My AB

[gabrielle]

Hi everyone. I haven't been here for awhile because my Aunt has been very ill. I just stopped to check on my AB. I ordered May 21st 2008 so it's been 15 months. I was wondering where we are in terms of time? Has anyone gotten a hat close to the same time I ordered?

Sorry if this is somewhere else, but I really haven't had the chance to read much of anything here. They just life flighted my Aunt to Geisinger last night in the hopes that she will receive better care in their cardiac unit.

The weather here has been totally bad too, with lots of downpours and lightning. I don't want my AB sitting out in a downpour so if I know it's close to the time it might get here I'll make sure someone is around to watch for it.

[Michaelson]

Sorry to hear your aunt has been ill, gabrielle.

Regards! Michaelson

[nicktheguy]

Mine was Nov 2007 and hopefully my wait will be over soon.
I'm looking forward to seeing the awesome work of Steve once again too.
Patience is the key. In the meantime I hope things go well with your family.

[DR Ulloa]

I'm sorry to hear about your aunt. I will keep her in my prayers.

Dave

[gabrielle]

Thank you very much for the kind words. My Aunt went into cardiac arrest 2 weeks after having a pace maker put in. She is on a respirator now and heavily sedated so we really don't know her condition. She seems to follow you around her room with her eyes when awake and squeeze your hand when you ask her to, but we just won't know anything until they ease up on the sedation. They are putting in a PICC line today.

Sorry to go off subject here. Just very scared right now.

Any updates on AB times will be appreciated...

[Montana Jones]

I am sorry about what has befallen your aunt and express my well-wishes along with everyone else.

I really don't have an update on AB delivery times but I can say do not worry about it. Steve's wait times are pretty long right now but he has never not sent a hat that was ordered. In fact, I have never heard of him even having an order "slip through the cracks". Unless you have some reason to believe that your hat's arrival is imminent I wouldn't worry about it sitting in the rain. Honestly, you have enough to think about now so just know that your hat will get to you eventually and will last a good, long time while looking great.

Regards to all,
Hollis

[BendingOak]

I am sorry about what has befallen your aunt and express my well-wishes along with everyone else.

I really don't have an update on AB delivery times but I can say do not worry about it. Steve's wait times are pretty long right now but he has never not sent a hat that was ordered. In fact, I have never heard of him even having an order "slip through the cracks". Unless you have some reason to believe that your hat's arrival is imminent I wouldn't worry about it sitting in the rain. Honestly, you have enough to think about now so just know that your hat will get to you eventually and will last a good, long time while looking great.

Regards to all,
Hollis

There is nothing really to add to that.

I'm sorry to hear about your aunt.

[Fedora]

I am still on late 07 orders!! I had to wade through a bit over 500 hats that were ordered in just 3 months time. I am all over the place, running from Oct, Nov and Dec and I have to skip around to keep the blocks covered up. You can get runs where almos every size is say, a 7 3/8, and you only have 3 blocks in that size for the CS fedora.

Once I hit early 08 orders, the times will start to shorten up. I have several months in 08 where only 10 or so hats were sold. Just got to get to 08 to start shortening up the lead times.

That cheap price in 07 is the culprit. I should have went up to cut down demand, but was trying to give everyone a real deal film hat at a cheap price. And it ended up biting me in the...the nether region. My fault. Fedora

[that_dog]

Steve, your plight reminds me of the old saw "No good deed goes unpunished." I see this principle repeated so often that I claim it as my family's unofficial motto (much to the chagrin of my wife, who's not nearly so jaded and cynical as I am ).

[Michaelson]

Oh, I don't know. At last that 'motto' shows some form of action being taken with possible consequences from that action.

It's better than an ex-member of my family, whose family motto was 'Prepare to suffer!'

How's THAT for a cynical family motto?!

Regards! Michaelson

[that_dog]

Well Michaelson, as an attorney, "Prepare to suffer!" is pretty much our standard rejoinder to one another, at least insofar as most litigation is conducted these days. Of course, mine is an inherently cynical profession....

Hey, it could be worse... how about, "The floggings will continue until morale improves!"

[IndianaRIL]

Thanks for the update Steve. I ordered my AB in October of '07 (CS, 23 1/2") and am hoping that you will get to mine soon. I was just about to email you. Now there will be one less email clogging your already overloaded inbox.

[gabrielle]

I truly appreciate the update. Now I can get back to just worrying about my Aunt and nothing else! Parents were to see her tonight and she opened her eyes briefly and held up her hand! I'm going Saturday.

Wear your hats in good health my friends, and I sincerely mean that...

[Michaelson]

Well Michaelson, as an attorney, "Prepare to suffer!" is pretty much our standard rejoinder to one another, at least insofar as most litigation is conducted these days. Of course, mine is an inherently cynical profession....

Hey, it could be worse... how about, "The floggings will continue until morale improves!"

[Fedora]

The every good deed deal applys to me. I used to try to treat folks in the best possible way, and of course, offering the Indy 4 fedora at my original price was my attempt at letting most folks afford one!! Marc was telling me I needed to go up at this time, but I was stubborn, and did not listen to him. Of course the result was...alot of folks jumped on the offer, and I don't blame them. But, I messed up by being generous. In the sense of creating long lead times, that over time, creates irritation from customers. And of course, I can't blame them for that!! I don't like waiting on anything.

