It’s curious to note that the Proofgrade package is shipping from Tennessee…
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I noticed that as well. The magic of modern fulfillment logistics!
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I would actually be surprised if GF haven’t setup some regional shipping centers for proof grade materials. They’ll need them in Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, India, Africa, etc when the ownership density gets to a point to warrant it. PG will probably be the primary revenue along with ready to print designs.
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i think they’re probably a ways away from more than a couple of distro centers for proofgrade
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Probably, but east and West coast in the US would make sense for them to start
i’m not so sure. they’re not likely going to be stocking anything bigger than 12 x 20 or so, especially since shipping on anything big would be ludicrous (see: glowforge). and if you’re shipping something that small, on such a small scale, i dunno how big a savings doubling your overhead is going to offer. if there’s a huge proportion of orders in, say, europe, or africa, or something, then it starts to make more sense.
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Glad it’s not my decision to make. People have expectations of reasonable prices and fast (free if they can get it) shipping because of Amazon.
Having been pleasantly surprised to see the GF keep the attention of the PRU and beta users over time it shows that getting the logistics right on the materials will be crucial for continued success. Nothing worse than running out of material when you want to print right now! 
The other surprise is the users returning to the PG materials after trying other stuff because of the ease of use and predictable results. It looks like several prototype their designs in cheaper materials then go to PG for the final prints.
Of course, I’m probably way of the mark and have no idea what my habits will be yet.
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Tennessee is pretty central for the US. (Even moreso by air, but that’s not really an issue here.)
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Seems like they just be able to use Amazon rather than having to set up their own distribution system.
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I like the Amazon angle too. I’m in the Dallas area so pretty central to the rest of the US and it won’t hurt that they a big fulfillment center about 10 miles from my house. Same day delivery would be sweet.
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It’s extremely central since they’re shipping by UPS. UPS’s main hub is in TN, so the closer you are to it, the faster things ship.
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It’s almost like UPS has a logistics division that specializes in things like this… 
My bet is that they contract UPS to handle the ProofGrade logistics.
Was this the ProofGrade from your waiting credit or the ProofGrade for getting the Glowforge. I can imagine trucking a whole bunch of the same packages for the free ProofGrade giveaawy. Less so for custom picked and placed packages.
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Amazon: “Alexa, order 15 sheets of proofgrade maple, confirm purchase”?
Or more like, “Alexa, order proofgrade wishlist 1, confirm purchase”
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Amazon does not inventory all their product offering nor do they fulfill all their orders. They cover a fair amount of it themselves but there’s still a huge volume of sales that are processed and fulfilled directly by vendors.
So, it wouldnt really help glowforge to sell through Amazon at this stage, unless their contract mill in TN could keep Amazon stocked.
This is the proofgrade that is shipping with my Glowforge! It would be interesting if they freighted a bunch to a central location for distribution.
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That would probably make sense. 10,000 boxes of proofgrade is probably a couple of containers. And whoever manufactures their various materials can just as easily ship to a hub location.
are you sure? FedEx is in memphis, but isn’t UPS’ main hub in Louisville?
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You’re right, I got those mixed up. No idea why it comes from TN then, except perhaps that’s just where the warehouse/fulfillment center is.
yeah, that was my assumption, too.