The Planets: Uranus

[Magistrate1500]

Mine too!

[Merlebird]

Mine got here today as well. Out of sheer fecklessness I somehow forgot to pledge for Saturn, so I haven't seen those yet, but it seems a little odd that these backs have metallic inks when none of the others (that I have) do. I don't see metallic inks mentioned in the campaign text, either. I know people were complaining about muted colors in the back patterns, but this late in the game it seems a bit incongruous to switch to metallic inks for the backs. Is it just me?

[CupcakeBaron]

Mine got here today as well. Out of sheer fecklessness I somehow forgot to pledge for Saturn, so I haven't seen those yet, but it seems a little odd that these backs have metallic inks when none of the others (that I have) do. I don't see metallic inks mentioned in the campaign text, either. I know people were complaining about muted colors in the back patterns, but this late in the game it seems a bit incongruous to switch to metallic inks for the backs. Is it just me?

I think that without the back being metallic it would end up just being gray rather than "silver" like the tuck. The others don't need metallic ink as much to stay true to the tuck color.

[portcullis]

Hrm, just checked the tracking for my 1+1: no update since 18/10. Not sure if I should be worried or not ....

[Bradius]

Careful man, the postman might be playing with...your cards.

[portcullis]

Just a heads up Dave, I'll email you over the weekend IF I've still not received my Uranus decks by then. Went to the PO today and there's been no amendments to the details on the tracking number in 3 weeks [taking into account the public holiday tomorrow]. Very unlike GW fulfillment to lose a shipment.

[portcullis]

Jumped the gun and have just sent email. I thought better to do it now, given the change in circumstances where I have now received decks where tracking numbers were sent after these.

And Bradius: It’s not the postman I’m worried about; it’s the pilot (decks OFFICIALLY left the US, no scan events this side of the Equator).

[guru]

Jumped the gun and have just sent email. I thought better to do it now, given the change in circumstances where I have now received decks where tracking numbers were sent after these.

And Bradius: It’s not the postman I’m worried about; it’s the pilot (decks OFFICIALLY left the US, no scan events this side of the Equator).

GW offers both tracking and non-tracking option in Kickstarter fulfillment. When someone chose non-tracking, it implies that the scan will show clearly on US side of things but as the package leaves US soil, you won't be able to track it which could explain the non-scan events.

It doesn't mean, by the way, that the package is lost. I've got a few GW packages (none being lost) where there was no end to end tracking, and this is for both kickstarter and non-kickstarter orders.

[portcullis]

I get all of that Sunish, it's just highly irregular that a shipment from GW would be "radio silent" upon leaving Chicago (now over 3 weeks ago) when historically the campaigns previous have generally been delivered within 10 days (Chicago>Tokyo>Sydney>Melbourne or Chicago>Houston>Sydney>Melbourne).

Example: Mars only took 4 days to make the Chicago>Tokyo>Sydney>Melbourne trip. As stated, the average, I guess would be 10 days. Uranus is into day 23.

And yes I am calculating for the time differential between Australia and Central Time.

[Merlebird]

I get all of that Sunish, it's just highly irregular that a shipment from GW would be "radio silent" for over 3 weeks when historically the campaigns previous have generally been delivered within 10 days (Chicago>Tokyo>Sydney>Melbourne or Chicago>Sydney>Melbourne).

Example: Mars only took 4 days to make the Chicago>Tokyo>Sydney>Melbourne trip. The average, I guess would be 10 days. Uranus is into day 23.

Definitely keep following up on it, but speaking as somebody who works in logistics I'd advise you (and anybody else waiting on a shipment that has to travel through the US inland) to generously pad your expected transit times. There's a countrywide trucker shortage putting basically every other aspect of our shipping infrastructure under stress, and it's gotten worse every month. The holiday season is gonna be interesting, to put it mildly.

[portcullis]

Just to update everyone, still no tracking number activity since 18/10 (that activity having been departed ORD). Have sent Dave a fresh email with screenshot in the last 15 minutes.

[portcullis]

I deleted the previous post of a few days ago cos I've got more to say in a better fashion than a simple edit will allow.

