So, for my first forum post, I'd like to provide a couple of compliments, a question, and some concerns. To begin at the beginning:
I really, really, appreciate the speed and efficiency with which my order was completed and carried out. I recently purchased the core Pathfinder book, the GM's screen, the bonus bestiary, and several of the free pdf's. The downloads were available immediately, and the books were shipped promptly. Absolutely fabulous. Thanks, guys. :)
I do have a question, however - I had originally placed an order on Amazon for the Core Pathfinder book several months ago. Over the course of that time, as my order moved from Pre-Order to Current Order, I was the unhappy recipient of several "delayed order" notifications. Even after the book was available, I continued to be told that the book was sold out, and that the "alternative buying" options were my best recourse. Amazon continued to delay my order, and customer service informed me more than once that the publisher had not restocked, nor made available for restock, the product with Amazon. Now, knowing full well that Paizo had them in the warehouse, I canceled my order, bought it from the Paizo store, and had it in my hands just over a week later. Muy Bueno.
However - why would Amazon maintain this stance? Is there something going on that we mere mortals don't know about, or is their procurement team simply not talking to Paizo properly? I was able to get the Bestiary from the big A, no problem, but the Core book? No dice.
And now, concerns.
First - I ordered my shipping to be sent via UPS, which offers a tracking number - but at no point in my account back-end could I find a link to track my package delivery. Where was this -supposed- to have been hiding? I work with web forms and user interfaces, and consider myself to be something of a decent investigator, but I could not find anything about package tracking in my user space. It is completely possible that I missed it, but I promise you, I looked.
Second - I appreciate that Paizo wants to protect my shipment, but wouldn't it be in your best interests to use more eco-friendly packaging? Opening my shipment, I found four largish styrofoam "corner bits," and a square foot of packing peanuts inhabiting the box along with my books. If you must use packing additives (as opposed to those new-fangled bio-plastics that you can shrink wrap the books to a backing board with, for instance), why not use the blown-starch style packing foam, or something similar? The items I did receive will simply populate a land fill for a few centuries, whereas other options can be safely disposed of by rinsing them down a drain (in the example of the blown-starch packing foam).
Third - One of my coworkers has the Core rulebook in PDF form - and I can't help but notice that the TOC is improperly associated and you have some Font embedding issues. What this means in Plain English is that several of the Table of Content links on the PDF are incorrect (Click on the Barbarian link and you get the Character Advancement data, or click on the Druid Class Features link and you get Cleric Domains (page 42)), and on some PDF readers (Acrobat Vs. Preview, for instance) the PDF renders some upper case letters incorrectly/invisibly. The prime example of this is the letter "A" in Armor in the Magic Arms and Armor section. I can't replicate this consistently, but I have seen it across multiple machines on different PDF readers. From my own experience, this is generally due to a simple font embedding preference made during the PDF conversion process. I don't have my copy of InDesign available, and I don't know if that's what Paizo uses, so I can't really offer an insight on that.
Regardless of these concerns, I really, truly, wanted to thank you for the outstanding product, and the clear, efficient way in which my order was handled. You guys rock! :D
Chief Technical Officer
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Hey! First of all, welcome to the boards!
Thanks for your compliments.
As for the Amazon issue, we don't sell directly to Amazon—like all of the major book chains, they buy from a book distributor that we sell to. Thus, we don't have a lot of insight into their systems. I can tell you that demand for the Core Rulebook was underestimated by many outlets, so when we sold out of the first print run before it even shipped, a lot of folks were left waiting for the second run, which took a couple of months to arrive. And then a lot of folks underordered *that*. Though we're already preparing for a third printing, we do still have stock of the second, so at this point, I'm a bit befuddled why it isn't readily available to anybody who wants it.
As for the eco-friendliness of the packaging, that's always a trade-off between efficiency, cost, and the ability to protect the product throughout the shipping process. We have pretty much exactly the wrong volume of orders to shrinkwrap to backing boards, though we have looked into it, and it might be something that could happen in the future. Our foam corners do a better job protecting the books than cardboard corners, and they're faster to pack as well. And when it comes to fill materials like peanuts, one of the environmental strategies we use is "reuse"—if we get clean peanuts with the merchandise we purchase, we'll reuse them. When we do purchase peanuts, we buy biodegradable ones—you can identify those by their green color. (We also use paper as filler for certain types of merchandise.)
As for the PDF links, if you're talking about the same links I think you are, we fixed those a while ago; anybody who has access to the PDF can download the corrected version for free from their downloads page. (We sent an e-mail to everyone when we updated it.)
Finally, the font issue is due to a bug in certain PDF viewers; it was initially a problem for several Linux apps built around the same rendering library, but that was fixed a while ago—the latest versions of those readers are fine. Apple's Preview application still has the problem (only on OS X 10.6.x, though); we reported the bug to them a while ago.
Welcome to the boards, jemstone. Hopefully I'll see you around.
As for the foam corners, they were VERY appreciated in our household when we got the core rulebook. It showed up in pristine condition. I only wish the Bestiary had gotten them, too; even though it was in a box only slightly larger than itself, the corners were pretty blunted by the time it arrived.
Hey! First of all, welcome to the boards!
Thanks for your compliments.
Thank you! And you're welcome! The compliments are well deserved. Great product, great service, would recommend to to others (and all that jazz).
