THE NAPIER JIGGER IS READY: Photos & Fulfillment Plan
over 6 years ago – Sat, Oct 27, 2018 at 02:23:17 AM

Hi Backers,

We’ve been filling our days with a landslide of project management tasks to wrap up the Napier Jigger production and fulfillment, and get these sent out to you!

First things first:

ADDRESS LOCK-DOWN

We will be using all addresses currently on file to ship rewards to you. If you need to make an address change, you still have a few days to do it - please change your address by Wednesday, October 31st, because we’ll be locking ALL addresses on November 1st.

Where we’ve been:

In our last update, we shared some photos of the 100 stainless steel jiggers we received before QC inspections began - we used those to review the work the factory had completed so far, and give instruction on what needed to be fixed for the rest of the jiggers (e.g. the dirty welding marks on the handle, described in Update #19). The factory fixed all the issues, and our feedback was incorporated into the Quality Control specifications for the entire order.

Last week, Quality Control Inspections were completed on all jiggers, and they past with WINNING marks. We had our team send us several of each style and finish of jigger so we could share photos with you before the full product run was shipped. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!  Check out this interior view, with the 1/4 and 3/4 oz lines in the OZ jiggers:

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Everything was exactly what we wanted. The welding marks were fixed, the numbers stamped beautifully and evenly, and the upward angle of the handle (you can see that in the last update) was fixed to be a nice, crisp, 90 degrees again. They also photograph like a dream.  

Here's the full set (except for the authentic silver and 24K gold jiggers - those samples are getting plated as we speak!)

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Solid Copper Industry Jigger

There’s one thing we want our Copper Jigger Backers to be aware of. The solid copper industry jigger (with no handle) will come to you with a protective coating on it. As we mentioned in previous updates and comments, the factory was especially challenged with the production of the solid copper jigger, because it tarnishes quickly, and easily holds fingerprints. We received details about this - that some of the jiggers were oxidizing even before leaving the factory floor. 

What is standard practice for solid copper items (cookware, pots, kettles, cups, etc) is to apply a food-grade, protective, oil-based finish to protect and preserve the copper from oxidation. It really does do the job - they are beautiful, the color is fantastic, and they literally glow on the inside when lit from above. The coating is durable, will not easily scratch or wear off, and (of course) is food-safe. We still recommend NOT using abrasive cleaning agents or scouring sponges - that’s just common sense.

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The majority of our backers and future customers will appreciate this protective coating, because it also means you won’t have to worry as much about care and cleaning to keep it looking shiny and new. However, we know there are some of you that are anticipating and looking forward to the patination process of the copper (as am I). For those of you that want the raw copper metal without the coating, there’s a relatively simple process to remove the oil-based finish. We’ll be posting a detailed blog post on how to do this using three different methods - just scan the QR code on the bottom of your Napier Jigger packaging, or visit our website in a few weeks once we have it up (I’ll link it here in a future update as well).

Because of the different processes involved between the solid copper industry jigger and the copper-plated Napier Jigger (with handle), the latter does not require a protective coating; the above only applies to industry jiggers made of solid copper.

Fulfillment Plan:

The bulk of the jiggers are still in China going through the packaging process. 

I mentioned in a comment a few weeks ago that we were working on an option to potentially speed the fulfillment process along. We were looking into using a Hong-Kong based fulfillment company, so as soon as our manufacturer finished packaging, it would ship to you all direct from Hong Kong, rather than ship to us here, and then get shipped again to you from the United States. We hoped that it might save us a week or two of transit time, and help us recoup some costs, especially with our international backer shipments (which are expensive to ship from the US; we’ll pay more per order for international packages than we collected via Kickstarter).

However, we’ve opted to use our US-based fulfillment partner for several reasons:

1. There would be no time savings, due to the set-up and receiving procedures at the Hong-Kong based facility (our current US fulfillment partner has a speedier process, and we are already set up with them which will help streamline receiving procedures) 

2. We’d have to contract with a different third party to provide tracking numbers and shipping updates to all of you, which seems inefficient and can be costly. With our US-based center, tracking is automatically sent out to backers once orders ship.

3. The Hong-Kong based facility provided inferior customer support terms for lost, damaged, or returned shipments, which could cause a lot of headache for us and any of you (hopefully a minority) who encounter an issue with your shipment. 

