08:04 – With a week left until Christmas, today is likely to be a relatively heavy day for kit orders. We’ve already shipped two chemistry kits this morning to fill overnight orders, and I expect we’ll have several more orders today.
I spent some time yesterday prototyping an LK01 Life Science Kit, to make sure it’d fit in the box we intend to use for shipping. It does, with a bit of room to spare. The kit contents aren’t finalized yet and won’t be until I finish writing the manual, but any changes shouldn’t affect it fitting in the box.
08:45 – The doorbell rang just as I was getting ready to take Colin out. It was Danny Hughes, our mailman, ringing to pick up the two science kits I had ready. This time of year, the mail and package volume is so high that they make two rounds of their routes per day instead of one. Otherwise, all the mail wouldn’t fit on the truck. On the first round, they deliver packages and pick up any outgoing mail and packages from addresses that get a delivery. Second round is normal delivery and pickup.
As I handed Danny the boxes, I mentioned that I was telling people to allow an extra day for delivery, but I was still afraid I was going to disappoint a kid whose kit hadn’t arrived by Christmas. Danny said the whole USPS goes all out to get packages delivered in time for Christmas. Next Monday, they’ll be working a lot of overtime, making multiple runs, and trying their best to get anything that even looks like it might be a Christmas gift delivered. They’ll even have people out delivering last-minute packages on Christmas morning.
13:16 – Ruh-roh. As of now, we’re down to the number of chemistry kits you can count on one finger. Fortunately, we’re in better shape on biology kits. We have twice as many of those in stock. I’m almost afraid to check my email, in case there’re orders waiting. I guess I’d better go assemble more kits.