A Thousand Little Thoughts

Designing Obama is Kickstarter's current gem, as well it should be, with over $80,000 in grassroots funding - but with yesterday's post about paying more for shipping, slipped into the middle paragraph, the villagers are rioting.

Andrew Stott says: Sorry, I'm confused.

In your post on 9/22 you mentioned that you are "including ground shipping costs for domestic orders." Is the shipping cost actually included in our original pledge, or are you saying we now have to purchase shipping via the above link?

Scott says that the team is investigating cheaper shipping options for all, which is a step in the right direction.

Andrew Stott points out, we were told the pledge would cover the cost of getting the book to our door. Adding surprise additional funding of 24% domestic and 72% international leaves a bad taste.

Assuming shipping must be charged, shipping was calculated citing domestic costs between $9-12, and international between $27-36. However, set costs of $12 and $36 are given. Why not $10.50 and $31.50 - the real averages? Another bad taste.

I'm also surprised that the book is now "on sale." It was my (possibly incorrect) understanding that this was a limited edition printing, and you had to pledge through Kickstarter. Knowing that it will be mass produced makes the book feel less special to me.

The team is now researching additional methods and has refunded shipping payments. Here's to hoping a happy compromise between shipping costs, profit, and book quality can be found.

Update 11/19/09 - I wanted to add to a comment I keep seeing in the Kickstarter updates:

Although I've been critical of the shipping situation, I wanted to touch on something I keep seeing.

People keep saying to use the "extra" money raised. That isn't "extra" money - those are just more people and books to be made. It's not as if they are making 1,000 books and raised $20,000 more than they needed.