My order shipped.
Now I wait for the books.
Auth'd on the 4th, still waiting for shipping here. Checking my email every ten minutes since work is slow.
I am so excited to get my hands on the LOAG.
Auth'd on the 4th, still waiting for shipping here. Checking my email every ten minutes since work is slow.
I am so excited to get my hands on the LOAG.
Very early in the shipping cycle. Very few have had theirs shipped yet. But I'm right there with you. Like every time. I am really impatient for Pathfinder books...
I'm waiting too, heh, chomping at the bit to have it.
I got my shipping notice! I can't recall the last time I was this early.
Now the dilemma of Abomination Vaults book 2 or Ancestry Guide...which to read first.
I'm really excited for when I get my shipping notice. My group has a new campaign starting after we get this book. It can't come fast enough and I can't stop refreshing all pages related to this.
How long does it usually take to ship all the subscriptions?
•Begin Shipping Estimate: Monday, February 8th
•End Shipping Estimate: Friday, February 19th
So about 11 days.
I be patiently waiting for mine. Oh great Paizo... Taketh thy Moneyz and ship so I shall have reading materials while I quarantine from Covid.
Is the order they ship random or is it the same every month? If I shipped on the last day of shipping for January should I expect the same thing going forward?
I want to guess it depends on the order numbers.
Mine is 36352720, I dunno what the numbers of people that already got theirs are, but I was hoping since I auth'd on day 1 of authorization spawning I'd get my shipment week 1 of shipping, but it's looking likely I'm waiting some more. :c
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Is the order they ship random or is it the same every month? If I shipped on the last day of shipping for January should I expect the same thing going forward?I want to guess it depends on the order numbers.
Mine is 36352720, I dunno what the numbers of people that already got theirs are, but I was hoping since I auth'd on day 1 of authorization spawning I'd get my shipment week 1 of shipping, but it's looking likely I'm waiting some more. :c
According to Paizo shipping is based on grouping like shipments together to do them faster. And nothing to do with the order number.
According to Paizo shipping is based on grouping like shipments together to do them faster. And nothing to do with the order number.Is the order they ship random or is it the same every month? If I shipped on the last day of shipping for January should I expect the same thing going forward?I want to guess it depends on the order numbers.
Mine is 36352720, I dunno what the numbers of people that already got theirs are, but I was hoping since I auth'd on day 1 of authorization spawning I'd get my shipment week 1 of shipping, but it's looking likely I'm waiting some more. :c
Interesting, thank you!
I guess my two-book order is more unique than I thought.
I wish they would just charge me when they created the order and let us have the pdf's on that date. Just make an announcent that all changes to subscriptions must be made before a certain date.
Same, tbh. Last month, my stuff didn't ship until after the street date, so I was digging in after non-sub friends already had their copies.
I wouldn't even mind if it was "We'll release all PDFs" on the last estimated shipping date.
As I recall, they strongly prefer to wait to release PDFs until both sides are committed (they can no longer stop the shipment, and you can no longer cancel the order).
Of course, exceptions are possible, as happened once last year when shipping took much longer than expected and they released the PDFs for people who were still waiting for PDFs several days after the street date.
Of course, I suppose it would be possible to release the PDFs as soon as shipping begins if they could be sure that customers would accept that any refunds on a canceled subscription order would be reduced by the combined prices of the granted PDFs.
As I recall, they strongly prefer to wait to release PDFs until both sides are committed (they can no longer stop the shipment, and you can no longer cancel the order).Of course, exceptions are possible, as happened once last year when shipping took much longer than expected and they released the PDFs for people who were still waiting for PDFs several days after the street date.
Of course, I suppose it would be possible to release the PDFs as soon as shipping begins if they could be sure that customers would accept that any refunds on a canceled subscription order would be reduced by the combined prices of the granted PDFs.
I would 100% be fine with being charged when the order authorized, having the PDF, and waiting for shipping.
I tend to read the PDFs here at work to make the days go by, rather slow lately here.
Yeah. The current system is fine. It's just disheartening. I'm sure it's not uncommon but I know that any shipment I have that includes a Lost Omens or rulebook will take generally a week longer at least to get to me in the queue than if it were just an AP entry.
