Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

After working all weekend cataloging ponies, we had a lot to catch up on yesterday, along with getting all the weekend orders shipped. So, we didn't get any new ponies shipped. We're going to start shipping today, and we'll get as many out as we possibly can. We'll post a progress report tomorrow letting you know what percentage we've shipped.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

It wasn't easy, but somehow we did it. We finished cataloging all of the ponies yesterday. Along the way we found several more sets of twins, and at least two ponies with no issue numbers. We'll make those available for purchase in the store soon, or within the next couple weeks. We'll begin shipping the new releases today. I'm not sure how many we'll get through, because we've got the normal heavy weekend shipping to do first. We'll see what we can do. We'll post our progress tomorrow.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

After yesterday, we've finished cataloging 50% of the new herd of 8 ponies. This is the largest order we've ever received and it's not going as fast as we had hoped. We're short of warehouse space to complete the task efficiently. Still, we are making progress and we're going to attempt to finish the rest today. We'll see how it goes.

We found 8 sets of Dynasty Pony twins yesterday, and two Dynasty Ponies with no issue number. These finds are now running a little higher than normal. Look for our update tomorrow morning.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

Yesterday we completed cataloging 38% of the 8 new ponies. We're bringing in extra help for the weekend to make sure we get them all finished by Sunday. Interestingly, we have found three sets of twins thus far into the project. All three were Northern Lights. I suppose that number is about average considering the number of ponies we've cataloged so far. We'll post another update tomorrow morning.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

We completed cataloging of 25% of the new ponies yesterday. So, Stardust and Northern Lights are complete. We'll try to complete another 25% today. We still expect to start shipping on Monday. We believe we'll be able to finish cataloging the remainder of the ponies on Saturday and Sunday. Remember, this is only the first 8. The four Christmas ponies and all ornaments are not expected to be delivered to us until Mid-August. We'll post a progress report on this BLOG again tomorrow.

Summer Herd Progress Report!

We started out yesterday morning sorting cases of ponies to make our cataloging of issue numbers go a little easier. Once we finished sorting we began cataloging the first 2 of the 8 new ponies. They are packed 8 ponies to a case with 4 each of two different ponies in two of the cases and 2 each of four different ponies in one case. We started with one of the two packs containing Northern Lights and Stardust. We finished cataloging about 30% of those which is probably about 10% of the entire shipment. We expect to catalog the majority of the ponies on Saturday and Sunday and we are planning on having them all finished on Sunday. We'll post another progress report tomorrow.

The New Herd Has Arrived!

Last night at 6:00 PM MST our Yellow Freight truck backed up to the warehouse and we unloaded thousands of new ponies. Yellow Freight had called us yesterday asking if we'd be here to receive a late delivery, and we said bring it on! The ponies are in the warehouse, and today we begin the task of opening each box and recording the issue numbers. Once we get them all cataloged we can begin shipping them out in the order we received pre-orders. We'll be posting a progress report tomorrow morning to keep you up-to-date on how we're coming on cataloging. Yesterday's delivery was a pleasant surprise.

More Delays!

Our shipment of new ponies that was supposed to be delivered to Flagstaff yesterday, sat in Phoenix all day yesterday. When we tracked the shipment this morning, it now shows that it has left Phoenix this morning and is on it's way to Flagstaff "today". Barring any further delays it should hit our warehouse sometime tomorrow. Of course, it could be delayed again in Flagstaff. We're doing all we can to keep you up-to-date on what's happening, even though the news is not always what we would like. We'll be posting updates on this BLOG daily until your figurines are ready to ship to you. We apologize for these delays.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release Update!

We did a tracking on our shipment of the 10th release Painted Ponies herd today. We found that this morning our shipment was still in Phoenix. They are supposed to be on their way to Flagstaff today. Evidently, they have to go up to Flagstaff and then back down to us, in Sedona. So, we're hoping to receive them tomorrow. We'll be posting another update tomorrow, so keep watching!

New Herd - Late Breaking News!

We just received word from Westland that our summer 2007 ponies are, in fact, in route via Yellow Freight. Their ETA is Monday. If this works out, we'll begin cataloging ponies the moment they arrive, and we should be shipping them to our clients by the end of the week. Remember: This is only the first 8 figurines. Christmas ponies and all ornaments are not expected to be received until August 15th.

What do we mean by cataloging? We open each individual figurine, check and record the issue number so that our lowest issue numbers can be shipped to those people who have ordered from us first.

This is our largest pre-order ever, so we don't know exactly how long cataloging will take, we're estimating 3 to 4 days. Once cataloged we take each pre-order, in the order we received it, and start shipping out lowest issue numbers first. As far as we know, there is only one other company who actually checks the issue numbers. However; they check them so they can sell the low issue numbers for more money and, we believe, ship higher issue numbers to their pre-order clients. We believe your pre-order entitles you to low issue numbers. While our Westland sales representative tells us there are no guarantees on low issue numbers, we have made it clear that we expect past history to dictate future performance. Either way, your pre-order will get you the lowest issue numbers we receive.

Painted Ponies Summer 2007 Release.

Late yesterday morning, Wednesday July 18th, we received an email from Westland letting us know that our Summer 2007 ponies had been picked and were ready to be shipped to us. This shipment is only the 8 figurines, Christmas figurines and all ornaments are not expected to ship until mid-August. Once we got word that the ponies were ready to ship we scrambled to get bids from trucking companies to deliver the product to us. Yesterday afternoon arrangements were made and to the best of our knowledge the ponies were picked up from Westland and should be on there way to us.

It is important to note that most companies selling Painted Ponies don't order enough to ship by truck, they receive there merchandise UPS ground. We discovered early on that when our merchandise is delivered to us UPS ground many of the cartons are damaged. While the figurines are in good shape the collectors boxes are often crushed, dented or torn. We believe this is due to over handling of the cartons, from truck to conveyor belt to another truck and so on and so fourth until the product finally reaches us. By having our merchandise delivered by freight truck the product is handled only by Westland and us. Once the product is picked at Westland it is placed on pallets and shrink wrapped. It is loaded on to the truck and delivered direct to us with no additional handling. We believe that by doing things this way, you ultimately receive a better quality product. Sure, we love selling to you at the lowest available price, but that doesn't mean we're not constantly trying to improve on quality.

Once our shipment arrives we will be cataloging each figurine in preparation for sending your ponies to you with the lowest issue numbers going to the clients that ordered their ponies first. We do this because we know, that to many of our clients, low issue numbers are important. This additional service, not provided by our competitors, is our way of saying "thank you" for purchasing your ponies through us.

Retiring Ponies Announced!

Trail of Painted Ponies has just announced the retirement of six more ponies. If these aren't in your collection yet, you may want to pick them up now. Just retired are: Fallen Heroes Memorial Pony, Deck the Halls, Horsepower to Burn, Wilderness Roundup, Big Red, and American Dream Horse. Once Westland has cleared their warehouse these ponies will be gone for good. Other than what may be in production now, they won't be making any more of these.