The Grasshopper Shipping Poll

[vapviking]

I don't want to wait forever, and if realistically their shipping estimate holds true, I would order it today. But I don't want to wait a year.

Tough one.
Wait at least for the Mighty and the honeymoon before refocusing on this long shot! That will be a wonderful distraction from this VAS, even if temporary.

My guess is that your order today would ship sometime between what you'd be okay with (August) and a time you'd not (a year or forever, whichever is longer). Again, wait. Wait to see some better ramp up of production/shipping. As @Omphaloskeptic cautioned, look to their actions, not the words, and actions show that not one shipping estimate has held up yet.

The only thing that might be saved by ordering now is a little money; they probably will raise price at least one more time. These guys don't seem to be overly profit motivated, so I don't think they will set an unreasonable price, but I believe it will go up. There's some risk they'll eliminate the lifetime warranty, but I think that would take a sea change in thinking or cataclysmic product failure.

On the other hand, reliability should be steadily improving and that makes a good case for patience. Disclosure; I have some on order, but at lower price than available now, and I went in knowing it would likely be a long haul.

 

[Mr. Me2]

I don't want to wait forever, and if realistically their shipping estimate holds true, I would order it today. But I don't want to wait a year.

If you really don't want to wait and don't mind paying a retailer's markup and shipping, you can reach out to Vapefiend to see if they are expecting more. Then, if you beat the rush, you can get one reasonably soon (but they seem to sell out fast through Vapefiend).

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

I have confirmed with Vapefiend by email that they expect more hopper units in mid-June. Anyone serious about securing one through them should get on their hopper notification list. Just message through the website and ask.

 

[Shit Snacks]

I do not get it it I ordered 1/17/2015 ... I got my adress confirmation on the 28th april... but until now no shipping confirmation and I saw on reddit people who ordered after me ( for example 1/21/2015 getting their shipping confirmation... sorry I am frustrated....

Glad they finally got you that confirmation man, mine (1/15/15) are out for delivery today!

I have only seen Plain Ti, and SS confirms so far. You in either category?

And mine are SS and a Blue Ti too, so all types are shipping now. Love your avatar btw!

 

[seaofgreens]

So... Vapefiend is expected to receive more units next month when it looks/seems like they already sold more units than if they had bought every single retail backer kit sold? Yep, really seems like they are getting "put in their place."

 

[Hjalmark]

So... Vapefiend is expected to receive more units next month when it looks/seems like they already sold more units than if they had bought every single retail backer kit sold? Yep, really seems like they are getting "put in their place."

I hope that is his last kit because that puts me couple of weeks behind that but I dont believe that could happen so he most still have amounts in line like a batch off a 100 units every 2 months

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

So... Vapefiend is expected to receive more units next month when it looks/seems like they already sold more units than if they had bought every single retail backer kit sold? Yep, really seems like they are getting "put in their place."

This ground has been covered many, many times. Vapefiend likely added units to their backer order when given the same opportunity as everyone else at the time. This unwise loophole is now closed. They also may have placed additional preorders in January. No way to know this for sure. Vapefiend actually agreed to have their shipments staggered (i.e. delayed) to prevent holding up the queue indefinitely, so they aren't as evil as some seem to think. They aren't jumping the line, but actually the opposite.

Vapefiend is a business and as such is supposed to make a profit. Personally I place the blame on HL's policy of unlimited additions to orders-- they at least could have put a cap in place. Then again, they may have needed to allow as many additions as possible in order to provide cash flow to sustain operations. Nobody gets their hoppers if HL runs out of cash and closes their doors. Two sides every story.

 

[MoltenTiger]

I do not get it it I ordered 1/17/2015 ... I got my adress confirmation on the 28th april... but until now no shipping confirmation and I saw on reddit people who ordered after me ( for example 1/21/2015 getting their shipping confirmation... sorry I am frustrated....

I was looking at reddit earlier and I couldn't help but consider the possibility of them selecting address's with short delivery times (CONUS) and sending them confirmations to get an early start to their next shipping batch. There are many people on reddit keen to report their confirmations from this period, and it just didn't seem like the normal flood that came previously. They may still be sorting chargers or whatever, and in the coming week they must have freight/courier arriving to collect what should be thousands of units (550 units/week assembly capacity)....
Hopefully I'm off the mark here, but it's Sunday where I am, why would shipping confs. appear on a weekend (the earlier ones maybe made it in on Friday on further inspection)?

Another less spiteful guess could be that replies to the last batch of address confirmations shuffled the chronological order of the list.

Whatever the case, at least it'll be heading your way soon!

 

[btka]

I was looking at reddit earlier and I couldn't help but consider the possibility of them selecting address's with short delivery times (CONUS) and sending them confirmations to get an early start to their next shipping batch. There are many people on reddit keen to report their confirmations from this period, and it just didn't seem like the normal flood that came previously. They may still be sorting chargers or whatever, and in the coming week they must have freight/courier arriving to collect what should be thousands of units (550 units/week assembly capacity)....
Hopefully I'm off the mark here, but it's Sunday where I am, why would shipping confs. appear on a weekend (the earlier ones maybe made it in on Friday on further inspection)?

Another less spiteful guess could be that replies to the last batch of address confirmations shuffled the chronological order of the list.

Whatever the case, at least it'll be heading your way soon!

got my shipping confirmation after writing caroline... after few minutes she send me an e-mail with my tracking number... and following this tracking it got picked up the 20th friday... maybe she forgot to send me or it is talking a lot of time sending them also my name is not mentioned on the shipping conf. normally it start with Hi BTKA, ... my only says Hi,... if you take into consideration caroline have to fill this out with everybodies name and so on I can think that this also taking a lot of time ... but who knows...

