We're Working Hard to Serve You Better !

• Posted on 21 February 2023
• By Tucker's Pottery Supplies
• Posted in tuckersclay, workinghardtoserveyoubetter
• 0

Thank You to our loyal customers! We wanted to share with you some exciting steps we've taken recently in order to serve you better. Here is a photo of some of our great, hardworking staff!

Dear loyal customers,

We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience over the past few years. The impact of Covid on the global supply chain combined with unprecedented growth in our industry presented an often overwhelming set of challenges. While things have slowly started to normalize, doing business isn't without it's hurdles still. Clay mines have production issues, kiln parts manufacturers have inconsistent lead times, and just like mine issues impact our clay production, they likewise impact the glaze manufacturers. Things are not all “back to normal”.

That being said, we wanted to use this platform to share with you some exciting steps we've taken recently in order to serve you better. We are working diligently to get back to our previous shipping lead times, and following are some of the areas we've invested in in order to do that:

• Staff: We have more than doubled the number of our employees compared to our pre-Covid level to meet increased demand.
• Inventory: We have converted any products we can to monthly “standing orders”. By placing our orders months in advance we are set to receive new inventory regularly - whether we need it or not. This means (like with our recent wheel sale), we'll occasionally end up overstocked, but prefer that to running out. It also means that for clay raw materials, we've had to invest in “off property” warehouse space for storage as we can end up with 84,000 lbs of a single raw material in stock, rather than our typical 42,000 lbs.
• Space: This has been a multi-stage journey. In the existing warehouse, we've built 1700 sq ft of mezzanines for increased storage and production space. We have taken on significant off site storage space for truckloads of raw materials for clay. And, most recently, have taken on an additional 2500 sq ft of warehouse space next door.
• Pricing: While raw material prices for clay and glazes has skyrocketed, and some of our kiln competitors raised prices 2 and 3 times in 2022, we managed to hold kiln prices steady for the entire year.
• Website: We've spent the last several months developing a new website that not only will give more information product wise for more informed choices, but will also be transparent with inventory levels, pre-calculate shipping rates, and allow you to easily check out for a more enjoyable shopping experience.

The result of all these changes, is that most moist clays are in stock at all times again, and kiln orders are shipping in literally half the lead time that they were 2 years ago. We still have a long ways to go to get back to our “normal”. It will always be our goal to serve you quicker and more accurately so that you have a satisfying experience in working with us.

Until then, THANK YOU, again.

The Tucker's Gang