Project update 10 of 12
Assembly and shipping!
Bucket Customers,
There was a hiccup in the production of the Portland Press (see below for details), but we’re still shipping them before Christmas. In fact, the first Presses will be shipping tomorrow! Here are some pics taken early today of some of the action that goes into getting the Presses to you.
The assembly line crew hard at work.
All this excitement caused Bryan’s car to break down while visiting the assembly line.
Of course, given this hiccup, many of you will actually receive your Presses just after Christmas. We know this is disappointing and we apologize for the delay. We’ve included a card that you can print out in case you are purchasing the Portland Press as a Christmas gift for someone. This isn’t quite as exciting as opening a box with a Portland Press in it, but hopefully it will get people excited about the gift that will be arriving in the very near future!
Now for the details of what went wrong. When we sent our last update, we were anticipating delivery of your product by Christmas, and were on schedule to do so. However, there was a critical problem with the screens, the one part we could not have manufactured and prototyped locally. The mesh that was used was much thicker than we had anticipated, and as a result the fit in the jar was too tight.
Our last-minute solution to this problem was to have our gasket supplier cut the screens down to size using a CNC water jet machine, which left them with the correct fit, but without a hem. This was a difficult decision to make because we haven’t had as much time as we would like to evaluate this solution as thoroughly as we have every other aspect of the product, but at the same time we didn’t want to delay delivery by another several weeks.
In the end, Presses with these cut screens are what will be shipped out over the next week or so, but we are already in the process of sourcing new screens with a hem. In order to maintain the standards we set for ourselves, we will send anyone who is unhappy with the cut screens a replacement hemmed screen as soon as we get them, which will probably be about 12 weeks from now. We’re confident that the cut screens will make great coffee, but we also want to take care of our customers as well as we can. If it turns out you want a replacement screen after trying the cut screen, just e-mail us.
We are very sorry about this delay, and don’t take it lightly. We know that you were expecting your Press by Christmas, and apologize that we couldn’t meet that schedule. As mentioned above, we start shipping out the first Presses tomorrow and will hopefully complete shipping early next week. We will be shipping out Presses in the same order as the orders were placed.
Thank you, and have a great holiday season,
The Bucket Team