The Problem of the Queue

I’ve decided to make some changes in the way obtaining Zugster bags works. Up until now I’ve been taking names down on a waiting list/build queue. And if everyone on the list followed through with an order, at the present rate it would take me somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 years to work through that list.

Which, frankly, is kinda ridiculous. It creates an impression that the bags are made of Unobtanium (they’re not – they’re mostly made of Cordura™) and if you put your name down now, are you even going to remember you did so in 4 years? The reality is that I spend a lot of time managing that queue, and with the day job increasingly taking up hours that I used to be able to spend sewing, that means overhead goes up relative to production. In fact, at times I’ve spent more time tracking people down, getting all the details of orders, responding to requests to order things I don’t make, etc… than I have sewing! And it’s never even – often times people don’t respond, or go through the whole bag design process only to disappear before finalizing the order. This is frustrating to me, and I’m sure to the people further down the queue who may have all the details worked out already.

This problem isn’t unique to custom bags – Mike Flanigan (of the fantastic A.N.T. Bicycles) has talked about this issue in the past with regards to his fabulous custom bicycles. To those of you who’ve been patient through periods of erratic email response, I thank you for your patience!

When I opened up the queue, I decided not to take deposits – in part because I didn’t want to take people’s money so far in advance of delivery, which I’m sure contributed to the size of the queue – with no obligation, there’s no reason not to put your name down.

So, effectively immediately I’ll be finishing up the few custom orders that are currently in progress, and then I’ll be putting the custom-ordered Zugster queue on hold indefinitely.

What next?

This doesn’t mean the end of Zugster. On the contrary! This summer will see a large batch of stock bags becoming available. I’ll be turning my attention to limited-run batches of stock bags that have been cooking in my head for a while. Many of you may have seen the waxed canvas and leather satchel that I made 7 months ago. Well, I’ve been using that bag almost every day, and I’ve been happy enough with it to finalize an improved pattern for it and design a Cordura™ version as well. That will be available soon in both a Cordura™ and leather/waxed canvas versions. It will be replacing the existing Walkabout design.

Thanks to the magic of technologies like 3G and Square I may even try selling bags at events in San Francisco. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m sorry for everyone who got in the queue who may be disappointed by this news. On the other hand, you might get one sooner than 4 years now :-)

Thanks for your interest over the last year,
Adam