Two Tagon’s Toughs Challenge coins
Officer’s Club
NCO Club
Enlisted Mess US

Enlisted Mess International is mostly done.
All orders containing more than 8 coins. (We’re done boxing. Yay!)

There are still some special handling orders. (I have to figure out what packaging is required to ship 42 monkeys in the same box.) The final postage will be printed on Monday. Next work day is Tuesday and it is probably the last day.

At the End of a Full Week of Shipping Coins

This is what my family room has looked like four out of the last five days.

The first of those days was assembling sets, the rest were more or less like this picture, putting orders into boxes. We won’t ship again until Tuesday. Part of me feels bad about the delay, except shipping on the weekend gets problematic because of reduced postal service and the fact that all the postage has dates on it. The shipping project won’t be stalled completely. We’re waiting on some necessary supplies. Also there are some orders which are going to require special boxing because of the quantities of coins involved. I can’t fit 42 monkey coins in to a small priority mail box and expect the box to stay intact. So I’m going to have to pile up all the coins and then ponder how best to box and ship them. I also have to manage customer emails. With the complexity of this project and the fatigue in my brain, errors are inevitable. Fortunately Schlock fans are very nice about letting me know about them and I get to fix them.

The process for shipping these coins has settled into familiarity. I think we’ve finally figured out how to work with relative efficiency. Though many times it still feels like a mess with loose coins, packing lists, and postage spilling all over the table. One person pulls a packing list and grabs all the coins for the order. The next person pins all the loose coins down so they don’t get lost as the order is processed. The third person re-checks all of the coins against the invoice. Every order is checked by two different people. We fix errors and send the order down the line to the packing station. Everything is packed into an envelope or into an envelope and a box. The postage label is matched to the packing list, the package is sealed, postaged, and put out for the mailman. It is a multi-step, complicated process, but it is the best way we can think of to reduce errors and to contain these coins until they arrive safely in the hands of their owners.

Monday we’ll print postage. Tuesday we’ll package the last orders. After that I’ll be able to look around and try to find some sort of normality for this summer at the Tayler house. I’m looking forward to that part. There will be post shipping clean up. I’ll be helping with customer support issues for the next couple of months I’m sure. I’ll need to count the remaining inventory so that it can be entered into our accounting programs. At some point the extra inventory will be made available in the store and there will be more orders to handle, but I have to wait on that until I’ve finished everything currently waiting for me to manage it. The backlog of things I haven’t done because I shipped coins instead is depressing. So I’ll not think about it tonight. Instead I will sleep.

Shipping Update Friday May 31

Work hours today: 46
Packages shipped: between 400 and 500, we did mixed lists so an accurate count is more tricky without physically counting packages. (not worth the time.)

Running totals
Work hours:221
Packages shipped: Approx 1700 – 1800

The following backer levels are in the mail:
Low numbered (9-99) Tagon’s Toughs coins
Tagon’s Toughs challenge coin
Two Tagon’s Toughs Challenge coins
Officer’s Club
NCO Club, except for some odds and ends

Enlisted Mess mostly done.
All orders containing more than 8 coins. (We’re done boxing. Yay!)

I will probably work another couple of hours tonight. There are some special handling orders to manage and other administrative and prep work to do. The final postage will be printed on Monday. Next work day is Tuesday and it is probably the last day.

Shipping Update Wednesday

Work hours today: 48
Packages shipped: Approx 600

Work hours:175
Packages shipped: Approx 1300

The following backer levels are in the mail:
Low numbered (9-99) Tagon’s Toughs coins
Tagon’s Toughs challenge coin
Two Tagon’s Toughs Challenge coins
Officer’s Club

US NCO club are done. International NCO left to do.

We did great today, but at the end of the day there is still a lot more work to do. Next work day is on Friday.

Shipping Update

Monday:
Work hours 40
Packages shipped: Approx 100

Tuesday:
Work hours:31
Packages shipped: Approx 500

Total so far:
Work hours:127
Packages shipped: Approx 750

The following backer levels are in the mail:
Low numbered (9-99) Tagon’s Toughs coins
Tagon’s Toughs challenge coin
Two Tagon’s Toughs Challenge coins

About 2/3 of the Officers club is packaged.
Some simple NCO club orders (7 coins only) are packaged.

Progress feels slow.

Today We Achieved Routine

Right after lunch we finished the last of the coin set assembly and began to ship orders. It took us awhile to figure out how the assembly processes needed to go, but once we did the finished packages began to accumulate. It was only after we declared done for the day that I realized we’ve finally finished set up and are now beginning to process orders. From here out things will be more routine with fewer surprises. This is good news. I can feel the difference.

The other thing that made today worlds better: Howard came home early from Phoenix Comic Con. We’d originally planned to have him travel today, but instead changed is flight to yesterday. This meant he could spend today recovering. Buffer work will resume tomorrow along with the continuing shipping work.

It feels strange that I’m sending kids to bed because they have school in the morning, but they do. Three more days of school for them, but none of those days are routine. Tomorrow my senior gets out at 10:30 in the morning, my elementary kids have a dance festival, and my junior high kid has yearbook day. Wednesday and Thursday are similarly odd. Then they’re done. I would probably have a lot more emotional energy to spend on all of these transitions if the coin shipping wasn’t smack on top of it all.

This is what assembling sets looked like on the second day:

The first day of assembly everything was a bit more chaotic. I didn’t get a picture of what package assembly looked like because we were too busy figuring out how it needed to work. Hopefully I’ll have enough focus tomorrow to take pictures.