Folks,
By now, I hope you are aware that we suffered some damage during hurricane Michael, and that the shop has been down since Oct 10. Well, today, I have good news to report, so come on and I’ll share all the details.
NOW HEAR THIS!
THIS WEEK’S BIG NEWS: THE SHOP IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN
I will be shipping orders again starting first thing Monday morning! That’s the 5th, folks. SO START ORDERING AGAIN (I really need the business right now).
INSURANCE WOES
For the moment, I ‘think’ we have things worked out with our insurance company. I say ‘think’ because the skeptic in me fully expects to have to fight at least a few more rounds with them. It is really sad that this sort of thing is necessary to get a company to honor their end of a contract, but then, when it comes to honesty, insurance companies tend to be right up there with most ambulance chasers 🙁
HOUSE REPAIRS
We got the second adjuster’s estimate this week. He added quite a bit that the first guy should have seen. We also got some good news from our mortgage company. Again, we are a long way from being done, but things are staring to look better — for now. I’ll keep you posted.
REPAIRING THE SHOP
I finished the repairs to the wall today. I’ll post pictures on our Face Book page. Saturday, I will put the packing and shipping benches back in order and I’ll start filling orders again first thing Monday morning.
ON THE BENCH
It looks like we could be as long as 6 months waiting to get our home fully repaired, so I am going to move the master bench into the shop. This way, I can keep making new products which, as you all know, are the life blood of any resin company. What I will make next? I honestly don’t know. Dave Hobbs is going to try to come down this coming week. We’ll discuss a plan if he does and I’ll report back to you next Friday.
OUTSTANDING ORDERS
The shop will be 100% operational by Monday. I will start shipping orders first thing Monday morning. I have a dealer order from before the storm. That will ship first. Then I am going to look at all the orders I have and ship as many of the easiest ones as I can. I know this will not be fair to those of you who ordered earlier, but this will help me get some of the backlog cleared out and — honestly — it will help me keep a positive attitude. Still, I should have everyone shipped by Nov 16. At least, that is the goal.
RETURNED ORDERS
OK, I have returned orders from the following people. If you see your name in this list, or you know how I can reach any of these guys, please email me (info@tigermodeldesigns.com):
Peter Seril
Jerome Branca
Ian Smith
Pierre Senelle
Victor Raul Volturno
Owen Nelson
MY PERSONAL WORLD
I have always been open and honest with you guys, and I am not going to change. However, I kept a few things close to my vest last week. For a while, it looked a little like I might have lost TMD to the storm. It wasn’t due to damages, but to lost sales. My little operation is all about cash flow, and no sales equals big trouble. Well, I am still not out of the woods, but I am more optimistic. If we can make it through to the end of December, I think we’ll be OK. My worry is that December is historically a slow month due to you guys taking care of family. I’m just going to keep my head down, do my job and trust the rest to the Lord.
As for the house: I am feeling cautiously optimistic about that, too. We still have to get the insurance to OK a contractor, then — if we can get the company we want — it will be 4-6 months before he can get all his crews to complete the repairs to our home. During that time, we have to find a place to live in a town where there is no where to go. Anyone have a travel trailer close by they want to rent? (I’m actually serious about that). Again, I am going to ‘try’ to keep my cynicism down, do what I can and trust the rest to the Lord, but last week, when I wrote my update, I was feeling a lot lower than I let on. I hope I succeeded at hiding it.
THAT IS ALL
Well, that’s all I have for now. So, until next week, stay safe and try to build something (preferably something using TMD resin).
— Joe