Locking orders and charging cards on January 12th (and a pledge manager survey reminder)
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 09:48:17 AM
Greetings all,
We hope everyone had (or continues to have) a restful holiday break.
Here's a quick update.
Orders locking and cards charging on January 12th
Our factory will soon start manufacturing the steel molds for the trains. After that's complete, we'll put in the order for our print run.
But before we can do that, we need to have firm numbers for how many sets we want them to make.
So, we're locking everyone's orders and charging everyone's credit cards on Friday, January 12th.
That means if you want to remove or add items to your pledge, you need to do so by January 12th.
We will not be charging cards for shipping until after the trains have been made and are ready to be shipped to our fulfillment centers.
If you have not already, please fill out your pledge manager survey before January 12th
85% of your have completed your surveys. Thank you!
Unfortunately, that means we don't have surveys from 15% of you, meaning that we have no idea where to send your trains.
Please fill out your survey by January 12th.
If have not received a pledge manager survey, please email us at [email protected].
Rough timeline
Below is a rough timeline for fulfillment:
Late January: steel molds manufactured
February: factory closed most of the month for Chinese New Year
March: pre-production samples made for final approval. (If any changes need to be made, e.g. colors don't look right, things aren't printing the way we want them to, this can cause delays.)
April-May: Manufacturing. (It doesn't *actually* take two months to make the trains, we just get put in the manufacturing queue, which has a waitlist of a little under two months.)
May: Cards charged for shipping
June: Sets shipped to fulfillment centers and mailed to backers
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That's all folks. If you have any questions, get in the comments.
Your parasocial LLC,
The Little Plastic Train Company
Pledge manager links sent
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Dec 04, 2023 at 10:53:17 AM
All pledge manager links have been emailed
Pledge manager links were emailed out to all backers today.
If you did not receive a pledge manager link, please contact us and we will email your link directly.
We won't be charging cards for add ons or shipping until next year. Still, it is important for you to fill out the pledge manager promptly so we can get an accurate count of sets for our print run.
FAQ
1. I can't change my pledge level. Is it possible for me to do so?
Yes. The ability to change pledge levels was accidentally turned off when we sent out the links. This has been fixed. Click the link to your pledge manager and you should be able to change your level now.
2. Why can't I add train sets from the last campaign?
The ability to add individual train sets (as opposed to the complete set) was also accidentally turned off when we sent out the links. This has been fixed. Click the link to your pledge manager again and you should be able to add individual train sets now.
For logistics reasons, only backers in the US, Canada, and EU can add train sets from the last campaign. If you are in one of these countries, but still can't add train sets from the last campaign, please contact us.
If you don't live in one of these countries but still would like to order sets from the last campaign, you can do so on our website.
Sorry about the hiccups, folks. But everything should be working now.
The Little Plastic Train Company
Emails with pledge manager links going out today and next week
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Dec 01, 2023 at 10:33:42 AM
Be on the lookout for your pledge manager links
We're sending out links to the pledge manager starting today.
About 5% of you will receive links so that we can check to make sure there are no problems with the pledge manager. If all goes well, we'll send out links to the remaining 95% of you starting on Monday.
It is critically important that you fill out your pledge manager survey promptly. It givesus your address, allows you to add on items, and lets us collect any applicable taxeswe are required to collect (none for most of you). Without this information, we cannot ship your rewards to you.
We will not be charging shipping in the pledge manager just yet. We will charge shipping next year after the trains have been made and are ready to be shipped. You'll get a separate update from us when that's about to happen.
Production update
Since the Kickstarter ended, our artist has been hard at work making the remaining graffiti designs for our Urban Freight boxcars. Those designs are now complete. We have sent them off to the factory for test prints to make sure everything looks good.
One graffiti design has required modifications because it is not printing in a way that we think looks good enough, so we're working on fixing that.
We're also waiting for design work on the boxes to be completed. Unlike our last sets, which were made and shipped individually, our newest sets will be bundled in their own boxes, which will make shipping easier and cheaper.
All this should be done by late December / early January.
After that, we can get in our factory's queue and start manufacturing! We're looking at 3-4 months for that, after which we can freight the sets to where they need to go and start shipping. So, as of now, we're still on track for a June 2024 delivery date.
That's it. We'll update you again when there's more news.
Just please fill out your pledge manager surveys when you get them.
Your nagging friends at
The Little Plastic Train Company
That's a wrap, folks! (Now the hard work begins.)
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Nov 02, 2023 at 11:10:39 PM
Thank you for making this campaign a success!
Over 1400 of you have chipped in to help take our Extraordinary Engines and Remarkable Railcars from the fever dreams of a train-obsessed madman to tabletop reality!
Thank you. Seriously. It means a lot to a small company like ours.
Now begins the hard work of investing your money in our new Bahamas-based Traincoin Cryptocurrency Exchange (TCX)!
Choose from any of our brand new train-themed cryptocurrencies, including Choo-Coin, B&O, Freightereum, Monorailo, Cabüs...
One sec. Our lawyer wants to say something.
OK. On second thought, we'll just make the trains!
What happens next?
First, Kickstarter will send us your pledge money (after taking their cut) in about two weeks.
In the meantime, if your credit card has been declined, Kickstarter will send you an email and give you one week to fix the issue. If you get one of these emails, please take care of any credit card issues with Kickstarter so we can receive your pledge!
After we receive the funds, we'll email you a link to the Backerkit pledge manager. We'll post an update in a few weeks to let you know when we've started emailing the pledge manager links.
What's a pledge manager and why is it important to fill it out?
A pledge manager is a survey + online store. You'll give us your shipping address and select and pay for any add-ons (such as Extra Train Packs) that you'd like.
Your credit card will only be charged for the items that you add, along with any applicable taxes. Items that you've already pledged and paid for will appear automatically in your cart.
We won't charge your cards or lock your addresses until we're close to shipping your items next year, so you'll have plenty of to select add ons or change your address if you move.
To give you an idea of what to expect, this is what our pledge manager looked like in our last campaign.
When you receive the Backerkit pledge manager link, it's very important you click on it and answerits questions.
Kickstarter does not send us your name or address, so if you don't fill outthe pledge manager survey, we cannot ship out your rewards.
What happens after that?
After everyone's filled out the pledge manager, we start to work making the trains!
Eerily accurate...
We'll update you over the next several months as the trains are manufactured and eventually shipped to your door.
Graffiti survey results
The people have spoken!
By a vote of 180-158, y'all have chosen graffiti on both sides of each Urban Freight boxcar.
Don't say elections don't matter, people
As in the real world, the small percentage of backers who were motivated enough to vote (and happened to be in the slim majority) have decided what happens to everyone else! Yay, democracy!
