My box arrived last night… and all it was, was my second Celebration Model. I found the water-damaged magnet in the bushes when I came home this morning.
(That kind of sums up my day, to be honest.)
As for what’s going on with the BreyerFest shipping issues, your guess is as good as mine. As I already have several boxes of things in storage I still haven’t opened yet (long story, don’t ask) I have the luxury of being in no particular hurry to get mine.
Well okay, I am a little bit antsy about the Seurat. The handful of pictures I have seen so far honestly seem darn better than just okay. He looks like the color of freshly cooked caramel, and I am all about that. Sometimes quite literally.
(Just checked: a label was created today? Interesting.)
No, I will be fine as long as they get here eventually. I’ll give them until Labor Day before I decide to storm the castle. A month-long grace period seems more than adequate.
I suspect there are a combination of factors at work. There are shipping delays because literally everything – product both foreign and domestic – is being delayed because of production bottlenecks and supply chain interruptions due to the pandemic. There are also labor shortages that can only really be solved one way, and most companies are trying their darndest to put off implementing that solution as long as possible, which in my mind only prolonging the problem and delaying the inevitable…
(Dealing with the fallout from that particular issue right now on several fronts. Ugh.)
Another factor is that for as large as the company looms in the hearts and minds of hobbyists, it’s not really that big. Seriously, most of the actual Reeves employees at BreyerFest comprise most of the Reeves employees, period. We’re not dealing with Lego, Hasbro or Mattel here, people.
So they have a lot of complicated orders and not a lot of people – good, bad, otherwise – to help fill them.
The fact that some parts of the company are (or appear to be) more competent than others is just a fact of life at any company you work for or with, too.
My allergy to the Month of August is kicking my butt today, so I’m heading off to bed right now before the Benadryl kicks in.
4 comments:
I was wondering about this. I didn't participate in VBF this year; however, I did pre-order three mid year release traditional models that were supposed to be available by late June-early July......still waiting. I'm not surprised, though, because I knew that the first Premier club release was delayed by two months, same with the spring brick & mortar limited edition Livingston. I realize that many of these delays are beyond Breyer's control, but an official update as to when they will be arriving would be nice. The Breyer blog has been silent for a month, and this would be a nice platform for keeping us informed.
I'm still waiting on Tiz The Law, which was supposed to be available in July, and which the dealer I ordered from still hasn't received. So some of it is certainly world-wide shipping woes.
But at Breyer, I suspect they either all pack it all by hand, or their contracted fulfillment company is just not very good. I've worked with small businesses and fulfillment and of course it's like everything else: the good, the bad, and the painfully incompetent. The fact that everything is showing up in dribs and drabs (even here on the West Coast, I've received a Dani) and some of the complaints with vastly oversized boxes (and minimal packing materials) seems more at the level of incompetence than anything else.
I mean, they KNOW how many tickets they sold, and how many SRs were ordered. I understand (and love) the fact Breyer-Reeves is a relatively small company, and yet...maybe they just have a heckuva contract with UPS?
Normally I am content to wait (see Tiz The Law, above - I've checked in once with the supplier, who noted Breyer has "backordered" on the website) but the Surprise and SRs in general make me sad, because I want to be part of the online excitement, but I still want a surprise to be a Surprise. :::sigh:::
Everything seems to be shipping quickly now! All my Breyerfest orders and my back-ordered Theos are on their way!!!! So happy!!!!!!!!!
My partner and I both took part in Breyerfest this year (we both volunteered as well). I've received all my orders, which wasn't that much -- Tassili, the Surprise, the multicolored speckled Stablemate Lippizan (whose name escapes me at the moment), the set of 4 Stablemates, and Dani. However, my partner has only received her Dani so far (and neither of us have received our volunteer model). We live in the same house!
On the other have, I work for a company based in Japan that ships items all over the world. This company CANNOT and WILL NOT combine orders; they also do all their own packing and shipping. Taking that into account, I'm astonished that Breyer is doing as comparatively well as they have so far. There's been a colossal amount of complaining, of course, but I think Boulder Sheep has the right idea -- I think a lot of the blame for this can be placed on their shipping firm. Maybe they'll reconsider renewing their contract with these guys for next year.
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