It's just no fun for anyone to see folks on here and elsewhere having their files a week or two before you get them.
Yeah. The current system is fine. It's just disheartening. I'm sure it's not uncommon but I know that any shipment I have that includes a Lost Omens or rulebook will take generally a week longer at least to get to me in the queue than if it were just an AP entry.
It's just no fun for anyone to see folks on here and elsewhere having their files a week or two before you get them.
It does sting a bit when you're getting it rather late in the shipping window often. Last month was a great surprise for me when I got mine earlier. This one looks like it's going back to my usual expectation, getting it near the end.
It's just no fun for anyone to see folks on here and elsewhere having their files a week or two before you get them.How do you think the people without subscriptions feel? :3
Maybe like there is a further step they could take if they wanted PDFs sooner? :P
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Is the order they ship random or is it the same every month? If I shipped on the last day of shipping for January should I expect the same thing going forward?
It varies a lot (even if you keep things the same).
There are essentially three “streams” of orders going out in this shipping window:
1. Subscribers who can be easily batched together because they’re all getting the same items
2. Subscribers who are unique because they’ve added other items, merged orders, or just have very niche tastes
3. Non subscribers who have placed orders or preorders
Paizo’s shipping algorithm sorts everyone into these three pools then generates a packing order based on getting everything out the door in as short a time as possible. The idea is to create the most efficient overall rather than to be “fair” to any specific situation, so it is possible to have an extraordinary run of bad luck and go nine, ten or even more months in a row near the end of the queue.
One of the nods to fairness they make is that the order isn’t the same each month - so there’s no subscription combination you can pick such that you’ll always go first. They don’t want to create a privileged class of subscriber, nor do they want to incentivise “gaming the system”.
The problem with charging everyone and granting PDFs early is that it violates their agreements with credit card companies. Although many suppliers ignore this, Paizo are obligated to ship your product within 48 hours (or similar, 72 maybe?) of raising a charge on your card. It’s physically impossible to do that given the size of their monthly run. So they wait until your order comes up, charge you then and gift the PDF at the same time.
They could restructure everything - bill us all a reduced rate for the PDF, then bill us a “catch-up” amount for the book and shipping. This would lead to a number of additional CS queries - both from new people querying what was going on, people getting the PDF and then deciding they don’t want the hardcopy. People who had the PDF charge go through, but who then didn’t have credit to cover the rest...
And finally - an enormous issue when Paizo began trading was pushback from FLGSes. The free PDF was a huge deal for them - the way gaming stores often work is to order a large number of books on release knowing that the “keen beans” will snap up the book on release (hopefully covering the cost of the consignment). The rest of the shipment then sits there to bring in profit slowly over time. The view was that by offering PDFs early, Paizo were siphoning off the keen buyers and this had the effect of flattening the curve, so it was a far bigger burden to carry Paizo books, since it took longer to cover costs.
The “get your PDF when it ships” policy is kind of a compromise - they provide a perk to subscribers in the form of a free digital copy, but in theory don’t eat into the market share as much (because the high cost of shipping from Paizo is comparable to the price of the PDFs anyhow. You’re probably fine to buy the book at a FLGS and buy the PDF here rather than subscribe.
Ultimately, Paizo have a lot of stakeholders - it seems like we subscribers are the important ones, but FLGSes provide a huge marketing/exposure for bringing in new people, so it’s important to consider them as well when drafting these policies.
(Albeit that’s all close to fifteen years old analysis, so things are obviously different. Nonetheless, that’s at least some of the reasoning behind why it is the way it is now).
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It's just no fun for anyone to see folks on here and elsewhere having their files a week or two before you get them.How do you think the people without subscriptions feel? :3
Heavier in the wallet.
Looks like a batch went out today! Just got my PDFs!
Still Pending. When do the shipping batches come out every day?
Still Pending. When do the shipping batches come out every day?
Nevermind just got it.