4. For the majority of our backers (those based in the US), you’ll have a better tracking and receiving experience if they are shipped from a domestic location, and they’ll get to you faster.

Where are we now?

The packaging process has begun - we’re currently problem-solving a packaging production issue (yep, those happen too), but I didn’t want to wait until next week to send this out. Assuming it can be mitigated with no impact to our delivery schedule, all jiggers will be sent from our contract manufacturer by November 5th. They’ll be sent directly to our US-based fulfillment partner (which will take about a week), and then our fulfillment partner will turn around the bulk shipment and ship all rewards out within 5 days. So that puts us at a shipping-to-backers date of November 16th or 19th, depending on if they can get them out before the weekend. This is later that we would have liked (obviously), but still plenty of time to receive jiggers and other rewards prior to the holidays, even for our international backers.

In addition to this Kickstarter Project being our #1 priority, Shawn Michael and I have been working hard to prepare our business for the holidays, which is our biggest sales season of the year.

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The Napier Jigger is a big part of that, and we’ll be officially launching retail sales for the Jigger on November 1st. Because we won’t have them on hand (yet), this will still be a pre-sale. If you follow us on social media or visit our site, you’ll see some beautiful images like the ones in this update promoting the Napier Jigger - but rest assured that YOU, our Backers, will be getting yours first. We won’t be guaranteeing ship dates for any other pre-orders until late November or early December.

October Cocktail: The Schrage on Fire

We'll leave you with our most recent cocktail, a dark boozy drink made with bourbon, St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur, and amaro.  Read more on the blog:

• The Schrage on Fire: An Apropos Cocktail for the Advent of Autumn.

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We'll be posting on the blog with more like this, as well as behind-the-scenes stuff like the post on Uncompromising Quality for the Aero Cocktail Spoon. (Click here for our Blog's RSS feed)

We'll also be launching our much-anticipated Cocktail Club, so look for an email in the next few weeks to customize the cocktail resources you want to receive (cocktail recipes & techniques, history & education, deals & specials, and behind-the-scenes)

Cheers,

Rachel Eva & Shawn Michael

Production Status, Quality Control, and Shipping Update
over 6 years ago – Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 01:05:31 AM

Hi Backers, 

We posted a comment last week giving some advance notice about delayed shipping (yes, I know, I hate to write those words again too!), and here’s an update to offer some details.

As I mentioned in our last few updates, most of the design challenges and solutions had been resolved prior to moving to mass production, but there is always the possibility that once the factory starts turning out hundreds and thousands of products all at once, other kinds of production-oriented challenges could arise.

We’ve witnessed this happen with other Kickstarter projects we’ve backed, like when machines get heated up and the injection molds get warped and need to be problem solved, or something similar that has to do with a challenge of scaled production. So we were hoping for smooth sailing, but it was our turn (again) to do some more problem solving.

Where We've Been 

A LOT of progress was made in this last six weeks.  Here's another video from the manufacturer that shows the measurement marking process, which is so gratifying to see! (forgive the video quality; we couldn't be there ourselves :)

While we were out of town in August, production moved forward steadily on the jiggers.  The manufacturer ran into some issues; mostly minor things that they worked independently to resolve, and did a great job at.  When we returned, we worked to understand some of the challenges they encountered, and provided some perspective and feedback on production issues that needed our review. For you lovers of details, here are a few.

An overview of August/September challenges:

• The solid copper industry jigger is subject to greater sensitivities than stainless steel during manufacturing, and the factory needed to set up some secondary processes to ensure that the finish wasn’t compromised. That took some time to do. 
• Also due to copper sensitivities, the factory found that stamping all 4 measurements at the same time was creating other issues, so each marking needed to be stamped individually. That increases production time. 
• The handled jiggers all begin in stainless steel (then some go on to be plated in copper and gold alloy). During manufacturing, the engineers developed concern over the welding application of the handle onto the body of the jigger. They wanted to be sure that this thing would NOT come apart (which we’ve communicated to them is one of our huge values). So they problem-solved a second round of welding application that resulted in a much more secure connection. Good job guys!
• However, as a result of the new welding application, the factory needed to re-form some of the tools used to shape and attach the handle, and that also took some time. 
• The packaging sample that we were to have received weeks ago got flagged for a Customs inspection, and took an additional 9 days to reach us. We’re rapidly working to make up that time, but it’s also caused a delay in materials procurement and packaging production.
• The first set of mass-production samples was also delayed by customs (packages from China have experienced a 5x increase in Customs exams, which can take 5-10 business days to complete). This delayed our US-based full QC inspection, which is critical to providing feedback to the factory for ensuring production to specifications for the remaining manufacturing run.

As I mentioned in my comment today, we are working hard to not compromise on the integrity of our tools during these last crucial weeks, even though we feel an EXTREME amount of pressure to value speed over accuracy.

Commitment to Communication

It has also been personally challenging for me to not post an update sooner, but please know it hasn’t been because of avoidance. 

It’s because we’ve been working 10 hour days staying on top of everything, pushing our vendors and contractors to higher levels of quality and speed, and watching this project like a hawk. All while, at the same time, preparing our business for the holidays, managing other tandem production runs, and recovering from the inevitable back-to-school head colds that toddlers bring home from pre-school.

Where We Are Now

On Monday we received a box with 100 stainless steel jiggers straight from the polishing factory. We’ve formed the habit of receiving a portion of the product in advance, so we can personally inspect the mass-produced products. This allows us to create a well-informed Quality Control specification to be used against the full manufacturing run. It also gives us the opportunity to see if there are any issues with this first portion of the jiggers, and time to intervene and solve those problems with the factory before they finish tens of thousands of them (and before that issue is reproduced on tens of thousands of them).

One of those successes: The new welding application is super-sturdy. Shawn Michael did a “pull test” on a few, where he man-handles the jiggers and tries with all his might to pull or break the handle off… no dice. That handle is on snug and secure. This is great! One thing we were not excited about was that the new welding application left some dark post-welding marks on the areas where the handle attaches to the body of the jigger. 

So we told the factory “thanks for making our jiggers stronger, but please clean up the mess.” They’ve assured us that after welding, they’ll polish and buff that area so it will be shiny like the rest of the jigger. Bravo, team. It’s these little details that make the difference between a high quality product, and one that’s… well… just ok.

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Where We Will Be

As far as timeline, our current status is that the copper-plated and gold alloy-plated handled jiggers are being plated and polished, the solid copper jiggers are being polished, and our packaging production is underway. Packaging production should be wrapping up around the time the quality control inspections are being finished, which is perfect timing. That should be first or second week in October. Then they're packaged and sent off to the shipper.

When we have a hard ship date, believe me, you all will be the first to know! But please know that barring some act of God (like the factory burning down, or the airplane carrying our shipment crashing in the ocean), these jiggers will be shipping in October. Authentic gold and silver jiggers realistically will ship in November, because of the additional time needed for plating those after receiving them locally. 

For those of you banking on these for the holiday season, please don’t stress - we are SO very close, and you’ll have plenty of time to wrap and send them before Christmas. 

With transparency, as always,

Rachel Eva & Shawn Michael

PS: YES YOU CAN STILL UPDATE YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS in Backerkit.

Photos from the Factory, Summer Break, and Killer Cocktails
over 6 years ago – Fri, Aug 10, 2018 at 04:42:17 PM

Hi Friends!

Just wanted to post a quick update to say hello, and show you some progress photos from Napier Jigger production.

In the last month, our factory has been working hard to turn out jiggers, and we received some photos of the jiggers mid-production.  To make the body of the Napier Jigger, a single piece of sheet metal is stamped and stretched using a series of molds. This is a photo of one of the machines that forms the main body of the jigger:

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And here's a video of one part of that stamping process - pretty neat!

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And here is a photo of the solid Copper Napier Jiggers in-progress. The tops haven't yet been trimmed, but isn't it fun to see them all nestled en-masse, waiting to be stamped with measurements and trimmed and polished?

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We've been working this last week on finalizing packaging design, and continuing to fine-tune fulfillment details. We are so excited to see this progress at the factory, and can't wait to receive the finished jiggers at the end of this month!

August Break 

We also want to let you know that we (Shawn and Rachel) will be taking some scheduled time off for the next few weeks.  We've been working hard for nearly a year on this project (and our other work), and we'll be camping around California for the rest of August.  We leave for our trip knowing that the factory is competently moving toward finishing these jiggers, and that when we return we'll have a Quality Control report and a shipment shortly on its way to us - woo hoo!

So if you send us messages or post comments during August, please know that if we don't respond right away it's because we're spending quality time with family (it's a big family reunion), and/or we have no internet service.  We'll be able to check in periodically to help address urgent issues, so please do feel free to send us a message if you need to, and we'll do our best to get to it from the road. 

Address Changes

As I mentioned in the last update, you can still make changes to your address at this time via Backerkit. However, we'll need to lock down addresses once we get closer to shipment, which will probably be end of August / beginning of September. 

If you do need to change your address, it will be incredibly helpful if you can update it in Backerkit.  Our availability this month is limited, and if you really need assistance, I can help, but if you can take care of it yourself, that is incredibly helpful to us - thanks!

Fun Summer Stuff

Our latest post on the blog is about a Quality Control inspection we did on our last batch of Aero Cocktail Spoons - and how we've been able to consistently elevate the quality of our products on an ongoing basis:  Uncompromising Quality: The Aero Cocktail Spoon

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And our most recent cocktail feature was the Whiskey Sour (two ways), where we also discuss the Sour Cocktail Family as a whole, how to improvise with making sour cocktails at home, and how to modify/adjust recipes to suit your tastes (and what you have on hand).

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So have a great August, enjoy some lovely summer cocktails, and we'll check in with everyone in a few weeks!

Cheers,

Rachel Eva & Shawn Michael

In Other News... (MFG Update, Our New VLOG, Indiegogo, & More)
over 6 years ago – Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 07:34:13 PM

Hi Backers,

No really pressing news, but it's been almost a month since the last update, and we wanted to post a follow-up to address some frequent questions, and share some fun stuff.  Here's what this update covers:

• Survey Questions / Payments / Address Updates
• Manufacturing, Delivery Timelines & Fulfillment Details
• Indiegogo Pre-Sales
• Other stuff we're doing at Standard Spoon

So whip up a quick cocktail, and here we go!

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Surveys closed a few weeks ago, so that means options are finalized, and if you added items in Backerkit, your payment card on file was charged. If you are still receiving survey notifications, one of these might apply to you:

• Your survey was incomplete (you didn't answer some questions or provide your address)
• You added items in Backerkit but didn't add a payment method
• The payment card you had on file with Backerkit was expired or errored

If that's you, log in to Backerkit and check to see that your survey is complete and payment method is current.  If you need help, of course we are here for that - send us a message and we'll look into it.

ADDRESS UPDATES: You can still update your mailing address.  I mistakenly said in the last update that address changes would also be locked down, but we are keeping them open until a few weeks before we ship rewards (because people move during the summer too).  We'll send another update out before we lock down addresses, probably early August.

Manufacturing, Delivery Timeline & Fulfillment Details

When we placed the order with our manufacturer, they provided us with a project schedule, and we just received a status update that they are on schedule. 

Materials have been procured, and production started a few weeks ago on stainless steel jiggers. After making the stainless steel and solid copper jiggers, they'll do the copper and gold alloy plating.  Manufacturing is scheduled to be finished the third week in August, followed by QC and packaging during the last week in August.  

We are working right now on ensuring there can be a smooth and quick transition from the factory to the fulfillment centers that will be shipping these rewards out. 

Historically, when we've shipped our own rewards, it's taken us a few weeks to turn everything around.  We'll be working this time around with professional fulfillment centers that can receive, kit, pack, and ship all Kickstarter Rewards and Add-Ons in less than 5 days, so these get out to you as soon as they can!  However, we do also need to allow for transit time, so realistically, rewards will be shipping in early - mid September.

Authentic Silver and 24K Gold Jiggers will likely ship by end of September, since we're having them shipped first to us in San Diego, and using a precious metal plating contractor that's much closer to home.  This secondary process will add a little time to the delivery for those backers who have opted in to real silver and gold jiggers.  We'll be ensuring they're done right, and shipping them out to you ourselves.

To Backers that have still NOT answered your survey, we can't guarantee delivery by these dates unless you complete your survey answers and provide your shipping details by the time we lock down addresses in August.

Indiegogo Pre-Sales

You may see us promoting a Napier Jigger Indiegogo Pre-Sales Campaign via our social channels over the next few months. Why?