As for the Amazon issue, we don't sell directly to Amazon—like all of the major book chains, they buy from a book distributor that we sell to. Thus, we don't have a lot of insight into their systems. I can tell you that demand for the Core Rulebook was underestimated by many outlets, so when we sold out of the first print run before it even shipped, a lot of folks were left waiting for the second run, which took a couple of months to arrive. And then a lot of folks underordered *that*. Though we're already preparing for a third printing, we do still have stock of the second, so at this point, I'm a bit befuddled why it isn't readily available to anybody who wants it.
I am similarly befuddled. The nice folks at Amazon have used the term "publisher," but I am of the opinion they mean "distributor" when they provide me their answers. Thank you for clearing it up, as much as you could.
As for the eco-friendliness of the packaging, that's always a trade-off between efficiency, cost, and the ability to protect the product throughout the shipping process. We have pretty much exactly the wrong volume of orders to shrinkwrap to backing boards, though we have looked into it, and it might be something that could happen in the future. Our foam corners do a better job protecting the books than cardboard corners, and they're faster to pack as well. And when it comes to fill materials like peanuts, one of the environmental strategies we use is "reuse"—if we get clean peanuts with the merchandise we purchase, we'll reuse them. When we do purchase peanuts, we buy biodegradable ones—you can identify those by their green color. (We also use paper as filler for certain types of merchandise.)
I appreciate your efforts, don't get me wrong. It's just... a square FOOT of packing peanuts and foam? That's quite a lot for what I got shipped. I'm glad to hear that the little green widgets are biodegradable, though. Awesome, thank you.
As for the PDF links, if you're talking about the same links I think you are, we fixed those a while ago; anybody who has access to the PDF can download the corrected version for free from their downloads page. (We sent an e-mail to everyone when we updated it.)
Awesome! I'll let him know to check his e-mail, then. Thank you!
Finally, the font issue is due to a bug in certain PDF viewers; it was initially a problem for several Linux apps built around the same rendering library, but that was fixed a while ago—the latest versions of those readers are fine. Apple's Preview application still has the problem (only on OS X 10.6.x, though); we reported the bug to them a while ago.
Double plus good to know. Thank you.
As to the question on the tracking of the package, I was a little unclear in my initial post:
I received my confirmation e-mail, with the tracking number for my package, and this was good.
However, once removed from my personal e-mail, I had no way to track the package, as I did not have the number. Looking at my order page, I could not find the number, and thus, was out in the cold. Am I simply missing the glaring neon sign that says "Track Packages Here"? Strangers things have happened. :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Awesome! I'll let him know to check his e-mail, then. Thank you!
He doesn't really need the e-mail—he can just go to his "My Downloads" page and download it again.
As to the question on the tracking of the package, I was a little unclear in my initial post:I received my confirmation e-mail, with the tracking number for my package, and this was good.
However, once removed from my personal e-mail, I had no way to track the package, as I did not have the number. Looking at my order page, I could not find the number, and thus, was out in the cold. Am I simply missing the glaring neon sign that says "Track Packages Here"? Strangers things have happened. :)
Sorry—I totally forgot to answer that question among the many! The tracking number *should* show up in your order history. It clearly isn't there, though—we're looking into it.
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Sorry—I totally forgot to answer that question among the many! The tracking number *should* show up in your order history. It clearly isn't there, though—we're looking into it.
Is it supposed to show in the order history? I'm not sure that it's ever shown in mine. I just checked it and it definitely does not show for my orders as well.
Sorry—I totally forgot to answer that question among the many! The tracking number *should* show up in your order history. It clearly isn't there, though—we're looking into it.Is it supposed to show in the order history? I'm not sure that it's ever shown in mine. I just checked it and it definitely does not show for my orders as well.
I've never been able to find mine on Paizo either. I've always used the direct link to UPS in the shipping e-mail.
I've never been able to find mine on Paizo either. I've always used the direct link to UPS in the shipping e-mail.
Just letting you know it's a pervasive issue and not necessarily limited to the above posters' accounts, since it's always been the same way for me. I wasn't aware it was intended to be available outside of the email.
On a related note, the preferred shipping method can be changed in subscriptions, but not at the individual order level. I've had a few things go out postal service (I guess they're "sidecart" items--something that was supposed to go out in a shipment but was late to the warehouse? [Seekers of Secrets went out like that]), even though my preferred subscription method is UPS ground, and have been unable to change the shipping method prior to shipping outside of customer support help.
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I've never been able to find mine on Paizo either. I've always used the direct link to UPS in the shipping e-mail.Just letting you know it's a pervasive issue and not necessarily limited to the above posters' accounts, since it's always been the same way for me. I wasn't aware it was intended to be available outside of the email.
Yeah, it's been that way since Gencon 08 or so.... I've brought it up to Cosmo before, but I think it fell through the cracks in the mighty list that Gary and Ross have to complete.
UPS tracking numbers and the most recent delivery status are now available on your order history page.
Round of Applause for Gary! Not only is my tracking information on my order page now, but the PfRPG Compatible logo is no longer making IE suspicious. I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease. :)
I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease. :)
One time, the wheel was squeaking because it was on fire... the grease did nothing to rectify the situation.
Unfortunately, it was the only wheel in existence at the time, so the wheel had to be reinvented.