Great News! The Road to Delivery is Open & Pooh is on His Way!
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 08:02:10 AM
Happy Thursday everyone!
I come bearing some great news (finally). After some incredibly innovative problem solving by our team and some efficient moves by our printing company, many decks have already begun shipping! I'm going to say it again because it sounds and feels so good...Many decks have already begun shipping!
I was told that I should have a list of tracking numbers for those that have already been shipped by the end of next week. However, it is likely that some of you will begin to receive your packages before I have had a chance to send you the tracking information. We now estimate that shipping will take till the end of February to complete as there is no mail delivery over Chinese New Year. Please note: we cannot change, modify, or alter any orders at this point. Everything has already been packaged, and to dig through thousands of packages to find one particular order will only further delay things.
Once again, thank you all for supporting us through this incredible journey. Creating the Wisdom of Pooh Tarot has been one of the most trying, beautiful, grueling, and magical experiences of our lives. However, what has resulted is the culmination of our collective magic, which we have lovingly sprinkled throughout this deck. And as these packages make their way to you, we hope they bring with them a bit of their childlike wonder and enchantment.
~ The Team at Rue & Vervain
And now, a little sneak peak at our artist, Kat L. Amsel, creating some Wisdom of Pooh & Tigger Too! Tarot artwork...
A Special Gift from Pooh for You! 🍯
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 10:09:32 AM
Welcome Back, Everyone!
In our last update, we mentioned that we were cooking up a special gift to thank you for your patience, your encouragement, and your support as you await the arrival of your Wisdom of Pooh Tarot. We're happy to report that we've completed our offering and that we'll be sending it out this Thursday!
We're delivering this offering through the Rue & Vervain newsletter, so be sure to sign up to receive it!
The first part of your offering is a 3-part video guide to the Wisdom of Pooh Tarot. It includes...
Video One: What is the Tarot?
Video Two: Wisdom of Pooh Tarot Keyword Meanings
Video Three: A Tarot Reading Demonstration Using the "Year in the Hundred Acre Wood" Spread by Dustin Demonja
The second part of your offering is a downloadable "Sneak Peak" into Pooh's Lunar Expotition. it includes...
... a coloring page, journaling pages, and four original tarot spreads (12 pages in all)!
Be on the lookout for an email from Rue & Vervain with "A Special Gift from Pooh for You! 🍯" in the subject line (remember to check your spam folder as well--sometimes our missives are sorted there). And if you haven't signed up for the newsletter yet, be sure to do so!
Thank you again,
The Team at Rue & Vervain
Happy New Year! & Important Updates
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Jan 09, 2024 at 06:58:58 AM
Good morning and Happy New Year!
I have some important information so please be sure you read through this entire update. We had some major fulfillment issues toward the end of December that put a complete halt on fulfillment. From a misprint on one of the items to our banking systems being down, there were significant obstacles that we faced and frankly we couldn't do anything until the everything was back up and running and we had no firm date when that was going to be. We finally got word that we should be able to resume fulfillment next week.
So, first, I want to sincerely apologize for these delays. While many of them were beyond our control, a lot of it was due to our naivete as to how long it was going to take to produce the number of decks we were producing. Our previous project on Kickstarter raised $40k and we printed 750 decks. This project was over $400k and we are producing almost 13000 decks and boxes and about 10 other items. That's nearly ten times the size of the last project. We admit, we did not realize how much different it would be and how much longer it would take to produce this many. In my research into other projects of this size, 10-12 months turn-around seems to be the norm. However, I over promised in terms of delivery dates due to my own inexperience on a project this size.
Here's what this means in terms of fulfillment. Once fulfillment gets back on track next week, we estimate it will take through the end of February/beginning of March 2024 to deliver all the packages. My team and I are also working on a little thank you gift to everyone here who has stood by through this whole process. It will be a digital gift that will be sent to everyone on Kickstarter and the website. I will provide more details on that soon.
