Toy production explained

[QueenCheetah]

(Sorry if someone has already asked this; I searched under "process" and "production" and couldn't find anything- please delete this if I missed something : ).

Ok, so I know a lot of members here have been waiting a very long time for their toys, and I thought it might help n00bs like myself to better understand the wait time if they understood what exactly has to be done for each toy and how long it takes.  Basically, a run-through of the process.  I know Bear doesn't just make the toys and ship them- he includes care packages, inspects them, ect.  

So... what happens after you hit the "send payment button" and before you get your toy?

[jratt85]

part of the problem right now is theres a huge list of back ordered toys that werent made and need to be before he can take any new orders. I myself think he should shut down the ability to order until he gets caught up on the orders he already has. He has been paid for those, if he cant stay afloat without new orders that arent being filled immediately then I think someone needs to look into where the money is going. I dont see any harm in coming out and saying "We cant take any new orders until we are caught up with back orders. We will keep you posted on when we get caught up and will resume taking orders. Sorry for the inconvenience." something like that which I think would be much less inconvenient than waiting 2 years for something you paid for that you might never get or your money back. Im sure Talarath could figure out how to make a newsletter email system for members of the site that you enter your email and it will let you know when they are ready to recieve new orders.

[Talarath]

We already have a newsletter system in place.  It's just not used frequently.  Shutting down the ordering process is also not feasible; the u.s. is in debt $14 trillion.  Kind of an extreme, but stopping does not make things all nice n tidy.  Companies we use don't take IOU's and they want to be paid on time every month, employees need paychecks to survive.  If it was a valid option then it would be considered, but right now every customer is warned that there is a waiting list on the ToS, the checkout page and the faqs.


As for the OP, each toy requires 1 mold and is limited to 1 or 2 toys per day per mold.  Each toy type requires its own batch of material in the exact color and firmness.  If someone orders a black and someone orders a red, they'll be two different batches.  Medium and hard?  Two different.  Both are black but ones soft and the others medium?  2 batches.

[ferretbait]

Not really complaining here but, just out of curiosity why not get more molds? Or does he not have the space for them?

[Red-Black]

Not really complaining here but, just out of curiosity why not get more molds? Or does he not have the space for them?

Molds take time and money to make. Depending on the mold and process, this can be a whole lot of time and money. From the looks of the toys, I'd say bear is using a two-part mold that is held together with clamps. The molds appear to be good quality as I've yet to see any toys with seams or cut marks where seams were removed. Both of these things hint at the molds being the higher-quality, expensive ones.  

Edit: By the way, I found this recent post by bear that will help explain a little more of what's going on with the toy production process as of late.

Right now we are in the process of combing both shops into one which will result in much faster shipping on both old and new orders.
Koda will be working on the newest ones which will free me up to tackle those who have been waiting so long.
i appologize for this bit of inconvieance as we switch over to the new shop.

  Bear

[QueenCheetah]

Edit: By the way, I found this recent post by bear that will help explain a little more of what's going on with the toy production process as of late.

Oh that's good   I had no idea that each mold could only produce one or two toys a day- that's insane consideriing how many people order from this site daily!!  But hopefully merging the shops will help.

[jratt85]

Oh that's good   I had no idea that each mold could only produce one or two toys a day- that's insane consideriing how many people order from this site daily!!  But hopefully merging the shops will help.

I think its mainly curing time. I know thats one thing about paint which is an epoxy is that it may be dry to the touch but its not actually cured for up to two weeks, and the last thing you want it to try to pull a toy from a mold that the outer layer is dry but when you pull it out, the skin falls away and its still semi liquid inside.


And Tal, I hope I didnt overstep my bounds with what I said, I mean hell Im not even a paying customer, yet (hopefully someday). It was just one option I was thinking would work to keep people from asking about times, dunno my words are failing me yet again. Social skills? What are those?

[shadowquine]

I think its mainly curing time. I know thats one thing about paint which is an epoxy is that it may be dry to the touch but its not actually cured for up to two weeks, and the last thing you want it to try to pull a toy from a mold that the outer layer is dry but when you pull it out, the skin falls away and its still semi liquid inside.


And Tal, I hope I didnt overstep my bounds with what I said, I mean hell Im not even a paying customer, yet (hopefully someday). It was just one option I was thinking would work to keep people from asking about times, dunno my words are failing me yet again. Social skills? What are those?

To my knowledge the curing process of silicone takes at most a day or two. Gel on the other hand takes a long time to cure and as far as I know runs the risk of failing requiring a toy to be recast. Gel is discontinued, however.

[Talarath]

I think its mainly curing time. I know thats one thing about paint which is an epoxy is that it may be dry to the touch but its not actually cured for up to two weeks, and the last thing you want it to try to pull a toy from a mold that the outer layer is dry but when you pull it out, the skin falls away and its still semi liquid inside.


And Tal, I hope I didnt overstep my bounds with what I said, I mean hell Im not even a paying customer, yet (hopefully someday). It was just one option I was thinking would work to keep people from asking about times, dunno my words are failing me yet again. Social skills? What are those?

Don't worry about it, I had to leave quickly by the time I finished the last word so I didn't take the usual time to go back and rework it into a nicer solution
I'm more here for the customers sake rather than Bear's, and I do try to explore every possible avenue to get the wait times down and make customers happy.  Right now it's limited to one or two things which are "in process".  Can't say exactly what, but once implemented I imagine that 6-8 months afterwards the backorder would be down to either nothing or very small compared to current amounts.

[ferretbait]

I couldn't even imagine working out of two separate locations. Thats like if I took the mail and cased it and then went to another place and cased another load then tried to deliver it all at once. I work at the post office in case noone got that. 

Also, this stuff is so COOL!

[Red-Black]

I couldn't even imagine working out of two separate locations. Thats like if I took the mail and cased it and then went to another place and cased another load then tried to deliver it all at once. I work at the post office in case noone got that. 

Lol. Yeah, we get it.  But I agree, it must be hard trying to work between two shops. I thought I heard a larger shop was in the works earlier this Spring, I guess this is what it means! I really hope the bears finish it up before winter hits. Hey- I'll stay at the back of the line if it means faster turnaround permanently. Go, bears, go! 

[QueenCheetah]

Go, bears, go!  

XD Being from Chicago I rather like that phrase.  GO BEARS!!!

I'm sure Bear will let us know when the other shop is fully "integrated" or whatever- I thought I heard something about plumbing problems O.o which is bad since it's getting pretty cold out... don't know if that'll slow things down or not.

[Red-Black]

XD Being from Chicago I rather like that phrase.  GO BEARS!!!

I'm sure Bear will let us know when the other shop is fully "integrated" or whatever- I thought I heard something about plumbing problems O.o which is bad since it's getting pretty cold out... don't know if that'll slow things down or not.

Ooh. Hopefully that's been resolved already. The last I heard about how the shop is coming involved a tree landing on things during the summer.  On the bright side, it's been fixed by now and Bear mentioned plywood being everywhere lately so hopefully this means things are coming along well. (psst: Bear, if you read this, please let us know how things are going! )

You know, I kept thinking the same thing whenever I posted. Lol. Cheering for these bears is more fun, though, as you get to be both half naked and waving dildos at the same time as opposed to just half naked!   

[ferretbait]

Cheering for these bears is more fun, though, as you get to be both half naked and waving dildos at the same time as opposed to just half naked!   

You could wave dildos and be half naked, its just in public they will arrest you shortly after doing so because of public indecency.