

Kickstarter Fulfillment & Product: A story of dogfood and data validation - mecredis
http://fredbenenson.com/blog/2012/07/23/kickstarter-fulfillment-and-product-development-a-story-of-dogfood-and-data-validation/

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aristus
They seriously had not heard of the leading zero zip code problem until now?

Fulfillment is KS's big hole, and an opportunity for them to make even more
from projects as an optional service. I have done this kind of stuff before so
was able to plan my mailing week fairly well, and KS do have a good list of
tips on the site.

But too many projects crash on these rocks. Sourcing, packing, and shipping
are hard work and can be a distraction from the real goal, which is whatever
it is you just got paid to make.

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sp332
_They seriously had not heard of the leading zero zip code problem until now?_

The bold print blames Google Docs or Excel for interpreting the ZIP as a
number and dropping the leading 0. You can fix this in Excel by right-clicking
the column, choosing "Format Cell" then under the Special section click Zip
Code. You can even do this after you've pasted the data. In Google Docs you
have to select the column and change the type to Plain Text before you paste
the data. Either way not too hard to fix.

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ROFISH
Fulfillment is really complex. I work for Fangamer, who is shipping the Double
Fine Adventure posters and shirts. We built out our own tech to get postage
printed (and confirmation emails, accounting handled, etc.) to be able to ship
everything. It's been a project to ship ~13k items.

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moge
This article had a ton of great minutia in it so thanks for that! Many times
people gloss over the fine detail which is really the important stuff.

Question: Bringing in $3600 and only profiting $400; was the whole thing worth
it in the end?

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gsiener
I'd say so. Considering lots of creative endeavors end up a big loss, even
breaking even is a great accomplishment.

