So you are not actually shipping as you announced. You have just sent letters to a small number of customers promising to ship before July. I don’t see how that counts as “we’re shipping” and doesn’t look good for all the rest by the end of July.
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It has to be tough living with a cynic full time. I’ll bet you anything you want to be cut from a single sheet of PG against yours? that we will see an unboxing within two weeks.
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I see where you’re coming from, and I mostly agree with you. I don’t think saying “we’re shipping production units” is appropriate until at least one production unit has actually been handed over to a shipping company to be delivered to a non-VC, non-hand-selected, non-specially-instructed recipient.
Where we differ is in that, just like we don’t know if they’re shipping, we also don’t know that they aren’t shipping. @dan has said they’re shipping, and I’d like to be able to interpret that literally, but it boggles the mind why the more direct question of “are you actually shipping” isn’t answered more directly.
It is tough being cynical, but it’s also gotta be tough living with someone who has their head in the clouds, or with someone whose statements frequently need to be searched for metaphores and weasel words.
I’ll throw this link in here, for anyone who would like to read a lengthy explanation of the term weasel word.
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It’s less about cynicism and more about English comprehension. “We’re shipping” is current tense so I expect that to mean Glowforges going out now. Since it was said on Friday then I think even dispatch this coming week would be stretching the truth. If they were why would Dan not say so? It is only a small number and far cry from hundreds through Feb and March, thousands from April onwards.
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In shipping terminology all one needs to do to claim “shipped” is create the label. USPS,UPS, eBay and the like will all do this. There are many times I’ll get notifications that say “your XXXXX has shipped” and then I’ll try to track it and it’s only been a created label aka “XXXXX has received notification that your order is ready to be picked up.” or the like
So while there is a literal definition, there is also the commonly used vernacular.
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My expectation is that if people responded to the email on Friday, then those first units would be packaged, labeled, and to the shipper between Friday and Tuesday, depending on the courier used, if they are prepared for the volume, and the time the response was given. (Can’t give to the courier Friday if your response misses the pick up time.)
Realistically, the courier has probably been aware of the expected rush of shipping for several weeks and been prepared for the volume increase.
is specifically not disclosing details of the shipping process for multiple reasons.
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Yes, so if shipping labels had been created they would be picked up tomorrow and delivered later this week. Why would Dan not simply say so? And has anybody received a shipping notification?
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You’re asking for details that have been wholesale denied the community as company policy from the get go. You persist in this for what hamster stuck in the hamster wheel reason you have but considering its been two and a half years and this policy and other similar ones have remained unchanged, do you really believe that inccessant bothering is going to get you any of the answers now that have never been given to anyone asking the same type of questions?
Oh look. I’m using another forum option today. In 17 years of on-line interactions, this makes #3.
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If shipping labels have been created, pickup would be done at courier-scheduled time, for amount they could take at a given moment, and delivered as quickly as they could in the regular flow of their deliveries. The biggest factor in time once picked up would be:
- Distance from source to destination.
- Volume increase in package load.
The first is naturally pretty straight line. Within a certain distance can typically be delivered next day. A bit farther, 2 days, etc. Typically, ‘guaranteed’ times are greater, unless shorter guarantees are paid for. (Hence, UPS had a same-day, anywhere in the continental US delivery option at one time. I don’t know if they still do, but it ran along the lines of $80 for the first few ounces.
The second is a factor of volume increase, expected or otherwise. Ironically, near July is almost as bad for dropping bulk onto a courier as December, because some marketing genius (that deserves a public flogging) announced “Christmas in July” sales. It is entirely possible that the courier has told Glowforge that they cannot accept more than X number boxes (or X cubic space in boxes) per day or week for the initial shipping. If they did, it would temporarily slow the process of getting the boxes that they ARE shipping out the physical doors because of a courier restriction. I’ve seen this happen, but if it is happening with the initial Glowforge shipping, the details may be covered by a shipping contract that could include nondisclosure details. Either way, it is entirely reasonable for those (and other) reasons to expect that Glowforge is not able to share some shipping details, even to customers on a closed forum.
I’ve worked in most aspects of shipping, receiving, and as an expediter, I’ve seen many of these things happen first hand. While Glowforge cannot necessarily comment on certain areas, the statement that they are shipping, and the emails going out, suggest to me that unless the courier restricts otherwise, the first boxes would be picked up by the courier no later than Tuesday, subject primarily to the courier pickup, cut off, and volume restrictions.
