Greeting from Spain
It's all go at AW! So much drama at AW. So much to report this week . Lots of happenings involving.. heroes, hiccups and hope - I have no idea where to start.
But first if you missed last week's newsletter about two grand announcements - an anniversary and a christening - you can read it here.
And our special Monday newsletter - 25 reasons to be Cheerful - you can read that here.
I'd just like to thank the hundreds of people who took the time to write congratulations to us for being 25 years old, and to Ben in Ireland for naming our new warehouse.
You are truly an amazing bunch of people, at AW we are proud to be part of this giftware..erm.. what are we? a club? a cult - heaven forbid?.. community I suppose but that word is too dry.
Lets use Ben's word; Affinity, when people have an affinity that's when they come together with a common purpose. So we are so happy to call our new distribution and HQ site in Sheffield - Affinity Park.
If you are new to this newsletter - I have been writing it every Friday, from wherever I happen to be.. for over nine years.. the first was from Thailand during Chinese New Year 2011.. You can scan a selection of old blogs here.Over 66,000 people subscribe to this newsletter, all customers and fellow giftware traders - Here I tell you the trade secrets, the gossips, the adventures and mishaps. You will meet Ringo our agent in Indonesia, Mr Chatterjee our man in India. Coco our agent in China.. and of course Tomas (product and marketing wizard), Raul (IT wizard), Katka and the whole team from the UK. Join me as I travel and work.. and feel free to email me your ideas and suggestions, over the years the readers of this blog have really shaped the direction AW has taken.
So here's a roundup of happenings at AW.
1. Katka and the lease of Affinity Park
This is more complicated than Brexit, if you have been following the story you might just follow this. So we are in a warehouse that is being bought and will be rented to us by an American investment fund, they are buying the warehouse from an aerospace company for almost £8 million. That process is long and complicated, so we persuaded the nice people (who are selling it) to let us occupy the warehouse in the interim on a license.. So it's like a three way negotiation that has to conclude at a moment in time. Three sets of lawyers, a stressed out aerospace company, an American investment fund and a bunch of Yorkshire hippies selling incense and Buddah statues. I'm spending half the day juggling issues between them.
Katka is due to meet the lawyer and sign (on behalf) of AW the lease today. Early next week the property will be sold to the Americans.. and Affinity will be officially our home for the next 10 years.
2. Ringo is too hot in Bali, Indonesia
So we gave our Indonsian agent a huge purchase order, so he has heaps of work to do. Only problem he has is it's unbearably hot there, they are sweating. I miss that heat.
But I also learned that it is possible to get a business visa and travel via Jakarta back to Bali. There are rumours that the international airport in Bali might reopen in December, with strict double testing on departure and arrival to prevent covid coming. So a glimmer of hope. Ringo also need's a bigger warehouse.. I asked him to look into taking on the one next door, it's been empty a longtime.
3. Coco's heroic idea and containers..
A couple of weeks ago I was telling you about the stress Bryant (our import manager) is having booking containers. And it's getting worse.. you might have seen the BBC reports. Even before Brexit, Felixtow port is in meltdown. There is a massive shortage of ships, but a thousand containers of PPE equipment getting priority, and half the workforce off isolating or down with covid. We are booking containers one day, and them just not turning up or getting cancelled the next.
But Coco, our China agent, came up with a partial solution.. Instead of us being the shipper, she could do that from her end, and being close to action to find and book herself. She managed to book four containers yesterday and is loading the first today. So well done, but we still have to get them into the UK. Stand by for huge shortages of stock in the coming months.
Coco is also looking for a new bigger warehouse, ours is being converted to apartments next year. More news on this to follow.
4. Dusan and the Beast.
The Beast from France is in full swing.. back in Parkwood, Sheffield our aromatics factory got the soap making machine (we bought it from a French guy). First day we made 750 Greenman soaps - but day by day production is increasing. So soon plenty of soap soon back in stock. We are recruiting staff like crazy for the factory.. We need at least six more people.
5. Matej, our man in Slovakia.
He is definitely the biggest AW Hero. He is the manager at our Slovakia distribution warehouse. In his younger days he was a professional tennis coach in New York, today he is batting problem shots back over the net one after the other. Last week, one of the warehouse staff came down with Covid, all the warehouse guys had to isolate. On that day a container arrived from Bali.. he unloaded with the help of one agency person. Normally a five man job.. and then went on to pick and pack orders.
This week most of the office staff got track and trace messages to isolate.. just two people left.. and yet Matej found solutions to get most of the orders out. So Love all to Matej.
I could go on and on.. more updates next week from around AW.
But the next big thing to focus on I suppose is Black Friday.. approaching fast. Are you loaded and ready to roll? Lots of major deals below.
I don't want to panic you but it's worth stocking up if possible .. there will (it's unavoidable) be stock shortages coming..
Thank you for your support (as always), for being part of the AW story.. and being part of the AW affinity..
I'd love to hear your AW story, how AW has been part of your life, and business.. Ben was kind enough to share his story. If you'd like to share yours please (if you have time) write to me.. directly if you like at david@ancientwisdom.biz, or reply to this email.
Special rewards to all those we reprint here, plus publicity, kudos, good karma and kindness points..
Take care..