 

[seaofgreens]

@Omphaloskeptic I'm sorry man, but they already have gotten/sold more than enough units to include plenty of post backing additions. This just seems overkill at this point.

 

[Shit Snacks]

Glad they finally got you that confirmation man, mine (1/15/15) are out for delivery today!



And mine are SS and a Blue Ti too, so all types are shipping now. Love your avatar btw!

They arrived a little while ago, if interested I'm back to the main thread again so no more purgatory for me!

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

@Omphaloskeptic I'm sorry man, but they already have gotten/sold more than enough units to include plenty of post backing additions. This just seems overkill at this point.

@seaofgreens, I'm a bit confused by your answer. Are you saying both HL and Vapefiend are lying about receiving hopper shipments out of order? I know HL has a tendency to stretch the truth, but complaints about Vapefiend are rare indeed.

Looking at Vapefiend's twitter page, they had grasshoppers available on 2/25 (SS), 3/17 (Ti), and 4/15 (SS). Their next announcement should come in 3-4 weeks. In each case they sold out in minutes, and each of these dates correspond to when individuals were receiving shipping announcements. It's possible I missed a date but I think that's it. Wondering whether you've found any information about number of units they shipped-- I've never seen any hard numbers.

I'm not trying to be a VF apologist, I'm in the US and have never used their site. I know we're all frustrated, but my opinion is that VF is not the source of the backlog we're now experiencing (16 months). Peace!

 

[newVaper420]

Ok I just placed my order for a Grasshopper. Estimated Ship Date: August 2016. I know I know, that may not happen. But I hope so. LOL :-)

I'm excited. Tomorrow I should get my Mighty and that should hold me over till I get this thing.

 

[Hjalmark]

Ok I just placed my order for a Grasshopper. Estimated Ship Date: August 2016. I know I know, that may not happen. But I hope so. LOL :-)

I'm excited. Tomorrow I should get my Mighty and that should hold me over till I get this thing.

ordered in (edit from "last march">)this March and got the same estimate or actually got pushed back to that

love the fact they say they pushed the dates back even more then they would need because they had such a good handle on the orders and just giving them self couple weeks of wiggle room

their wiggle room should have been 16 months not 6 weeks

 

[Delta3DStudios]

ordered in last March and got the same estimate or actually got pushed back to that

Wait, your estimated ship date got pushed back to August? I preordered mid March 2015 and mine still says May 2016 for estimated ship date

 

[Vaperist]

Nobody gets their hoppers if HL runs out of cash and closes their doors. Two sides every story.

i'm sure that it is no problem to get a loan for such a successful and popular product. but guess what, it is cheaper for HL to allow Vapefiend to add unlimited pre-orders and keep us waiting longer and longer. than to pay interest for that loan.

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Wait, your estimated ship date got pushed back to August? I preordered mid March 2015 and mine still says May 2016 for estimated ship date

@Hjalmark is March 2016.

i'm sure that it is no problem to get a loan for such a successful and popular product. but guess what, it is cheaper for HL to allow Vapefiend to add unlimited pre-orders and keep us waiting longer and longer. than to pay interest for that loan.

I'm not a big fan of online debating, but i wouldn't be so certain it's easy for them to get a loan. Banks often shy away from backing cannabis-related endeavors due to federal regulations. Not necessarily that they can't, but the banking industry is financially risk-averse. A thoretical HL interest rate might be higher to compensate for this, if they could actually get a loan.

A startup business like HL typically needs to watch their dollars very closely in order to stay afloat, especially when they are sourcing parts from so many suppliers. Given the choice between a bank loan and interest-free order money, they are likely to choose the latter. I'm not saying by any means this is the ethical choice, but many (most?) companies will choose fiscal priorities over moral ones. The choice might become: dead ethical company or live competitive one?

 

[vapviking]

I'm not a big fan of online debating, but i wouldn't be so certain it's easy for them to get a loan. Banks often shy away from backing cannabis-related endeavors due to federal regulations. Not necessarily that they can't, but the banking industry is financially risk-averse. A thoretical HL interest rate might be higher to compensate for this, if they could actually get a loan.

A startup business like HL typically needs to watch their dollars very closely in order to stay afloat, especially when they are sourcing parts from so many suppliers. Given the choice between a bank loan and interest-free order money, they are likely to choose the latter. I'm not saying by any means this is the ethical choice, but many (most?) companies will choose fiscal priorities over moral ones. The choice might become: dead ethical company or live competitive one?

I thought people were pushing wheel barrows of cash around in Colorado?
But yes, that's expensive to borrow too.

 

[Gregori]

Do you think there may have been some misguided optimism with those deadlines ?

 

[Hjalmark]

Yeah sorry I meant 2016 .... fuck me its crazy I have to say 2016 not 2015 when we are nearly half-a-year in

 

[Vaperist]

They arrived a little while ago, if interested I'm back to the main thread again so no more purgatory for me!

just wondering... did you receive one battery for free? or was that free battery for a backers only?

 

[Shit Snacks]

just wondering... did you receive one battery for free? or was that free battery for a backers only?

One battery free, as promised for anyone who experienced a delay in estimate(s)

 

[newVaper420]

Is it wrong that I keep checking my account? LMAO :-). I know it ain't going to ship for months, and maybe even longer. LOL.

I can't help myself

 

[moondog]

Is it wrong that I keep checking my account? LMAO :-). I know it ain't going to ship for months, and maybe even longer. LOL.

I can't help myself

I do it ALL the time, knowing nothing is going to change.

 

[Han So-high]

I do it ALL the time, knowing nothing is going to change.

So worth it though, when you finally log in and see it changed to shipped. That feel though...