That brings me to my next point, we wanted to thank all of the Kickstarter regulars who have reached out with words of encouragement and support through these ups and downs. Kickstarter is a platform to support creators' ideas and help bring them to fruition. We know those who back on Kickstarter regularly understand this and have not even batted an eye at the delays, and for that we are so grateful. Your cheers are what keep us going. However, this project drew a lot of new people to Kickstarter who may not have understood exactly what Kickstarter was when they backed. Those are the voices we seem to have yelling in our ear the most and trying to inform them that this was not a finished product we were selling but an idea we were building from scratch does not seem to get through. I don't know what else to say here except there is no mal intent, just a creator trying to navigate new waters and bring a dream into reality. So again, our sincere apologies for not being able to deliver by the deadlines we set. We have worked very, very hard on this project so getting these decks into your hands is what we want most in the world right now.
Lessons Learned
Ok, so the one positive that has come from all these negatives is the learning experience. Here is what is changing going into Tigger Too:
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Shipping and tax will be included in the price of the deck. Now that we have all the dimensions and weights, we can accurately estimate shipping. So we will be factoring that into the cost of the deck instead of adding the shipping as a separate charge. So, no charging separate in Tigger Too.
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Fulfillment will be handled in the U.S.A. The biggest bottleneck in this process has been fulfillment. So, we will be taking back that part of the process and handle fulfillment ourselves for the Tigger Too and subsequent decks.
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A Flat Rate for international shipping will be established. We have negotiated new shipping pricing for 2024 with our provider here in the U.S. Therefore, we are able to pass those savings down and offer flat rate shipping for international backers/customers as well as lower rates for our U.S customers in 2024 and forward.
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The Timeline for Tigger Too has changed. We will most likely launch in March or April 2024 and decks will be delivered first quarter of 2025. We are giving ourselves much, much more time for production and fulfillment on this one.
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Other projects we had planned to release this year like the Day, Night, & Twilight Tarot and the 2nd Edition of the Earth, Moon, & Shadow Oracle have been pushed back to 2025. We will be focusing solely on Tigger Too and the completion of the two companion books and journals.
I know this update was not the best news in the New Year, but hopefully it has eased a few minds (and I'm sure stirred up a few hornets' nests) but we wanted to be up front and honest with you on where we are at and what's coming next. I'll be back next week with another update on the fulfillment process.
Blessings to you all in 2024,
The Rue & Vervain Team
Wisdom of Pooh Shipping Is Underway
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 03:54:30 AM
Hello, Glorious Wisdom of Pooh Backers!
We’ve received word from our fulfillment warehouse that the boxing and shipping of your Wisdom of Pooh orders has officially begun! Over the next four weeks, the team will work tirelessly to send thousands of decks, box sets, Pooh plushes, cloths, bags, and stretch goal rewards your way. This is a HUGE job, so we ask for your patience as they do their best to send your orders to you. We want to remind you that although everything should be shipped within the next four weeks, not everything will be delivered within the next four weeks—moving packages around the world takes time!
The majority of you should receive your order by January 2024. If you still haven't received a tracking number for your order by the end of January, please email [email protected].
Since the fulfillment process is now officially underway, this is likely one of the last updates you'll receive about the campaign. If there are any further changes or developments, we will post an update and let you know. Remember, you can always reach us at [email protected] with any questions, feedback, and/or concerns you might have.
We invite you to sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about the Wisdom of Pooh Guidebook, Pooh’s Lunar Expotition, the upcoming Tigger Too Kickstarter campaign, The Earth, Moon, and Shadow Oracle Special Edition, and everything else Rue & Vervain is cooking up. You can sign up for the newsletter here: https://rueandvervain.us21.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5103efabd44a5a8c96ee0b082&id=228f5c65f3
Please read and refer to the following information whenever you have questions. We’ve tried to be as comprehensive as we can, so there’s a good chance that you can find the answer to your question on this list:
1. Please direct any specific questions that you have about your order to [email protected]. This way, we can request and/or send attachments and ask for any personal information we might need to address your concerns (two things we can't do in the Kickstarter comments section).
