Tariff Update

Due to the tariffs coming in at the end of the Month, the Royal Mail has suspended postal services to America. Yes, it is like Covid all over again.

Even the courier companies are getting twitchy about shipping items, as no one is entirely sure what the paperwork or the processes are going to be.

Obviously, as a company, we are caught in the middle of this. Also, as a company, we do not make political statements so our focus here is purely on the practical process of getting our products from us to you.

Here is what we intend to do, based on what we know now:

For Prior Campaigns

Where we have already run a campaign, we don't intend to ask for any other money from backers. In other words, we will absorb any tariffs due on these items if we can.

I say, if we can, purely from a practical point of we have to work out if/how we can prepay the tariff so you don't have to. No one knows currently how this will all work, although I've seen suggestions from courier companies of ways forward. (Based on how things works to other countries, there should be a way to do it.)

The other consideration is that everything we make is made in the UK so tariffs are capped at 10% and there is a chance that tariffs will not apply at all due to the nature of our products:

[Books and "Informational Materials" Are Generally Exempt from New Tariffs: The tariffs implemented by the Trump administration are imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). Under this act, "informational materials," which specifically includes books, brochures, and similar printed matter, are generally exempt from these tariffs.]

For Existing Campaigns

They will function as Prior Campaigns, above.

At the time of writing, our current campaign is one that is proving extremely popular, and has unlocked all the stretch goals in a matter of days!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegrinningfrog/starship-scavengers-asteroid-blues

The Realistic Future

The Grinning Frog was founded in the early months of the Covid pandemic. We've since grown and expanded, despite the difficulties of those early years and the challenging economic landscape since then. This is just another one of those bumps in the road.

One day, perhaps, we will get to sell our goods in a positive economic environment but in the meantime, we will keep grafting and writing because it's when the world goes crazy like this that we need our games and entertainments all the more.

And you know what, three things work in our favour:

1. We are based in the UK and when we started, we made a decision to only use British suppliers and manufacturers. That decision now shields us from the worst tariffs and means the worst case is a 10% charge.

2. We are in this for the long run and this is simply something to navigate as we continue to design and produce the best game and RPG content we can.

3. We have a supportive and loyal fan base and you folks are the real power that will see us through this. If this all goes horribly wrong and we had to ask you to share some of the burden, we know you will. (But we really don't think it will come to that.)

I've done this blog post so folks from different campaigns and places can be directed to it. If you want to comment below, go ahead but please don't post political opinions. (That's what Twitter is for!)

Will this cost us money and impact our bottom line, probably. But we will manage. And we will ensure that any campaigns due to be posted are all prepared and ready to go just as soon as the postal companies have worked out the details. I'd expect that to happen within the next ten days. As soon as it does, the boys will jump into action and I'll do another blog post to update you all.

Right, back to the real business of the day, I've got a map to lay out, a crypt to finish off and a starship to design -- if you haven't seen it yet, why don't you go check out that campaign above!

Until next time, thank you for your ongoing support and keep gaming.

Stephen Hart