Most folks have been very patient with me, and for that, I will never forget those folks. Others have been otherwise, and I even got turned over to the BBB one time. So, I had to skip forwards, in the list, to make this hat.

To be honest, I have had to skip forwards many times, to get some folks off my back, and to stop the threatening emails, at the expense of making other folks wait longer. And I NEVER want to be in this position ever again. But, I know, being 58 years old, that this too shall pass. And I have gotten smarter with this hat biz, moving it from hobby into a real business. If Indy 5 happens, I won't find myself in this same position ever again. I have made the pricing corrections to insure that, and will adjust again, if it looks like I am heading into the same territory I have found myself in since Indy 4. Live and learn, I guess. And the big lesson here is, your heart may be in the right place, but that can come back to really bite you in the you know where. Well, I have been bit, and bit hard. So, lessons have been learned, although, I don't like the lesson.

I make and ship hats everyday, except Sunday. (post office is closed) so its not like I am just sitting here, watching tv or something. There will come a day when all orders have been filled, all of you guys will have exactly what I made for the film, and my work will be done. And this will just be an unpleasant memory. (the long lead times) The good thing is, I still enjoy what I do each day. Never got tired of it, and still get a kick out of seeing a raw body become an Indy fedora. Fedora

[DR Ulloa]

The good thing is, I still enjoy what I do each day. Never got tired of it, and still get a kick out of seeing a raw body become an Indy fedora. Fedora

And it shows. You can tell when someone is just doing a job and when someone loves what they do. I hope that you continue making hats after you've said you want to retire. Once these lead times are down, I'm sure it will be fun again. Maybe that will change your mind. If you do end up retiring, it will be well deserved, though.

Dave

[IndianaChris711]

I truly appreciate the update. Now I can get back to just worrying about my Aunt and nothing else! Parents were to see her tonight and she opened her eyes briefly and held up her hand! I'm going Saturday.

Wear your hats in good health my friends, and I sincerely mean that...

Gabrielle, sorry to hear about your Aunt, I hope she is getting better. Thanks for the update Steve, I figured you were probably still in late 2007 orders. I am one of those early 2008 orders. Some people just don't have the patience, and some do, I believe I am in the latter. Sometimes I forget I ordered an AB hat, but then I see some around here and memory comes back and I know the hat I am about to get is definately going to be worth it. Thanks Steve for putting up with such a huge load of orders for COW members and for Indy fans across the globe. I figure mine probably won't arrive till end of this year or on the 2 year mark so again I don't get my hopes up. Gabrielle, one day you will get your AB, one day.

IndianaChris

[Fedora]

Well, we know have a pretty good idea WHY Mr. Swales custom made the Raiders fedora, and then used the factory Poet for the other two films!! It was the most intelligent thing to do, although we don't much care for it, because we never could get exactly what he made for Raiders. As D.L. said, when she designed this hat, it was not even offered for sale!!

And an excellent reason that IF Indy 5 comes to pass, the smart thing to do is to use our Henry as the film hat. Since to my eyes, it looks close enough to the CS fedora, that even they would not notice. But the Henry makes a better looking Raiders fedora, in fact, mine pulled off that look with ease.

Regardless if what we do, our lead times will never be this long ever again. Either by using our factory hat, or with the pricing of the handmade hat. We learned a big lesson with Indy 4. One that Swales already knew. Handmade hats are for low volume sales. And if the demand is high, you gotta price em so the demand is culled down to what you can handle, and give decent lead times. Live and learn. Fedora

[RNomura]

Thanks for the update!

I ordered my grey AB on the same day as Gabrielle so this helps me as well.

~Ron

[XPLSV]

That cheap price in 07 is the culprit. I should have went up to cut down demand, but was trying to give everyone a real deal film hat at a cheap price. And it ended up biting me in the...the nether region. My fault. Fedora

I took advantage of that cheap deal in Nov 07 and I thank you kindly Keep to your quality, I don't mind the wait. Patience, virtue...something like that!

Bernie

[Louisiana Jones]

Good thing I stumbled upon this thread.. it kept another email out of your inbox, Steve. My Uncle's order is going on 2 years soon, and he was told back in March his hat was close to being made. I'll send him the update, thanks.

Meanwhile I'll just keep sending him pictures of me wearing my AB to keep egging him on!

LJ

[Kokopelli]

...March 16, '08 for me.

[Risu]

I'm in the late 07 orders group as well. Right now I'm just glad that my dad's house is the shipping address for my hat when it is eventually finished, because I just had some mail stolen out of my mailbox this last weekend and certain shipping carriers think it's best to just chuck packages over the wall into the yard instead of leaving delivery slips or actually ringing the door bell at the front gate.

[Indiana Snipes]

WOW. I haven't been on here in a while but I didn't know the AB wait time had expanded so long! I lucked out on getting my order in when I did, I only wish I had purchased two now, because my hat has basically tripled in value I think I paid around $235 for mine and now they're at $650! I dare not wear it much now. I guess I'll stick with my federation and just stare at my AB as it continues to become a collector's item.