Friends,
This was a week of one delay after another. It started when it looked like hurricane Ian might be heading our way. That took Monday and Tuesday away from me as I started to get ready for the possibility of another Michael-sized storm. Thank the Lord, we did not get hit. We are in the NW part of Florida, which is on the other end of the State from Ft. Meyers. But my fellow Floridians living in the impact area have been as hard hit by Ian as we were by Michael and my heart goes out to them.
After Ian changed directions, I managed to get a decent number of orders shipped. But then I had to set aside Thursday for a long over-due visit from Dave Hobbs. This ate up the whole day. He took his first pass through the library and kit collection, setting aside those things he would really like to acquire. This set the stage for me to start posting my modeling reference books and the kit collection for sale. As soon as I have Karl’s kits pulled out, the kits will start being listed on our Facebook page. The books might start as soon as Tuesday afternoon. There is a lot to sell, so I need to get started.
Finally, I had to stop to replace molds. I did this today. I had been putting off the orders who needed these molds, but I can’t do that any longer. So, I replaced 7 molds today and will replace a few more on Sunday. This will allow me to make great progress in shipping orders next week as many were holding on just 1 or 2 items that needed the new molds. However, this still cost me another day of shipping. So, as you see, this was a frustrating week of delays.
Now, that said, the orders are still coming in, but not as fast as before. For three weeks in a row now, I have been able to ship about twice as many orders as I received. This week, I barely held my own — but I didn’t fall behind. I still have some 54 orders to fill, and most of them came in with the first rush after I announced my plans to close TMD. I am still working on the second tier orders now. In general, these are those orders between $150 — $250 to $300-ish. I have 30 of them left to fill and I am going to do my very best to ship them by the end of next week — 1 week from today. It is am ambitious goal, but I will try to make it.
If the new molds turn out good, and I have a good week, I should be able to report respectable progress in shipping the older orders by this time next week. Please, stay patient with me. I am working as hard as I can, but I refuse to let my quality slip in my final days.
OK, that’s all I have this week. For more details, please read the older posts on our TMD BLOG PAGE.
Thank you and stay safe,
Joe