November update - we're on boats!
6 months ago – Wed, Nov 08, 2023 at 04:55:35 AM

Happy November!

A quick update today, just to confirm that our inventory is now moving across oceans! Here's the quick status and names of the boats if you want to follow the marine traffic:

• The inventory for the US is on the WAN HAI A07, destined for Savannah, Georgia. From there it will hop onto rail headed for Atlanta, where our new US warehouse partner Bridge Distribution will claim the container. Here's the tracking link for the ocean freight: https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9555096.
• The inventory for Europe (including UK) is on the Cosco Capricorn, destined for Hamburg, Germany. From there it will head to Leipzig, where our long-term EU partner Fulfillment-Europe will take over. Here's the tracking link for the ocean freight: https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9783514.
• While I don't have access to the actual boat name, we expect the Australia + New Zealand inventory is also already on the ocean, headed for the shores of Australia. Our great partner VR Distribution controls this entire lane, as well as end fulfillment to you, and we are confident they have everything well under control!
• Finally, Asia needs no boat! VFI Asia sends a truck or two over to pick up the inventory for all of Asia, plus a couple other hard to reach places such as South Africa and Brazil. I have not heard that the truck arrived yet, but I expect it will happen very soon.

This is another great milestone. While you know I don't like to throw others under the bus, you also know this project has been very challenging for us. I will just say that I'm VERY glad to have all the inventory under the control of our trusted partners mentioned above, in whom we have complete confidence. 

Based on the anticipated ocean freight landing dates throughout December, and accounting for local warehouse project queues, you should expect mass fulfillment to take place over Q1, 2024. Of course we will let you know as soon as we have more specific dates and estimates from each region.

Until then, have an awesome month, and please join us in looking forward to some festive holidays coming up!

Cheers!

It's time for a boat ride!! Also... change those addresses now!
7 months ago – Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 05:12:16 AM

Happy October!

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall and looking forward to some holiday fun coming up. We're back from Essen, and man did we have an amazing time! My highlight was certainly meeting almost 40 backers who picked up their pledges - we can't wait to start seeing and hearing about your first plays of Drop Drive!!

As of today, we have our 4 discrete lanes (US, Europe, Asia, and Oceana) in direct contact with our manufacturer, arranging to pick up all the inventory for their regions. This means boat rides are coming very soon! With that, comes a LAST CALL to update your addresses, in case you moved or plan to move within the next 2 months. If so, please head back in to your Backerkit survey and update your address as needed, by the end of this week. If you need to recover your survey link, use this link: https://drop-drive.backerkit.com/

Oh - if you changed state or country, you may need to reach out to me directly to get your address updated properly...  send a message to [email protected]. 

Once we have confirmed ships for the ocean freight we'll pass those along to you all, so you can follow the marine traffic as desired (and see actual landing dates and such). Super stoked to have reached this next milestone...  several steps closer to landing this treasure on your doorsteps!

Cheers!!

Live unboxing of the MPCs tonight!!
8 months ago – Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 03:33:15 PM

Hey folks!

Guess what arrived in the mail today?! We now have FINAL "Mass Production Copies" of each Drop Drive product, and Darrin and I will unbox them LIVE tonight on YouTube! MPC (Mass Production Copy) refers to the FINAL versions of the product, the very same ones you will ultimately receive, so this is super exciting to finally see in action! 

Join us on YouTube at 7:00pm Eastern tonight to check it out live!

Cheers!!

September update - Essen pickup and general status update
8 months ago – Fri, Sep 08, 2023 at 03:08:48 PM

Happy September!

Hope everyone had an amazing summer! Here's the latest news for Drop Drive...  let's get to it!

Project status

As per our previous update, full manufacturing is underway. While I wanted to be able to share more videos and pictures with you, I do at least have this short video of some of the cards being passed through the giant machines:

In the meantime, we have our logistics partners working together to coordinate ocean freight details, which of course is the next major leg of our journey. Once we have specific boat information we will pass that along, as we know many of you like to follow the marine traffic en route.

Due to the significant communication issues we've clearly encountered with this manufacturer (despite the amazing quality of their work), I will not attempt to re-estimated final delivery at this time. I really want to hear that the manufacturer is DONE and that our logistics partners have taken control of the inventory - that's when I'll feel much more comfortable delivering final timing estimates.

Spiel Essen pickup

While we have to pay significantly more to air lift these copies, we WILL be offering pickup for backers headed to Spiel Essen. We felt this was the least we could do for our backers will be at the fair with us. If you want to claim your pledge at Essen, simply drop by our booth 2-E111 and we'll get you fixed up! No need to "pre-register" for this, though it would be nice to have a sense of how many backers will be taking us up on this offer...  ping us in the comments below!

That's it for now folks. Hope to see many of you in Germany in 3 weeks!

Cheers!

July update - the big green button has been pressed!
9 months ago – Fri, Jul 28, 2023 at 02:28:51 PM

We (finally) pressed that big green button!

What do we mean by that? Take a look at this brief video for full details, but in short the proofing phase is DONE, and our manufacturer has been given the GREEN LIGHT to proceed with mass production.

We hope you're all staying cool and air-conditioned during these crazy hot days! I'll be back with more soon, probably shortly after GenCon, but maybe I'll squeeze in a quick video net Monday or Tuesday before GenCon where I can show you the latest physical samples that are about to come in from our manufacturer.

In the meantime, have a great weekend, and we will look forward to talking with you again soon. Cheers!