I hear you can get 15% in Iran. Obviously, not FDIC insured.
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I also feel that itâs a case of being a victim of your own success. I feel the successful Kickstarters (Iâm not calling GF a Kickstarter, Iâm using KS as an example) that struggle the most are the ones who blow their initial financial goal out of the water. If you are only planning on selling a couple thousand, then itâs one type of production, a few employees, and you need very little storage, but when you sell 10,000 you have to ramp up. Itâs a different factory, warehousing parts, number of injection molds, number of people on the line, etc.
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as Tom Lehrer once sang âDonât stand underneath as they fly byâŚâ
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Slightly off topic but sure - Banks are not great on interest offers in the UK right now but Peer to Peer lenders like Zopa do. Itâs dropped right now but earlier I was getting 6.5%.
For anyone that got the generic email that said âBefore the end of October, youâll get an email asking if you want your Glowforge delivery nowâ, I just realized, if you log into your Glowforge.com account, under general info, an exact date is listed 
Shipping to: Florida
Unit Type: Pro
Order Date: 10/16/2015 (morning)
Glowforge Pro Estimated Shipping Notification Date: 10/23/2017
Air Filter Estimated Shipping Notification Date: 04/23/2018
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arenât those basically unsecured personal loans?
Itâs an exact date, but itâs still just an estimate, and it will change with production and shipping changes.
At this point I have zip, ZERO, faith this company will survive. Deceit on top of broken promises on top of lies. I would suggest everyone spend their store credit as soon as possible after getting it, if the store is even still around when you do, because it probably wont be shipping anything in a few month after that when they shut their doors.
Any company that thinks they can manufacture something in a few months then takes TWO YEARS and major components still are not done that company has more than one serious problem.
No reason what so ever to believe any word Dan says.
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True, selling too cheap is a disaster. You have to think of what you are doing after you build all of the items. If you are just packing up and going home, it seems like a waste. If you have a product people want, you should be using the funds to create a business.
I was actually thinking of the SomaBar. The app controlled bartending machine. They like Glowforge picked up investors, but to produce as many as they needed, the factory they had initially planned to use couldnât handle that many, so they had to move to a larger facility, which meant their initial investment was greater. Tooling took longer, because they were now having to make two sets of molds and the component manufacturers couldnât handle the added volume. And then the added time by the creators to manage everything.
I believe if the Coolest! cooler had sold a tenth of the coolers that they did, there would have been a different outcome to that disaster. I backed out of that KS when they hit 1,200% of their funding goal. (I think they ended up with something like 2,500% of their goal) Good thing I did. I thought there was no way 2 guys could handle hiring staff and manage building $13 million in fancy coolers. And apparently they couldnât.
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Itâs an âexact estimateâ! Look, this whole process has resulted in a brand new industry buzz term!
I only deal in exact estimates from this day forward.
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An âexact âshippingâ estimate.â
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on the phone with UPS
âUh yeah⌠can I get an exact estimate on that?â
âYep, that what I said. You heard me correctly.â
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I agree. In his book Dan speaks to the different levels of production, and the difficulties and pitfalls in navigating the change to a higher level of production. I donât think the company was ready for the response they received.
As big a fan as I am of the company and its product, the historical communication of anticipated delivery dates has missed the target by a wide margin every time. Since the production units are shipping now I couldnât believe another long delay was going to happen. That is just a reflection of my ignorance of all that is involved.
I guess my biggest issue is that I feel communications of expectations should have been much more conservative, and updates regarding the ongoing struggles and problems posted as they surfaced. That way everyone could have tempered their expectations with the reality of what was being faced. Bear in mind none of us have any idea to what degree Danâs hands are tied by the board.
Being told to expect gratification only to have the goalposts moved into another hemisphere shortly before that only results in customers being emotionally bludgeoned. I think that is the root of the angst and disappointment being expressed here. You canât be blamed for feeling, after reinvested your hopes and dreams in the new date it feels like a sucker punch. Again.
Now, do your best not to look at the situation emotionally. Maybe tomorrow. 
We were all drawn to this project because of the capability and the price point. Good business sense would have us get the most we can for our money. If that is your goal, you are still in the right place.
Having had the use of this glowforge for the last 6 months I can say this is a wonderful machine, and at this point there is still nothing out there that will touch it for the money. If I hadnât had the use of this machine, I donât know if I would bail now but I donât think so. I have been known to destroy something because it felt good under emotional pressure. A knee-jerk reaction. I have punched more than my share of holes in walls because that was the only emotional release available to me.
Since I do have experience with a glowforge, I can tell you now I wouldnât cancel even if it were next Christmas before I got it. I wish you all could have that perspective.
I guess my point in this is to encourage you not to make a knee-jerk reaction because it gives a degree of emotional satisfaction. That patch on the wound would pale in comparison to the satisfaction of having one of these at your disposal - and then you still have to patch that hole in the wall.
Just my perspective having actually used a glowforge.
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There are other investment tools which have much much better rates of return than a savings account at a bank.
The S&P 500 has been up 9.8% every year for the past 50 years. So a 10% growth rate (minus investment fees) is fair.
Iâm invested a bit more aggressively. Consequently Iâm at 19% growth for the past year and 14% in the previous year.
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You just reminded me that I never got the book. 
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You should drop a note to support.
It is entirely unreasonable and unfair that we went from âAwesome, the wait is almost over, weâre getting the Glowforge next monthâ to âhey actually youâre gonna wait another five months.â That sucks.
As far as this goes:
âWeâre giving you a $20/month credit for delays. You can use this in our newly launched Design Catalog or Proofgrade shop to buy designs, materials, or even spare parts.â
What are you determining as the start point for the delay? Is it back in March 2017? So for me, whoâs expecting to receive their glowforge in March, I should expect $240 in credit for proofgrade materials?
This really sucks, but Iâm not cancelling my order yet. I just hope that you come through, Glowforge.
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Iâm not familiar with that product so Iâm afraid I canât advise you. Just let us know if you want to cancel and weâll refund immediately, with my apologies for letting you down.
Regarding the dates, they are realistic in that there isnât a more accurate date possible, but they are not reliable, as they will move as we get more information (possible for better, possibly for worse). Weâll update that page regularly with new forecasts.
Please let support know! Theyâll take care of you right away.
You need to reread that quoted article of yours.
the reason the pension plans around the country are imploding is precisely because that AVERAGE, hasnât been met for a long time.