Greetings!
Welcome to the October 2021 newsletter...we hope this email finds you healthy and doing very well! Hard to believe, but we are now in the final quarter of 2021...seems like only a short time ago we began 2021...in hopes of a rebound year following the year of COVID.
Our offices are closed through Wednesday, October 6 as we sneak away to spend a little family time before the holidays rush in and the associated busyness inevitably takes over. As I write this, I can't help but to be especially thankful to all of you...because without you, Fire Replicas would not be in its 7th year and approaching its 400th release. I realize the past two years especially, have been full of trials for many of you. So the least we can do is express a heartfelt 'thank you' and tell you that we are sincere when we say 'we hope this email finds you doing well.'
Like most businesses, we have been affected by the ongoing shipping crisis in our country. Although our factory continues to complete and ship all of our projects on time, it is only a guess as to how long it will take for "our ships to come in." As I looked yesterday, our freight forwarder reports 72 vessels anchored in the Port of LA/Long Beach. It is unprecedented and one could only hope that it can't get any worse. Other Ports have far fewer anchored vessels, but switching to those ports of entry might add additional delays and complications that would negate any time savings. So we'll continue to release new projects as they leave our factory, but thank you in advance for your patience as the wait time continues to be ambiguous.
Speaking of our factory, last month we completed a move to a larger facility and the transition proved to be a smooth one. In our factory, a couple of other lines of scale models are produced, the largest being the MR line of Ferrari replicas...so the extra space is welcomed as both our respective businesses have experienced growth over the past years.
This month will be a bit out of character as we are still working out our release schedule and exact dates are still unknown. It is interesting that before the pandemic, we could forecast exact release dates a full quarter in advance. This October, we are unable to even look ahead 2 weeks with assurance. The reason, is we have several shipments in the Port of LA...and we are not able to be certain which ones will unload first to continue their journey to our Memphis, TN office. Sometimes these vessels unload "out of order" and therefore we must wait for the magical email confirming the contents of our next delivery.
The new announcements for the remainder of this month will include various 2010 FDNY Tower Ladders and the 137' E-One Aerial Tower 8 for Chicago.
Read on for updates on best sellers, new arrivals, new releases and more.
And as always, thank you for being part of the elite group of Fire Replicas collectors.
Nicholas