I've been in regular email contact with David in recent weeks regarding the non-arrival of my 1+1 Uranus decks. A quick survey of the Kickstarter comments in recent days garnered at least 3 unfulfilled Australian deliveries. OK, that's unusual, but not alarming. Relaying this fact to David though, I was alarmed. It turns out that there are in fact 10 tracking numbers (all Australian) that have not received any updates to tracking numbers since the initial posting on October 18. All it says is that the shipping label was outbound on a flight from Chicago to Sydney (eventually, presumably) that morning. "Why is that a big deal?" I hear you asking. If 10 Australia-bound tracking numbers have fallen into some kind of shipping limbo, then just shy of half of all backers in Australia (24) have received no decks at all from the Uranus campaign.

David's response to this didn't really fill me with confidence either. Now, before continuing, I want to say that the Uranus campaign is the exception to the rule where this macro-campaign is concerned, but the glib manner of the reply is disconcerting. "It's probably a Customs delay."

Not going to say that he's wrong, but for there to be a delay at Customs the decks have to enter the country. There is no record of this.
Pointing this out: "It's odd that all of the Australian orders shipped that day have the same issue though ... will have to wait ... and hope something updates".

With the above admission, that it was "odd" to be having repeated instances of the same issue, I'd say six weeks, three weeks after an initial complaint is registered, is long enough to wait before swinging into action.

So we have record of the decks leaving the US and nothing further ... and you blame a supposed delay at Customs, for which there is no evidence. Even if - if - there was a Customs delay the six weeks that have now passed since the decks entered the USPS system (label created October 11; no tracking update since leaving Chicago a week later) obliterates Australia Post's "maximum 15 day" target for Customs processing.

As stated in a previous message to this forum, the average turn-around for these decks - leaving US soil to my hands - is 10 days. Today (Wednesday 21st) is day 35.

I'm feeling a little let down. It's a great shame that this macro-campaign has been blighted in this way. I should point out that this does not preclude my return to future Vanda campaigns, but having spent a significant amount of money on this macro-campaign (including Neptune, with add-ons I've spent in the vicinity of AU$600) to have a hole in the collection this late is immensely disheartening.

I've not decided what the next step is, but I hope redress is swift. I probably will end up being quite militant about things and won't be accepting anything less than the decks paid for, because I have paid for them on the basis of owning a collection. It's just ... sigh.

[Bradius]

I believe most USPS packages have a $50 standard insurance coverage. I am not sure about filing requirements. It has been a very long time since I handled this type of stuff, but I think the receiver of the package is the one to file and bears the risk of a loss, unless specified otherwise. I could be mistaken though. Still, I agree someone should be filing a claim.

[portcullis]

Cross your fingers people, claim made.

[Bradius]

I would offer you my extra Uranus LE, but someone has grabbed it already. I do have an Extra regular Uranus deck I can ship you if you want.

[portcullis]

Thanks Brad, but the onus here really isn't on the community.

[davegk]

Hey guys,

I just looked into it again—it seems there were 25 Australian backers for the Uranus campaign. All those orders shipped the same day and show the same tracking scan in Chicago on Oct 18th. Only 5 of them show a confirmed delivery status via tracking detail so it appears that there was likely a box with all the other orders that maybe was misplaced or something. I've seen similar things happen before (though never to a large group of packages at once). I'll have GW follow up with USPS and see if we can find out what happened to this group of packages. You're correct that it's probably not a customs delay because there would typically be a scan in reference to that, so it's most likely a USPS issue. Either way I will get it resolved to make sure that all backers are satisfactorily compensated if the original packages can't be located.

Thanks,
David

[portcullis]

Just got home to an email from USPS re: claim

"Your package has not yet been recovered, but every effort is being made to locate your item(s)"

[Thedissident001]

I’m an Australian backer of the Uranus deck and can confirm that mine has not yet arrived.

[Eric Lee]

So Australia also faces similar issues? Is it just with the Uranus KS project or is this a frequent problem with missing packages, especially around this time of the year (holidays/BFCM shopping)

Seems Malaysia had so many issues with lost packages that one UK online store stopped deliveries to M'sia unless you emailed them directly to request. I was so fed up with lost shipping (more than 30 packages Sept 2017 to Feb 2018, mostly US, but also from UK, Europe ) I decided to use a shipping consolidator to ensure my US packages stopped getting lost on their way to M'sia.

No more concerns, especially with limited editions!

[Bradius]

It does not appear to be a widespread issue Eric based on what I am reading. No one knows what happened at this point, but since many packages shipped at the same time went missing, it seems logical that they got lost in a larger container at the same time.

