Update: 7/2/2010
USPS - We have finally worked out our issues with the local USPS people (just flashed the TKK badge) and everything is moving smoothly again. If you notice any additional problems, please let us know. But we should be good now.
Utah People - Please notice that we're shipping from Texas now. Stuff won't be coming as quickly. On an upnote, you don't have to pay Sales Tax anymore.
Texas People - Please notice that we're shipping from Texas now. Stuff will be coming more quickly. On a down note, you have to pay Sales Tax now.
Party People - We have been getting a lot of love from Austin, and a few requests for banner ads linking to local music events and what not (live music is kind of a big thing out here). I've always hated banner ads, I don't care if they make money or not. But in the near future we'll be doing advertising on the site on a very limited basis. It will ONLY be for non-profit groups/etc. We won't be selling ad space, and you can't buy it. More news to come.
New Staff - Please to be welcoming Jeff to our staff. He's not going to be here forever and his helping (a great deal) with the transition.
Office Decorating - We'll post something about this later, but here's the basic idea. In our Utah office we had an entire wall filled with emails from people (names/emails removed just in case). Letters, pictures, thank you cards, you name it. It was the wall we used in case we were having a bad day dealing with USPS or Hurricane Alex and need a reminder of why we do what we do. And why it's not just a job. And why it's not just business. Unfortunately said wall postings were lost in the move apparently. So, we were thinking of starting a new wall. And instead of emails, doing pictures. Pictures of you guys.
You don't have to take a picture just for us, and we don't want a picture for advertising purposes. I solemnly swear on everything that we have, that any pictures sent to us (whether solicited or not) will NEVER be used for anything other than going on our Wall. No scanning, no advertising, no anything. Just a wall reminding us of who it is we work for. We won't attach it to anybody's name or location. If it's emailed, we'll print it and delete the email. If it's snail mailed, we'll leave it as is and won't scan it. It doesn't even have to be a picture of you guys. Maybe your dog or something. Use your imagination. I know, it's not for everybody, which is fine too. Just thought we'd throw that out there.
New Contact Info - Our mailing address and phone numbers have changed. They are now:
888-KRATOM1 (That's the same) for our main phone number.
512-266-9201 (Fax only. It's actually a dedicated fax line. Movin' on up)
And last but not least, our mailing address is:
2303 RR 620 S Ste 135
PMB 273
Lakeway, TX 78734
Thanks again for your patience. We're almost there!
Original Posting:
Okay, things haven't been going as smoothly as I had hoped with this move, and I have some 'splaining to do. Granted, I should have done this earlier and saved us all some headaches. Lesson learned. Here are the biggest points I want to get out there and answers to the most common questions we're getting.
Q: Did you guys sell your company?
A: No. The company has not changed hands. We simply moved to Texas.
Q: Why Texas? It's hot! It has giant bugs! It's <fill in the blank>!
A: All very true. But we had our reasons and are very happy with the Austin area. Please don't bother sending us emails telling us that you hate Texas for whatever reason. We already signed a lease.
Q: What happened to Anastasia, Jenn, et al?
A: We had a whole crew of great, dedicated employees in Utah and I will be forever grateful to them. Unfortunately though, they each have extensive networks of friends and family where they are now, and picking up and moving their lives to Texas didn't sound like the best idea. I completely understand that, wish them all well and I miss them horribly already.
Q: What about new staff?
A: Say Hi to Kathy. She used to be in charge of our eBay sales (back when eBay allowed that
kind of thing). We started talks with her since she had lived in Texas before and she ended up moving her whole family to start her new position with the company. For those of you who have dealt with her in the past, you probably already know everything will be just fine under her management. For those of you who have NOT dealt with her in the past - Everything will be just fine under her management. But she IS still getting the hang of things (was kind of thrown into the deep end). If she doesn't know everything off the top of her head like the old staff did, that's because the old staff had years of experience under their belts. She's already doing amazingly well and we're glad to have her.
Q: What's the deal with disruptions, etc. as of late?
A: Unfortunately, when you lose all your employees who don't want to move, you're forced to find new ones. And we have a proud history of just not picking anybody of the street at random. We want to make sure we get the RIGHT people in here. We are currently about to do the next round of hiring and will have additional staff to introduce very soon.
But until they are in place, things are a bit hectic around the new offices. With the move, and everything else, we're running with a skeleton crew. So if you have called or sent emails and are waiting for an answer, please be patient. We're not ignoring you on purpose and we will get to you, I promise.
Q: What's up with USPS shipping?
A: I kind of took for granted the relationship we had with our shippers in Utah. We had dealt with
them for so long that we turned into a bit of clockwork. They knew what we needed to get done, we knew how to help them get it done, everybody was happy. When we moved to Texas, we were in for a bit of a surprise. While everybody here is very nice, they don't know us. So they don't understand our volume, or schedule or anything else. And we don't understand how they want to do things, which is remarkably different than we are used to. So we are working with them to get everything moving just as smoothly (if not more so) as it was in Utah. Until then, rest assured your shipments ARE going out. Again, thank you for your patience.
Q: What's up with the new cutoff time?
A: Short answer is that if we kept the same shipping time for now, we'd technically be extending our
shipping time by an hour. And with a skeleton crew going crazy to keep everything going, that's not the greatest idea. But I promise that very soon we'll go back to the regular cutoff, maybe even a later one. I know it was kind of sprung on you, but it was a last minute decision. No excuse, just an explanation.
Q: What's up with Top Shelf Thai?
A: The supply is gone. I don't think we're getting it back. However, we WILL be getting some new items once we're all settled. We do have a couple of bags of Top Shelf Thai left which we may use for a charity auction or prizes or something.
Q: When I got my package it had a paper label that was taped to the package instead of the regular one, what gives?
A: Supplies are limited and we didn't have a label printer there for a while. We do now, so everything on that end is back to normal.
Q: Where are the capsules?
A: In transit. We used data to guess how many of different items we'd need on hand while the movers were shipping our stuff here. A sudden rush wiped out our stock of a lot of things (including capsules). Once the movers get here next week, we'll be good to go. It's coming back, don't worry. Thanks for your patience.
Q: I've been a customer for a long time. Will that get me better customer service?
A: I can understand why it might seem like somebody who has been ordering with us for four years might have more "pull" than somebody who just placed their first order, but I promise you that's not the case. Rest assured neither is being ignored at all.
Whether it's the right thing to do or not, it's what we do. And it's the way we will always do things. While we appreciate our long time customers more than we can say (and offer discounts to them, there will also be additional discounts coming based on new criteria), we don't think it's fair to have them get priority in customer service. We believe every customer is due the exact same level of service, whether it's their first time or their tenth. While it may not seem like that bar is really high right now for some of you, I promise you that it is as high as ever. Having anything fall under that bar right now is literally making us ill and we are doing everything in our power to get everything back up to speed.
In the end, I promise you that VERY soon we will be better than ever. And until then, we truly appreciate your patience with everything. | 
