WHAT THE WHAT! PRODUCTION UNIT! :squee:

There has been a huge question parsing the email announcement. The delays are mostly self-explaining. So, the delay potentials:

Potential delay one: How long it takes the recipient to reply to the request for shipping information (which can include the ‘other details like that’). You cannot receive it next week if you don’t respond for 2 weeks. You won’t receive in 2 weeks if you indicate you will not be able to receive the shipment for 4. This part relies entirely on the owner’s reponse.

Potential delay two: Where you live (which can include the ‘other details like that’). You cannot receive in 3 days if the freight travel time from the source to your destination is five days. If your shipment is international, subject to customs and international delays, even if they ship it today, it won’t be there on Monday.

They are sending the emails for units they are already ready to box and ship (or possibly already have boxed). They aren’t fully ramped up, so shipping and handling may take longer than it will in a month, but a good bit of any remaining delay is owner response content and time. Either way, a person getting this email today and responding availability immediately will receive their unit before the same email and response next weekend, barring international customs issues.

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So let me get this clear @dan announces on twitch that units are shipping. A few people get that glorious email. The forum, and the other 99.5% of the preorders are left guessing as to what these emails mean and what exactly is happening. Awesome communication strategy.

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I’m not getting excited until I see an email for the Pros.

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I am waiting on that one also.

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I haven’t seen dan’s announcement, but the first emails went out, and I’m betting the people that received them have some more information by now than what is showing in the small screenshots. The reasonable interpretation is that Basic units are starting to ship before the end of May to those that received the email and actually respond. So far as I know, we don’t know how many emails were sent. This is a first batch, to be sure. It is probably a small run, allowing them to process and debug the logistics.

As to guessing what the emails mean, there is no guesswork involved, or even confusion about what is happening.

  1. They are shipping the first Basic units. This is probably starting with some of the oldest orders of Basic units, possibly seasoned a little bit with the most active forum members.

  2. The numbers are low because this is the first production run and production shipping. They are shipping units, but need to work out the shipping and logistics kinks, as well as any email response kinks. Is this run 50 units? 10? 100? I don’t know, but it isn’t stopping here.

  3. The success of this first shipping run, and resolution of discovered issues, moves them forward to larger and more frequent orders, which reasonably should add up to their goal of shipping virtually all preorders by the end of July, unless the buyer delays response.

How much of this is speculation? Not that much. I’ve been in manufacturing and logistics before, and I’m very good at analysis and reading between the lines. Ok, some of it is optimistic, but it is mostly just logically evaluating what we have been told and what has been received without being upset that I haven’t gotten the email yet.

If I wasn’t sitting here hungry, I’d probably have this more coherent and even better analyzed.

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I think I’m one of a very few disappointed in the lack of information going out to the forum and the pre order customers in general so I’ll just shut up now.

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omg!!! Congrats!! Now excuse me while I go obsessively refresh my inbox…

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Congrats on your great news! I hope to receive mine soon!! :smiley:

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Initial run release and shipping. I get the feeling that while @dan made his own announcement about shipping, he wanted to let the owners drop their own bombshell about getting the initial emails in forums.

No clue if there will be a supplemental update in the next few days about this, or if more detail is going to come in the June update. Either way, there is information coming, units have started shipping, life is good.

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Agree 100%.

This is the crack in the dam we’ve all been waiting for. :slightly_smiling_face:

Much as @dan has driven me nuts over the past year or so with the way he communicates I love the way they handled this. Masterful job of surprise :grinning:

What’s really funny is although I’ve argued that he be more forthcoming with details and not hold his cards so close or caveat things so much, I do the same thing. My Board of Directors is watching a very high visibility and important project I’m responsible for. We run an agile dev shop and two months ago we missed 1 user story out of 100 committed for the month. Got grief. Last month we publicly committed less to them and over delivered so we were at 108%. Adulation ensued.

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Well, I still have to wait out a Pro unit email. Additionally, I’m still working on preparing my maker space, and I may have to talk to apartment complex about a dead outlet or two

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Chuckle! I also agree…talk about a coup! They underplayed it so well, that even some of the folks here who actually do read the forum are not sure they’re supposed to be thrilled about this. (Even if you didn’t get an email today yourself, you will soon, and no more delay announcements.)

Good thing. :smile:

And those little stinkers have got to be either the smartest or the luckiest players on the planet, (and I lean towards them knowing exactly what they are doing), because they let the information leak while they were out of pocket at the Faire…talk about excitement build-up. (It really was a masterful stroke…everyone will be talking about Glowforge tomorrow.)

This has just been thrilling to watch today, I think I’m a little bit in awe. :sunglasses:

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I’m definitely one if those and I predicted this announcement two weeks ago. [quote=“Jamie, post:10, topic:7529”]
I’m betting they really wanted to ship some units before Makerfaire. Which would tie into the update from December that some units would start shipping in May (yes that’s my interpretation of the dates stated).
[/quote]
I truly want to believe in July however with no word on Pro units I’ll stay reserved in my excitement for Pro purchasers, but hopeful that Basic purchasers are on track for all going out before the end of July.

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The email applies only to those who receive it. Our schedule’s always posted at https://community.glowforge.com/t/the-latest-on-shipping.

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Fabulous show!

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So this was a (possibly very) limited run and most pre-orders should not expect to see their units shipped before sometime near or at the end of July. Can you comment on how many pre-order buyers got that email?

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Congrats man… I’m reading this as I sit at the Dr. office and I literaly look like an idiot smiling to my phone.

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According to this tweet it was under 100.

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That would be a roughly 100. Could be less, could be more.

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