Woo! Shipping email as of an hour ago. Zergtitan and I must be getting the same stuff ;-)
Got my shipping email yesterday. So where's my stuff? :-)
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Got my shipping email yesterday. So where's my stuff? :-)
Well, if it's anything like mine, it'll be in Fife, WA for the next eight days, at which point it'll show up at my house in Boston, and the day after that the tracking will update to show it arrived. Gotta love tracking ;-)
Ain't that the truth. ;-)
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My 7 books haven't shipped yet. It's been more than one week since the order completed. Is that normal?
I'm not sure what "normal" looks like anymore. :) This is the second time in three months that my subscription shipment has vanished off the radar for over a week once it left Paizo. Such are the times we're living in. Just try to be patient (as difficult as I know that can be) and they will get you fixed up.
Mine was shipped Tuesday 2/16 and the UPS MI tracking page still says there's no tracking info available yet.
Mine is the same. UPS has been pretty suspect since Covid. I figure I would give it the normal time it takes to get to me and if I don't get it in two weeks I'll reach out to CS.
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If it was late as in after subscriptions started then it’s likely to wait until next month. You can probably kick it along earlier, but you’ll need customer service help.
I’d start a new thread in this forum with the order number and ask them to look into it for you.
Magic!
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My order shipped out on February 16th, but no tracking info has shown up yet, and the package hasn't arrived. The same thing happened in both December and January, though the packages that month showed up only a day after street date. (Both mail and UPS have already delivered today, so it looks like it will be Monday at the earliest for this one)
I'm posting this so others don't get too alarmed. I figure if it doesn't show up by Wednesday of next week then I'll create a thread with customer service down below.
For those of you more familiar with the distribution habits of UPS and USPS, is this likely more of a regional issue? I'm in the Northeast Ohio area, and I've been sending out and receiving packages constantly through both carriers multiple times a month, and I've rarely had an issue. Most recently, packages from California, Florida, Georgia, and the frozen tundra of Houston, Texas arrived within their normal time. Admittedly, I don't know what the weather has been up in the Seattle/Paizo area, so if it has been bad it definitely makes sense things would be extra slow. My Paizo orders are the only things I receive on a regular basis from that area, so I really can't compare it to anything else up there.
Alternatively, is it just a change in shipping practices from Paizo? In reality it's not much different from the previous norm. The only major difference is that previously my Paizo order would show up on the Paizo & carrier websites a day after shipment, respectively, but then just show the package sitting at one facility--sometimes for a week or so--until just a few days before street release date, when it would then come hurtling east at rapid speed and end up on my doorstep within a 3-day window of official release date. So the reality seems to be nothing much has changed except for the tracking information.
Customer Service & Community Manager
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Folks, it is looking more and more like a number of orders that were shipping out via Standard Post (Mail Innovations) and were processed for shipping around February 16th & 17th have not been updated with tracking information either at all or until very recently.
Over the last couple months there have been a number of issues affecting all of the US's postal and package shipment services including inclement weather, increased demand, pandemic related delays, and more.
If you are missing a package that was processed for shipping around Mid-February and the tracking has not updated, please give it a little bit of extra time before contacting customer service. We will absolutely help customers who's packages go missing, but at this time, we suspect we have a number of packages that are just missing their scans and/or delayed.
The typical estimate for domestic standard shipping is 4-8 business days. The way this shipping method works is that UPS Mail Innovations picks up the packages, and brings them to their processing facilities. They handle the logistics of getting packages closer to their destination before handing them over to the US postal service. 4-8 business days from February 16th is today, February 26th. We would ask that if you are missing your packages shipped around then, and the tracking has not yet shown up that you give them an extra week, until March 5th.
If the packages or the tracking has not shown up by March 5th, please let us know!
If you have anecdotal evidence about packages shipped this way during this time that have arrived or had tracking kick in late, you can add them to the thread I created here: Mid February US Domestic Orders Shipping Standard Post / Mail Innovations
Thanks,
sara marie
Wow, thanks for all that! It's extremely helpful information, both for this current time period and just in general.
More than anything, thanks for providing a solid date for which we should wait before reaching out. It will help us customers differentiate between real concern and just the frustration of recent carrier silliness, while (hopefully) preventing a blast of customer complaints in the next couple days.