Paintball F8MOUS

Orders are shipping -- plus a little something extra
about 3 years ago – Sat, Aug 14, 2021 at 07:38:38 PM

It's been a busy week, but we've been getting more and more orders out the door every day.

As of this morning, all U.S. orders are in the mail, and all international orders will be in the mail by Monday.

Many of you have already received tracking numbers for your orders via email. If you haven't received a tracking number yet, that doesn't mean your order hasn't shipped. One of the systems we're using sends tracking numbers automatically, but the other does not. We'll be sending out more tracking numbers throughout the weekend.

When you do receive your book, you may find something extra.

A few months ago, we came across a full bundle of 50 copies of issue 10 of P8NT Magazine, still in the original shrink wrap the printer bound them in, 20 years ago:

Back in the day, we’d have dozens if not hundreds of these bundles stacked high throughout the old P8NT office. These days, every single copy of P8NT we have fits into just two small boxes—so finding this bundle was a windfall. After a bit of discussion, we decided that the best way to capitalize on this find was to give it away.

To show our appreciation for everyone who waited patiently for this project to come together, we're putting a signed copy of this issue into 50 random orders.

Even if you aren't one of the 50 lucky backers who receive one of these issues, when you open up your box you'll see that the books themselves have a little something extra we were able to add, thanks to the support you all showed for this project. 

That's all we're going to say about that for now—but just wait ’til you see it.

—Christopher Hass, Chris Dilts, Dan Mouradian, Dan Napoli and the rest of the F8MOUS team

The books have arrived!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Aug 10, 2021 at 10:51:12 PM

After 73 days in purgatory (AKA a rail yard just outside of Chicago), all 2,000 copies have finally been delivered.

 And so, here's the update you've all been waiting for: We’re starting to ship orders now.

To speed things up, we're using a fulfillment house in New Jersey to help manage about 2/3 of the total orders, while we tackle the rest. The New Jersey shipment has already been received and is being processed even as we write this.

Meanwhile, we're hand-packing all the orders that include extra rewards, including P8NT pins, contact sheets and magazines. Here's what the office looks like right now: 

 It’s all hands on deck, and we're packing everything up as quickly as possible.

Currently, we expect all orders to be in the mail by the end of the week. From there, exact delivery time will depend on the postal service, but we expect most people will receive their books before the end of next week.

Finally, here are few logistical items to keep in mind:

If You Ordered Multiple Copies

If you purchased multiple copies, they may have to be broken up across multiple packages. We're doing our best to get all the packages for a given order in the mail at the same time, so they should arrive together. But once the post office has them, it's out of our hands, and they may arrive on separate days. If you have any questions about your order though, just email us at [email protected].

If Your Address Has Changed Since Your Ordered

We've processed all of the address updates that we've received so far. But if you've moved since you placed your order and haven't updated your address, please email us at paintballf8mous.com with your current address right away.

If You Never Gave Us an Address

There are a handful of people who still haven't provided shipping info for their orders. If you're one of them (or even if you think you might be), just email [email protected] with your address so that we can process your order.

11x17 Photo Prints

If you ordered a photo print, we'll be following up next week with instructions on how to select your print. All photo prints will be shipped separately.

All Other Rewards

All other rewards will be shipped along with the books, so keep an eye out when you're opening the box.

For All Other Questions

If you have any questions about your order, please don't hesitate to email us at [email protected]. We'll be keeping a close eye on the inbox and will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Finally, thank you again for your patience during what has been a long and difficult year for everyone. This book truly would not exist without your support. We can't wait for you all to see it.

—Christopher Hass, Chris Dilts, Dan Mouradian, Dan Napoli and the rest of the F8MOUS team

Still stuck in the Covid traffic jam
about 3 years ago – Mon, Aug 02, 2021 at 11:30:45 AM

It's been a little more than a month since our last update, but sadly, not much has changed. To recap:

All 2,000 copies were printed and shipped to the U.S. They cleared customs without any problem, and the shipping container was loaded onto a train. From there, the books made it all the way to a rail yard just outside of Chicago, where they promptly became part of an unprecedented traffic jam of shipping containers. 

This is all part of the unprecedented supply chain issues that are occurring across the country as production (and demand) ramps back up after Covid, and apparently Chicago is the epicenter of it all right now.