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So here’s a question: if there were a particular area that was particularly saturated with GF orders, would the capacity of a single last-mile delivery truck be a constraint? (I’m imagining some poor UPS guy in a west coast city staring at a dozen 100-pound boxes in the back of the truck 
)
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That is pretty much the definition of cynicism when there are several possible exegeses for a sentence and you always pick the darkest one. It is Sunday for goodness sakes. Emails went out Friday. You are starting to sound like the folk that claimed that there were only two in existence.
If no one comes here with a tracking number by Thursday you might have a point but I think we will see several this week.
BTW, all the units at BAMF are production units, even those who thought they were taking PRUs had them replaced with forever units.
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Those trucks have a limited cubic footage, so the capacity of the truck is always a constraint. And if an area was particularly dense in owners, it would be possible for a single driver to be delivering a few neighborhoods with a truck loaded with almost exclusively big boxes from Glowforge.
The best I’ve seen involved an undisclosed company sending out company anniversary gifts to all their employees. In one area, almost every home belonged to a company employee. Thankfully, the gifts were about the size of a small pencil box, and weighed about as much as a half-full pencil box (half full of pencils, not lead). The driver was able to deliver a hundred boxes in an hour, hopping out of the truck with an armload of boxes and walking door-to-door.
Some of the worst have involved Bowflex, Total Gym, and trampolines (courteously sold by Walmart, may the burn in hell for that).
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Ya know, the absolute most negative reading of the current status is that there are a small number of Production Basic units shipping any time in the next six weeks. The most positive reading is that Production is ramping up, and the first batch is going out the door next week. Personally, both interpretations leave me with a positive feeling. If I want to find problems to post and worry about, I could. Don’t have a need.
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Just a desire to point out a lack of a need.
“I don’t need to virtue-signal.”
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That’s a completely normal day for a UPS driver. Even in my little town of 45,000 people in podunk desertville, their trucks are already full of all sorts of big clunky heavy stuff. They’re used to it.
I dont think Glowforge shipments are going to create even a ripple on carriers, the numbers are just too small compared to what they already handle on a daily basis. Even if 10,000 units were on trucks simultaneously, if they were all destined for US locations that’s only 200 units per state. If each state only had two big hubs that 100 units per hub. This is easy stuff. Since we know not all units are shipping at the same time, that makes it even easier.
Flextronics dumps hundreds if not thousands of outgoing shipments on their dock every day. Whatever Glowforge adds to that, it’s not a big deal. Flex has several locations that can take up workload from Milpitas if needed in order to not interrupt operations.
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Probably not a huge blip, but the physical size and weight would have an impact, even for UPS. I’ve seen worse for bottlenecks, though. Ask me about lobsters some other time. Dell is a shipper every courier loves to hate. Big contracts, lots of boxes, good money, but a pain for the folks handling those boxes, start to finish. Single delivery, 100 boxes, 50 of them marked “open me first!”.
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I took my inlaws out to dinner one night. I’m talking mother in law the grandmother my wife’s brother his girlfriend and all of his kids. They all got whatever they wanted for dinner and of course drank themselves blind. Now I payed for EVERYTHING and all I heard the entire night was how long it took for the food to come. Not once how good it was or that it was nice to eat and drink for free, just that it took a while for that free meal to get to the table.
My point, some people will complain no matter what. I just need to take more advantage of the block option on here. I only have 1 on it now but I might extend that list soon.
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Unfortunately many Humans tend to see what is missing from their lives, instead of what could be missing.
I don’t exclude myself from that group, but I have learned to temper my perspective. Be careful not to dwell there in negative land lest you become practiced at expecting and finding it.
I have experienced great pain for an extended period, and I realized if only I had a body that wasn’t in pain - what more could I possibly ask for? A three level spinal fusion solved the pain problem, but I will never forget just how bad it can get. And we all run around wishing we could win the lottery.
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Isn’t that amazingly true 
All the more reason to never give someone something expensive, that if they had to put money in to, they place a greater value on it (and they treat it much better over the long run, too)
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Indeed. So easy to be negative.
Better to focus on the fact that I am alive than the pain I experience daily.
Better to focus on the shelter I have than the homes lost.
Better to be thankful for the food I have than the meals that I cannot enjoy.
Better to be thankful for my cats than obsess over the family I have lost.
That core unhappiness that people think they will fill with stuff, or a great spouse, or family, or a great job, or lots of money never leaves for getting all those things. The unhappiness isn’t caused by lacking those things, and so is not healed by getting those things. And if you are unhappy before getting all that stuff, you will be unhappy after. The missing will still be missing.
So even them winning the lottery still gets them nowhere, but temporarily rich, unhappy folk.
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