I hope everyone is doing well. Over here it’s been a bumpy ride, and we are seeing everyone around us starting to really feel the crunch of delivery delays, and our team as well. Have you ever seen a Formula One pitstop? Like, when all the tire guys are standing there with their hands have in the air, ready to grab the old and move it out of the way? Yeah, that’s how our whole team has been standing for literal weeks at this point.
Jokes aside, we have some more information to share with you and your clients. Unfortunately it’s not the good news we’ve been wanting to share for months, but thankfully the light at the end of the tunnel has not been extinguished.
A number of Asian countries have imposed a “zero tolerance” Covid-policy, you may have already read about this. What this means is that if there is even one covid case, your whole operation, factory, or company gets put on “pause”, at least until everyone has been tested and/or quarantined.
Adding insult to injury, the factory making the last Purple Haze and Clueless frames has been hit by this policy, and the two QC employees responsible for all of the finishing work on all the frame in the factory, have been quarantined for the past two weeks. Thankfully neither have been very sick, but this obviously severely hinders production for our frames and a few other brands.
Building frames at the quality level we demand and you expect requires true professionals. All of the people at the factory building our frames are framebuilders of the highest calibre. The two employees out sick are the last stop before the frames get shipped, and thusly are the most experienced and eagle-eyed of them all, but without them, the whole process waits. For us it’s bittersweet, because although we are frustrated at the delay, we are also incredibly pleased to hear about our factory’s commitment to employee safety, as well as their commitment to quality. They could have likely substituted a less experienced employee in to finish the frames, but they would rather wait for the experts to resume production… and so would we.
Purple Haze: first frames will start getting shipped first/second week of July*
Clueless: first frames will start getting shipped first/second week of July*
*Information up to date as of 27 June
Okay, so that’s out of the way. Everyone deep breath!
Now for the Homebrew updates! I’m just going to share some updated delivery dates, as the slight delays are being caused by a few “trade secrets” that we’d like to keep close to heart.
Pasta Party/CanCan: first frames will start getting shipped first week of July
Crumble/Big Fun: first frames will start getting shipped second week of July
We want to again thank everyone for their patience. The things everyone is dealing with right now are unprecedented, and we know that everyone is doing their best. We have seen clients working together with shops to help solve problems, shops working with other shops to cover inventory holes, and all other combinations. It’s incredible, and incredibly difficult, but together… together we’re all going to make it!