2. We’re aware that some of you haven’t been charged by Backerkit yet. If you haven’t, ensure that your payment information is up to date. If it is, hang in there—Backerkit is continuing to charge on a daily basis until your payment goes through. If you have any questions about shipping charges, please email [email protected].
3. We are no longer accepting address changes. If you forgot to update your information and/or you’re in the process of moving, be sure to provide USPS with a forwarding address so they can forward your package to you. To do this, visit https://moversguide.usps.com/
4. Except for the Wisdom of Pooh Guidebook and Pooh’s Lunar Expotition, Wisdom of Pooh pre-orders close on December 15th. The deck will be available for purchase again once all Kickstarter rewards and pre-orders have shipped.
5. All Wisdom of Pooh Kickstarter rewards and pre-orders are being shipped from China, and all Wisdom of Pooh orders will continue to be shipped from China when the deck is available again in early 2024.
6. Kickstarter orders and stretch goal rewards will be shipped first, followed soon after by website pre-orders.
7. All Kickstarter backers whose pledge includes at least one full-sized Wisdom of Pooh Tarot deck will receive all stretch goal rewards in their shipment.
8. Shipping times range from 20-35 days. All Kickstarter backers and most pre-order customers should receive their rewards by the end of January 2024. If January concludes and you still haven’t received a tracking number for your order, please email [email protected].
9. When your order has shipped, you will receive an email with your tracking number. It's likely that orders and tracking numbers will be sent in large batches, so it's unlikely that you'll receive a tracking number before the end of the month. Remember to check the spam folder when looking for your tracking number just in case it gets delivered there. When you receive your tracking number, please use it to check your package status before reaching out to Rue & Vervain with any questions regarding your order’s arrival--it should provide you with the most up-to-date information available!
10. If your order includes any major defects (i.e. missing cards, missing items, ripped box, printing errors that make the card unreadable), please email [email protected] and include pictures of the defect so we can judge if replacement is warranted.
Plans for the Future
We want you to know that we’ve listened to your feedback throughout the campaign and we’ve taken much of it to heart. These are the following changes we plan to implement in anticipation of the Tigger Too campaign launching in Spring 2024:
1. We’re hiring a business and operations manager to handle our finances and oversee general company operations. This person will help us accurately bundle costs and communicate with production and fulfillment more clearly and efficiently.
2. Once we move into the production phase of the Tigger Too Campaign, we will email production every three days asking for updates in the timeline. If anything changes, we will communicate this to project backers as soon as possible.
3. Unless our business and operations manager advises us against it, we will strive to include tax and shipping costs in the tier price of the campaign. This means that you will only be charged once when the project is funded unless you purchase ad-ons later.
4. We will strive to post weekly updates throughout the campaign from launch to fulfillment.
5. We estimated that it would take 8-9 months from the time the project funded until fulfillment was completed. In reality, it took 10-11 months. Therefore, the Tigger Too timeline will show 11-12 months from successful campaign to fulfillment to allow for potential delays.
6. We’re researching alternatives to Backerkit and have a really good lead—we’ll know more closer to the Tigger Too campaign launch and we’ll let you know who we’ll be partnering with at that time.
7. The new launch date for the Tigger Too campaign is Spring 2024. To be updated when the campaign launches, sign up for the newsletter: https://rueandvervain.us21.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5103efabd44a5a8c96ee0b082&id=228f5c65f3
I want to take this opportunity to apologize for any oversights or mistakes we made during the campaign. I know we can’t change the past, but we can do our best to make changes for the future. We have big plans for Rue & Vervain, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making that possible. We deeply appreciate your patience, your support, and your interest in our projects, and we can’t wait to share the Wisdom of Pooh with you!
Much Love,
The Team at Rue & Vervain
