This past month has been the longest of the cart making journey that began over eight months ago. By that I mean it's been the slowest in terms of creating, selling, or making a difference to our customers. To use a phrase that's never been more applicable to me, this is where the 'rubber meets the road', and unfortunately our rubber wheels are still in boxes.
I prefer to write about Harvest Made and the cart with a positive tone, and ultimately I know the outcome will be very positive indeed. What's got me feeling blue is this important milestone, the first of many in our adventures, has slipped a few times and left our customers waiting. Everything we needed - parts, machines, capacity, money, thank you letters, technology - is basically ready to go. We just can't put it all together yet.
Customers who pre-ordered their carts should be cruising around at their farmers markets with their fresh new Harvest Made Market Carts, enjoying Spring and the dawn of a post-covid world. But right now our world is still very much impacted by Covid. Parts that were backordered were then cancelled, machines that were delivered and calibrated are now missing tolerances, lumber prices are soaring.
One of the leading indicators of our economy is manufacturing. Machine shops are bustling with activity, suppliers can't keep up, the demand for goods is far outpacing production capacity. This is good news for some people, but bad for small players like us where inventing something new is often second fiddle to firms that are scaling simply to meet demand.
At least now we have everything we need and know how to do it. The special CNC machine we so longingly waited for is just not giving us the right cut, and the next step is to have someone else cut the pieces. And unfortunately we have to wait in line a bit because machines are not sitting idle.
For everyone on the pre-order list, your carts are secured and I cannot wait to send you the most beautiful, practical market carts imaginable. The prototypes are stunning and everyone who's seen or got their hands on one is in love.
Our next steps are attainable, the finish-line is within reach, and we are moving in the right direction.
Thank you, thank you, for your support and patience. I'll update again when everything is ready to ship.
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