Happy to report that all order back-logs have been completed. I did have some delays with getting the custom stands in, but all parts are now in and units ready to ship. In the meantime I’m getting remaining Forges pre-assembled so that I’ll have less work to do when any orders come in.
Over the course of shipping out 45 Forges, I’ve also developed a much better system of packing them. The initial problems I ran into were that the unit is fairly heavy, and tended to sink into peanuts, crush paper and relatively destroy bubble wrap. This was especially true for overseas packages. I’m happy to report that by combining all 3 packaging materials in a somewhat clever layering system, I believe to have solved these problems. In the future, once I exhaust my recycled packing materials that I get from ordering many things online, my plan is to go with molded foam blocks called Instapak. I believe they will simplify the process and from what I have seen the only downside seems to be cost. There’s not a whole lot to break on the Forge, but if a gauge gets cracked or bent, or a basket dented it is fairly annoying for you guys as customers. So other than cost I’m really wanting to completely eliminate that hassle and disappointment.
Thank you everyone for bearing with me on this process. It hasn’t been easy for me, but I feel it’s been worth it, especially when I see all that has been achieved in espresso shots on the forums.