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The Literary Tarot

Created by Brink Literacy Project

A Tarot Deck Unlocking the Secrets of Classic Literature—join us as we delve into the libraries of history, unearthing secrets of the cosmos through the wisdom of our favorite classic stories… Join an all-star team of beloved authors—including Margaret Atwood, Stephen Fry, Roxane Gay, Patrick Rothfuss, and Celeste Ng—as they pair literary works with each card in the tarot, unlocking the secrets of the arcana through the world's most powerful stories. All proceeds from this store go toward our nonprofit mission to increase literacy rates, nurture emerging and marginalized voices, and help people living on the brink to unlock the potential inside themselves! Brink Literacy Project is a 501(c)(3) & Scottish Registered Charity

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Corrected Easyship Rates and Shipping Timeline
12 months ago – Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 10:39:50 AM

Hello Backers,

You’ve all been waiting a terribly long time while Easyship has been correcting their erroneous rates and setting up a valid procedure for issuing partial refunds to backers who have already paid. We have completed correcting the US rates and ensuring that refunds will be handled appropriately. We can now confirm that the rates throughout our US Easyship account are final, correct, and as agreed upon as per our initial contract with Easyship. Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout this process.

Here’s how fulfillment will go from today forward…

Today, Monday, April 17

For US backers who have already paid for shipping: 

Refunds:

  • Easyship will calculate the refunds due for US orders today
  • Refunds will then be issued over the next few days, and will appear on the original payment card within 5 - 10 business days (depending on the policies of the backer’s financial institution)
  • This refund timeline will NOT impact the shipping timeline—your shipment will be sent out as soon as fulfillment starts
  • This refund will include the $2 reduction in handling fees, as well as a variable refund refunding the difference between the incorrect shipping rate previously shown and the new corrected shipping rate that Easyship have now activated
  • Backers will not be charged any processing fee for the refund transaction

Shipping:

  • In order to ensure you all get the largest possible refund, and so that your parcel gets shipped as soon as possible, we have auto-adjusted your shipment to utilize the now-correct cheapest available option.          
  • If you have questions, email us at [email protected] and Nate will do his best to help.
  • We have prioritized the cheapest, fastest couriers to ensure your shipments arrive in a timely manner. Your auto-assigned courier will therefore be either OSM, which provides bulk USPS-delivered rates (with no signature requirement) for U.S. backers OR USPS Parcel Select Signature.          
  • OSM transports packages in bulk to delivery regions and then uses USPS as their last mile delivery partner (reference).

For US backers who have not yet paid shipping: 

  • Easyship will be releasing corrected shipping survey emails to non-collected US backers today/tomorrow.
  • The now-approved OSM courier will now be available for selection, which provides bulk USPS-delivered rates (with no signature requirement) for U.S. backers.
  • OSM transports packages in bulk to delivery regions and then uses USPS as their last mile delivery partner (reference).

 Wednesday, April 19 

  • Shipping begins from the US warehouse!

Backers with issues paying through Easyship/Stripe:

  • Nate will contact those of you with whom he’s already arranged a workaround
  • If you need a workaround, please email him at [email protected] 

Backers served by HK, UK, CA, and NL warehouses:

  • HK Warehouse Backers who have prepaid import tax, please watch your inboxes for an email from Nate!
  • UK and CA Backers, we are working to get the corrected rates in place for you right now and will update you via proper post as soon as that is completed.
  • NL Backers, your shipment has finally cleared customs and will be checking into the warehouse shortly. Once everything is there and ready, we’ll post an update for you.
  • If you have any questions, please email [email protected] and Nate will help you as best he can.

If you have ANY questions about your own, specific order, we can help! Email [email protected] and we’ll reply ASAP.

A brief, sad note

We are sorry to announce that Rachel Pollack, who contributed the Knight of Quills card, paired with Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, has recently passed away. She was a science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot, whose works include Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Godmother Night, a run of DC Comic’s Doom Patrol, and so much more. She will be sorely, and deeply, missed.

