Hey backers,

We are on the home stretch! Still on track to have all remaining Kickstarter orders shipped by late May. :)

Our first shipment of lacquer panels has arrived to the port in Seattle. It will take a couple days to unload, some time for customs clearance, and arrangements for pickup and transport.

We expect the goods should arrive to the warehouse in upstate WA early the following week, and ship out within 48 hours. So we’re looking to start shipping our US orders out in 10-12 days.

Canadian orders will be transported to Vancouver, which will save our Canadian backers from incurring US customs. So we’re looking to start shipping our Canadian orders out in 13-14 days.

All European/Australian/Asian orders should have been delivered by now. If you have not received yours yet, please email me at myorder@getSTACT.com.

Euro gonna love it too!

Here's what our first wave of European customers are saying about their STACT system:

Thijs – Haarlem, Netherlands
"After many weeks of eager waiting our (3 Pure White) Wine Wall elements arrived today. We were very impressed by the design (beautiful) and way to assemble. easy, clever, friendly. Already thinking about buying more units!"

Tony – Marabella, Spain
"We have had many complimentary comments from friends and are very pleased with the wine rack we put in our kitchen." (8 Oak + 4 Electric Orange)

Valerio – Den Haag, Netherlands
"Boom! Minimalistic, elegant and cool. The first thing you think after setting it up is: ok, I need more STACT. And more wine." (2 Walnut + 4 Oak)

Philip – Copenhagen, Denmark
"Extremely satisfied. Ordered 3 Walnut + 1 Piano Black and especially the black finish is stunning. I like that (almost) all the things in the package are to be used to set up the system, leaving limited waste and keeping the package small. Had to read the instructions a couple of times, but as soon as the first one was installed, it was very easy.
STACT is a very cool way of storing your wines, making your room look extra classy!"

Be sure to check out the latest photos at www.getSTACT.com/NiceRack, and customer reviews at www.getSTACT.com/CustomerReviews.

I can't wait to hear from you too! Please send your comments and photos to NiceRack@getSTACT.com.

Have you moved?

If you have moved since completing your survey, please ensure you send your new mailing address prior to May 19th to myorder@getSTACT.com (subject line “new address”).

Love,

Jamie + the STACT team

www.getSTACT.com

Hey Backers,

Oh what a feeling.

It’s been over a month since many of you have received your STACT order. Over these past few weeks it’s been such a pleasure to hear how you’re loving your new STACT system.  See for yourself what fellow backers are saying about STACT. It’s truly humbling to hear words of praise from the chief designer of the original iPod!

Show us your rack!

It’s the most amazing feeling of all to get to see and share how you are using STACT in your space. Don’t be shy, take a peek – we have started to post your photos, and from what we’ve seen so far, I must say some of you have quite a spectacular rack indeed.

Here's our current fave: Italian-Dutch rocker, Valerio Recenti Strikes a chord off-stage, showing off his taste for vino in this stunning bohemian-chic pad – this is how Rockstars store their wine.

Once you're all set up, we'd love to see yours too!

Shipping is still on-track. ☺

For those of you whose order included lacquer panels (other than Gunmetal which had shipped with our first batch), I’m pleased to report that we are on track to have your orders shipping mid/late May – exactly where we land within this range will be dependent largely on US Customs.

To our backers residing within Europe/Asia/Australia, in efforts to avoid any unnecessary delays, we will be shipping your orders directly from our factory, in about a week’s time after the Chinese Labour Day Holiday (Apr 29-May 1).

Have you moved?

If you have moved since completing your survey, please ensure you send your new mailing address prior to April 30th to myorder@getSTACT.com (subject line “new address”). 

Forgot to pay for shipping?

If you are a backer residing outside of the USA, and forgot to pay for shipping, you’ll want to settle up your account so we can ship your order. Simply go to www.getSTACT.com/KickstarterShipping and follow the 3 steps at the bottom of the page.

best, jamie

>> For more frequent updates check us out here, and if you're feeling frisky like us on Facebook. :)

Hi backers,

Thanks for your patience over the past few weeks as we worked through the logistics on our first shipment (consisting of Walnut, Zebrano, White Oak, and a few Gunmetal Gray). As mentioned on the last update, if your order consisted of any combination Walnut, Zebrano, or White Oak, your order will be amongst the first to ship. In addition the majority of the Gunmetal Gray orders will be fulfilled from this first shipment.

The shipment cleared customs a few days ago and will be arriving into our Ferndale, WA warehouse tomorrow. It will take 24 hours for the warehouse to sort, and receive the shipment into their system, so we expect to start frantically fulfilling US orders on Wednesday.  

Canadian and International orders will be fulfilled from our Vancouver warehouse, so these orders should be processed towards the end of this week.  If you opted for local pick up in Vancouver, I'll be sending you an email later this week when your order is ready for pick up.

If your order consisted of a combination of the above colors, and you have not received an email with your tracking number by next Tuesday, please feel free to email myorder@getSTACT.com for a status update.

What's going on with my lacquer panels?

This being our very first production run, we discovered that the lacquer panels require much more time to produce than the wood panels, due to an intensive multi-stage preparation and finishing process (something that I wish the factory had been able to tell me at the beginning so I could have set realistic expectations!). Our QC team is determined to ensure that the quality is brought up to level that matches the samples you see below. While I share your disappointment with the delay, I can assure you that your patience will be rewarded with a product that will be absolutely delighted with.

