#sbcc

I don't like how I've been handling orders until now. Taking orders on a preorder basis and putting them into a backlog works, but I wasn't executing that idea that well. I had set up some calculations based on numbers that turned out to be wrong, and had other unexpected setbacks that have dragged things out a couple months longer than they should have been. I ended up spraining my ankle pretty badly near the end of the year, which put me out of all work for roughly six weeks, and then right as I got out of that, I caught covid (at a grocery store of all places), which put me out for another week. Then, I had to put much of my resin workstation toward producing christmas gifts for family, which took another week out. That could have been avoided, perhaps… but I did want to give my folks something handmade this year.

I have been rethinking my methods – to focus primarily on production so that I can deliver orders more faster and more frequently. New calculations of work time based on more accurate numbers look promising, and I am starting to put them into practice. The focus will be to have items ready before or close to their sale dates, so that all of the different factors that longer time periods introduce can be avoided.

For those of you with backlogged orders, I will be delivering them all within the first three to four months of this year. I’m not going to release another “shipping schedule” chart because I don’t want to find myself breezing past deadlines again, and possibly disappointing people that way. I’m very grateful that you all have been so patient with me. I’m closing in on being able to ship out the first of the five backlogged order batches, and anticipate fully achieving that by the end of this month. Because several customers have orders in multiple batches, and I am doing my best to combine them all, there’s a bit of a cumulative effect. Things are slower at first, as I’m not only handling the first batch, but also certain people’s orders across other batches. This picks away at the further batches that need to ship, so things may get faster as I approach the final backlogged batch. Now that I’m able-bodied and no longer sick with corona, there shouldn’t be any crazy setbacks to the backlog fulfillment process.

I don’t have much else to say here, so thank you for taking a moment of your time to read my thoughts this year. Best wishes to you and yours,