We are, as always, boundlessly appreciative of each and every one of you. Your support of this project has directly benefited our in-classroom and in-prison literacy programming. You can read about our nonprofit work here.

Thank you for helping to bring the Literary Tarot to life, for providing funding for our nonprofit work, and for supporting this type of bold, unique creativity.

Once again, if you need help with your order, contact us at [email protected].

Thank you so much for your support!

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

Update on Negotiations with Easyship
12 months ago – Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 10:53:31 AM

Dear Backers,

We apologize for the delay in providing a proper update. As many of you are aware, we have been in ongoing negotiations with Easyship to reduce shipping rates and fees. We were hopeful that this would be resolved this week, but we now expect to have finalized rates in place by mid-way through next week.

In these discussions, we have discovered that Easyship failed to activate bulk rates for shipping (per our contract with them), and additionally Easyship overcharged for handling fees (despite our contract with them) by $2USD per person (impacting backers who have already paid).

Here is a statement we received from Easyship:

“We recognized an error with the shipping rates in the US, whereby they were not being calculated per our contract with Brink Literacy Project. We have since started making the necessary changes in our platform to recalculate them correctly. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

Once we finalize the corrected rates, here’s what you can expect to happen.

BACKERS WHO HAVE PAID FOR SHIPPING (US and Hong Kong Warehouse):

  • You will have the opportunity to pick a likely less expensive shipping option with similar delivery time in transit.
  • If you choose the less expensive option, Easyship will issue you a refund of the difference between what you’ve paid and the new, lower rate.
  • You will also receive $2USD back as a refund for handling fees, regardless of the shipping method you choose.

BACKERS WHO HAVE NOT PAID FOR SHIPPING (US and Hong Kong Warehouse):

  • Next week, we expect to send out new surveys with a new, likely less expensive shipping option. (Your previous survey may also reflect the new pricing when you click the link.)
  • You will see the handling fees listed at $6 total, reflecting the $2 reduction in fees.
  • You can proceed to pay for shipping and we’ll process your order from there.

BACKERS WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED A SHIPPING EMAIL (US and Hong Kong Warehouse):

  • If you do not receive a new shipping email next week, please contact us at [email protected] and we will offer a solution for you to pay your shipping costs.

BACKERS WHO HAVE HAD PAYMENT ISSUES (US and Hong Kong Warehouse):

  • Easyship informs us that they use Stripe for payment processing. If your card is not accepted, or your bank rejects Stripe as a payment method, you can either attempt payment with a different card or contact us at [email protected] and we will offer a solution.

BACKERS SERVED BY THE CANADA, UK, AND NETHERLANDS WAREHOUSES:

  • Rates are simultaneously being fixed for your shipments and we will begin sending shipping invoices to you as soon as possible (hopefully by next week) when they are completely resolved and approved.
  • Shipments from the Canada and UK warehouses will begin shortly thereafter.
  • Shipments from the Netherlands warehouse are still awaiting customs approval and we will provide additional updates as soon as we receive a response from the customs agency.

If you need to update your address, given this delay, please email us at [email protected] and we will make that happen. If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to email us.

Thank you from all of us for the kindness and compassion you have shown over the last two weeks as we have been pressing Easyship for answers and fixes to their platform. We appreciate you all, and are infinitely grateful for your support.

As stated above, if you have questions, email us at [email protected] and Nate will respond as quickly as he can.

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

A Response to Shipping Concerns
about 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 12:27:02 PM

Hello Backers,

Since Nate (our single customer service person for this project) has been replying to many of you via email today, we wanted to respond to some of the repeat concerns and queries here.

Shipping Costs:

We completely understand your concerns about the shipping costs. We have been working for weeks and weeks to get them as low as possible for all backers and have eaten some of the costs ourselves. Shipping rates are up across the board. General shipping rates have increased roughly 6% for all carriers in 2023, after rising by about 5% in 2022. Additionally, since we are not a retail business, but a small nonprofit, we do not have enterprise accounts with discounted rates for every carrier. This means that we're not provided with basement level bulk rates. 

