Author: MCM Ben

I’m going to start this update with positive news.
Thanks to Graham’s help, I’ve managed to get some stock and have packed 30% of outstanding orders. I’ll be shipping those today.
I also viewed a temporary premises and have asked to go ahead with renting that space. This should allow me to move casting equipment so that I can cast more than 3 hours per week and, importantly, get new moulds made. With building work due to start at my house in the last week of February, this will also provide a home for my 3D printers. I hope to get access to the bulk of my stock soon and also move that.

Now, on to the negative news.
On Thursday, my son was sent home from nursery because one of the children in his group had tested positive for COVID-19. He has no symptoms right now, but is required to isolate for 10 days. This means my wife and I will be looking after him instead of sending him to nursery 4 days a week. As my wife is involved in the local response to the pandemic, I will be taking on most of the childcare duties. I will be working as much as I can in evenings and at the weekends, but my time will obviously be much reduced.
Best case scenario is that my son is back to nursery for the start of February.
Worst case is that he shows symptoms on the 9th day, and we are all then required to isolate for 10 days, at the end of which we then get symptoms and the period is extended for a further 10 days. I don’t expect things to go that way, but it is highly likely we will get it if he is carrying the virus now.

Graham will continue to cast once per week and I will continue to dispatch orders when I can. I will, of course, take all the necessary precautions to protect customers when packing orders, but I do recommend you observe guidelines when you receive packages.
The store will remain open for now, with all the previous warnings of fulfilment delays. Should I get symptoms, the store will be closed and I will suspend all order packing unless Graham can do it without contact with me.

Many thanks for your patience and support.
Ben.

Since my last update, quite a lot has happened, but not a lot has changed, if that makes any sense. Both my workshop location and, later, my home were placed into Tier 4. I have had no access to premises since the 18th of December, so have been unable to fulfil orders. Honestly, this has all started to get a bit old so I decided, for the first time since starting the business, to take a proper Christmas break. It’s been great, despite the limitations, as I’ve been able to spend lots of time with my wife & son.

Coming into 2021, and thanks to our lethargic and indecisive government, the COVID situation in the UK is worsening daily. I don’t expect to be out of Tier 4 any time soon. I don’t know what this will mean for premises access, so I have to ask that you bear with me. Once I know, I will post another update. I have some new products waiting, but I will hold them until I can be sure that I can ship them out!

OK. Brexit. Another shambles perpetrated by this government and their predecessors. I have made the changes to the store which seem necessary. I may have made errors, as the deal signed with the EU has barely had time for the ink to dry. Those of you in the EU may now find yourselves paying VAT when your orders pass through customs, as those in the rest of the world already do.

Royal Mail, who I use for most orders, have updated their prices for 2021. I haven’t updated my own charges for a long time, and I have identified where I need to raise them to meet the new prices and the cost of packaging etc. I have kept these increases to a minimum. I have also indentified a few places where I can make reductions – this is mostly due to the average weight of orders in certain situations being lower than I had accounted for previously. It is possible that I will lose a little money on shipping in some situations, but this solution seems to me to be the fairest one overall.

In addition, I have added a cheaper shipping tier for letters which will be used when orders only contain decal sheets. Free shipping thresholds for the UK and Europe remain at £35 and £50, respectively. These orders will be sent out in cardboard-backed envelopes.

Here’s a summary of the changes:

Zone	Service	2020	2021	Change
UK	Royal Mail 1st Class (Letter)	[£1.60]	£1.00	-£0.60
	Royal Mail 1st Class (Large Letter)	£1.60	£1.80	+£0.20
	Royal Mail 1st Class (Bulky)	£3.80	£4.00	+£0.20
	Royal Mail 1st Class (V. Bulky)	£6.00	£5.00	-£1.00
	Special Delivery	£7.50	£7.50	–
	Special Delivery (Bulky & V. Bulky)	£10.00	£10.00	–
Europe	Standard (Letter)	[£3.00]	£1.80	-£1.20
	Standard (L. Large Letter)	£3.00	£3.80	+£0.80
	Standard (Bulky)	£6.00	£7.00	+£1.00
	Tracked	£12.00	£12.00	–
	Tracked (Bulky & V. Bulky)	£12.00	£12.00	–
World Zone 1	Standard (Letter)	[£4.00]	£2.80	-£1.20
	Standard (L. Large Letter)	£4.00	£4.80	+£0.80
	Standard (Bulky)	£10.00	£9.00	-£1.00
	Standard (V. Bulky)	£15.00	£12.50	-£2.50
	Tracked	£15.00	£10.00	-£5.00
	Tracked (Bulky & V. Bulky)	£15.00	£17.50	+£2.50
World Zone 2	Standard (Letter)	[£4.00]	£2.80	-£1.20
	Standard (L. Large Letter)	£4.00	£4.80	+£0.80
	Standard (Bulky)	£11.00	£11.00	–
	Standard (V. Bulky)	£15.00	£15.00	–
	Tracked	£16.00	£10.00	-£6.00
	Tracked (Bulky & V. Bulky)	£16.00	£18.00	+£2.00
World Zone 3	Standard (Letter)	[£4.00]	£2.80	-£1.20
	Standard (L. Large Letter)	£4.00	£4.80	+£0.80
	Standard (Bulky)	£10.00	£11.00	+£1.00
	Standard (V. Bulky)	£15.00	£17.50	+£2.50
	Tracked	£17.50	£10.00	-£7.50
	Tracked (Bulky & V. Bulky)	£17.50	£17.50	–

Happy new year. Let’s hope 2021, despite all we know is yet to come, is a better year than 2020!

Thanks, Ben.

Those of you in the UK will be very aware that the UK government have announced the implementation of another lockdown in England. For those of you who don’t know, this lockdown will last a month and has fewer restrictions than the first one. I was hopeful that my workshop premises would remain open but, following a meeting yesterday, the landlord has decided to close for the duration.

This puts me in an awkward position once more. I can do some sculpting work from home, but all the workshop activities – moulding, casting, order packing, laser cutting, decal printing, resin printing – either have to stop or I have to bring what I can home. Last time, I brought all the stock home, but no casting equipment. I also bought another resin printer to compensate for the lack of manufacturing equipment. This time is likely to work in a similar fashion, with the added difficulty of colder weather preventing use of the garage for resin printing.

The store will remain open, but expect delays in fulfilment.

I don’t generally keep track of stock levels for the items I cast – it requires an amount of work which isn’t rewarded, as I can normally simply cast anything which is out of stock. Bringing stock home means I can fulfil orders providing I have them items in-stock. If I don’t, I should be able to print them on-demand, but this is where delays will build up.

As before, print-on-demand items (3D Alien Worlds scenery, Bushido zones and accessories, movement trays) will continue to be fulfilled as normal.

Laser-cutting is almost always done on-demand, so will have to halt until I regain access to the workshop.

I really appreciate your patience during this, the weirdest of years.
Ben.