A Possible Solution For The Pulse Shipping Barrages

We place our preorders throughout the year. The estimated delivery dates seem to be distributed throughout the year. But then it feels like every year there's a short window where half of the product drops at once. For the purpose of this article I'm focusing on Hasbro Pulse, but it really could apply to all retailers. So I hope our international readers who don't have access to Pulse hang with us, because the concept still applies. I'm singling out Pulse for two reasons. First, they seem to be the worst offender. That string of shipment notices in the lead-in image is real. I got eleven consecutive shipment emails (some turned out to be red herrings). Second, Pulse gets a lot of exclusives now, and they tend to be big ticket items, which exacerbates the issue when they ship at the same time as a lot of other product.

One thing that has been great this year is the frequency of livestreams with their corresponding preorders following a day or two later. Through the first half of the year, we were getting one of these a month. Tack on San Diego Comic Con, and we had preorders through the first seven months. So while the the shipments are clustered, the preorders are neatly distributed throughout the year. You can probably see where this is going already, but before we get there, let me say that I know that the ideal solution is to try to match the estimated delivery dates better. But the current state of global logistics is more complicated than I can even comprehend. I know that competition for factory time and all facets of the international shipment process (dock time) is fierce and messy. I assume Hasbro is backed into a lot of "we'll take what we can get" with this, which may lead to these shipping bursts.

I tend to be a pragmatist. I don't get hung up on "should" and "shouldn't" because it's a formula for misery. I'd rather find a solution that prevents the problem even if it shifts some of the burden unduly to me. So, having established that the preorders are well distributed, but the deliveries are not, would it ease the pain for some fans if Pulse added a "pay now" option when placing those preorders? I know this can probably be done now by paying with PayPal, but I've had too many bad experiences with PayPal preorders for me to consider that an option. I would personally like the option to pay at the time of preorder with my standard payment method. I'd rather be able to control when that pain point occurs rather than have it sprung on me by the whims of the international production line.

Here's the biggest issue for me personally. As a collector, there's nothing better than the endorphin drip from the thrill of acquisition. When too much shows up at once, it robs me of some of that excitement because I'm worrying about what all these shipping boxes in my driveway is going to do to our household budget for the month. To me, this is the absolute best part about HasLabs. It's like a present to yourself. You've already paid for it, so it removes that part of the worry. I think it would be fun to extend that to more purchases throughout the year. I need to stress that I'm only wishing for this as an option. Paying when it arrives should still be a choice too. I personally think it would be helpful.

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