Although the proceeds for this are going to support our nonprofit programming in marginalize communities, we've absorbed over $50,000 in shipping and import tax cost, on top of the costs of production (over $400,000), and additional legal fees and staff time. 

As you all know, the primary purpose of this campaign was to raise money for the nonprofit to support free programing where it is needed most. We're doing our best to balance delivering this project to you at the best rates we can, while still maintaining our ability to fulfill our literacy mission.

The Handing Fee:

The $8 charge effectively allows these 5 international warehouses to ship orders within a couple weeks, rather than over several more months. If we shipped from just one location, dedicating a staff member to shipping all 11,000+ orders would take many months to complete this process. We're working to develop better solutions for future projects.

Payment Glitches:

We are in contact with Easyship to resolve payment processing issues, and will be in contact with those affected as soon as we have more information.

Code +4: 

The zip code plus 4 issue has happened to a few backers. It appears on Address Line 2 so it will not impact delivery of the package to you, though it looks a bit weird in your confirmation email.

Address Changes:

As long as you haven't paid for shipping we can still do them and we will. Nate is working as fast as one person can.

Other Questions and Requests:

Please email us at [email protected] and Nate will answer everyone in the order they come in as quickly as he can. Some people will receive replies next week, but you will receive a reply.

We are sorry for the frustration and confusion arising from the shipping process. We are working to get your items into your hands as quickly as we can, and we're excited for you to see the beautiful final products. 

Thank you for your support of this project, and our nonprofit mission, and thank you for your patience and understanding.


Sincerely,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

Tarot Shipping Status Report
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 11:45:43 AM

Hello again, wonderful backers!

Thank you for your continued understanding and patience with the shipping process. Here's an update for you all, so you know where we're at, and how it's all going:

  • Orders from the U.S. warehouse will start receiving Easyship emails later this week (barring delays on Easyship's part in reaching out) and shipping will begin in earnest
  • Orders from the Hong Kong warehouse will also start receiving Easyship emails, and shipping out, later this week (barring delays on Easyship's part in reaching out)
  • The UK warehouse will begin test shipments this week, and we hope to begin sending all shipping emails out the following week, as long as no delivery concerns arise
  • The Canada warehouse will also begin test shipments this week, and we hope to begin sending all shipping emails out the following week, as long as no delivery concerns arise
  • Orders from the Netherlands warehouse are still awaiting final customs clearance and delivery from the port to the warehouse. We hope this will take 2 more weeks, at which point we will do test shipments and then begin final delivery

We are in constant contact with administrators at each of the systems and logistical steps, and while this project is big for us-and perhaps for Kickstarter-it's not big in the grand scheme of global business logistics, so we are not always a high priority for entities in the chain, despite our persistence.

But, we are nearing the finish line and we are excited to get everything out to you as soon as we can. We sincerely and infinitely appreciate your support, your patience, and your understanding! If you have questions, please email us at [email protected]

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

Another Shipping Update!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 01:44:44 PM

Hello amazing Backers!

Our test shipping process is going well so far and shipping surveys have reached the backers in the test batch! The tests are giving us valuable insights and allowing us to address quirks prior to launching the process for everyone.

As with all of this process, things are taking a little longer than we'd hoped. We are still waiting for stock to check-in at fulfillment warehouses in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and the Netherlands due to delays in customs processing and backlogs at ports. We have been given the following estimated times of arrival for those train-loads (and still outstanding boats):

  • U.S.: February 27
  • U.K.: Awaiting approval from Customs (We will update when it travels to the warehouse)
  • Canada: February 25
  • Netherlands: Arrived in port February 24 (We will update when it travels to the warehouse)
  • Hong Kong: Product is now at the warehouse

We will begin processing and shipping some Hong Kong orders as soon as possible. And we are hopeful to begin sending out shipping surveys and orders for U.S. and Canadian backers within the next three weeks.

On a personal note, Nate, who responds to your queries via email, Messages, and comments, lost his mother last weekend. We hope you will understand if responses are (or have been) slightly delayed.

We remain grateful to you all! Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm! We'll update again soon!

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos