Posted on 4th Nov 2020 @ 8:48:31 PM
What can we say, things have been "busy" this past few months and quite a bit has happened, so aside from the Covid-19 lockdown (part 2) we've managed to get a few things done while dispatching orders.
Shipping Service Updates:
- The USA increased postage prices for items entering into the USA internationally so that had an immediate impact on our shipping prices.
- DHL Express was made more broadly available, particularly for the USA and is proving a reliable, fast and cost effective alternative to both the postal options and Fedex.
- DPD Local and DPD Classic are now available in the UK and for some European destinations. This expands options for customers who wanted additional choice.
- We continue to ship on Mondays and Thursdays for reasons already explained. Some packages are being shipped on other days when it's feasible.
- Royal Mail are struggling with parcel volume and it seems letter and large letter deliveries are taking longer as well. Please allow a few extra days for deliveries to take place.
Product News:
- Much wider range of Maintenance Box units for Epson printers now available as compatible and/or OEM/Original units
- XP-15000 and XP-8000 series printer inks now available.
- Refillable cartridge sets and refill bundles currently awaiting testing of the ARC and chip resetter options.
- Canon Pro-1000 inks also available now with a refill bundle to provide tools awaiting some testing and documentation.
- New Printer Pad sets are awaiting some documentation updates before they'll be released. (XP-950/960 and Ecotank L series + XP300/400 model units)
- SC-P600 refillable cartridge set and chip resetter pending release in an updated refill bundle.
- UPDATE: Printer Potty 350ml tanks are now made using recycled plastic boxes. Performance/Function is identical but now our units have lower environmental cost. Oh and they come in a wide variety of random colours.
Manufacturing/Stock News:
- Due to limited labour and the need to isolate at different points, manufacturing has slowed, so some of our in-house manufactured items are taking longer to produce than we'd like.
- We're also coping with a significant increase in demand for these same products so we're facing a double whammy at present
- Manufacturing re-tooling is making a big difference to the amount we can produce with the following improvements already online:
- Double capacity for vacuum refilling Canon OEM cartridges with our own CLI-42, CLI-551/571/581 and PGI-550/570/580 inks
- Improved parts supply and design for the Printer Potty that makes it less wasteful and provide a small but significant boost to manufacturing speed.
- Massive improvement in ink bottling process that has increased speed, remove leaky seal issues and made it much simpler to label our products.
- ...and we're very close to having the following upgrades online as well:
- Quadruple capacity for processing Canon OEM cartridges to create clean, dry and refill ready cartridges.
- Double capacity for vacuum refilling Canon OEM cartridges with our own CLI-42, CLI-551/571/581 and PGI-550/570/580 inks
- The big limit is labour and time so if/when we can finally look for a new team member we'll see futher improvements.
General News:
- Order volumes have been unprecendented, particularly as our European customers pre-order to avoid the uncertainty of the impending Brexit.
- We are looking hard at our options but Brexit is a HUGE unknown so it's like fighting the Invisible Man for now.
- Similarly Covid-19, a second national lockdown and the responsibilities of being a parent mean that we're constantly adjusting to enforced isolation periods, childrens needs and sleep deprivation. Fun!
- We are managing to tackle longer term projects, resource development and product release but only because of the restricted shipping rota.
- A number of videos for Printer Potty, Refill kits and updates for existing video guides are slowly going online via our YouTube channel