[portcullis]

So Australia also faces similar issues? Is it just with the Uranus KS project or is this a frequent problem with missing packages, especially around this time of the year (holidays/BFCM shopping)

I've received the 12 decks prior to these is a timely, some would even call it expedient, manner [average shipping time would be less than 10 days], but this Uranus pair has yet to arrive. It's not a "We're sorry, our Black Friday shipping was chaotic" issue because the Uranus decks were posted four weeks prior to the manic late November period. Email discussions with Dave initially revolved around

"Oh it must be a Customs delay."

That would be a viable excuse if I were not emailing you about the missing package you sent to me 4 weeks ago.

[Knowing that AusPost has a 15 day Customs clearance guarantee].

Additionally, if there were some kind of Customs delay, would there not be some kind of scan event [which is absent] to indicate that the decks had entered the country?

"It's odd that all of the australian orders shipped that day have the same issue though..."

In short, the issue is that all of the 25 orders departed Chicago ["as normal"] on the same day [October 18] and 5 have been collected. AFAIK the outstanding 20 packages, my own included, have never materialised.

For the record, I've been using Kickstarter for ~3.5 years, backing nearly 150 projects of varying types, but mainly playing cards and this is only the second such occurrence.

I’m an Australian backer of the Uranus deck and can confirm that mine has not yet arrived.

*blows dust off law degree*

I'm not sure what the involuntary version of negotiorum gestio is, but I'm working toward that.

*note to self*
It's ~6 weeks since I heard from David I better chase it up.

It does not appear to be a widespread issue Eric based on what I am reading. No one knows what happened at this point, but since many packages shipped at the same time went missing, it seems logical that they got lost in a larger container at the same time.

If that were the case, from my understanding of discussions with Dave, 5 decks would not have been delivered.

[Bradius]

Not all of the decks (packages) would have been placed in the same larger container. It is just a theory, but a decent guess as more likely than 25 each had separate missed shipments. The same failure likely impacted all or most of those 25. The lucky ones managed to escape that mishap.

[davegk]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still aware of this issue with the missing packages and GW is looking into obtaining more info from USPS. Either way, I will find a solution and make sure that we resolve any items that disappeared in transit.

Thanks!

[portcullis]

Dave, as instructed, I contacted Customs, this is the verbatim reply I received a couple of hours ago.

"Our records confirm your item [tracking number redacted] departed Chicago on 18 October 2018 however to date, we have no arrival scan in Australia which will need to be investigated.

In order for this to happen we need the sender to log an investigation via USPS to find out what has happened. This is important as they have access to all the relevant paperwork, lodgement documents and information needed to ensure the most thorough search takes place.

I appreciate this will be disappointing but I hope that this information has helped and that you enjoy the rest of your day. If there is anything else that we can do for you, please let us know."

[guru]

Dave, as instructed, I contacted Customs, this is the verbatim reply I received a couple of hours ago.

"Our records confirm your item [tracking number redacted] departed Chicago on 18 October 2018 however to date, we have no arrival scan in Australia which will need to be investigated.

In order for this to happen we need the sender to log an investigation via USPS to find out what has happened. This is important as they have access to all the relevant paperwork, lodgement documents and information needed to ensure the most thorough search takes place.

I appreciate this will be disappointing but I hope that this information has helped and that you enjoy the rest of your day. If there is anything else that we can do for you, please let us know."

Personal experience says there is a potential of lost shipments when GW does it. Through SFC, I've 100% track record for delivered shipments but had to face issues with GW. I do understand no shipping company can guarantee 100% delivered shipments, International shipping can be complex too. Anyways, I sent replacement packages as soon as the issue was brought to my notice by the concerned backer/s, and that too, for free. Not everyone is going to do that....but in the end, it is about doing the right thing.

[Bradius]

I had a kickstarter book that got lost in shipment recently. I just checked and they mailed it at the end of November. Tracking said it has been in Brooklyn all this time. My local post office tells me to check with my company mail room. They hand me the package as it just arrived an hour earlier. No kidding.

[Smocito]

10rpjdj_jpg_thumb.gif (942.57 KiB) Viewed 1222 times

Is this your package?

[portcullis]

Update from USPS

The US Postal Service® received the search request you submitted and it's being processed. Your package has not yet been recovered, but every effort is being made to locate your item(s).

Search Request Details:
Request Date: 11/20/2018
Reference: [SEARCH ID REDACTED]
Tracking Number: [REDACTED]
We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Thank you for using the U.S. Postal Service®.

[Bradius]

I liken that to hazing.