Updates . . .

I am back at work today, but I won’t kid you – to paraphrase W.C. Fields, “On the whole, I’d rather be in Florida.”  Since I’m not, on Saturday evening I planned the next best thing – a trip to Arizona to see my parents in about five weeks.  I’ll go hiking with Dad and take Mom to the Gaslight Theatre – if you ever go to Tucson, a trip to the Gaslight is simply required if you like goofy humor.  I was barely able to get tickets for one of the final performances of “The Belle of Tombstone.”

Now that I’m back, I was finally able to get updates on some of the new products and when we should expect them to arrive.  None of the news is good – everything has been delayed by the weather.  From what I read in the paper while I was gone, this is a common complaint in every industry.  And yes, many of you know that I am a dinosaur – I still start my day with the newspaper, though I have modernized somewhat so when USA Today isn’t available on the weekends when I’m traveling, I can read my local paper on my tablet.

Gary talked with Ranger on Friday and nothing has shipped yet, including the Distress Paints and Mini Distress Inkpads that were supposed to ship in January.  The past several weeks, snowstorms have closed Ranger more than it has been open – and I read an article in USA Today that said all of the New Jersey ports have closed each time a new snowstorm has rolled through.  So Ranger not only can’t ship, they can’t get their own shipments of supplies to make the new items.  They hope to start shipping later this week – realistically, that probably means next week.

Advantus (they make all of the Tim Holtz Idea-ology) is having similar problems – everything is delayed.  However, they still hope to get all of the February releases out before the end of the month.

Here’s one that surprised me – Zutter is based in California, but their new cling and magnetic storage systems and refills will ship from Chicago and get there by barge up the Mississippi River.  They finally arrived in Chicago on Friday (about two weeks late) and should start shipping later this week.

That’s all we know so far – as we learn more, I’ll pass it along.