After a Kickstarter ends, we run into tons of people who missed the original project, but still want to pre-order. Until earlier this moth, we were using Backerkit to take pre-orders.  Now that we've locked everything down on Backerkit, we've moved pre-sales over to an Indiegogo InDemand campaign.  It's not a crowdfunding campaign (you guys helped us with that!) but just a place to re-direct the community of people who are excited about this pending product. 

Indiegogo is also a much better pre-sale platform than Backerkit.  We didn't heavily promote Backerkit pre-sales, partly because it's not an optimum experience, and partly because we were still on the product development journey, and things weren't final like they are right now.  Backerkit was a great functional way to give fans a way to pre-order the Jigger and add other tools, but we'll be promoting Indiegogo because it will be a superior experience for anyone who missed the original Kickstarter.

Rest assured that ALL you Kickstarter Backers will receive your rewards before anyone else.  Once we ship rewards to Kickstarter Backers, we'll fulfill those associated with Backerkit and Indiegogo Pre-Orders. 

The pre-sale funds we raise on Indiegogo will help us recoup some of the increased costs from problem-solving on this Kickstarter campaign.  It will also ensure that if needed, we can place a second manufacturing order so that we can have plenty of inventory for the holiday season.

If you're a fan, and want to fan the Napier Jigger flame, we're running another Referral Campaign (click for details) for the next few months.  All you need to do is sign into your Indiegogo Account (create one if you don't have one), and share the Napier Jigger Project Page once you're signed in.  

Other Stuff We're Up To:

So, a lot happens here at Standard Spoon besides Napier Jigger Development and Kickstarter management. While product manufacturing and communicating with Backers is always a priority, it's not all we do.  Here's some of that other stuff:

Napier Jigger Preview Video

Shawn Michael made this video that features one of the jigger production samples. I asked him to make a preview video, and he made a music video instead. We'll have more videos posted a bit more regularly on our Standard Spoon YouTube Channel, so subscribe to stay up to date!

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Cocktail Recipe Series

We're easing into a big cocktail series that we hope to begin publishing weekly in the fall. We're focusing on an in-depth review of 52 Classic Cocktails, and will keep building from there. It's history, how-to, technique, variations, storytelling, and gorgeous visuals all in one. You've seen a few of those photos here, but you can check them all out on the Blog. Here's our latest: The Black Manhattan 

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Our New YouTube Channel

We're also launching a new YouTube Channel, which will include regular vlog-style videos addressing the work we do as creative entrepreneurs. We're specifically interested in exploring the balance between passion/creativity and order/productivity. There will be a lot in there about the Napier Jigger for those of you that want the real behind-the-scenes content. And we'll make some creative things too. Check it out and subscribe to follow along: The Round Chaos on YouTube 

Cheers,

Rachel Eva & Shawn Michael

Surveys Close Tomorrow + New Pics
over 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 07:44:17 PM

Hi Backers,

Just a quick reminder that surveys will be locked down this weekend, so tomorrow is your last day to make changes for:

• Upgrading / Changing Reward Selections
• Adding-On items to be shipped with Kickstarter Rewards
• Address Changes
• Updating Payment Information
• Using any Backerkit Credits before they convert to store credit at standardspoon.com

It's especially important that any Backers who have pledged for a GOLD, SILVER, or COPPER Jigger understand the changes that have taken place, and make any changes to their rewards.  Otherwise, backers will receive the default versions of these items 

• Default for Copper Jiggers is a Copper-Plated Jigger with Handle 
• Default for Silver Jiggers is a Stainless Steel Jigger 
• Default for Gold Jiggers is a Gold Alloy (imitation gold) Jigger

If this is the first time you've encountered this news, please read Update #14 (and #15) for important production news and reward options, and then make your change in Backerkit here:

Update My Survey / Reward Selections

PHOTOS: Production Samples Up Close

We've got some new pics to share of the production samples.  These are pretty darn close to what you'll be receiving; keep in mind that we've corrected the top flare to have a more sharply marked angle for measuring the 2oz/60ml mark, and the font will be slightly different (with a bit more character than this one). 

 Thanks for all the comments and interactions, and feel free to keep dropping your feedback in the project comments or in a private message. 

Since we're in the middle of mass production right now, there may not be much to report for the next few weeks, so we'll probably check back in when we've got updates on our end late July. 

Cheers,

Rachel Eva & Shawn Michael

PS: If you are reading this AFTER the survey update window has closed, and you really need to make an update to your survey (options, shipping address, etc), please send us a private message.