Our wood factory has advised that they expect to have the lacquer panels perfected at the end of this month. They will then take a 4 day trek across the country to undergo final QC, assembly and packaging, which will add another 5 days. Once they are packaged they will be sent to the port, where it can take 3-5 days to wait to be loaded into the next available shipping container, which will begin its 18 day journey across the ocean. Upon arrival into Seattle, it could take up to 5 days to clear customs, and destuffed from the container before its ready to be picked up and transported to our Ferndale, WA warehouse.  So based on this, we are expecting to have shipped the balance of our Kickstarter orders by Mid-May.  Please know that I am pushing relentlessly, if we can do better than this, we will certainly try our best to do so! :)

Spring housekeeping

Thanks to those of you who have moved over the past few months for responding to my email with your new shipping address. I have updated your order to ensure it goes to the right place.

If you are an International or Canadian backer and forgot to pay for you shipping fee, you'll want to settle up your account so we can ship your order.  Simply go to www.getSTACT.com/KickstarterShipping and follow the 3 steps at the bottom of the page.

We still have a handful of backers who haven't completed their survey. If this applies to you, please send us your survey so we can ship your order. :)

Please check in with us @ www.getSTACT.com/Updates where we will continue to post photos, videos, and more frequent updates.

Best,

Jamie

The first set of air shipped samples have arrived from the factory.

Front view of the packaging – From the window in the front, you can tell there's a Zebra inside waiting to be let free. :)

I couldn't wait to crack open a few packages and show you how easy it is to throw these bad boys up. My buddy Jordan from theMACNABs.com (whom you may recognize from winning the HGTV handyman challenge - season 1) helped me PIMP this wall, and film this cool quick time lapse teaser video. Hope you like!

Here is the instruction manual, and mounting aid (for a closer view, click here)

These are a few of the panel color options. I'll be posting pictures of all seven here very soon.

Here's a close-up of the very popular American Black Walnut. Each of the wood finish options turned out absolutely beautiful.

Panel rear view – Each panel ships with pre-assembled mounting anchors, and back plates. The anodized finish looks gorgeous.

I’m pleased to report that the painstaking attention to detail is paying off, and it shows in the fit and finish – everything fits together like a dream!

When is my order shipping?

 Over these past several weeks our factory has been working rotating shifts and took on overtime staff in a tireless effort to have our panels ready before Chinese New Year (CNY) – during which time, the country essentially shuts down for up to a month. 

 The wood panels arrived at our packaging facility about ten days ago, and as mentioned above, these panels turned out absolutely amazing. I’m pleased to report that we were able to package enough of the wood panels in time for our first shipment to cover all of our pre-orders! ☺ This shipment was scheduled to leave China on Feb 11. I have received confirmation that it has cleared Chinese customs. Though I’m told that it should be safe to presume that the shipment did in fact leave on Feb 11, we won’t have 100% confirmation until our freight forwarder’s office reopens on Feb 18 (as they take a short 1 week break for CNY).

 All of our panels are produced by a world-class furniture manufacturer located in the South of China – which is half way across the country from our production team’s home base, where they are assembled and packaged. I have been pushing extremely hard to receive the lacquer panels in time to package and put on a boat before CNY. In an added effort we had the factory air ship just enough units to be able to fulfill our pre-orders. This left us just 24 hours to package these in time to make the last boat out before CNY, a tall order by any stretch, but we were ready with a team in place to make it happen.

 However, in spite of all our efforts, the tight timeline worked against us. Our QC team has reported that the lacquer panels are not quite at the level that is required in order to meet our uncompromising quality standards. Unfortunately, as a result only some of the Gunmetal gray panels were able to make it out on our first shipment. 

To summarize:

• First Shipment: If you selected Walnut, Zebrano, or White Oak, we expect your orders to begin shipping by the beginning of March. 

• Second Shipment: If your selection included all, or any number of lacquer panels, unfortunately your order will be delayed. Please know that I am continuing to push harder than ever to have your lacquer panels completed. While the factories are closed for the next couple weeks for Chinese New Year. If you have any questions/concerns, please reach me directly at jamie@getSTACT.com. In the meantime, please bear with me, I will be providing an update within the next two weeks, as soon as I have a clear idea of when your order will be ready to ship.

Thanks for your amazing patience, and understanding. I share your disappointment and frustration with the change to the original schedule, and for this sincerely apologize. The delay has been due to our uncompromising commitment to quality, which has required me to make some tough choices, which have resulted in cost overruns, and some production delays. However, this has allowed us to make significant improvements to the design, installation, and packaging. I hope you understand. I can assure you that it will be worth the anticipation! 

I sincerely thank you for supporting my launch, and helping make STACT a reality – I couldn't have done it without you!

Jamie + the STACT team

Check out www.getSTACT.com/Updates where we'll be posting frequent updates, photos, and videos.

Dear backers,

I'd like to take a time out, to send you amazing folks a quick note with some holiday cheer.

As you know, we’ve been working diligently to make sure that STACT is perfect. I know the delay has been disappointing, especially for those who wanted to give STACT as a Christmas gift.

For those who were planning on giving these as gifts I’ve created this digital card, you can print it out and give to the intended person. I know it’s not as good as the real thing but it’s my attempt to make the best of the circumstances. :)

Click here to download your digital card.

All the best in 2013!

Jamie + the STACT team