Since then, we've been in almost daily contact with the various shipping companies involved. But there have been few updates, and more than a few heated exchanges. I've spent more time than I'd like to admit on various industry sites devoted to supply chain updates and analysis over the past month, reading things like this:

Not surprisingly, given its role as the largest rail hub in the US, Chicago has been at the epicentre of congestion that has spread through rail networks. There have been reports of containers stuck in Chicago for six or seven weeks.

It's gotten so bad, they've started suspending rail service between the West Coast and Chicago, which is now causing pileups in California as well.

We did ask for and received proof that the container hadn’t gone missing—you can see the books right there at the top (10 pallets of "PRINTED MATTERS"), in the shipping software:

At this point, all we can do is wait for the container to work its way through the backlog. As soon as we're able to take possession of the books, we'll get orders packed and out to everyone as fast as humanly possible.

I want to personally thank everyone for their patience, as well as everyone who reached out with words of encouragement and support. It's been a painful two months.

Believe me, we want to get these books into everyone's hands more than anything.

We'll let you know as soon as we hear more.

—Christopher Hass, Chris Dilts, Dan Mouradian, Dan Napoli and the rest of the F8MOUS team

P.S. If you need to update your address or have any other questions about your order, just hit us up at [email protected] and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can. 

An update on shipping
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 04:04:35 AM

Nobody likes bad news (least of all us), but we wanted to give everyone an update on shipping and where we're at.

After one final, short delay of 48 hours, the shipping container with all 2,000 books arrived at a Chicagoland train yard on May 26. We contracted a trucking company to get the books across the final leg, to the small office where we'll be packing and shipping orders. The office is all cleaned up and ready to go, with stacks of empty boxes just waiting for the books to arrive.

But a few days after the books were scheduled to be dropped off, we were told there was a huge backlog of shipping containers at the train yard, and the trucking company would have to wait to take possession of the books. So we waited. And waited. And then waited some more. In fact, we're still waiting.

We've been in daily contact with the shipping company for the past three weeks now. This sort of delay is definitely not normal, but the reality is that there are backlogs like this all across the U.S. (and the world) right now.

After being delayed by the worldwide shutdown a year ago, we're now stuck waiting because of the worldwide reopening.

It sucks. More than anything, we want to be able to share this book with everyone who has supported it, and has been waiting patiently for it. 

As soon as the train yard releases the books, it will be all hands on deck to get them packed and shipped out as quickly as possible.

But for now, we're still waiting. We'll let you know as soon as we hear more.

—Christopher Hass, Chris Dilts, Dan Mouradian, Dan Napoli and the rest of the F8MOUS team

Some final details before shipping
over 3 years ago – Wed, May 26, 2021 at 09:20:45 PM

First, the most important news: All 2,000 books have cleared customs and are on the way to Chicago now. The books should be here by the end of the week, which means we’ll be able to begin shipping them to backers by June 1.

In order to make sure everything runs smoothly, we have a few final pieces of housekeeping:

Make sure we have your correct address:

We’ve updated the shipping address for everyone who has reached out to us so far, but if you’ve moved since you placed your order and haven’t sent us a message yet, now’s your last chance. Email [email protected] with your new address and we'll update your order.

If you ordered extra copies, or if you ordered after the Kickstarter campaign ended:

Orders through the original Kickstarter campaign were charged by Kickstarter the day the campaign ended. However, if you added additional copies after the campaign ended via BackerKit, those new orders have not yet been charged to your credit card. We’ll be charging orders for additional copies tomorrow.

We promise that no one will be double-charged—in fact, it’s not even possible for us to double charge anyone, as we don’t have direct access to anyone’s payment info. But if you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

If you ordered a contact sheet:

Earlier this month, you should have received an email from us with more info on these. If you missed it, email us at [email protected]. Your contact sheets will ship with your book.

If you ordered an 11x17 print:

A few days ago, you should have received an email from us with more info on these. If you missed it, email us at [email protected]. Prints will ship separately from the books, once we have everyone’s requests in.

That’s it for now. We’ve already begun turning our small office from a photography studio into a packing room, and we’re eager to start boxing up books. 

We’ll send another quick update as soon as the books arrive.

—Christopher Hass, Chris Dilts, Dan Mouradian, Dan Napoli and the rest of the F8MOUS team