TinkerHouse is humbly asking for your help

At the start of 2021 TinkerHouse Games launched a Kickstarter for TinkerTurf Sci-Fi Terrain Release 2.1, a significant expansion of our collection of sturdy full-color terrain for tabletop games. The campaign was a rousing success, but the timing could not have been worse. Though the Covid pandemic had made itself known, the “hockey stick” explosion in cases–particularly in the US–began right around the same time the campaign concluded. That coincided with the container ship “Ever Given” getting stuck in the Suez canal for 10 days, kicking off a worldwide freight catastrophe whose effects are still felt today. These two global disasters were bad enough on their own, but in combination they were absolutely devastating for any business that relied on overseas manufacturing and shipping. TinkerHouse Games is such a business.

Friends, it was rough. Materials were significantly pricier than anticipated when they could be sourced. Communications were disrupted due to absences and work backlogs. To be specific on the worst for our particular situation: ocean freight charges from the manufacturer quoted at $6,500 turned out to be $46,000, and shipping charges to backers estimated to cost $18,000 turned out to cost $36,000.

Faced with such unexpected calamities, some outfits simply collapsed. We persisted. TinkerHouse is a startup with no employees and, therefore, ineligible for government assistance. So we leveraged personal assets to come up with the additional money to get our products manufactured, freighted, warehoused, and shipped to backers. The commitment was honored, and the response from happy backers has been tremendously gratifying.

But to continue, we need your help. We’ve created this GoFundme with a goal amount that exactly matches the difference in expected vs. actual freight and shipping costs: $57,500. The price of the pandemic, as it were. It’s a big goal, and we don’t expect to recover the entire amount. But honestly: any amount would be a huge help.

Thank you for your consideration and support.

Sincerely,

Lane, Chris, and Mike

How else can I help?

Tell people about TinkerTurf! Friends. Opponents. And especially whoever’s in charge of purchasing at your Friendly Local Game Store. You can direct them to us, and we’ll happily chat about getting retail products onto their shelves. We’re even starting up a fantastic retailer support program where we’ll send your FLGS free terrain for the store’s game tables. By telling folks about our fine selection of full-color, sturdy terrain, you’ll help get the flywheel of commerce going and keep the lights on at TinkerHouse HQ.

Is this a charity fundraiser?

TinkerHouse Games is not a charity. There are plenty of worthy charities that could use philanthropic support, and they should come first. But if you’re the sort of person with the means for additional generosity, we sure could use it.

Only now that all rewards are delivered do we feel we can ask for this sort of help. We know demand exists. We know the product is sound. The costs and pricing are likewise sound, absent extraordinary global economic catastrophes. We want to be able to continue to expand the Sci-Fi line and finally do the expansion into Fantasy that everyone has been clamoring for. With your help, we’ll be able to recover from the pandemic and do so.

Global Supply Chain

We touched briefly on the global supply chain issues that were going on, but wait there’s more. In addition to Covid and the “Ever Given” there was also a global paper shortage happening. A shortage of truck drivers, rail workers, longshoremen, and containers that further drove up shipping prices. Additional lockdowns in China slowed production. For a company that makes a paper product in China this was all a bitter pill to swallow.

Hey, if you are interested in learning about the 2021 global supply chain chaos there is a short but good article (with decent references) here that helps to explain more: https://www.smithcorona.com/blog/2021-supply-chain-chaos/